Alternating DOS Client RPC Calls Fail

• Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
• Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

SYMPTOMS

A DOS DCE (data communication equipment) RPC (remote procedure calls) client binds to a DCE RPC server and places a successful RPC call. The client will not place any additional RPC calls for a period of time. During this window of time, some RPC servers may close the connection. The next RPC call from the client to the server will fail. If the exact same call is placed again, after the failing call, it will work. The above pattern repeats indefinitely.

CAUSE

The RPC runtime is not being notified of the closed connection. Once the RPC runtime discovers the connection is closed by a failing call, it will establish a new session on the next RPC call to the server.

RESOLUTION

RPC runtime will now retry three times if a call fails. During the retry, the connection will be reestablished.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1. This problem was corrected in the latest US Service Pack for Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server. For information on obtaining this update, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K 

Additional query words: prodnt

Keywords : kbinterop NTInterop kbbug3.10
Version : 3.1
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :