Troubleshooting M3 Web Services

I forgot how to troubleshoot Infor M3 Web Services (MWS) and wasted time researching again. This time I share what I rediscovered so I remember next time.

Scenario

I created a simple web service of type M3 Display Program (MDP) that creates a Facility in CRS008. The steps work correctly in M3:

MWS Designer error

I created the equivalent web service in MWS Designer (MWSD), but it throws ‘Unable to execute MPD!’:

MWS Designer log

The MWSD log does not provide more information:

We can increase the MWSD log level from WARN to DEBUG/TRACE, it shows some HTTP/SOAP information (remember to revert when done as it fills the disk space):

Fiddler proxy

We can use an HTTP proxy such as Fiddler to see the HTTP/SOAP request/response:

SoapUI

We can use another SOAP client such as SoapUI to test the web service:

Generated Java code

MWS Server generates Java code for each web service. I do not see any error with the generated code. The code uses Apache Axis2/CXF for SOAP, and the old Intentia Movex MPD for the interactive session:

MWS Server log

The MWS Server log provides some more information, it mentions m3.program which hints me to believe my web service is correct and the problem is in M3:

MWS Server DEBUG/TRACE

I increased the Grid’s log levels of Subsystem and MWS to DEBUG and TRACE (remember to revert when done as it fills the disk space):

I ran the test case again, and opened the merged log:

This time the log shows more information. It shows the <MPD> XML, and it shows the error Abnormal termination of mvx.app.pgm […] Dump log created:

M3 DUMPLOG

The M3 dumplog shows even more information, it shows there was a NullPointerException on READ_DSP ICFCMD:

I do not know how to analyze an M3 dumplog, so I will forward it to an M3 developer and ask for help. The problem points not to MWS but to the M3 program. That is as far as I can go in my troubleshooting.

Future work

Furthermore, depending on the case, it may also be useful to:

• Intercept network traffic to the BCI port, and troubleshoot the old Intentia Movex BCI protocol; MPD uses M3Session which uses BCIConnection:
  
• Use the Advanced Grid tools:
  
• Analyze the Thread dumps:
  
• Analyze the MWS Profiler:
  
• Analyze the Grid Status Report:
  
• Decrypt the encrypted Grid network traffic
• Debug the MWS Server Java code line by line at runtime

Conclusion

That was how to troubleshoot M3 Web Services and digg more information about an error. I dug as far as I could, all the way to M3, and asked help to an M3 developer. Furthermore, there are plenty other ways to troubleshoot and dig beyond.

That’s it!

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