How can I search for a problem that may have been fixed in a ebf?

[Former Member]

A customer was experiencing frequent instances where the database would not accept any new logons and existing logons were unable to do anything. I would remote into the server and also could not log into the db using sc. Nothing in event logs. I had not yet tried an -o option startup. If I think (with wishful thinking) that this problem may have been solved in a later build, how do I search for that possibility? Like most supporting sqla, I have a dozen other issues in the queue and can take very long on the search. Do I take a shot in the dark and just apply the latest ebf? In fact, I did just that: applied 2331. But the question remains... How does one quickly and throughly search for a corrected problem?

[reimer_pods]

What I did in a similar case is: download the readme file for the latest EBF, e.g rdme_1101_ebf_2376.html. Set the filter to show all changes since the version in use (11.0.1578 in one case), and than scan it for topics with keywords describing the problem area.

[reimer_pods]

In this case it happened that I didn't find a hint to a solution of my problem, but the EBF fixed it. Lesson learned: install latest EBF in a test environment and check if the problem is gone, as you did.

[Breck_Carter]

I've had Reimer's experience many times. Although it is apparent the authors of the rdme files are trying hard, the descriptions are still far too terse. Once upon a time I had complete access to the entire Customer Service trouble report database and it had a level of detail 100 times deeper than the rdme files... you could find your exact symptom (someone else ALWAYS has your symptom first) plus a complete record of what got fixed when. That was many years ago... my point is, the information exists, but it's not public.

[Former Member]

I gave up reading/searching for fixes after reporting a bug myself; something like "FK didn't work after inserting xyz row". I found the Case # later in the EBF with a description something like, "There was a failure of the abc rountine when the left predicate did not match the right predicate in a sargeable expression...". The engineer's translation was no doubt far more accurate than my report, but completely impossible to understand.

[justin_willey]

I find just text searching the latest readme from the top reasonably easy. Maybe we should persuade iAnywhere to put the EBF change log in a database?

What would be really nice would be decent filters on the EBF list (eg by OS and major version number) and some sensible ordering with the most recent and widely used combinations at the top rather than the bottom where they are now.

Here's hoping...

[reimer_pods]

Filtering by target platform and/or product version shurely would be an enhancement. I've already suggested that using the feedback link on the EBF page, but to no avail.