This page describes common warnings or errors which can appear in the PowerFolder Server Logs.

Here we describe the reasons for those errors and steps how to solve them.

Log message: Error watching...no space left on device

Reason

PowerFolder Server uses the iNotify kernel API on Linux systems to watch for changes in the file system. If there are a lot of folders with deep directory structures and many files, the system kernel may block requests by PowerFolder Server to scan for changes, therefore it is necessary to raise the limits on larger installations.

Solution

Raise the file limits as described in our Installing on Linux Guide. Afterwards please restart the service.

Log message: License key file...not readable

Reason

The Server Maintenance Folder, which is automatically created during the first launch of PowerFolder Server, may not be accessible by the server anymore. This can have two reasons:

• The permissions on the Server Maintenance Folder doesn't allow the user who runs PowerFolder Server to read/write in this directory.
• The location of the Server Maintenance Folder has been changed and the change has not been applied to the Server Configuration File.
• The location where the Server Maintenance Folder resides is temporarily not accessible, e.g. because it is located on a network drive which has been disconnected temporarily.

In all of the above mentioned cases PowerFolder Server may try to (re)create a new Server Maintenance Folder, because the old one can not be found. Since also the license keys for user devices are stored there, the server will not find the current device licenses.

Solution

Find for the location of the Server Maintenance Folder in the Server Configuration File

1. Please check the Server Configuration File. There should be an entry like the one below:

   plugin.server.maintenancefolderid=[<folder_id>]

    

   Please write down the folder_id, since you will need it in the next step.

2. Search for the folder_id mentioned in that entry. You will find some entries entries which look like the ones below:
    

   f.<folder_identifier>.archive=FULL_BACKUP f.<folder_identifier>.commit-dir= f.<folder_identifier>.dir=<path_to_server_maintenance_folder> f.<folder_identifier>.dlscript= f.<folder_identifier>.id=[3mfJYiYMzWMzWEJgLLik] f.<folder_identifier>.name=server_maintenance f.<folder_identifier>.preview=false f.<folder_identifier>.sync-patterns=true f.<folder_identifier>.syncprofile=true,true,true,true,1,false,12,1,m,Auto sync,true f.<folder_identifier>.versions=5

    
   
   

Check for possible problems with the location of the Server Maintenance Folder

Please head to the path mentioned in the f.<folder_identifier>.dir variable and...

• check if that directory exists. If it doesn't exist please check on level above in the directory structure if it has another name. If it has been renamed, please stop the service, change the value of the f.<folder_identifier>.dir in the Server Configuration File and start the service again.
• check if it is accessible to the user account running PowerFolder Server. If it is not, please apply the correct rights on that folder and restart the service afterwards.
• check if a second Server Maintenance Folder exists in the directory one level above. This might be the original one, which PowerFolder Server couldn't temporarily find and therefore created a new one. If a new one has been created, please stop the service, change the value of the f.<folder_identifier>.dir in the Server Configuration File to the path of the original location and start the service again.
   If your Server Maintenance Folder resides on a network path, we recommend to stop the service, move it to the local storage, change the path in the Server Configuration File as described above and start the service afterwards. Since network storage might become unavailable temporarily, there is always a chance that the server might not find it and tries to recreate it.

Log message: No owner found

Reason

This message can appear in the client under two possible conditions:

• An owner of a folder, which is still being synchronized/used by other members, has been deleted.
• A folder has been shared by a PowerFolder Server admin manually.

Due to it's technical background, every folder needs to have an owner assigned. If a folder has no owner, the above mentioned log entry will be created in the client logs and displayed as a warning in the notifications of the client.

Solution

Please login to the web interface and choose one of the options below:

• Grant owner rights to an existing folder member:
  • Click on Folders and select the folder in question.
  • Click on Members
  • Click on the permission of the member you want to assign owner rights to and select Owner from the drop-down.
• Create a dedicated user account and grant owner rights to this account:
  
  • Click on Accounts > Create User.
  • Fill out all necessary fields and click on Save.
  • Click on Folders and select the folder in question.
  • Click on Members
  • Click on the permission of the member and you've just created and shared the folder with and select Owner from the drop-down.

 If you are an admin and share folders manually as an admin with users, we recommend to create a dedicated account and make this account an owner of the folder. Please note: An owner has all permissions available on the folder, therefore it should be an account, which no one else, except the admin, can access.

Log message: Too many open files

Reason

PowerFolder Server may need to handle a lot of open files on the storage at the same time, e.g. when a lot of users access their folders at the same time. Since Linux operating systems limit users to a certain amount of open files, it may be necessary to raise those limits, otherwise access to more files will be denied to the user running PowerFolder Server.

Solution

Raise the file limits as described in our Installing on Linux Guide. Afterwards please restart the service.