ASP.NET, SQL Server, WPF, C#, VB.NET

I'm trying to narrow down the cause of a nasty and very annoying problem  
  
we're having.  
  
We run a 3rd party report server on a dedicated server.  We have a COM+  
  
Application, a service and then the 3rd party processes that access our  
  
registry hive.   There is specifically one part of the hive that has  
  
problems.     Every week or so our application fails to perform a certain  
  
report related task and we discover that if we try to access the registry  
  
hive used by our processes it's not accessible.    Recycling our service and  
  
the 3rd party report service usually frees up access but sometimes we have  
  
to reboot.  
  
My question is how do I troubleshoot this?   Obviously something is locking  
  
out access to the registry but I'm not familiar enough with the low-level  
  
registry calls and just what could cause one process to prevent access to a  
  
registry key.   I need to determine if it's our service or the 3rd party  
  
process (which is called from our code) is causing the problem and then  
  
hopefully fix it.  
  
I have been running regmon on this server daily hoping that when the problem  
  
happens again I'll be able to see something in the registry, but so far the  
  
problem hasn't happened again.  
  
Any ideas on how to approach this or some good registry material that might  
  
help me would be much appreciated.  
  
Thanks  
  
Eric

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Eric Margheim wrote:  
  
If the registry ACLs have not changed ("Access Denied") and  
  
restarting the service(s) solve it, then my *guess* is that some  
  
resource is being exhausted.  Maybe a handle into the registry is  
  
opened and then not closed?  Diagnostics for that are outside this  
  
group's scope probably.  
  
The Sysinternels HANDLE.EXE utiltiy can report the number of  
  
handles ("Key") in use by a process.

Thanks for the tips.   So if a process that is run repeatedly is not closing  
  
the registry handle correctly after usage eventually it may use up all the  
  
available handles and block registry access?   Would that impact just one  
  
hive (as appears to be our problem) or would it take the whole registry  
  
down?   Or are you saying that each process only has so many handles  
  
available to that process now is locked out of the registry?  
  
Thanks much

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Eric Margheim wrote:  
  
Sorry for the delay (hurricane).  
  
If it is a Service that runs constantly (until it crashes), one  
  
*possibility* is exhausting resources (including too many open  
  
handles of any type), or heap space, or...  
  
A Process that terminates should be "cleaned up" by the system for  
  
any open registry handles.  
  
I suggest that some information might be gleaned from checking  
  
various resources used by the problem Service prior to service  
  
failure and just after service start for "clues".  
  
If you pin this down (as it seems you have) to a particular  
  
Service, then the best avenue is the software vendor (that provides  
  
the installed service).  
  
If this is still on track one expedient solution might be to just  
  
schedule a Service Stop/Start on a recurring basis.

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Eric Margheim wrote:  
  
[ big snip ]  
  
I see you have another thread going now.  
  
Registry handle limit?  
  
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005  
  
I'll chime in there if I come up with anything else.

"Mark V" <notvalid@nul.invalid> wrote in message  
  
news:Xns96FF7DDA83500z9zzaQ2btw@msnews.microsoft.com...  
  
thanks.  Yes I believe I have found and fixed the problem that was not  
  
closing registry handles but it may take weeks to find out if it's actually  
  
fixed it unless I can crank down the handle limit and reproduce.   I did  
  
find the USERProcessHandleQuota registry entry but I don't think it impacted  
  
registry handles.

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Eric Margheim wrote:  
  
[ ]  
  
I know nothing of that value...  If you find information, perhaps  
  
you will post it.  
  
Perhaps write a scheduled batch to collect information and wait?  
  
You could probably setup a PerfMon counter...perhaps on Process  
  
Name and handle count?  (Guess)

"Mark V" <notvalid@nul.invalid> wrote in message  
  
news:Xns9700CDA376B15z9zzaQ2btw@msnews.microsoft.com...  
  
These are the entries I was talking about.  
  
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;326591

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Eric Margheim wrote:  
  
[ ]  
  
Good.  And here is one that you may want to read.  
  
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sysinfo/base/user_objects.asp  
  
"This value can be set to a number between 200 and 18,000."  
  
But, I am not entirely sure that this is directly related.  
  
You can of course try setting the value down but I have some doubts  
  
about the stability of your server if you do so.  I am being cautious  
  
here because you say this is an online production server.  I believe I  
  
might prefer to just attempt to monitor the Service's resources  
  
statically as a useful but safer option (IMO).  
  
I believe you said that HANDLES.EXE was showing the data for the problem  
  
Service.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sysinfo/base/user_objects.asp  
  
Thanks  
  
Well actually I am trying to reproduce in a test environment.    I  
  
definitely wouldn't jack with those types of setting in production.  
  
No I was using RegMon to see that things weren't getting closed.   When I  
  
stopped the service I saw thousands of CloseKey operations.