KB87200894: FlexRip - After rebooting my RIP PC, I cannot send any jobs to the RIP anymore

Summary

Problem:

Power supply maintenance:

1. Shutting down RIP PCs prior to the power supply maintenance.
2. Restart RIP PCs after the power supply maintenance.

Resulting in

1. Sending jobs to the RIP (FlexRip/C and FlexProof) fails. Tasks end in red.

Tests performed

1. Synchronize with RIP gives "Error: Rip cannot be reached".
2. Start-up the diagnostics tool and click "Synchronize with RIP". If you see no additional information popping up that helps to clarify the error go to the next steps.
3. Check the IP configuration of the RIP PC. Is the IP address fixed or dynamic? It should be fixed.
4. Check the presence of a hosts file on the Automation Engine Server and see if there is an entry for the RIP PC. Is the IP address mentioned matching the current IP address of the RIP PC? It should.

Cause:

The RIP PC was given a dynamic IP address. After the reboot, a new IP address was provided. On the Automation Engine Server, the hosts file still contained the original IP address resulting in a mismatch. Automation Engine Rip tasks will fail as the RIP PC in the hosts file cannot be found.

Symptoms

• When sending jobs to the RIP with existing tickets, the tasks will fail.
• Synchronize with RIP will result in "Rip cannot be reached" error.

Solution

There are different ways to get to a solution:

• Remove the entry in the hosts file for the RIP PC.
• Or, make the FlexRip IP address static and make sure the entry in the hosts file matches the static address.
• Or, make the FlexRip IP address static and remove the entry in the hosts file if you have a correctly configured DNS Server to resolve host names.

For more information on why entries are made in the hosts file, check our KB database.