Invoking in server ll log file the message “errorcorebad” or WebSurvent/WebCATI survey gets hung on a large grid or large repeat question

When there is too big of a grid that contains a very large repeat, a WebCATI or WebSurvent could become locked and eventually invoke a gateway timeout. You can identify the issue of this occurring in the log file by seeing something like the following below “errorcorebad”.

READ10007 10:35:22 W_INFOMSG 24 50664?largest_file_sent.

50664 largest_file_sent

TIMETICK 10:35:24 1511980524 5a1efdec : 1511980522 5a1efdea

TIMETICK 10:35:26 1511980526 5a1efdee : 1511980524 5a1efdec

READ10007 10:35:28 LIB_PROB_MSG 35errorcorebad?at?ldev

errorcorebad at ldev 10007 111 1224

Generally, this type of error message “errorcorebad” has been invoked in the past with older versions pre 8.8.x, not so much in newer releases of version 8.8.x. If you were running in terminal mode, then you can increase the amount of core memory needed by modifying the start or netsurv command files. If you are running in web mode, then you can increase the amount of available memory by either using the parmfile option “WEBSURVENT_STARTUP_APPEND” or by setting an environment variable “CFMCHTMLSURVAPPEND“.

Below is the Survent Features documentation notes on the two commands.

NEW KEYWORD TO ALLOW ADDITIONAL PARAMETERS ON SURVENT STARTUPS BY THE SERVER WHEN USING WEBCATI OR WEBSURVENT:

The keyword “WEBSURVENT_STARTUP_APPEND:” allows you to specify parametersfor the server to include when starting ‘survent’ sessions for web

interviews. For instance, “WEBSURVENT_STARTUP_APPEND: core:3000000” willallow the survents to start with 3 megabytes of memory instead of the

default of 600,000 bytes. You can have any command line parameter you want,such as “define:” to set a variable or “init:” to send responses to the

initial prompts. Note: The list of possible parameters are noted in theutilities manual.

You can also do this by setting the environment variable CFMCHTMLSURVAPPENDbefore starting the CfMC study server.

Based on the error message above, the general solution is to at least set the core to at least 5000000, a lot of customers set it to 10000000 in Survent with the following command in the $CFMC/control/parmfile:

WEBSURVENT_STARTUP_APPEND: CORE:10000000

Please be conservative in using the above command as it will utilize more resources of the system.

The best solution is to break the grid or repeat down into smaller repeats or grids in the spec/QPX.