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Contacting Orbcomm about an error message

There are situations when you need to call Orbcomm about the occurence of an error. E.g. if you get a configuration error, most probably Orbcomm will have to fix the configuration error before you can use the webservice again. When this happens please make sure that you include the complete error message as you have received it.

Error messages

Sample error messages:

"[Authentication error][Customer is inactive. USN: icatest][2011-04-11T13:05:05Z]"
"[Unexpected error][SQLException 101][2011-04-11T17:15:06Z]"
"[Quota error][Requests duration exceeded QuotaMaxRequestsDuration (900 seconds) Window length: 3600 seconds][2011-04-13T08:41:49]"

Explanation

Every error message returned from the webservice in the errorMsg variable is structured in the way shown above. The first field in the string contains the category of the message, hopefully this information is enough for the client applications to react programatically. The second field is an explanation of the error or a term that can be used to identify the type of an error. The third field is a timestamp.
Client applications should not rely on the contents of the second field; there is no guarantee that the contents of this field will not change for the same problem. This field is purely for informational purposes. If you cannot handle a case programatically based on the first field of the exception, please contact Orbcomm and we will do our best to find a solution.

The list of error categories

[Configuration error]

This is a type of error that is caused by configuration, e.g. permission problems. If this error is seen then please contact Orbcomm support.

[One-time error]

This is a type of error that we do expect from time to time, but there is nothing we can/should do about it. E.g. timeout due to high network demand. The client application should retry the operation immediately or after a very short sleep (a few seconds). No need to contact Orbcomm for this case unless the error becomes a real problem.

[Unexpected error]

This means a low level error has occurred that we did not classify as a [Configuration error] or a [One-time error]. The client application should retry the operation, ideally after a fairly long sleep (a few minutes). If this error is seen a lot or it causes problems then please contact Orbcomm support.

[Internal error]

This error indicates that Orbcomm needs to fix a bug in the webservice. Mostly it happens when the webservice reaches an unexpected internal state. The client application should retry the operation ideally after a fairly long sleep (a few minutes). If this error is seen then please contact Orbcomm support.

[Authentication error]

Authentication errors are returned when the customer account is not active or the client application passes in invalid credentials.

[Quota error]

Quota errors are caused either by the client application performing too many or too complex requests, or by overloaded servers, slow network etc. When this happens the client application should retry the operation ideally after a fairly long sleep (a few minutes).

[Input parameter error]

Unexpected parameter passed in to the Fleetmanager API. This error indicates that the behavior of the client application should change.

[RCOMDB version error]

Each API function has a minimum R-COM DB version after which it is supported. The solution for this error is to upgrade the R-COM DB.