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MLS User Names

Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:10 pm
by Jim Allen-p40
Last week someone deleted all of the user names on our MLS. How is this done and what can be done to prevent this happening again?

I was able to call Support on Monday and re established the user list.

Thanks for our help.

Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:12 pm
by daddy-o-p40
Do you know for certain it was someone? Or might it have been a glitch with 2.8?

Provided backups are occurring as needed.....should it happen again just restore the backup.

Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:20 pm
by aebrown
Jim Allen wrote:Last week someone deleted all of the user names on our MLS. How is this done and what can be done to prevent this happening again?

I was able to call Support on Monday and re established the user list.

Thanks for our help.

I would think it unlikely that someone deleted all the user names. For one thing, you are not allowed to delete the user name you are logged in with, so it's impossible to use the MLS user interface to delete all the user names.

However, there have been plenty of reports that improper shutdown procedures can lead to the deletion of all the user names. Specifically, if MLS has not completely exited when the power is cut to the system, occasionally the result will be the removal of all user names. This could happen when people turn off the system by using the switch on a power strip, without shutting down Windows and waiting for the shutdown to finish completely before cutting the power.

I would think this is the more likely scenario. Make sure that all MLS users (all users of the computer, for that matter) understand that they must shut down Windows and wait until the shutdown is complete before turning off the power.

Need for a more detailed "log"?

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:13 am
by opee
I asked a similar question on one of my first entries on the forum:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=568

You can use this file to see the login activity. Maybe it would be nice to see some of the activity is that done while using MLS--like some software packages log actions done by the user in the program. (And maybe it would not be nice to have).

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:30 am
by childsdj
Alan_Brown wrote:I would think it unlikely that someone deleted all the user names. For one thing, you are not allowed to delete the user name you are logged in with, so it's impossible to use the MLS user interface to delete all the user names.

However, there have been plenty of reports that improper shutdown procedures can lead to the deletion of all the user names. Specifically, if MLS has not completely exited when the power is cut to the system, occasionally the result will be the removal of all user names. This could happen when people turn off the system by using the switch on a power strip, without shutting down Windows and waiting for the shutdown to finish completely before cutting the power.

I would think this is the more likely scenario. Make sure that all MLS users (all users of the computer, for that matter) understand that they must shut down Windows and wait until the shutdown is complete before turning off the power.

It seems that the majority of times that this happens, it is a result of an improper shutdown or power off procedure.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:16 pm
by daddy-o-p40
Jim Allen,

I reached out to my fellow clerks. It turn out that if you are running the church's security suite with only 256mb of RAM it will trigger an exception that shuts down MLS incorrectly and has been known to cause this.

I got 2gb of Corsair RAM at NewEgg for our stake clerks computer. It was an older memory type that you'll pay a premium for but still available for under $100.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:10 pm
by russellhltn
enriquer wrote:It turn out that if you are running the church's security suite with only 256mb of RAM it will trigger an exception that shuts down MLS incorrectly and has been known to cause this.
There must be an additional factor. I don't think that problem has appeared in my stake (at least no one has bothered to report it to me) and nearly all the machines are 256MB.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:19 pm
by daddy-o-p40
I double checked. Nope, that cured it.

We worked with Jim at CHQ Membership Support who diagnosed it and followed up with instructions to our Stake President that additional RAM was required.

We have the old Dell GX270's using Celerons. Perhaps your stake has machines with more horsepower and RAM is not needed to queue up the backlog.....don't know.

Just know that per Jim the Church Security Suite + XP + MLS = more than 256mb needed for our situation.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:36 pm
by russellhltn
enriquer wrote:Just know that per Jim the Church Security Suite + XP + MLS = more than 256mb needed for our situation.
We're also running the GX270 with Celeron. My guess is the size of the MLS database is what's making your situation different. With 9 wards, our stake's database is up there in size, but we never had that problem.

Others who have upgraded report faster bootup, quicker send/receive, and a more responsive switching between programs, but otherwise MLS still runs at MLS speeds. :(

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:17 pm
by daddy-o-p40
Do you have SP2 and all the updates too?

Anyway, It is considerably faster now. In my particular ward the biggest speed difference came from when the PATA drive died and it got replaced with a SATA one.