What steps should I take to diagnose a Fieldserver product?
1) Assuming you can still at least connect to the Fieldserver, the first thing you should always do is connect to the web GUI (put the ip address of the field server product into a web browser on a computer on the same network as the Fieldserver product). From here, click on User Messages on the tree on the left. If there are any configuration errors, such as typos or illegal values, they will usually show up in the Errors -> Error Messages section of the User Messages. In some cases the error will be obvious, but if not it will usually at least tell you which line the error is on. Take a look at that line of your configuration to determine what might be wrong.
2) In the event that you have no errors in this section, the next place to look is under View on the tree on the left. From there click Connections under View, and on the screen on the right, determine which connections are generating errors. Double clicking on the connection generating errors will change the screen on the right to one specifically for that connection. From there, click the Error Stats tab. This will show you total errors, and below that, the name of every type of error that is being generated.
3) In the event some of your data is coming through but not the rest, once you've determined which connection is generating the errors, under View on the tree on the left select map descriptors. This will show you all map descriptors and their communication status on the right. Locate which map descriptors are generating errors and double click them and choose the Error Stats tab. This will show you the total errors, and below that, the name of every type of error this specific map descriptor is generating.
4) In the event that you are still not able to determine the issue, download Fieldserver's Toolbox (At the time this article was written it is located at http://fieldserver.com/docs/downloads/FieldServer-Toolbox.zip) and install it. Allow the toolbox to discover the FieldServer product, then choose the option on the far right that looks like a heart beat. This should bring up diagnostic options, use the drop down to choose Full Diagnostic and take a 5 minute capture. This will create a zip file with numerous diagnostic information. At that point, please contact Prosoft Technical Support (661-716-5100 or support@prosoft-technology.com ) and after explaining the situation provide the diagnostic capture to the support engineer.