Path drops occur and WSAENOBUFS errors are logged from SPIMsg in the Event Viewer

Please note: This article applies to old obsolete versions of SureSync.

If your Application Event Viewer on the system shows errors from a source of SPIMsg that contain the text "WSAENOBUFS," a registry modification could be required to resolve the issue. Generally, the issue will surface in the form of paths dropping from a Schedule or Real-Time Monitor. These errors can occur when running Windows 2003 or Windows XP. On busy systems, it is possible to exaust the default ephemeral port range in TCP. When this range is exhausted, the WSAENOBUFS error occurs and the SPIAgent communication via TCP fails. This error results in path drops.

Please consult Microsoft Knowledge Base Article ID 196271 for more information on the registry modifications to make to address this problem.

If your machine is running a 32-bit operating system, you should be aware of the impact of the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file. This option should only be on when necessary. The primary resource is because Microsoft Exchange is running on the system. The /3GB switch effectively cuts the memory available to the operating system for items such as paged pool, non-pages pool and TCP buffers in half from 2GB to 1GB. On highly active machines, this reduction in memory can cause further TCP problems. IT is recommended that the /3GB switch be removed unless absolutely necessary.

Please consult the following articles for more information on the /3GB switch:

• Microsoft Answers - An operation on a socket could not be performed because the system lacked sufficient buffer space or because a queue was full