Long Running Import Tasks into Spira Failing

Overview

When you are running an import from other tools, sometimes you will get error messages such as:

*ERROR* Occurred during Import: 'The session was not authenticated, please call the Connection_Authenticate() method first' at mscorlib (
Server stack trace: 
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.HandleReply(ProxyOperationRuntime operation, ProxyRpc& rpc)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.InvokeService(IMethodCallMessage methodCall, ProxyOperationRuntime operation)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(IMessage message)

Errors like this usually occur because something has interrupted the import process. For example, the application pool recycled, or the session timed-out.

Recommendations

When you are about to embark on an import into SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, or SpiraPlan, here are some configuration changes we'd recommend you make:

Change the Application Pool Settings

By default, the application pools in  IIS are set to shutdown after 20 minutes of activity:

We recommend that you increase the timeout to a much larger value during the import.

Secondly, in the Recycling section, we'd recommend setting the Regular Time Interval value to zero (0) while you are importing.

That prevents IIS from recycling the application pool in the middle of the import

Session Settings

The SOAP API used by some of the import tools uses ASP.NET session to retain authentication across imports. If you have short session timeouts, that can cause issues with the import.

To change the settings, open up the C:\Program Files (x86)\SpiraTeam\Web.config file in a text editor:

<sessionState mode="InProc" cookieless="false" timeout="20" />

change the value of the timeout to a much larger one than 20 minutes.