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Date/Time: Fri, 20 Sep 2024 04:06:01 +0000



Connection Timeout Issue

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[2013-07-10 07:18:41]
HeavyMike - Posts: 25
I was leaving up my chart for automated trading and then I got this in the log:
--------------
Connection Lost To Transact Order Server. | 2013-07-10 00:11:20
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Is there a way to have it not timeout? Or is there a way to have it automatically reconnect if connection is lost?
[2013-07-10 12:21:10]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
Sierra Chart does automatically reconnect (if enabled) if the connection is lost unless the remote service tells us not to reconnect. This last part is the case here.

To confirm that Sierra Chart is set to reconnect make sure Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Reconnect On Failure is enabled.


We have had discussion with TransAct about this, and for the time being , you need to be present and manually reconnect by selecting File >> Connect to Data Feed.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2013-07-10 13:01:50]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
This issue is a design and implementation choice Transact has made. We are instructing Sierra charts not to reconnect. We understand people want to have automated systems, however we feel automated systems should be monitored and not left to run without supervision.

With that said, I will examine this issue a bit more, and have some conversations with our partner Sierra, as well as Transact Management, in the hopes that we can find a solution that meets everyone’s expectations and needs.

Thank you for understanding.

Robert Winslow
Transact Futures
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-07-10 13:07:04
[2013-07-10 13:59:44]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
We do not wish to condone people having automated systems that are not monitored, we feel this is a danger to the client and does present risk to Transact. I would strongly advise people to not walk away from automated systems as the risk is far greater than the rewards.

However, we also understand people want to take these risks. As a result here is what Sierra and Transact propose to do.

1.  If the account has been shut down for some reason we will still send the flag to Sierra to NOT reconnect.

2.  If the account lost connection to our server we will allow automatic reconnects provided that Sierra makes the following modification and the following policy is understood.
a.  Sierra will keep increasing the delay between reconnects, in some cases it might take some time for a reconnect to occur due to this additional logic.
b.  If we see this as becoming problematic we will than request that a limit to the number of reconnects be added. This is more for the integrity of our systems and the protection of our other clients that are connected to the servers.
c.  If after this we still have issues and we see it compromising our systems we will than make the choice to revert back to not allowing reconnects.


I will be making these changes today and submitting the changes to Sierra by the end of the day.

Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-07-10 14:00:29
[2013-07-10 14:31:09]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
40winks,

We never intended to give anyone a Nasty Shock.

As for being displeased, for every person who is displeased others are pleased. This is the nature of software development. We simply cannot make everyone happy with the choices that are made and if we tried we would never be able to release anything.

It is not always practical to have an open debate about what we do, and do not do with the software that is produced.


Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-07-10 14:31:33
[2013-07-10 14:59:27]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
First off, I am doing my job, but I do thank you for your input as to what my job description should be.

As to your comment, please understand that I had requested the ability to tell Sierra not to reconnect via the GSP protocol and it was explained as to why I wanted this feature. So telling me Sierra was not aware of this is not factual nor is it accurate.



[2013-07-10 16:30:09]
HeavyMike - Posts: 25
The main reason I chose to use this system was for the automated trading. If I want to trade while I sleep, then how am I suppose to do that? My brokerage has a risk assessment level that prevents me from losing more than I can afford in one trading day, so the next day I can see the results. As an end user, I'm very disappointed with this decision and I hope you change it back.
[2013-07-10 16:57:55]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
HeavyMike,

Please reread post number 4 in this post.

We are going to allow auto reconnect, post number 4 in this topic talks about what we are going to do. The code has been changed to allow this and it is just waiting on some changes from Sierra to put some safeguards in place.


However, we also understand people want to take these risks. As a result here is what Sierra and Transact propose to do.

1. If the account has been shut down for some reason we will still send the flag to Sierra to NOT reconnect.

2. If the account lost connection to our server we will allow automatic reconnects provided that Sierra makes the following modification and the following policy is understood.
a. Sierra will keep increasing the delay between reconnects, in some cases it might take some time for a reconnect to occur due to this additional logic.
b. If we see this as becoming problematic we will than request that a limit to the number of reconnects be added. This is more for the integrity of our systems and the protection of our other clients that are connected to the servers.
c. If after this we still have issues and we see it compromising our systems we will than make the choice to revert back to not allowing reconnects.


I will be making these changes today and submitting the changes to Sierra by the end of the day.

[2013-07-10 17:45:41]
HeavyMike - Posts: 25
Hi Bob,

I see that you are still in the talks about how to move forward with this. I had another post about the risks of auto-disconnecting, maybe that should be addressed also.

You mentioned earlier 'We do not wish to condone people having automated systems that are not monitored', then I suggest that an option be set by default to disconnect after a certain amount of no activity and if no orders are currently pending or active. The user has to purposely turn off this auto-disconnect and acknowledge the risks. Right now, there is no option so you are condoning the user to not being able to setup an auto-trade and going out to lunch and coming back to find that they are in a trade that they would have missed.

Also, I talked to friend of mine who also uses the same system, but he uses the charts to give an audio alert when certain conditions are met. He works at at FedEx and relies on the the audible alert to let me know that he should start paying attention. But with this auto-disconnect, he's frustrated because now he has to check in often and it's annoying.

In any case, I really hope you at the very least provide an option to turn off this feature.

Cheers!
-Mike




[2013-07-10 18:22:49]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
HeavyMike,

We currently do not have any auto-disconnect feature, we have server maintenance that happens each day around 4:35 CST. This has nothing to do with auto-disconnect it simply allows us to do some end of day processing. If disconnects are happening outside of this time, it is not a result of any Auto-Disconnect, it is a result of us detecting the connection was lost to our server.

Please read point 2.

In closing.
1.  We have no auto-disconnect feature. Not sure what leads you to think we do, we never have and never will.
2.  We have put the ability for Sierra to reconnect back into the software. This feature was part of Sierra, when we developed to the Sierra GSP protocol we decided that we did not want Auto-Reconnect, we have now reversed this choice and have allowed it to happen provided some rules were in place inside Sierra to prevent spamming our systems with connection attempts. This programming is complete, and the new version has been submitted to Sierra for inclusion in the install.

Date Time Of Last Edit: 2013-07-10 18:24:35
[2013-07-10 18:23:51]
TransAct support - Posts: 8
40winks,


I understand.

[2013-07-10 19:09:27]
HeavyMike - Posts: 25
Hi Bob,

Oh, that's great then! Sorry, I was confused. My apologizes...

Cheers!
-Mike

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