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Diagnosing Communicator Mobile

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Watchdog is a diagnostic tool that is used by Communicator Mobile to recover from unexpected failures.

The Watchdog applications is started in the following scenarios:

  • Watchdog is scheduled to run every four hours

  • When a user updates their preferences, and Remember Password and Automatically sign me in are set.

  • When the Communicator Mobile application crashes or exits abruptly.

  • After the device restarts and Automatically sign me in is set. The Watchdog application will launch Communicator Mobile. This is done to optimize system performance afer the device restarts by delaying the Communicator Mobile launch process.

The key benefits of the Watchdog application include:

  • It restarts the Communicator Mobile application if it has crashed or exited abruptly.

  • It delays start of the Communicator Mobile launch process after a device reboot. It waits approximately 2 minutes after a device is rebooted before it attempts to relaunch Communicator Mobile.

  • It checks system metrics (battery life >= 10%, and physical memory available >= 15MB) before it attempts to start Communicator Mobile.

The Watchdog program settings are configured on the Accounts tab on the Options page. Watchdog runs automatically when both Remember password and Automatically sign me in are checked. When Communicator Mobile preferences are updated on the Options page, Watchdog reschedules itself to run every four hours from the time that the preferences were updated.

To prevent Communicator Mobile from starting when the device is restarted, clear the Automatically sign me in check box on the Accounts tab. Users who want to conserve all available resources on their mobile device must turn off Watchdog by clearing the Automatically sign me in check box.

If the Automatically sign me in check box is not cleared, Watchdog continues to run and will restart Communicator Mobile at its next scheduled time. If the mobile device is restarted, Watchdog restarts Communicator Mobile. If Communicator Mobile is closed by using the CTRL-Q key sequence or by using Task Manager, Watchdog restarts the program at its next scheduled interval, which is typically four hours from the last preference update.

Watchdog supports the high availability goals of Communicator Mobile. When Communicator Mobile is set to start automatically, Watchdog analyzes the resources of the mobile device by checking for low memory conditions before starting the application. Until the Automatically sign me in check box is cleared, it will continue to try to start Communicator Mobile. If you know that you do not want Communicator Mobile started on your mobile device (for example, you are on vacation or roaming), you must clear this check box.