Error start PowerCenter Debugger

"Error connecting to the DTM at [%s : %d]: [%s]" when running a PowerCenter Debugger session from Designer

Problem Description

When debugging a PowerCenter mapping the following error is displayed in the Designer: Error connecting to the DTM at [%s : %d]: [%s]

Cause

In PowerCenter, when initiating the debugging of a mapping, the Designer interaction with the server fails in the following ways: The client sends a debugging request to the server. The server looks up its hostname (using a gethostname call) and opens a port to listen for client requests.  A range for port numbers can be specified with the DebuggerMinPort and DebuggerMaxPort custom properties of the PowerCenter Integration Service.  If these properties are not specified the port range of 9229-9329 is used and the Integration Service will take the first available port in this range. The server sends an acknowledgment to the client which includes the hostname and port number to be used. The client tries to connect to the server using the given hostname and port. If after 10 tries, if the client still fails to connect to the server, the above error is displayed.

Solution

To resolve this issue, do the following: The server sends a host name, and not an IP address. If the client cannot resolve the host name issued to a valid IP address, then the connection attempt will fail.  In this case you should enter the host name of the server with its corresponding IP address in the host files of the client (Usuallyc:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on Windows ). If the resolved address of the system, where the debugger will run, is not reachable by the client, then you will get an error.  This can be due to firewall settings and clustering of solutions that hide the real address of the server system. If the address issued is reachable and the port used is blocked by a firewall, the debugging attempt will also fail.  The port range should be configured appropriately using DebuggerMinPort and DebuggerMaxPort , and these ports should be opened in the firewall.

Applies To

Product: PowerCenter 8.x; PowerCenter 9.0.1; PowerCenter 9.1.0; PowerCenter 9.5