How to auto manage IB-Gateway daily restart without causing NT8 to stop working

[pmn100]

Hello Jim

I thought I had 985.1g installed but looking at my TWS logs, I in fact had version 985.1f installed. I couldn't remember why I had this version so looked back through my emails and found it was the version Alan told me to install back on July 19th along with the firewall exceptions, etc. I will try 985.1g but whats stopping that doing the same thing a month from now?

[NinjaTrader_Jim]

Hello pmn100,

I asked Alan to email me your correspondence so I could follow up. Alan was testing various versions of TWS and IB Gateway so we could upgrade and support users with longer account names. (This also made a difference with the reconnect issues)

His testing was concluded and the versions we are recommended are those on the Connections Guide page. Installing from these links will install TWS/IB Gateway in a separate folder which will not auto-update. (Which is part the reason why we recommend installing from the Connection Guide links instead of using links/installer provided directly from Interactive Brokers)

• TWS 985: C:\jts\985\tws.exe
• Gateway 981: C:\jts\ibgateway\981\ibgateway.exe

[pmn100]

Except I was greeted with this this morning after my TWS restart that I have set to 05:45 BST.



This is 985.1g installed from your connection guide. I have it in the 985 folder as per your post above but as you can see this isn't an auto update. Its a message pop up and when it occurs, TWS isn't functional. I manually restarted 985.1g and the message didn't appear again.

[harr5754]

Hello Ninja_Jim,

I'm following this thread closely as I am starting to run strategies on IB paper accounts. I am also having the same issues many have described above. I asked the API folks at IB if they were aware of the problems Ninjatrader was having with the daily restarts. This was their reply:

Me: OK. Are you aware of the problems that Ninjatrader is having?
IB: I see they are using an older version of the TWS, where newer versions could have the capability to log in once a week. Unfortunately, this would have to be addresses by NT directly, as this patch has been rolled out in newer versions of the TWS for some time now
Me: Is it the same issue with Gateway?
IB: as the gateway version is even older than the TWS version being used, this would most likely also be the case with the gateway

Is there any reason why Ninjatrader can't use TWS' latest version allowing weekly log-ins?
Thanks

[NinjaTrader_Jim]

Hello harr5754,

We occasionally see unintended behavior with different versions of TWS or IB Gateway, and recommend the specific versions which we thoroughly test in our Connection Guide. That isn't to say more recent versions will exhibit issues, these are just the versions we have thoroughly tested and would be our basis for support. You are welcome to try other versions, but if there is an issue, we will specifically ask abut the versions we link in the Connection Guide

I can say that many of the reconnect issues have gone away after we found good versions of TWS and IB Gateway after the auto restart feature was added (985.1g and 981.3c) that work well with NinjaTrader 8. We also put in a few fixes to improve connecting that made it into Release 25. If you are using these versions, use the Auto Restart feature from TWS/IB Gateway, and have Keep Running with Disconnect Delay Seconds set high enough to prevent strategies from disabling when there are connection losses, I expect the connections/strategies to be able to continue past the auto restart of TWS/IB Gateway.

This thread has proven to be helpful to get feedback while changes were being made for hard to reproduce reconnection issues, but since the topic is a bit dated and given how large the thread is, it will be best to start any new reports in new threads/tickets.

Note: Recommended versions of TWS/IB Gateway have changed after a vulnerability was discovered in log4j libraries that Interactive Brokers applications use. Please see out Connection Guide for the current version of TWS/IB Gateway that we recommend with NinjaTrader.

[timko]

After near 2 years' struggle, unlimited time and resources wasted, frustrations and anxieties endured, Ninja 8.0.25.0 finally nailed the problem and got the issue solved. I can only say "Late is better than never". The 8.0.25.0 goes solid with gateway to 10.12.2c and it's a great chrismas present for all IB users.

[Acrux]

Hi timko, I waited for this comment for so long! But, I updated TWS and IB Gateway this week for the vulnerability with Log4j and my charts don't seems to have a realtime data. Just to be sure, if you use the BarTimer with a chart in minutes, do you see a count down or you stay with a message like "BarTimer waiting for realtime data before starting"?

[NinjaTrader_Jim]

For those following this thread:

Since Interactive Brokers has patched their legacy TWS and IB Gateway versions 981.3g to use log4j 2.0.16, these are the versions we are recommending with NinjaTrader 8. Installers can be found in out Connection Guide.

https://ninjatrader.com/ConnectionGuides/Interactive-Brokers-Connection-Guide

If you have technical issues or questions, please open a new thread.

[nidhogg]

Hi, I hade to update to gateway 981.1i (before I used 973), and now I have the same problem as everyone else in this thread, but since there is no message in 5 month I guess you have find a way around the problem, any tips how to solved it?

[NinjaTrader_BrandonH]

Hello nidhogg,

Thanks for your note.

We are currently looking into this behavior and will report back as soon as more information is available.

I appreciate your patience.

[fernlicht]

Hello, fyi we are using the latest TWS 981.3i with NT 8.0.24.3 on a 23h/5 basis and it runs without any major flaws. (No shutdowns nor data connection losses)
But we could not use IBgatway, it has the same problems as described in this thread.
Hope that helps.

[NinjaTrader_BrandonH]

Hello nidhogg,

Thanks for your patience.

Please follow the steps below to set up handling for the IB restart and test to see if you see the same behavior occur.

• In NinjaTrader, go to Tools > Options >Strategies tab
• Set ‘On connections loss' > 'Handling' to ‘Keep Running’
• Set ‘Disconnect delay seconds’ to ‘999’.
• Go into TWS>File>Global Configuration>Lock and Exit> Set auto-restart time.
• Allow the auto-restart to occur and note the Log tab of the Control Center in NinjaTrader for errors.

Confirm you are using the above settings and if you are still seeing the same behavior occur, please write into scriptingsupport[AT]ninjatrader.com and provide the following information.

Note to include 'ATTN: BrandonH' in the subject of the email. In the body of the email please include a link to this forum thread and the ticket number '2665543'.

• The Auto Restart time used
• Your timezone (Make sure IB Splash screen and NT match)
• Times when disconnections took place
• Log and trace files
  • Follow steps below to manually attach your log and trace files to your response so I may investigate this matter further.
    • Open the Windows File Explorer (hotkey = Windows key + E) Then navigate to "Documents" > Open the "NinjaTrader 7/8" folder
    • Right-click on the 'log' and 'trace' folders and select Send To> Compressed (zipped) Folder.
    • Send the 2 compressed folders as attachments to this email.
    • Once complete, you can delete these compressed folders.

Let us know if we may assist further.

[NinjaTrader_BrandonH]

Hello nidhogg and fernlicht,

Thanks for your note.

We are currently looking into this behavior regarding using IB Gateway and will reach out to you with more information as soon as it is available.

See post #102 for steps to set up handling for the IB restart if you are using TWS.

I look forward to assisting further.

[NinjaTrader_BrandonH]

Hello nidhogg and fernlicht,

Thanks for your patience.

Please follow the steps below to set up handling for the IB restart with IB Gateway and test to see if you see the same behavior occur.

• In NinjaTrader, go to Tools > Options >Strategies tab
• Set ‘On connections loss' > 'Handling' to ‘Keep Running’
• Set ‘Disconnect delay seconds’ to ‘999’.
• Go into Gateway>File>Settings>Lock and Exit> Set auto-restart time.
• Allow the auto-restart to occur and note the Log tab of the Control Center in NinjaTrader for errors.

Let us know if we may assist further.

[nidhogg]

Hi fernlicht,
I have been trying IB Gateway for 2 month now using the settings suggested of Brandon, and it still does not work as it should (it works 7 out of 10 times), so Im going to use the TWS
as you suggested.
You wrote that I should use it on a 23h/5 basis, what does it mean?