4961 Rate this article: No rating IDL DICOM Network Services: Troubleshooting DICOM Query/Retrieve connections Topic: Steps to troubleshooting DICOM Query and Retrieve connections with IDL DICOM Network Services. CONTENTS: Be sure that the IDL DICOM Storage SCP service is configured and started. Configuring the Remote Query/Retrieve SCP Node. Firewall Communication Issues. Virus Scanning Software Performance Issues. IDL DICOM Network Service Debug Log Files. Discussion: Be sure that the IDL DICOM Storage SCP service is configured and started. Open the IDL DICOM Network Services utility "System" interface. Locate the "Storage SCP Application Entity" section of the dialog. Check to see that the desired Application Entity Name is selected (default IDL_AE_STOR_SCP) Also check that the "Storage SCP Dir" setting points to a valid directory. Note that if you have unchecked the "Accept Any Application Entity Title" checkbox, you will then need to add a new Application Entities entry for each of the DICOM SCU nodes that will be attempting to push files to the IDL Storage SCP entity. If this is not a concern, then you should leave this checkbox checked. Click on the Save button on the lower right corner of the utility if you have made any changes. Then click on Stop Service, wait a few moments, then click on Start Service. The Status box should then indicate that the service is running. Check to see if the IDL DICOM Storage SCP service is running correctly and accepting files: Start the IDL DICOM Network Services utility in "Local" mode. On the Configuration tab, go to the Echo SCU area, select the "IDL_AE_ STOR_SCP" AET item from the pull-down list and then click the Echo button. If it is running it should respond successfully. (Note that if you have changed the default IDL Storage SCP application entity *name* and/or *title* in the System configuration mode utility, you must also change this same entry manually in the Local configuration mode utility as well.) Then go to the "Storage SCU" tab on the utility. Select the IDL_AE_STOR_SCP name from the Destination Node list. Click on Browse/Send Files and browse to the [IDL-directory]/examples/data directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\exelis\idl82\examples\data) and select a DICOM file such as "mr_knee.dcm". Check the Status window for messages and confirm that the file (rename with the SOP Instance UID of the image) has appeared in the Storage SCP Dir that you selected on the Configuration tab of the IDL DICOM Network Services utility. [ ^Back to top ] Configuring the Remote Query/Retrieve SCP Node. Be sure that your remote DICOM Q/R SCP node has been configured to recognize the IDL DICOM Storage SCP AET & TCP/IP port. On the DICOM Q/R SCP device node, be sure that the application has been configured to connect with the IDL DICOM Storage SCP AET. The default AET value is: IDL_STOR_SCP NOTE: When to use "IDL_STOR_SCP" or "IDL_AE_STOR_SCP"? When configuring other DICOM service nodes to recognize the IDL DICOM Storage SCP device, be certain to reference the Application Entity Title (AET) identification string, for example, (default): IDL_STOR_SCP --and *not* the Application Entity Name string, for example (default): IDL_AE_STOR_SCP --which is only used internally by IDL DICOM Network Services. The default TCP/IP port for this AET is: 2510 Also be sure that the IDL STORE SCP node's hostname or IP address is configured on the Q/R SCP node. Then after re-starting the application or server applications necessary for the changes to be recognized by the application, see if you can echo and then directly push a file to the IDL DICOM Storage SCP service. You might also try to see if the particular patient or image that you are trying to retrieve to the IDL node can instead be pushed directly to the IDL Store SCP. SOP Class and Transfer Syntax Compatibility Issues. Note that some DICOM server applications can directly import to their database, local DICOM files which have SOP Class and/or Transfer Syntax properties that are incompatible with the file "push" (Storage SCU) capabilities of the DICOM service node. If the file does not transfer to the IDL DICOM Storage SCP node, there is also the possibility that the IDL DICOM Network Service node does not support the SOP Class or Transfer Syntax of the DICOM data that you are trying to retrieve. If needed, a list of supported DICOM SOP Classes and Transfer Syntaxes for IDL DICOM Network Services can be found in our DICOM Conformance Statement document that can be obtained from our website by selecting the menu item: Products & Services > IDL > IDL Modules Then select the link for "IDL DICOM Solutions". Finally, select the link for "DICOM Conformance Statement". [ ^Back to top ] Firewall Communication Issues. If you have a firewall running, configure the firewall to allow TCP/IP communication between the DICOM service nodes. Even if both the server and the client DICOM devices are on the same machine, you may need to configure the firewall to allow local TCP/IP communication. A good test to see if a firewall is an issue (on the local and/or remote nodes) would be to temporarily turn off the firewall(s) to see if this make a difference in communicating between DICOM nodes. [ ^Back to top ] Virus Scanning Software Performance Issues. Also be aware that it is possible that virus scanning software can significantly slow the performance of DICOM query, retrieve or send operations. To optimize file transfer speed, you may determine that you want to temporarily disable the virus scanning software during these operations. Or consult your virus scanning software documentation for other configuration options to improve the performance of network file transfer operations. [ ^Back to top ] IDL DICOM Network Service Debug Log Files. It can sometimes also be helpful to have the underlying Merge libraries generate a debug log for the Query/Retrieve activity of IDL DICOM Network Services. To do this: Quit out of any IDL DICOM Network Services utility sessions. With Windows Explorer, browse to your local user DICOMEx configuration directory. This directory can be located by issuing the following command at your IDL session command prompt: PRINT, FILE_DIRNAME(DICOMEX_GETCONFIGFILEPATH()) For example: IDL> PRINT, FILE_DIRNAME(DICOMEX_GETCONFIGFILEPATH()) C:\Documents and Settings\joeuser\.idl\idl\dicomex-1-400 At this location, create a backup copy of the original "merge.ini" file (example, "merge.ini.orig"). Then with a nonformatting text editor, edit the bottom portion of the "merge.ini" file such that the '#' characters are removed from in front of all but the T1_MESSAGE..., T5_MESSAGE... and T6_MESSAGE... lines. That is: # Trace level enable/disable, and destination. # Remove the leading '#' to enable #T1_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory T2_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory T3_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory T4_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory #T5_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory #T6_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory T7_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory T8_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory T9_MESSAGE = File #, Screen, Memory Save the changes. Then delete any existing "merge.log" or "merge.L01" files that you find in the same directory. Start an IDL DICOM Network Services utility (local) session and proceed with the Query/Retrieve activity that encounters the problem. The resulting "merge.log" file will contain debug log information that, if necessary, can be sent to ITT Visual Information Solutions Technical Support, or your local ITT product distributor, to help with trouble-shooting your Query/Retrieve problem. (Note that the "merge.log" file by default is fixed to 1000 lines, where relevant information may only be included in the upper portion of the log file. If you plan to print the contents of the debug log file, you may wish to copy only the non-blank lines of information into a separate document in order to print the debug information without blank pages.) [ ^Back to top ] Older IDL version notes: Application Entity string changes between IDL 6.3 and IDL 6.4 For IDL 6.3 and before, the default Application Entity Title (AET or AE Title) strings and Application Entity Name (AE Name) strings for IDL DICOM Network Services started with "RSI". In contrast, beginning with IDL 6.4, the default AE Title and AE Name strings for IDL DICOM Network Services begin instead with "IDL". This article references the AET and AE Name strings instituted in IDL 6.4. Default Application Entity Names (AE Name) Default Application Entity Titles (AET or AE Title) IDL 6.4 & Later IDL 6.3 & Earlier IDL 6.4 & Later IDL 6.3 & Earlier IDL_AE_ECHO_SCU RSI_AE_ECHO_SCU IDL_ECHO_SCU RSI_ECHO_SCU IDL_AE_QUERY_SCU RSI_AE_QUERY_SCU IDL_QUERY_SCU RSI_QUERY_SCU IDL_AE_STOR_SCU RSI_AE_STOR_SCU IDL_STOR_SCU RSI_STORE_SCU * IDL_AE_STOR_SCP RSI_AE_STOR_SCP IDL_STOR_SCP RSI_STORE_SCP * *Notice also the presence of an "E" in "_STORE_" in the Storage AETs for IDL 6.3 and earlier verses no "E" in "_STOR_" in the Storage AETs for IDL 6.4 and later Remote DICOM server nodes When upgrading to IDL DICOM Network Services 6.4 or later from IDL version 6.3 or earlier, if you will be using the newer default application entity strings ("IDL_...") to communicate with remote DICOM servers nodes, be certain to also update the IDL AET string configuration in any remote DICOM service node that will communicate with IDL DICOM Network Services. See related note: When to use "IDL_STOR_SCP" or "IDL_AE_STOR_SCP"? Please login or register to post comments. How to perform 'file math' using band math How to calculate the maximum and minimum pixel value of a multispectral or time series dataset