Oracle® Internet File System

Release Notes

Release 1.1 for Sun SPARC Solaris

September 2000

Part No. A85287-02

Overview

These release notes accompany the Oracle Internet File System 1.1 release for Solaris.

This document contains these topics:

Client Certifications

The following client software versions have been tested and certified for Oracle iFS:

Netscape:
- Netscape Communicator 4.72 production release and higher (for FTP, IMAP4, SMTP, HTTP, and the Web interface)
Microsoft:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and 5.5 with Outlook Express (for FTP, IMAP4, SMTP, HTTP, and the Web interface)
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Service Pack 4, and higher (for Windows access with SMB and the Windows interface)
- Microsoft Windows 95
- Microsoft Windows 98
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Eudora 4.3 for IMAP, SMTP
PINE 4.2 for IMAP, SMTP

Known Issues

Web Proxies for FTP Drag and Drop

Users may need to edit their web browser preferences so that they do not use a proxy for FTP. Using a web proxy may cause problems when using drag and drop in the Web interface to upload files to the server.

Access Control Lists (ACLs)

Access Control on Created Objects

The ACL associated with any created object is determined by the user's default ACL as specified in the Primary User Profile. A non-admin-enabled user's default ACL is set to PUBLISHED, except for MailBox, MailDocument, MailFolder, and Message, which are PRIVATE. An admin-enabled user's default ACL is set to PRIVATE, except for the following classes, which are set to PUBLISHED:

VersionSeries
VersionDescription
AccessControlList
PropertyBundle
DirectoryObject

To change the default ACL applied to a document, access Oracle iFS from the Web Interface or the Windows Interface.

Modifying System ACLs

A system administrator has the privilege to modify System ACLs (PUBLIC, PUBLISHED, PROTECTED). The administrator can mistakenly modify a system ACL in a manner that renders it useless by deleting the WORLD access control entry (ACE). Care should be taken when modifying any system ACLs.

For more information on setting system ACLs, please see the Oracle Internet File System Setup and Administration Guide.

Migrating between the Open Source and Sendmail Pro 8.9.3 versions of Sendmail

Oracle iFS uses Sendmail 8.9.3 as its Mail Transfer Agent. The open source version of Sendmail is shipped along with the core Oracle iFS product. Oracle iFS also allows you to use Sendmail Pro v 8.9.3 from Sendmail Inc. as your mail transfer agent. However, care must be taken when migrating from one to the other. If you are using Sendmail Pro and wish to migrate to the open source version, please make sure that you de-install Sendmail Pro before migrating to using the open source version.

In order to setup the Open Source version, you will need to run the script $ORACLE_HOME/ifs<version>/bin/ifsemailsetup. If you want to use Sendmail Pro 8.9.3, please make sure that you re-install Sendmail Pro 8.9.3 and run the script $ORACLE_HOME/ifs<version>/bin/ifsemailsetup_pro893.

Guest User Authentication in SMB

When a user attempts to log in through SMB without a valid Oracle iFS account, the user will automatically be logged in as the "guest" user. If the user account is valid but the password presented is wrong, login will fail. Some Windows clients allow users to specify a different username for connecting to the SMB server. This option allows users to log in with an account different from the one used to log into Windows. This feature can be disabled so that all users must present a valid username and password. For instructions, consult the "Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol Server" section in Chapter 7, " Using Server Manager to Start and Stop Servers," of the Oracle Internet File System Setup and Administration Guide for details.

Known Bugs

The following bugs are known to exist in the Oracle iFS 1.1 release. Workarounds are given when appropriate. The known bugs are grouped by process or component:

Generic Oracle iFS Bugs

Bug 1106093 (also listed as 1263638, 1252587)	Recursively deleting a large folder tree fails. (Complex searches fail with the exception, IFS-21000: Session is not connected or has timed-out.)
Description:	When executing tasks that require a long time to complete, such as complex searches, searches over a very large data set, or deleting a large folder tree, the connection times out and fails.
Action:	Shut down the service, and increase the SessionTimeoutPeriod parameter in the properties file. The default value is 10 minutes. Restart the service. Modifying this parameter affects all services started using this new property file.
Bug 1115247	Folder items are sorted uppercase first, then lowercase.
Description:	When listing the items in a folder, the items are sorted case-sensitively, by name.
Action:	None.
Bug 1244817	Inconsistent usage of prompts in Ifs Manager and Server Manager.
Description:	The prompts in Server Manager and iFS Manager are different, yet some of the values entered are the same. This may be confusing.
Action:	Below is the explanation of the prompts. Ifs Manager Username: Oracle iFS administrator's login Password: Oracle iFS administrator's password iFS Schema Password: Schema password for the Oracle iFS installation The following fields are read-only. The displayed information is specified in the corresponding Oracle iFS Service properties file. To change any of the information below, you must first have a properties file containing the desired information. Then select the "Change iFS Service" button and enter the new iFS Service name. The fields will then be refreshed from the information in the new properties file. iFS Service: The Oracle iFS service name that corresponds to the properties file which has service-specific information such as the schema name, caching, and connection pool parameters. Database Service: The `tnsnames.ora` entry for the database. If blank, iFS Manager will connect to the local database running on the same machine. iFS Schema: The schema name for the Oracle iFS installation. Server Manager iFS user name: Oracle iFS administrator's login. iFS user password: Oracle iFS administrator's password. iFS service name: Oracle iFS service name that corresponds to the desired properties file. iFS database password: Schema password for Oracle iFS installation.
Bug 1369729 (also listed as 1389141)	Cannot see an object to which the user has been granted access. (When a user tries to access the attribute of an object to which the user's access been revoked, an IfsException occurs.)
Description:	If the ACL of an object is changed by one user so that object becomes discoverable by a different user, the object may not be discoverable until the user disconnects from Oracle iFS and reconnects. For example, if user A changes the ACL of an item in a folder from "Private" to "Public," user B might not see that item in the folder until user B disconnects and reconnects to Oracle iFS. Conversely, if user B has discovered an object whose ACL is subsequently changed by user A, causing that object to no longer be discoverable by user B, user B may continue to see that object until disconnecting and reconnecting to iFS. However, if user B performs an operation on that object, such as getting its name, that operation might fail and throw an IfsException, indicating the user does not have permission to perform that operation.
Action:	Disconnect and reconnect your session.
Bug 1379386	System stops indexing after Chinese files are inserted.
Description:	Binary files containing Chinese characters can stop the queue of files being indexed by interMedia Text. If this happens, you can still insert and update files, but no files in the system will be indexed until you address this problem.
Action:	Delete the file and restart interMedia Text indexing. For more information, see the Oracle8i interMedia Text Reference.

Command Line Utilities Bugs

Bug 1237269	The date format string is not validated when set, but only when it is used.
Description:	Setting the ifsmod date format string with an invalid format will not return an error. An invalid date format error is returned on the command that actually uses the date format.
Action:	After setting a date format string, use the format immediately. If a string error is returned, reset the date format to a valid date format.

XML Bugs

Bug 1246851	Subclassing through XML to create a ClassObject with an invalid name causes an obscure error.
Description:	When creating a subclass, the table name created in the database is set to the name of the ClassObject. If the ClassObject name is an invalid tablename, (tablename cannot be a reserved SQL word, nor can it contain spaces or illegal characters) the following exception is thrown: `IFS-30002: Unable to create new LibraryObject.`
Action:	Edit the XML file and change the name of the ClassObject.
Bug 1255889	Using XML to create a value domain fails.
Description:	Trying to create a value domain using XML results in an XML parsing error.
Action:	Create the value domain through iFS Manager.

Windows/SMB Bugs

Bug 809516	Cannot list files in DOS command shell under Windows 95 and Windows 98.
Description:	When using the DOS command shell under Windows 95 and Windows 98, file names are not displayed for files on the Oracle iFS server.
Action:	Use the Windows Explorer and Desktop for all file operations in Windows 95 and Windows 98.
Bug 1113581	Cannot delete or rename versioned files in SMB.
Description:	Attempts to delete or rename a versioned file in SMB result in a failure message indicating that all or part of the file may be locked. Certain applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, save their work by deleting old versions of the document. Because this would cause a loss of data attributes and compromise the versioning features of Oracle iFS, the Oracle iFS SMB server does not allow deletion or renaming of versioned files.
Action:	Versioned files should only be deleted or renamed through the Web interface.
Bug 1115154	Saving a versioned document gives an error saying the file is locked.
Description:	Attempts to save a versioned document result in an error message indicating that all or part of the file may be locked.
Action:	This error appears for one of two reasons: Files associated with certain applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, cannot be edited in-place in iFS. These applications delete previous versions of the document as part of the save process. Solution: When working with files that produce such errors, try saving the file to a local directory and then copying it back onto the versioned file. A versioned file cannot be edited before first being checked out by the user. Solution: To edit a versioned file, first check it out.
Bug 1243158	Cannot set the read-only attribute for folders through SMB.
Description:	Locking a folder in Oracle iFS will prevent all users from renaming and deleting a folder. Locking a folder will also prevent items from being added or removed from that folder. Because this extra functionality is not designed into Windows and current Windows applications, locking an Oracle iFS folder through setting the Windows read-only attribute is not supported.
Action:	To prevent users from changing the contents of a folder, lock it through another interface, such as the Web interface. This will prevent Windows users from adding or removing files from the folder; however, it will not prevent the users from modifying the files in the folder, unless those files are also locked.
Bug 1254675	Changes delayed when saving through SMB.
Description:	After saving a file through SMB there is sometimes a delay of up to a minute before those changes are visible to other users and in other protocols. This is caused by local caching by the Windows operating system which benefits Windows performance.
Action:	The changes are shown immediately if the user refreshes the directory listing from the Windows Explorer. Press F5 to refresh the current view in Windows Explorer.
Bug 1364155	Saving a Microsoft Word 95 file fails on some clients running Windows 95.
Description:	Saving a Word 95 file results in an error that the file is in use.
Action:	If the user is notified that the file cannot be saved because it is locked by another user, take the following steps: Use the "Save As" command to save the file with a different name. Open the locked file and replace the old contents with the new contents using cut and paste. Save the original file with the new contents.
Bug 1386815	Cannot log into an account with non-ASCII username from WIN95 or WIN98.
Description:	Non-ASCII login credentials (for instance, in Chinese or Japanese character sets) cannot be used to connect to the correct account via SMB. Neither Windows 95 nor Windows 98 send login credentials in Unicode when connecting through SMB. (This problem does not occur on Windows NT or Windows 2000.) NOTE: Non-ASCII filenames are not affected by this problem.
Action:	Create the Oracle iFS accounts using only ASCII characters.
Bug 1374563	*Misleading error when opening versioned Excel files (.xls) via SMB.**
Description:	Attempting to open a versioned Excel file that is not checked out causes an Excel error message indicating that the document is being modified by another user. The file can be opened in read-only mode.
Action:	The document is not being modified by another user, but since the document is not checked out it is locked and cannot be written to. Confirm opening the file in read-only mode or check out the file before opening it.
Bug 1401439	"Too Many Files" Error after Extracting WinZip files.
Description:	After extracting a large number of files using WinZip the user may be unable to read or write any more files from the mapped drive. The user may get an error similar to "Too many files are currently in use. Quit one or more programs, and then try again." The user may get other less specific errors to the effect that a file could not be opened.
Action:	The user can unmap and re-map the network drive. The administrator can also increase the maximum number of open files per mountpoint for the SMB server (in `$ORACLE_HOME/ ifs<version>/settings/SmbServer.def`) using the following parameters: MaxOpenFiles = 30 MaxAllOpenFiles = 100 The defaults are 30 and 100. Increase them as necessary until the problem is resolved.

Windows Interface Bugs

Bug 1246484	Cannot cancel a check out in the Windows interface.
Description:	The Cancel Checkout option is not available. If you check out a file and decide not to create a new version (e.g., check in the file), there is no way to cancel the checkout.
Action:	Use the Cancel Checkout function in the Web interface. NOTE: If you check in a versioned file that has not changed since being checked out, Oracle iFS will not create a new version of this file.
Bug 1246456	Potential loss of service on starting multiple WCP servers against the same databases.
Description:	In a two-tier model, multiple installations of Oracle iFS can point to the same database. If multiple Windows Client Protocol (WCP) servers are started against the same database, the WCP server started last takes over servicing all Window interface requests. All the other WCP servers, however, do not display any errors, but do not service any Windows interface requests either. So, if the last WCP server is shut down, none of the servers will service any Windows interface requests.
Action:	For this release, only one WCP protocol server is supported.
Bug 1252913	Find returns documents which the user cannot locate with a path.
Description:	The Find dialog returns documents for which the user has discovery privileges, even if the user does not have privileges on the folder containing the document. For example, if a user creates a document as Published in his/her home directory, another user will be able to find the document using the iFS Find dialog even though this user cannot access the document because s/he does not have permission on the first user's home directory. The Find results show the document name and 'In Folder' as "drive:". Double-clicking the document gives an error "Cannot open document (o:\new.txt) ErrorCode 2".
Action:	Relax the permissions in the first user's home directory or have the first user place published documents in accessible directories.

Web Interface Bugs

Bug 1104090	In Netscape, uploading a folder using drag and drop fails.
Description:	Using drag and drop in Netscape, uploading a folder and its contents will fail. This is a Netscape browser bug.
Action:	You have several options: If the folder's contents are not other folders, first create the folder in Oracle iFS, then upload the folder's contents using drag and drop. Upload using browse rather than drag and drop. Use Internet Explorer.
Bug 1235607	If quota is exceeded, attempting to upload over an existing file will fail.
Description:	If quotas are being used, and you are currently near or over your quota, you may not be able to upload any files, even if you are attempting to replace an existing file.
Action:	Delete the file you are replacing before attempting the upload.
Bug 1244053	After entering username and password, pressing Enter causes login screen to beep.
Description:	On the login.jsp, after entering the login and password, pressing the Enter key causes a BEEP.
Action:	Press the Tab key to select the Login button before pressing Enter.
Bug 1248003	The text in the column heading disappears after the window is resized.
Description:	After resizing the window, the headings on the File List disappear. You will see boxes filled with black.
Action:	This is a style sheet/browser issue. Reload the File List by clicking the current folder in the Directory Tree.
Bug 1252587 (also listed as 1106093, 1263638)	Library Session times out during long uploads.
Description:	See Description of Bug 1106093 in "Generic Oracle iFS Bugs" on page 5.
Action:	See Action for Bug 1106093 in "Generic Oracle iFS Bugs" on page 5.
Bug 1258791	Cannot apply ACLs to more than 100 items in the Web interface at one time.
Description:	A design issue in the Web interface limits the number of items you can have selected when you choose Apply ACL from the Edit menu.
Action:	Select fewer than 100 items when you are applying ACLs.
Bug 1370141	Upload and check-in/check-out menus overlap if the system uses small fonts.
Description:	If you set the Windows NT display parameters to use small fonts, the menu options in the Upload and Check-In/Check-Out menus overlap one another. This problem only occurs in Netscape browsers, not in Internet Explorer.
Action:	If you are a Netscape user, change the font settings in the Display section of the Windows control panel to use large fonts.
Bug 1372615	Using Internet Explorer, uploading a document with non-ASCII document name via drag and drop fails.
Description:	Using Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5 to upload a file with a non-ASCII file name via drag and drop results in an error message that the file already exists. Choosing to overwrite the non-existent file causes the filename to be truncated when the file is stored in Oracle iFS.
Action:	This is a known NLS bug with the FTP window in Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5. Either use upload via browse, or use a different protocol server to upload the file.
Bug 1374498	Non-ASCII file name is displayed as string of rectangles while viewing its parents.
Description:	For a file with a non-ASCII name: If you open the View Parents window to see all the folders in which a file appears, the file name appears as a series of rectangles.
Action:	Set your browser to ignore typefaces. For example, in Netscape, select `Edit -> Preferences -> Appearance` and set Fonts option to "Use My Default Fonts."
Bug 1384904 (also listed as 1379837, 1374374)	Using Netscape, cannot upload a file with non-ASCII characters in filename.
Description:	Using Netscape to upload (via browse) a document that has a non-ASCII filename, the upload fails.
Action:	Use Internet Explorer or a different protocol to upload the file, such as FTP or SMB.
Bug 1385640 (also listed as 1373077)	Using the Japanese version of Netscape, uploading a file via drag and drop fails.
Description:	If you try to drag and drop a file through the Japanese version of Netscape, the upload fails. Note that this problem only occurs if the character set used for the filename does not match the character set of the Oracle iFS FTP server. Unfortunately, the user has no way to determine the server character set.
Action:	Use a different protocol to upload the file, such as FTP or SMB.
Bug 1387938	Drag and drop upload may fail.
Description:	Using FTP to drag and drop from the Web Interface, the upload fails if the path to the server is not fully qualified.
Action:	Either fully qualify the path to the server (for example, myserver.mycompany.com:2100) or use a different protocol server to upload the file.
Bug 1399626	Uploading a file via Drag & Drop into a folder with a period in its name causes the file to open in Internet Explorer.
Description:	Attempting to upload a document into a folder with a period in its name causes the upload to fail. Instead of being uploaded, the file displays in Internet Explorer.
Action:	Navigating one level up from the folder (the folder with a period in its name), then back down into the folder will enable the upload to work.
Bug 1399646	Folder with an apostrophe in its name cannot be opened from Web Interface.
Description:	If a folder name contains an apostrophe, you cannot open that folder in the Web Interface.
Action:	Remove the apostrophe from the folder name.

FTP Bugs

Bug 1107309	Cannot publish website with FrontPage 2000 if folder name has a space.
Description:	Cannot publish website with FrontPage 2000 through FTP if the folder name includes a space.
Action:	Remove spaces from the names of all folders (and all parent folders).
Bug 1233338	Renaming a file or folder to an existing folder name moves the item under that folder.
Description:	When a user renames a file or folder to a name of an already existing folder, the item is moved into that folder, rather than returning an error that an item already exists of that name.
Action:	Renaming to an existing folder should not be allowed; however, there is no loss of data. The user can open the existing folder, locate the file or folder, and rename and/or move it to its correct location and name.

E-mail Bugs

Bug 1106173	Outbox fails to bounce undeliverable messages.
Description:	The Oracle iFS Outbox agent will retry to send the message repeatedly at increasing intervals of time. The message will then be purged after seven days.
Action:	Monitor the outbox at least weekly to identify undeliverable e-mails.
Bug 1197079	Deleting and expunging multiple messages in Netscape Messenger 4.7 may cause the client to fail.
Description:	Occasionally, trying to delete several messages and expunge them all at once using Netscape Messenger 4.7 causes the client to fail.
Action:	Retry the same operation. If the error recurs, restart the client and delete messages in smaller groups.
Bug 1254452	Cannot use the FTP delete/mdelete command to delete an e-mail message.
Description:	If you use the FTP delete/mdelete command to delete an e-mail message, the following exception is thrown: `550 <e-mail message name> is a folder, use rmdir.`
Action:	Use the Web interface, SMB, or your IMAP client to delete e-mail messages.
Bug 1246882	Creating folders recursively using Netscape Messenger 4.7 does not subscribe all folders.
Description:	Netscape Messenger allows you to create IMAP folders recursively. However the top-level folders do not get subscribed. For example, if you create d01/d011/d0111, the folders d01 and d011 do not get subscribed automatically. These folders are not be visible on your IMAP client if options are set to view only subscribed folders.
Action:	Subscribe the unsubscribed folders explicitly.
Bug 1248657	Mail sent from a machine that uses XFN instead of DNS does not always work.
Description:	XFN is a federated naming service used instead of DNS. Oracle iFS e-mail only supports DNS.
Action:	DNS is required for Oracle iFS.
Bug 1379886	Cannot delete non-ASCII-named folder with EUDORA 4.3.2.
Description:	It is not possible to remove folders named with non-ASCII characters using EUDORA 4.3.2.
Action:	Use any other e-mail client, SMB, or the Web Interface to remove the folder.
Bug 1380015	Unable to login into an IMAP account with a non-ASCII character in the name.
Description:	If user name has non-ASCII characters, logging into the IMAP server may fail. This happens if the server character set is not set correctly.
Action:	Set the Oracle iFS server default character set to ISO8859-1 or the appropriate multibyte character set.
Bug 1386666	Certain Oracle iFS e-mails not viewable in PINE.
Description:	Multipart e-mail messages that have not been delivered from Oracle iFS cause PINE to crash.
Action:	Use any other e-mail client or SMB to view the e-mail.
Bug 1387952	E-mails sent from PINE cannot be opened in the Web Interface.
Description:	An e-mail that originated from a PINE client is not viewable in the Oracle iFS 1.1 Web UI. The body of the e-mail will not be displayed. Instead, a "404 Document not found" error is reported.
Action:	The e-mail can be viewed using any standard e-mail client suitably configured, and through Windows Explorer using Oracle iFS SMB.

HTTP Bugs

Bug 1167713	JLU inheritance is valid for only one level.
Description:	The JSP Lookup (JLU) inheritance does not descend to more than one level in the class hierarchy. For example, in the hierarchy: `A` `+ -- B` `+ -- C` a Java Server Page associated with B will be invoked when a document of class C is accessed. However a JSP associated with A will not be invoked when a document of class C is accessed. In the case of a type C descending from type B which in turn descends from type A, C will not see any JSP mapped to type A.
Action:	Add another entry to the JLUs, wherein type B is mapped to the same JSP as type A.
Bug 1387888	Web Folders displays an e-mail as a folder.
Description:	The Web Folders-based interface to Oracle iFS does not handle the rendering of Oracle iFS emails as one entity. The e-mails appear as a folder and the constituents as parts of separate documents.
Action:	Use an IMAP client to view the e-mail.
Bug 1387909	DAV servlet default charset encoding is not in Oracle iFS Service Properties.
Description:	The default character set value for the DAV Servlet is stored in `IfsDavServletParameters` file instead of the `IfsService.properties` file.
Action:	Change the ifs.dav.webfolders.charencoding parameter in IfsDavServletParameters.properties to allow access to 8-bit and multibyte folders. The file is in the directory $ORACLE_HOME/ifs<version>/settings/oracle /ifs/protocols/dav/impl/properties.
Bug 1393110	Folder names in top level Oracle iFS directory are restricted.
Description:	In an Apache environment, servlet names exactly matching one or more of the first characters of the name of a top-level directory will cause the Web UI to fail. For example, if the name of the servlet is `ifsservlet`, the presence of a folder called `ifsservlet_files` will cause the Web UI to fail.
Action:	Do not create any top-level folder on Oracle iFS with the same first set of characters as the servlet name.

Oracle iFS Manager Bugs

Bug 1167418	There is no provision for changing the ACL of a User Object itself.
Description:	The ACLs of DirectoryUsers cannot be changed in the Oracle iFS Manager.
Action:	Go to the Web Interface and select the user in the Users list. Click Edit->Apply ACL to update the ACL.
Bug 1388097	Cannot rename an ACL or User.
Description:	ACLs or users cannot be renamed in Oracle iFS Manager.
Action:	To rename an ACL, go to the Web Interface, select the ACL in the ACL list and click Edit->Rename. Renaming a DirectoryUser requires a Java utility that can update the NAME attribute of the DirectoryUser.
Bug 1401400	All operations after exception IFS-10653 are not saved.
Description:	If you do an illegal operation in Oracle iFS Manager you may get the exception "IFS-10653: Unable to abort transaction". After this exception is displayed, all operations are invalid and will not be committed to the database.
Action:	Exit Oracle iFS Manager. Restart Oracle iFS Manager and continue working.