Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2 Release Notes

Chapter 3 Known Issues and Limitations

This chapter describes known problems and associated workarounds for the Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 software. If a summary statement does not specify a particular platform, the problem applies to all platforms. This information is organized into the following sections:

Administration

This section describes known administration issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6171458 

The package-appclient script does not work if domain1 is not present.

By default, there is a hard-coded value in $INSTALL/lib/package-appclient.xml for the AS_ACC_CONFIG variable for domain1 that is pointed to by asenv.conf. If domain1 is deleted and a new domain created, the AS_ACC_CONFIG variable is not updated with the new domain name, which causes the package-appclient script to fail.

Solution

Do one of the following:  

  1. Leave domain1 intact, and create your other domains around it.

  2. Remove domain1 and replace the hard-coded value for domain1 in $INSTALL/lib/package-appclient.xml with the new domain name.

This will have to be done every time a new domain is created if domain1 is not present.

6196993 

Cannot restore backed-up domain with another name. 

Mirroring of a domain on the same Application Server installation cannot be performed using the backup-domain and restore-domain commands because the domain cannot be restored using a different name than the original, even though the asadmin restore-domain command provides an option to rename the domain. Renaming the backed-up domain appears to succeed, but attempts to start the renamed domain fail because the entries in the domain configuration are not changed, and startserv and stopserv use the original domain name to set paths.

Solution

The domain name used for restore-domain must be the same as that used for the original backup-domain command. The backup-domain and restore-domain commands in Application Server 8.1 work only for backing up and restoring the same domain on the same machine.

6200011 

Starting Application Server with additional JMX Agent is not supported. 

J2SE 1.4.x, 5.0, or later can be configured on the Application Server. An integral feature of J2SE 5.0 platform is the ability to start a JMX agent. This is activated when you explicitly set system properties at the server startup. 

Example values include: 


name="com.sun.management.jmxremote" value="true"
name="com.sun.management.jmxremote.port" value="9999"
name="com.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate" value="false"
name="com.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl" value="false"

After configuring JMX properties and starting the server, a new jmx-connector server is started within the Application Server Virtual Machine. An undesirable side-effect of this is that the administration functions are affected adversely, and the Application Server administration Console and command—line interface may produce unexpected results. The problem is that there are some conflicts between the built in jmx-connector server and the new jmx-connector server.

Solution

If using jconsole (or any other JMX-compliant client), consider reusing the standard JMX Connector Server that is started with Application Server startup.

When the server starts up, a line similar to the one shown below appears in the server.log. You can connect to the JMXService URL specified there and perform the same management/configuration operations after successfully providing the credentials; for example:


[#|2004-11-24T17:49:08.203-0800|INFO|sun-appserver-ee8.1|javax.
enterprise.system.tools.admin|_ThreadID=10;|ADM1501: Here is 
the JMXServiceURL for the JMXConnectorServer: [service:jmx:rmi:
///jndi/rmi://hostname:8686/management/rmi-jmx-connector]. This 
is where the remote administrative clients should connect using 
the JSR 160 JMX Connectors.|#]

For more information, refer to the Administration Guide.

6206176 

On UNIX, overly restrictive execute permissions on Application Server start and stop scripts. 

If you run the asadmin restore-domain command while logged in as user "A", the scripts will end up with permissions as 744 (rwxr--r--). If you subsequently attempt to start or stop a domain as user "B" (even if "B" is root), it will fail because the scripts are only executable for "A".

Solution

Change the permissions on the scripts:  


chmod 755 appserv/domains/domain-name/bin/*

6236544, 6275436 

Load balancer configuration file does not get created with the endpoint URL of any web service. 

When setting up the load balancer configuration with an application that has an EJB module that exports a web service URL, the context root for the web service isn't in the resulting loadbalancer.xml file.

Solution

  1. Edit the loadbalancer.xml file to add the missing web module as follows:


    <web-module context-root="context-root-name"
    disable-timeout-in-minutes="30" enabled="true"/>
  2. Replace context-root-name value with the context root name of the web service that was exposed as an EJB.

6288893 

Application Server restart using sun-appserv-admin causes LoginException error.

Solution

  1. Rename the existing <as_install>/bin/asant script to asant.bak.

  2. Copy the asant.template file in <as_install>/lib/install/templates/ee (for SE/EE version) to the <as_install>/bin/ directory and rename the file asant.

  3. Edit the newly copied <as_install>/bin/asant script, replacing the %CONFIG_HOME% token with <as_install>/config.

  4. If there were any manual changes made to the original asant.bak file, merge them into the new asant script.

6315957 

The .asadmintruststore file is not described in the Application Server documentation. If this file does not exist in the server administrator's home directory, you may experience serious bugs when upgrading certain applications hosted on the server.

Solution

  • If possible, the asadmin start-domain domain1 command should be run by user who installed the server.

  • If it is not run by that user, the .asadmintruststore should be moved or copied from the home directory of installing user to the home directory of the running user.

  • Note that if the file is moved (not copied) from the installing user's home directory to the running user's home directory, you might experience application upgrade problems, as described in bugs 6309079, 6310428 and 6312869, because the upgrade/install user (normally root in Java ES) will no longer have the .asadminstruststore file in his or her home directory.

6462903 

Error occurs in Application Server 8.1 Admin GUI when Save button clicked more than once.

When changing the HTTP port value on a server instance, either start the server instance before making the port change, or click the Save button only once if the server instance is down.

6506605 

asadmin multimode appears to cache the master password.

The following series of operations fail with asadmin when running in multimode:


create-domain
start-domain
stop-domain
delete-domain
create-domain

The final create-domain fails with the error:


Invalid database password. CLI130 Could not create domain, domain2

This problem is caused by a JDK limitation. 

Solution

Please do not create multiple domains in a single Java VM with asadmin multimode. You cannot use asadmin multimode to create or start two domains with different master passwords.

Apache and Load Balancer Plugin

This section describes known Apache Web server and load balancer plugin issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6306784 

The High-Availability Administration Guide contains incorrect instructions for using openssl with Apache.

Solution

When compiling and building openssl, run the following commands:

cd openssl-0.9.7e

config

make

Also, for Apache 1.3, the directory name of the mod_ssl source will vary depending upon the release of Apache used. For example, for Apache 1.3.33, the name is mod_ssl-2.8.22-1.3.33.

6307976 

The High-Availability Administration Guide does not contain instructions for using a certificate for Apache 2.0. 

Solution

To run Apache security, you must use a certificate. For instructions on obtaining a certificate from a certificate authority, see the information on certificates in the modssl FAQ.

6308021 

Must start Apache Web Server as root. 

Solution

On Solaris, if your Application Server was installed under root, you must start the Apache Web Server as root. Java Enterprise System installations are installed as root. For Apache 2.0, after starting as root, Apache switches and runs as another user you designate. You designate that user in the /conf/httpd.conf file. To start as root, on many systems you must edit the httpd.conf file to designate the correct group. Replace the line:

Group #-1

with 

Group nobody

More information on user/group use is included in the httpd.conf file.

6308043 

Addition to instructions for using openssl with Apache Web Server 2.0 on Solaris.

After installing Apache 2.0 and the load balancer plug-in, edit ssl.conf and sll-std.conf as follows:

Replace the line: 

<VirtualHost _default_:9191>

with 

<VirtualHost machine_name:9191>

Where machine_name is the name of your machine and 9191 is a security port number.

6338687 

Load Balancer Plugin URL/URI limit = 8K. 

There is a hard-coded limit of 8K for the length of URLs/URIs that can be parsed by the load balancer plugin in Application Server 8.1 Update 2. 

Solution

Do not create URLs or URIs greater than 8K in length and then send them to the Application Server by means of the load balancer plugin. 

6406884 

Problems using IIS6 and load balancer plugin with Application Server 8.1UR2. 

Solution

To use IIS6 and the load balancer plugin with Application Server 8.1UR2, you need to perform the following addition configuration steps: 

  1. Add appserver-install-location/lib to the system path variable and then restart the machine.

  2. Enable unknown Web service extensions, as described in the Microsoft Technet article Requests for dynamic content return 404 error (IIS 6.0).

  3. Give NTFS write and modify permissions to the group IIS_WPG on the file inetput/wwwroot/sun-passthrough/lb.log. This is necessary because IIS 6.0 runs in Worker Process Isolation Mode, and it runs the IIS server with the security privileges of the group IIS_WPG. You will need to create this file and then right click on it to set security permissions.

If you do not see the status of the ISAPI filter going green, try sending any http request (do not worry if it fails here) to the IIS-http-port and then right-click on Web site and select properties and check the ISAPI filter. 

Application Client

This section describes known application client issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6193556 

Library JAR packaged in Application Client Archive overwrites MANIFEST file. 

If you have a top level JAR file inside your client JAR (in this case, reporter.jar), when you deploy the client JAR, the MANIFEST file for that JAR overwrites the MANIFEST file for the client JAR. 

Solution

None at this time. 

6373043 

Dynamic content technologies, such as CGI-bin and SHTML, are no longer supported. 

Solution

Use JSP and Web service technologies instead. 

Bundled Sun JDBC Drivers

This section describes known bundled Sun JDBC driver issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6165970 

Applications using the TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE isolation level with the bundled Sun driver for Microsoft SQL Server may hang when using a prepared statement to update if two parallel transactions are running and one of them is rolled back.

To set a desired isolation level for a connection, the corresponding connection pool must be created at that same isolation level. See the Administration Guide for details about configuring connection pools. 

Solution

None at this time. 

6170432 

PreparedStatement Errors.

Description #1

If an application generates more than 3000 PreparedStatement objects in one transaction, the following error may occur with DB2:

[sunm][DB2 JDBC Driver] No more available statements.Please recreate your package with a larger dynamicSections value.

Solution #1

Add following properties to the connection pool definition to get the driver to rebind DB2 packages with a larger dynamic sections value:  

createDefaultPackage=true replacePackage=true dynamicSections=1000

See the Administration Guide for details about configuring connection pools.

Description #2

Related to the PrepardStatement error above, another error message that may be thrown is:

[sunm][DB2 JDBC Driver][DB2]Virtual storage or database resource is not available.

Solution #2

Increase the DB2 server configuration parameter APPLHEAPSZ. A good value is 4096.

Description #3

Isolation level TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE. If your application uses isolation level TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE and uses one of the parameters suggested above, it might hang while obtaining a connection.

Solution #3

To set desired isolation level for a connection, the corresponding connection pool has to be created at that isolation level. See the Administration Guide for instructions.

6189199 

Problems setting isolation level with the bundled Sun driver for Sybase Adaptive Server. 

  • Applications using the TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE isolation level with the bundled Sun driver for Sybase Adaptive Server may hang when using a prepared statement to update if two parallel transactions are running and one of them is rolled back. Connection rollback fails with following message, and the rolled back connections cannot be used anymore:

    java.sql.SQLException: [sunm][Sybase JDBC Driver]Request cannot be submitted due to wire contention

  • Sybase Adaptive Server does not support the TRANSACTION_REPEATABLE_READ isolation level. However, querying DatabaseMetaData, the bundled Sun driver returns that this isolation level is supported by the database. Applications using the this isolation level will fail.

  • Applications using the bundled Sun driver cannot set the TRANSACTION_READ_UNCOMMITTED isolation level. The application throws the following exception on the first DataBaseMetaData access:

    java.sql.SQLException: [sunm][Sybase JDBC Driver][Sybase]The optimizer could not find a unique index which it could use to perform an isolation level 0 scan on table 'sybsystemprocs.dbo.spt_server_info'.

Solution

None at this time. 

6247468 

On Solaris 10 and Enterprise Linux 3.0, the Sun bundled Oracle JDBC driver does not allow the creation of a connection. 

Solution

Set the following property on the JDBC connection pool when using the SUN JDBC oracle datasource (com.sun.sql.jdbcx.oracle.OracleDataSource):

<property name="serverType" value="dedicated"/>

The value of the property depends upon the way the Oracle server's listener is configured. If it is configured in the "shared" mode, the above value needs to change to "dedicated". 

Connectors

This section describes known J2EE connector architecture issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6188343 

After restarting a DAS instance, undeploying the connector module fails when cascade is set to false. 

In this scenario, a standalone or embedded connector module is deployed in DAS and connector connection pools, and resources are created for the deployed module. After restarting the DAS instance, undeploying the connector module fails when cascade is set to false with the following exception: 

[#|2004-10-31T19:52:23.049-0800|INFO|sun-appserver-ee8.1|javax.enterprise.system .core|_ThreadID=14;|CORE5023: Error while unloading application [foo]|#]

Solution

Use cascaded undeploy (set the cascade option to true) for undeploying standalone and embedded connectors after restart of the DAS instance. 

6412132 

Using JDBC getConnection() for pooling connections.

If you get a Connection from an Application Server JDBC connection pool, create a Statement object, and then use the Statement.getConnection method, the statement returns the physical connection instead of the wrapped connection. When you close this physical connection, you break the connection pool logic. To avoid this problem, set the following JVM property in the domain.xml file:


<jvm-options>-Dcom.sun.appserv.jdbc.wrapJdbcObjects=truejvm-options>-Dcom.sun.appserv.jdbc.wrapJdbcObjects=true>

6412148 

ORBCommunicationsRetryTimeout error.

The ORBCommunicationsRetryTimeout property specifies the number of seconds the ORB client will try to establish a connection to an unreachable ORB backend. The default value is 60 seconds. With this default setting, you may see a large number of CORBA exceptions in the logs, as well as high network usage if the ORB backend is not reachable.

Solution

Set the ORBCommunicationsRetryTimeout to a lower value.

Documentation

This section describes known documentation issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

Various IDs 

Javadoc Inconsistencies. 

The Javadoc for several AMX interfaces and methods is either missing or incorrect: 

  • Getter methods for NumConnAcquired and NumConnReleased statistics are missing from ConnectorConnectionPoolStats and AltJDBCConnectionPoolStats. These getter methods will be added in a future release as getNumConnAcquired() and getNumConnReleased().

  • Calling the following methods in EJBCacheStats will throw an exception: getPassivationSuccesses(), getExpiredSessionsRemoved(), getPassivationErrors(), getPassivations(). This will be fixed in a future release.

  • The AMX MBeans may require several seconds after server startup before they are all registered and available for use. A future release will make it possible to determine when the AMX MBeans are fully loaded.

  • The constant XTypes.CONNNECTOR_CONNECTION_POOL_MONITOR is misspelled ("NNN"). This will be corrected in a future release.

6219689 

Error in ConnectionPoolStats API documentation.

The API documentation in install_dir/docs/api states:


public CountStatistic getNumConnFree()

This entry should read: 


public RangeStatistic getNumConnFree()

6265624 

Bundled ANT throws java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError.

The following exception is thrown in thread main: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.

Solution

Using the bundled ANT for activities outside the Application Server is not recommended. 

6482223 

Differences in default values in creating new JMS connection factory for online help and documentation. 

When creating a new JMS connection factory, the online help and the Administration Guide differ in the list of default values for the connection factory. Specifically, the online help lists the following:


======================================= 
ReconnectAttempts      : 6 
UserName               : guest 
ReconnectInterval      : 30000 
ReconnectEnabled       : false 
Password               : guest 
ClientId               :  
AddressListBehavior    : PRIORITY 
AddressListIterations  : -1 
AddressList            : 7676 
=======================================

The Administration Guide lists the following:


======================================= 
ReconnectAttempts      : 3 
UserName               : guest 
ReconnectInterval      : 30000 
ReconnectEnabled       : true 
Password               : guest 
ClientId               :  
AddressListBehavior    : RANDOM 
AddressListIterations  : 3 
AddressList            : 7676 
=======================================

Solution

The information in the Administration Guide is correct.

6486123 

Documentation on getting a physical Connection from a wrapped Connection is no longer correct. 

As a result of other defects (possibly 6295215) the code provided in the Obtaining a Physical Connection from a Wrapped Connection in Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Developer’s Guidesection of Chapter 11, Using the JDBC API for Database Access, in Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Developer’s Guide is not correct. Specifically, the line:


Connection drivercon = ds.getConnection(con);

should now read: 


Connection drivercon = ((com.sun.gjc.spi.DataSource)ds).getConnection(con);

6511489 

Additional information needed to explain KeepAliveFlushes and KeepAliveRefusals.

The Application Server Tuning Guide should contain the following additional information about KeepAliveFlushes and KeepAliveRefusals.

In the current version of Application Server, the server does not close existing connections when the KeepAliveCount exceeds the MaxKeepAliveConnections. Instead, new keep-alive connections are refused and the KeepAliveResusals count is incremented.

High Availability

This section describes known high availability database (HADB) issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

no ID 

HADB Configuration with Double Networks. 

HADB configured with double networks on two subnets works properly on Solaris SPARC. However, due to problems in the operating system or network drivers on some hardware platforms, it has been observed that Solaris x86 and Linux platforms do not always handle double networks properly. This causes the following problems with HADB: 

  • On Linux, some of the HADB processes are blocked when sending messages. This causes HADB node restarts and network partitioning.

  • On Solaris x86, some problems may arise after a network failure that prevent switching to the other network interface. This does not happen all the time, so it is still better to have two networks than one. These problems are partially solved in Solaris 10.

  • Trunking is not supported.

  • HADB does not support double networks on Windows 2003 (ID 5103186).

no ID 

HADB Database Creation Fails. 

Creating a new database may fail with the following error, stating that too few shared memory segments are available: 

HADB-E-21054: System resource is unavailable: HADB-S-05512: Attaching shared memory segment with key "xxxxx" failed, OS status=24 OS error message: Too many open files.

Solution

Verify that shared memory is configured and the configuration is working. In particular, on Solaris 8, inspect the file /etc/system, and check that the value of the variable shmsys:shminfo_shmseg is at least six times the number of nodes per host.

5091280 

hadbm set does not check resource availability (disk and memory space).

When increasing device or buffer sizes using hadbm set, the management system checks resource availability when creating databases or adding nodes, but does not check if there are sufficient resources available when device or main-memory buffer sizes are changed.

Solution

Verify that there is enough free disk/memory space on all hosts before increasing any of the devicesize or buffersize configuration attributes.

5091349 

Heterogeneous paths for packagepath not supported.

It is not possible to register the same software package with the same name with different locations at different hosts; for example: 


hadbm registerpackage test --packagepath=/var/install1 --hosts europa11
Package successfully registered.
hadbm registerpackage test --packagepath=/var/install2 --hosts europa12
hadbm:Error 22171: A software package has already been registered with 
the package name test.

Solution

HADB does not support heterogeneous paths across nodes in a database cluster. Make sure that the HADB server installation directory (--packagepath) is the same across all participating hosts.

6173886, 6253132 

createdomain may fail.

If running the management agent on a host with multiple netwrok interfaces, the createdomain command may fail if not all network interfaces are on the same subnet: 


hadbm:Error 22020: The management agents could not establish a domain, 
please check that the hosts can communicate with UDP multicast.

The management agents will (if not configured otherwise) use the "first" interface for UDP multicasts ("first" as defined by the result from java.net.NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces()).

Solution

The best solution is to tell the management agent which subnet to use (set ma.server.mainternal.interfaces in the configuration file, e.g., ma.server.mainternal.interfaces=10.11.100.0). Alternatively one may configure the router between the subnets to route multicast packets (the management agent uses multicast address 228.8.8.8).

Before retrying with a new configuration of the management agents, you may have to clean up the management agent repository. Stop all agents in the domain, and delete all files and directories in the repository directory (identified by repository.dr.path in the management agent configuration file). This must be done on all hosts before restarting the agents with a new configuration file.

6230792, 6230415 

Starting, stopping, and reconfiguring HADB may fail or hang. 

On Solaris 10 Opteron, starting, stopping or reconfiguring HADB using the hadbm command may fail or hang with one of the following errors:


hadbm:Error 22009: The command issued had no progress in the last 300 
seconds.
HADB-E-21070: The operation did not complete within the time limit, but 
has not been cancelled and may complete at a later time.

This may happen if there are inconsistencies reading/writing to a file (nomandevice) which the clu_noman_srv process uses. This problem can be detected by looking for the following messages in the HADB history files:


n:3 NSUP INF 2005-02-11 18:00:33.844 p:731 Child process noman3 733 does 
not respond.
n:3 NSUP INF 2005-02-11 18:00:33.844 p:731 Have not heard from it in 
104.537454 sec.
n:3 NSUP INF 2005-02-11 18:00:33.844 p:731 Child process noman3 733 did 
not start.

Solution

The following workaround is unverified, as the problem has not been reproduced manually. However, running this command for the affected node should solve the problem. 


hadbm restartnode --level=clear nodeno dbname

Note that all devices for the node will be reinitialized. You may have to stop the node before reinitializing it. 

6232140 

The management agent terminates with the exception "IPV6_MULTICAST_IF failed"

When starting on a host running Solaris 8 with several NIC cards installed, if there is a mixture of cards with IPv6 and IPv4 enabled, the management agent may terminate with the exception "IPV6_MULTICAST_IF failed."

Solution

Set the environment variable JAVA_OPTIONS to -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true; for example:


export JAVA_OPTIONS="-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"

Alternatively, use Solaris 9 or later, which do not exhibit this problem. 

6249685 

clu_trans_srv cannot be interrupted.

There is a bug in the 64-bit version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 that makes the clu_trans_srv process end up in an uninterruptible mode when performing asynchronous I/O. This means that kill -9 does not work and the operating system must be rebooted.

Solution

Use a 32-bit version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0. 

6262824 

hadbm does not support passwords containing capital letters.

Capital letters in passwords are converted to lowercase when the password is stored in hadb.

Solution

Do not use passwords containing capital letters. 

6265419 

Downgrading from HADB Version 4.4.2.5 to HADB Version 4.4.1.7 causes ma to fail with different error codes. 

When downgrading to a previous HADB version, the management agent may fail with different error codes. 

Solution

It is possible to downgrade the HADB database, however the management agent cannot be downgraded if there changes have been made in the repository objects. After a downgrade, you must keep use the management agent from the latest HADB version. 

6271063 

Install/removal and symlink preservation.

Regarding install/removal of HADB c package (Solaris: SUNWhadbc, Linux: sun-hadb-c) version <m.n.u-p>, the symlink /opt/SUNWhadb/<m> is never touched once it exists. Thus, it is possible that an orphaned symlink will exist.

Solution

Delete the symlink before install or after uninstall unless in use.

6273681 

Management agents in global and local zones may interfere. 

On Solaris 10, stopping a management agent by using the ma-initd script in a global zone stops the management agent in the local zone as well. 

Solution

Do not install the management agent both in the global and local zone. 

6275103 

hadbm/ma should give a better error message when a session object has timed out and deleted at MA.

Sometimes, a resource contention problem on the server may cause a management client to become disconnected, When reconnecting, a misleading error message "hadbm:Error 22184: A password is required to connect to the management agent" may be returned.

Solution

Check if there is a resource problem on the server, take proper action (e.g., add more resources), and retry the operation. 

6275319 

Non-root users cannot manage HADB. 

Installing with Java Enterprise System (as root) does not permit non-root users to manage HADB. 

Solution

Always login as root to manage HADB. 

6293912 

The Management Agent should not use special-use interfaces. 

Special use interfaces with IP addresses like 0.0.0.0 should not be registered as valid interfaces to be used for HADB nodes in the Management Agent. Registering such interfaces may cause problems if HADB nodes are set up on these interfaces by means of a user issuing a hadbm create command using host names instead of IP addresses. The nodes will then be unable to communicate, causing the create command to hang.

Solution

When using hadbm create on hosts with multiple interfaces, always specify the IP addresses explicitly using DDN notation.

6291562 

Reassembly failures on Windows. 

On the Windows platform, with certain configurations and loads, there may be a large number of reassembly failures in the operating system. The problem has been seen with configurations of more than twenty nodes when running several table scans (select *) in parallel. The symptoms may be that transactions abort frequently, repair or recovery may take a long time to complete, and there may be frequent timeouts in various parts of the system.

Solution

To fix the problem, the Windows registry variable HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters can be set to a value higher than the default 100. It is recommended that you increase this value to 0x1000 (4096). For more information, see. article 811003 from the Microsoft support pages.

6453946 

Load balancer plugin healthcheck generates a large number of connection/disconnection at the background (load). 

For health check purposes, a runDaemonMonitor thread performs connect/disconnect for every Application Server listener. This can lead to connection saturation on Application Server.

Solution

A new attribute, monitor-interval-in-seconds, has been developed for the loadbalancer.xml file. This attribute can be used to insert a pause between connect/disconnect events in the case where hundreds of listeners are configure for the load balancer plugin. Default pause value is 0.

Installation

This section describes known installation issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

5009728 

Installation shutdown hanging on some Linux systems after clicking the "Finish" button. 

This problem has been observed on several Linux systems. It is most common on Java Desktop System 2 but has also been observed on Linux Red Hat distributions. 

After clicking the "Finish" button on the last installer screen, the installer fails to launch a browser window containing the product About page or product registration page, and hangs indefinitely, not returning the command prompt. 

Solution

Exit the installer by pressing Ctrl+C in the terminal window in which the installer was started. After doing this, browser window containing product About page or registration page will sometimes be launched, but if it does not show up, start the browser and enter following URL in order to review About page:


file://install_dir/docs-ee/about.html

If you also selected the installation option to register the product, follow the link to registration page available on product About page. 

6199697 

On Windows, the imq directory needs to be created during installation.

On Windows, immediately after installing Application Server Enterprise Edition, the Message Queue broker fails on startup with a message saying the directory drive:\as\domains\domain1\imq does not exist.

Note that if the broker is started after starting domain1, the directory will be created by the Application Server and the problem will not occur.

Solution

  1. Create the var_home_dir_location before creating the broker:


    $imqbrokerd -varhome var_home_dir_location
    

    For example:


    $imqbrokerd -varhome D:\as\domains\domain1\imq

6297837 

The Application Server installer shows the wrong product release date in the product name, “Sun Java(TM) System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q4.” 

Solution

The correct product name/date should read “Sun Java(TM) System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2.” 

6395605 

In Application Server 8.1 Update 2 Patch-8(JES4), the patchadd and patchrm commands fail to add patch correctly in Solaris SPARC 10 (3/05 s10_74L2a).

Solution

Install Solaris SPARC 10 (1/06 s10s_u1wos_19) Update 1.

6396045 

This version of Application Server does not support Network File System (NFS). 

6401383 

When installing Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 Update 2 on Windows using the Windows MSI installer, you cannot select an alternative installation directory or alternative admin, HTTP, or HTTPS ports. For installation directory, you can only choose the drive and three-letter directory name. 

Solution

You cannot change the installation directory, but you can choose alternative admin, HTTP, and/or HTTPS ports. To do this: 

  1. Install the Application Server with the Typical->Automatic Config option.

    This creates the default domain.

  2. Stop all Application Server processes, and then delete the default domain.

  3. Recreate the domain using asadmin create-domain and ASConfigure.bat to enable the desired parameters.

6403477 

After an incremental installation of Application Server, uninstallation fails. 

Solution

Kill all Application Server processes and reboot the system, then run the uninstallation script again. 

J2EE Tutorial

To run the J2EE 1.4 Tutorial on the Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 perform these tasks:

Lifecycle Management

This section describes known lifecycle management issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6193449 

After setting the ejb-timer-service property minimum-delivery-interval to 9000, an attempt to set the ejb-timer-service property redelivery-interval-in-mills to 7000 causes the set command to fail with the following error:


[echo] Doing admin task set
[exec] [Attribute(id=redelivery-interval-internal-in-millis) : 
Redelivery-Interval (7,000) should be greater than or equal to 
Minimum-delivery-interval-in-millis (9,000)]
[exec] CLI137 Command set failed.
  • minimum-delivery-interval is the minimal interval duration between deliveries of the same periodic timer.

  • redelivery-interval-in-mills is the time the timer service will wait after a failed ejbTimeout before attempting redelivery.

The problem is that the logic that relates the redelivery interval property to the minimum delivery property is incorrect and prevents you from using the GUI or the CLI to set any value where the minimum delivery interval is greater than redelivery interval. 

The minimum-delivery-interval-in-millis must always be set equal to or higher than ejb-timer-service property redelivery-interval-in-millis. The problem is that there is an erroneous validation check in the Application Server to verify that the value for redelivery-interval-in-millis is greater than the value for minimum-delivery-interval-in-millis.

Solution

Use the default values for these properties, as follows: 


minimum-delivery-interval(default)=7000
redelivery-interval-in-millis(default)=5000

Values other than these defaults will generate an error. 

Logging

This section describes known logging issues and solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6180095 

Setting debug statement for access,failure causes hanging in Application Server startup.

Setting the java.security.debug option for the JVM will cause the server instance startup to freeze with a deadlock; for example, setting the following in domain.xml causes the problem:


<jvm-options>-Djava.security.debug=access,failure</jvm-options>

None at this time. Please avoid setting this flag. 

Message Queue

This section describes known Java message queue issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6173308, 6189645, 6198481, 6199510, 6208728 

JMS reconnection does not successfully complete in certain cases that are timing dependent. 

Failures to reconnect in timing-dependent scenarios can be caused by several problems.  

Solution

You can work around these problems by: 

  • Restarting the brokers involved

  • Restarting the Application Server instances involved

6198465 

Asynchronous message listener behavior changed in appclient from 8.0 to 8.1 Update 2.

Due to a recent change, when an asynchronous message listener is the only live thread in the app-client container, the remaining appclient virtual machine exists as a daemon. This behavior is a regression for past applications that perform asynchronous receives in ACC. This problem affects application clients that set a JMS message listener and exit the main thread.

Solution

Do not exit the main thread. Wait for the message listener to notify the main thread before terminating the main thread. 

Monitoring

This section describes known monitoring issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6174518 

Some of the HTTP Service monitoring statistics do not present useful information and should be ignored. 

When viewing the monitoring statistics of some elements of the HTTP Service, some values presented do not correspond to current values or are always 0. Specifically, the following HTTP Service statistics do not present information applicable to the Application Server, and should be ignored: 

  • http-service

    load1MinuteAverage

    load5MinuteAverage

    load15MinuteAverage

    rateBytesTransmitted

    rateBytesReceived

  • pwc-thread-pool (the element)

Solution

These monitors will be removed in future releases and replaced with more appropriate information. 

6191092 

Monitoring MBean for an undeployed EJB module is not removed, even though all statistics under that monitoring name are moved. 

For example: 


EJBModuleMonitorMap().size() = 1  eventhough ejb module is undeployed
EJBModuleMonitor().getName() = sqe_ejb_s1_01

This true for both EJB modules and applications. Both programmatically (through MBean API) and through asadmin list/get, an empty monitoring MBean still exists.

Diagnostics


asadmin list -m "server.applications" shows the following output:
server.applications.MEjbApp
server.applications.__ejb_container_timer_app
server.applications.adminapp
server.applications.admingui
server.applications.com_sun_web_ui
server.applications._export_install_nov-11_domains_domain1_applications
_j2ee-modules_sqe_ejb_s1_01

You can look at statistics: 


bin/asadmin list -m "server.applications._export_install_nov-11_
domains_domain1_applications_j2ee-modules_sqe_ejb_s1_01"
server.applications._export_install_nov-11_domains_domain1_
applications_j2ee-modules_sqe_ejb_s1_01.SQEMessageserver.
applications._export_install_nov-11_domains_domain1_applications_
j2ee-modules_sqe_ejb_s1_01.TheGreeter

Once you undeploy: 


_export_install_nov-11_domains_domain1_applications_j2ee-modules_
sqe_ejb_s1_01

If you do a list command, you still see the application: 


asadmin list -m "server.applications"
server.applications.MEjbApp
server.applications.__ejb_container_timer_app
server.applications._export_install_nov-11_domains_domain1_
applications_j2ee-modules_sqe_ejb_s1_01
server.applications.adminapp
server.applications.admingui
server.applications.com_sun_web_ui

but it does not contain any monitoring statistics: 


asadmin list -m "server.applications._expo
rt_install_nov-11_domains_domain1_applications_j2ee-modules_
sqe_ejb_s1_01"
Nothing to list at server.applications.-export-install-nov-
11-domains-domain1-applications-j2ee-modules-sqe-ejb-s1-01.

To get the valid names beginning with a string, use the wildcard (`*') character. For example, to list the names of all the monitorable entities that begin with server, use list "server.*".

Solution

This is harmless. Module can be safely redeployed with out any problems. The root monitoring Mbean is not removed, but it is empty. 

PointBase

This section describes known and associated solutions related to PointBase.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6184797 

Setting the isolation levels on a connection pool for an application causes exceptions in PointBase. 

For a JDBC connection pool pointing to a PointBase database installation, setting the transaction-isolation-level pool attribute to any value other than the default (Connection.TRANSACTION_READ_COMMITTED) causes an exception. However, setting this same parameter to non-default values for pools pointing to other databases does not throw an exception.

Solution

For a JDBC connection pool pointing to a PointBase database installation, do not attempt to set the transaction-isolation-level.

6204925 

PointBase throws an exception if a network server and embedded drivers are used together. 

The bundled PointBase sometimes throws an exception if the network server driver and the embedded driver are simultaneously used. 

Solution

Use either the embedded driver or the network server driver, but not both. 

6264969, 6275448 

Upgrade problem where the default PointBase database is overwritten.  

When upgrading to Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2, the Update release patch overwrites the Pointbase default database. 

Solution

Recreate or re-enter any scheme or data that existed prior to the upgrade. If you deployed applications with CMP beans with the generate table option, you must undeploy or redeploy the application to have the tables regenerated. 

Samples

This section describes known and associated solutions related to the sample code included with the Application Server 8.1 product.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6195092 

On Windows, setup-one-machine-cluster hangs but works on Solaris; mqfailover requires Ctrl+C to cancel and then must be re-run.

From install_dir\samples\ee-samples\failover\apps\mqfailover\docs\index.html, if you run the following commands:

  • Console 1


    cd install_dir\samples\ee-samples asant start-mq-master-broker1
  • Console 2


    cd install_dir\samples\ee-samples asant start-mq-cluster-broker1
  • Console 3


    cd install_dir\samples\ee-samples asant start-mq-cluster-broker2
  • Console 4


    cd install_dir\samples\ee-samples asadmin start-domain domain1

If you have already executed asant setup-one-machine-cluster-without-ha or asant setup-one-machine-cluster-with-ha for any other Enterprise Edition sample, then execute asant configure-mq otherwise execute asant setup-one-machine-cluster-and-configure-mq. In this case, the command appears to succeed:


start_nodeagent: [echo] Start the node agent cluster1-nodeagent 
[exec] Command start-node-agent executed successfully.

But then the system hangs indefinitely. 

Solution

None at this time. This problem similarly affects all Enterprise Edition samples that use this ant target on Windows. A workaround is to Ctrl+C out of the hung process and then rerun it.

6198003 

Documentation does not explicitly state that you need to create JMS resources before running the MQ Failover Sample Application following the asadmin deploy instructions.

The error thrown is as follows: 


/opt/SUNWappserver/domains/domain1/config/sun-acc.xml -name 
MQFailoverTestClient -textauth -user j2ee -password j2ee
Nov 18, 2004 10:50:17 PM com.sun.enterprise.naming.NamingManagerImpl 
bindObjects
SEVERE: NAM0006: JMS Destination object not found: jms/durable/TopicA
Nov 18, 2004 10:50:18 PM com.sun.enterprise.naming.NamingManagerImpl 
bindObjects
SEVERE: javax.naming.NameNotFoundException
javax.naming.NameNotFoundException

The documentation does not explicitly state that JMS resources must be manually created if manual deployment is done using asadmin deploy commands, and that the provided ant targets to deploy the sample application should be used.

Solution

Use the asant deploy target for the build.xml script, which creates the required JMS resources to run the application.

6198239 

On Linux, a runtime error is displayed during certificate creation in web services/security samples. 

When deploying the install_dir/samples/webservices/security sample (basicSSl) on Linux, the certificate is not created and an error similar to the following is thrown:


generate_certs: [echo] ***Exporting certificate from NSS database 
[exec] Result: 1 [echo] ***Generating Java Keystore from generated 
certificate 
[exec] keytool error: java.lang.Exception: Input not an X.509 
certificate [exec] Result: 1 [echo] ***Generating Java trust store 
from generated certificate 
[exec] keytool error: java.lang.Exception: Input not an X.509 certificate 
[exec] Result: 1
.
.
.
generate_certs: [echo] ***Exporting server certificate from NSS database 
to a PKCS12 certificate file 
[exec] /opt/sun/appserver/lib/pk12util: /usr/lib/libnss3.so: version 
`NSS_3.9' not found (required by /opt/sun/appserver/lib/pk12util) 
[exec] /opt/sun/appserver/lib/pk12util: /usr/lib/libnss3.so: version 
`NSS_3.6' not found (required by /opt/sun/appserver/lib/pk12util) 
[exec] /opt/sun/appserver/lib/pk12util: /usr/lib/libnss3.so: version 
`NSS_3.7' not found (required by /opt/sun/appserver/lib/pk12util) 
[exec] Result: 1

The problem is that NSS libraries are in different locations on Linux installations than on Solaris installations. You need to make sure that the LD_LIBRARY_PATH points to the proper NSS libraries when deploying on Linux. Either set LD_LIBRARY_PATH in your environment, or set it in the install_dir/bin/asant shell wrapper script.

Solution

Do one of the following: 

  • Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/sun/private/lib.

  • Add to the following line to the install_dir/bin/asant script:


    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$AS_NSS:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH;export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Security

This section describes known issues and associated solutions related to Application Server and web application security and certificates.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6183318 

Cannot run WebServiceSecurity applications on Enterprise Edition with J2SE 5.0.

WebServiceSecurity applications cannot run with J2SE 5.0 because:

  • J2SE 5.0 PKCS11 does not support UNWRAP mode

  • J2SE 5.0 PKCS11 does not support RSA/ECB/OAEPWithSHA1AndMGF1Padding with PKCS11

The J2SE team has filed "CR 6190389: Add support for the RSA-PKCS1 and RSA-OAEP wrap/unwrap mechanisms" for this bug. 

Solution

Use J2SE 1.4.2 with any other JCE provider (not the one included by default). Note that hardware accelerator support will not be present in this configuration. 

6269102 

SSL termination is not working; when Load Balancer (Hardware) is configured for SSL termination, the Application Server changes the protocol from https to http during redirection.

Solution

Add a software load balancer between the hardware load balancer and the Application Server. 

Upgrade Utility

This section describes known Upgrade utility issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

6165528 

Domains created in custom-path other than install_dir/domains directory are not upgraded directly while upgrading from Application Server Enterprise Edition 8 to Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1.

When running the Upgrade Utility and identifying the install_dir as the source installation directory, the upgrade process upgrades only those domains that are created under install_dir/domains directory. Domains created in other locations are not upgraded.

Solution

Before starting the upgrade process, copy all the domain directories from their different locations to the install_dir/domains directory.

6207337 

On some Linux systems, the installer running "Upgrade in place" fails to start upgrade tool after clicking on the "Start Upgrade Wizard" button. 

This problem has been observed on several Linux systems, it is most common on Java Desktop System 2 but has also been observed on Red Hat distributions. 

After clicking the "Start Upgrade Tool" button on the final installer screen, the installer fails to launch the upgrade tool to complete the upgrade process, and hangs indefinitely, not returning the command prompt. 

Solution

This issue is not encountered if command line installation mode is used to run upgrade in place. 

  1. If you ran upgrade in place in GUI mode and encountered this problem, exit the installer by pressing Ctrl+C in the terminal window in which the installer was started.

  2. Start upgrade tool from the terminal window, using following command:


    install_dir/bin/asupgrade --source install_dir/domains --target 
    install_dir --adminuser adminuser --adminpassword adminpassword 
    --masterpassword changeit

    adminuser and adminpassword should match the values used for the installation you are upgrading.

  3. When the upgrade tool completes the upgrade process you can also start the browser and enter following URL in order to review About page:


    file://install_dir/docs-ee/about.html

If you also selected the installation option to register the product, follow the link to registration page available on product About page. 

6296105 

Self-signed certificate is not trusted during and after upgrade from 8.0 Platform Edition (PE) to 8.1 Enterprise Edition (EE) UR2. 

Solution

Remove the following entries from the target domain.xml (after the upgrade) and restart the server:

<jvm-options>-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore=${com.sun.aas.instanceRoot}
/config/keystore.jks</jvm-options>-
<jvm-options>Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=${com.sun.aas.instanceRoot}
/config/cacerts.jks</jvm-options>

6331685 

Document externalizing Domain, Agent directory as workaround for file-based installer full reinstall. 

For every file-base install patch, it is often necessary to reconfigure and redo or redeploy all applications. This is a time-consuming and error-prone procedure.  

Solution

Externalize the DAS, NodeAgent, HADB, and MQ instance from the subdirectory or path of the AS8.1 installation to avoid having to perform a full reinstall. 

For example, to externalize the DAS domain to /work/jnditest:


./asadmin create-domain --domaindir /work \
--adminport 7878 --adminuser admin --instanceport 7870 jnditest

To externalize the Node Agent to /work/nagent:


./asadmin create-node-agent --agentdir=/work \
--port 7878 --host $dashost --user admin nagent

Finally, to start the externalized DAS: 


./asadmin start-domain --domaindir /work -u admin  jnditest

6436590 

Uninstalling AS7.x that is coexisting with JES causes JES appserver to fail. 

Uninstalling Application Server 7.x causes all components installed with it to be removed. Subsequently upgrading to Application Server 8.x causes that installation to fail because some of the components on which it depends are missing.

Solution 1

Do not uninstall Application Server 7.x before installing 8.x.

Solution 2

Use pkgrm SUNWas* to manually uninstall packages belonging to Application Server 7.x. For example:


8 - system       SUNWasaco    Sun Java System Application Server Admin Client, unbundled
10 - system      SUNWascmlo   Sun Java System Application Server Shared Libraries, unbundled
13 - system      SUNWascmo    Sun Java System Application Server unbundled (common)
17 - system      SUNWasdmo    Sun Java System Application Server Sample Applications, unbundled
18 - system      SUNWashaco   Sun Java System Application Server Admin Client Extension, 
                              unbundled
20 - system      SUNWashdmo   Sun Java System Application Server HA Sample Applications, 
                              unbundled
21 - system      SUNWashmano  Sun Java System Application Server Extension Manual Pages
22 - system      SUNWasho     Sun Java System Application Server HA Extension, unbundled
26 - system      SUNWasmano   Sun Java System Application Server Standard Manual Pages
27 - system      SUNWaso      Sun Java System Application Server, unbundled (opt)
28 - system      SUNWasro     Sun Java System Application Server, unbundled (root)

Note that if you use this method, you may need to use prodreg unregister to cleanup stale entries in productregistry.

Web Container

This section describes known web container issues and associated solutions.

Bug ID 

Summary 

5004315 

On Windows, deploying an application using --precompilejsp=true can lock JAR files in the application, causing later undeployment or redeployment to fail.

If you request precompilation of JSPs when you deploy an application on Windows, later attempts to undeploy that application or to redeploy it (or any application with the same module ID) will not work as expected. The problem is that JSP precompilation opens JAR files in your application but does not close them, and Windows prevents the undeployment from deleting those files or the redeployment from overwriting them.  

Note that undeployment succeeds to a point, in that the application is logically removed from the Application Server. Also note that no error message is returned by the asadmin utility, but the application's directory and the locked jar files remain on the server. The server's log file will contain messages describing the failure to delete the files and the application's directory.

Attempts to redeploy the application after undeploying fail because the server tries to remove the existing files and directory, and these attempts also fail. This can happen if you try to deploy any application that uses the same module ID as the originally deployed application, because the server uses the module ID in choosing a directory name to hold the application's files.  

Attempts to redeploy the application without undeploying it first will fail for the same reasons. 

Diagnostics

If you attempt to redeploy the application or deploy it after undeploying it, the asadmin utility returns an error similar to the one below. 


An exception occurred while running the command. The exception message is: 
CLI171 Command deploy failed : Deploying application in domain failed; 
Cannot deploy. Module directory is locked and can't be deleted.

Solution

If you specify --precompilejsps=false (the default setting) when you deploy an application, then this problem will not occur. Be aware that the first use of the application will trigger the JSP compilation, so the response time to the first request will be longer than for later requests.

Note also that if you do precompile, you should stop and restart the server before undeploying or redeploying the application. The shutdown frees the locked JAR files so the undeployment or redeployment after the restart can succeed. 

6172006 

Unable to deploy WAR with Servlet 2.4-based web.xml that contains an empty <load-on-startup> element.

The optional load-on-startup servlet element in a web.xml indicates that the associated servlet is to be loaded and initialized as part of the startup of the web application that declares it.

The optional content of this element is an integer indicating the order in which the servlet is to be loaded and initialized with respect to the web application's other servlets. An empty <load-on-startup> indicates that the order is irrelevant, as long as the servlet is loaded and initialized during the startup of its containing web application.

The Servlet 2.4 schema for web.xml no longer supports an empty <load-on-startup>, meaning that an integer must be specified when using a Servlet 2.4 based web.xml. If specifying an empty <load-on-startup>, as in <load-on-startup/>, the web.xml will fail validation against the Servlet 2.4 schema for web.xml, causing deployment of the web application to fail.

Backwards compatibility issue. Specifying an empty <load-on-startup> still works with Servlet 2.3 based web.xml.

Solution

Specify <load-on-startup>0</load-on-startup> when using a Servlet 2.4 based web.xml to indicate that servlet load order does not matter.

6184122 

Unable to compile JSP page on resource constrained servers. 

The JSP page is accessed but fails to compile, and the server log contains the error message "Unable to execute command" with the following stack trace: 


at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Execute$Java13CommandLauncher.exec
(Execute.java:655) at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Execute.launch
(Execute.java:416) at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Execute.execute
(Execute.java:427) at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.compilers.
DefaultCompilerAdapter.executeExternalCompile(DefaultCompilerAdapter.
java:448) at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.compilers.JavacExternal.
execute(JavacExternal.java:81) at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.
Javac.compile(Javac.java:842) at org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Javac.
execute(Javac.java:682) at org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.
generateClass(Compiler.java:396)

Solution

Set the JSP compilation switch "fork" to "false." 

This can be done either of two ways: 

  • Globally, by setting the fork init parameter of the JspServlet in ${S1AS_HOME}/domains/domain1/config/default-web.xml to false:


    <servlet> <servlet-name>jsp</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet</servlet-class> 
    .... <init-param>
    <param-name>fork</param-name> <param-value>false</param-value> 
    </init-param> .... </servlet>
  • On a per-web application basis, by setting the fork JSP configuration property in sun-web.xml to false:


    <sun-web-app> <jsp-config> <property name="fork" value="false" /> 
    </jsp-config> </sun-web-app>

Either setting will prevent ant from spawning a new process for javac compilation.

6188932 

Application Server does not support auth-passthrough Web Server 6.1 Add-On.

The Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2 adds support for the functionality provided by the auth-passthrough plugin function available with Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 7.1. However, in Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2, the auth-passthrough plugin feature is configured differently.

The auth-passthrough plugin function in Application Server Enterprise Edition 7.1 has been useful in two-tier deployment scenarios, where:

  • Application Server instance is protected by a second firewall behind the corporate firewall.

  • No client connections are permitted directly to the Application Server instance.

In such network architectures, a client connects to a front-end web server, which has been configured with the service-passthrough plugin function and forwards HTTP requests to the proxied Application Server instance for processing. The Application Server instance can only receive requests from the web server proxy, but never directly from any client hosts. As a result of this, any applications deployed on the proxied Application Server instance that query for client information, such as the client's IP address, will receive the proxy host IP, since that is the actual originating host of the relayed request.

In Application Server Enterprise Edition 7.1, the auth-passthrough plugin function could be configured on the proxied Application Server instance in order to make the remote client's information directly available to any applications deployed on it; as if the proxied Application Server instance had received the request directly, instead of via an intermediate web server running the service-passthrough plugin.

In Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2, the auth-passthrough feature may be enabled by setting the authPassthroughEnabled property of the <http-service> element in domain.xml to TRUE, as follows:


<property name="authPassthroughEnabled" value="true"/>

The same security considerations of the auth-passthrough plugin function in Application Server Enterprise Edition 7.1 also apply to the authPassthroughEnabled property in Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2. Since authPassthroughEnabled makes it possible to override information that may be used for authentication purposes (such as the IP address from which the request originated, or the SSL client certificate), it is essential that only trusted clients or servers be allowed to connect to an Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Update 2 instance with authPassthroughEnabled set to TRUE. As a precautionary measure, it is recommended that only servers behind the corporate firewall should be configured with authPassthroughEnabled set to TRUE. A server that is accessible through the Internet must never be configured with authPassthroughEnabled set to TRUE.

Notice that in the scenario where a proxy web server has been configured with the service-passthrough plugin and forwards requests to an Application Server 8.1 Update 2 instance with authPassthroughEnabled set to TRUE, SSL client authentication may be enabled on the web server proxy, and disabled on the proxied Application Server 8.1 Update 2 instance. In this case, the proxied Application Server 8.1 Update 2 instance will still treat the request as though it was authenticated via SSL, and provide the client's SSL certificate to any deployed applications requesting it.

6332486 

Developers Guide References NetBeans 3.6 for Debugging with IDE, should be upgraded to 4.1 or later scenario. 

The Using an IDE in Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Developer’s Guide section of the Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Developer’s Guide describes using the NetBeans 3.6 IDE for debugging, but it should instead provide instructions for NetBeans 4.1 or later. For instructions on using a later version than NetBeans 3.6, see the Using an IDE in Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 Developer’s Guide section of the Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 Developer’s Guide.