Chapter 4 Troubleshooting

This chapter contains troubleshooting information for Instant Messaging and Instant Messenger in the following sections:

Creating a UNIX System User and Group (UNIX Only)

System users run specific server processes. Certain privileges need to be designated for these users to ensure they have appropriate permissions for the processes they run. Normally, the installation process creates the following users and groups:

User: inetuser

Group: inetgroup

If the installation process does not create a UNIX user and group for Instant Messaging, you need to create them manually as described in this section. After you create the user and group for Instant Messaging, you should then set permissions appropriately for the directories and files owned by that user.

Create a group to which your system user will belong. For example, to create a group named imserv on Solaris, type the following:

# groupadd imgroup

Create the system user and associate it with the group you just created. In addition, set the password for that user. For example, to create a user named imuser and associate it with the group imserv on Solaris, type the following:

# useradd -g imgroup imserver

For more information on adding users and groups, refer to your operating system documentation.

Ensure that the user and group have been added to the /etc/groups file.

Difficulty Loading Instant Messenger Resources

In a network environment, you may experience difficulty in loading Instant Messaging resources if there is a firewall between the client’s host and the Internet, and when Java^TM Web Start has not been configured with the right proxy settings.

Java Web Start queries the system or the default browser for proxy settings automatically. However, if the settings are configured using a JavaScript^TM file, Java Web Start cannot perform this query. Instead, you need to set the proxies manually using the Preference panel in Java Web Start’s Application Manager. See the readme file for Java Web Start for information on using the Application Manager. You can access the readme online at the following location:

Browser Displays im.jnlp Contents

If the browser displays the contents of the im.jnlp file instead of launching Java Web Start, you need to edit the web server's mime.types file to include a line for JNLP. For instructions on adding this line, see "Enabling JavaTM Web Start".

Cannot Start or Download Instant Messenger

In some cases, the JAR file cache on the client system may become corrupted. If this occurs, you will not be able to start Instant Messenger, or download a new version. To fix this problem on UNIX, you need to clear the Java Web Start cache. On Windows, you need to clear the Java Web Start cache and the Java Plug-in cache as described in the following sections:

To Delete Sun ONE Instant Messenger from UNIX Cache

To Delete Sun ONE Instant Messenger from Windows Cache

To Delete Sun ONE Instant Messenger from the Windows Java Plug-in Cache

To Delete Sun ONE Instant Messenger from UNIX Cache

Launch Java Web Start Application Manager.

See the readme file for Java Web Start for information on using the Application Manager. You can access the readme online at the following URL:

http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart

From the Applications menu, select Remove from Cache.

Close the Application Manager.

To Delete Sun ONE Instant Messenger from Windows Cache

Launch Java Web Start Application (JWS) Manager.

See the readme file for Java Web Start for information on using the Application Manager. You can access the readme online at the following URL:

http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart

From the View menu, select Downloaded Applications.

The Application Manager displays the downloaded applications.

Select Sun ONE Instant Messenger.

From the Applications menu, select Remove Application.

Close the Application Manager.

To Delete Sun ONE Instant Messenger from the Windows Java Plug-in Cache

Double-click the Java Plug-in icon in the Control Panel.

The Java Plug-in Control Panel appears.

Click the Cache tab in the Java Plug-in Control Panel.

Click Clear JAR Cache.

Changes made to the Applet Descriptor Files are not Visible in the Browser

Web browser’s cache the frequently accessed applet descriptor files. Therefore, changes made to the applet descriptor files are not always reflected immediately. If this occurs, you need to clear the memory cache in the browser.