Installing and Administering an AnswerBook2 Server

Chapter 4 Solving AnswerBook2 Problems

This section explains how to solve known problems with the AnswerBook2 product and includes the following information:

Server Errors

The following table lists problems you might encounter when serving online documentation.

Table 4-1 Possible Server Problems

If you see this... 

Try this... 

See also... 

Browser proxy error

Edit the /usr/lib/ab2/dweb/data/config/dwhttpd.cfg file and change the host name to hostname.domain.

For example, instead of the following line:


set ServerHost imaserver ;#
Use this line:

set ServerHost imaserver.eng.sun.com ;#
Then, restart the documentation server.

If the problem persists, try turning off the proxies on the web browser. 

Browser errors indicating documentation server is not responding

If the documentation server is not responding, restart it. 

For information on stopping and starting the server, see "Starting and Stopping the Documentation Server".

Error 404, File not Found when trying to access the documentation server

A server process is running, however the server software has been removed. Reinstall the server software.

For information on installing the software, see "Installing the Server Software".

User indicates that library page displays only the navigation bar and no document collections

Verify that the collections template file (/usr/lib/ab2/dweb/data/config/ab2_collections.template) does not contain any empty or duplicate entries.

If fixing the template file does not correct the problem, you might need to reinstall document collections or server software. For information about installing the software, see "Installing the Server Software".

User reports seeing red text and the word "BUG" in a book (or several books) 

The book's source contains markup tags that AnswerBook2 does not recognize and the AB2_DEBUG environment variable is set to "1" on the server. 

To turn off the bug display, set the AB2_DEBUG flag to "0," stop the server and start the server. 

Contact whoever provided the book to get the markup fixed. 

Unable to access administrative functions on documentation server

The AnswerBook2 documentation server uses access control mechanisms to identify users who can perform administrative functions. The AnswerBook2 administration tools allow the document administrator for the server machine to add and remove administrative users for the server and change their passwords. 

To add or remove administrative users for your server, see "Controlling Administrative Access". If you need access to another server, contact the document administrator for that server.

Cannot perform administrative commands from AnswerBook2 Administration GUI (browser interface)

Certain functions do not work from the Admin GUI because of permission issues. Try to perform the same function from the ab2admin command-line interface.

For information about the command line options, see the ab2admin(1m) man page.

A Scan for Locally Installed Collections function does not list document collections that are installed on a local mount point

Verify that the directory into which the collections were installed has read access set for others.

 

You added an AnswerBook1 collection, but users do not see it in their libraries 

Verify that the information in /var/log/ab2/catalog/ab1_cardcatalog is correct.

This means something is wrong with the collection's data in the ab_cardcatalog file.

You see the message Failed to add collection. when trying to add a collection through the Admin GUI

Verify that the path to the collection's collinfo or ab_cardcatalog file is correct.

 

Using the restart command to restart the documentation server failed or did not produce the expected results

In some instances, the restart command does not work correctly.

Use the stop and start commands instead. For more information, see "Starting and Stopping the Documentation Server".

Document collections appear to be corrupted and need to be reinstalled 

Use the ab2admin -o del_coll function or Delete Collections from List in the Admin GUI to remove these collections from the documentation server's database.

Then, use pkgrm to remove them from the server before installing the new packages.

For more information about removing collections, see "Removing AnswerBook2 Collections". For more information about adding collections, see "Adding New Collections".

AnswerBook2 Error Messages

This section lists AnswerBook2 error messages and how to respond to them.

Cannot find local AnswerBook2 server to administer.

What it means: An attempt to use the answerbook2_admin script or launch the Admin GUI from the CDE front panel failed because there is no documentation server on this system.

How to respond: Either go to the system where the documentation server is and use the same procedure or enter the URL for the documentation server you want to administer in your browser.

No AnswerBook2 documentation server was found.

What it means: An attempt to use the answerbook2 script or launch the client viewer from the CDE front panel failed because there is no default documentation server defined.

How to respond: The client viewer uses the following approach to finding a default documentation server:

  1. If the AB2_DEFAULTSERVER environment variable is defined, the AnswerBook2 viewer launches using the URL defined by that variable. For example, you might have the following line in your .cshrc file:


    setenv AB2_DEFAULTSERVER http://imaserver.eng.sun.com:8888/
    

  2. If the machine from which you initiated the AnswerBook2 function is a documentation server, the AnswerBook2 viewer attempts to access the URL: http://localhost:8888

  3. If an AnswerBook2 server is registered with FNS (Federated Naming Service), the AnswerBook2 viewer uses the URL of the registered server.

AnswerBook2 server software not found at path %s.

What it means: An attempt to launch the ab2cd script failed because the path given was not valid.

How to respond: Make sure you type the command from the directory where the ab2cd script is or that you enter the complete path to the ab2cd script.

Architecture not supported: %s.

What it means: You tried to run the ab2cd script from a system it does not support.

How to respond: The documentation server software requires the Solaris 7 operating environment running on either a SPARC or Intel-based system.

ab2cd does not support the locale %s.

What it means: You tried to run the ab2cd script from a system that is set to an unsupported locale or encoding.

How to respond: The documentation server software supports the following locales and encodings: C, en_*, es, es_*, fr, fr_*, it, it_*, sv, sv_*, de, de_*, ja, japanese, ja_JP.PCK, ko, zh, zh_TW, zh_TW.BIG5, and *[Uu][Tt][Ff]-8*.

Authentication failed, try again.

What it means: An administrative user mis-typed the administrative password.

How to respond: Re-type the password. If it fails again, make sure you are trying to administer the server for which this administrator and password are valid.

Missing required options.

What it means: An ab2cd command was given, but the correct options were not included.

How to respond: Verify you correctly entered the command and options. For more information about the options, see the ab2cd man page.