Release Notes
January 2003
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Attachmate Management & Control Services Version 2.0 Release Notes January 2003 |
© 2002-2003 Attachmate Corporation. All rights reserved.
Management & Control Services (MCS) is a Web-based server console that allows you to centrally manage and configure compatible Attachmate products.
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If you use LDAP for ID management, you may not want to install this version of MCS. Support for LDAP has been temporarily removed from ID Manager. LDAP can still be used for directory services. |
OS/390 LDAP Interface to RACF Requires OMVS Segments
If MCS is installed under OS/390 USS and using the LDAP interface to RACF for the directory service, each user that requires MCS access must have an OMVS Segment in their userid (in RACF) in order to be properly authenticated.
Upgrading from MCS v. 1.1 with MCS Configured to use LDAP for Directory Services
If you use LDAP for directory services, you should install the Management & Control Services April Service Pack 2002 before installing this version; otherwise, after installation you will have to reconfigure directory services. This service pack is available for download on the Attachmate Supportweb Web site.
Upgrading from MCS v. 1.1 and JDK v. 1.2.x
Some versions of WebSphere and WebLogic use SUN JDK v. 1.2.x. If you upgrade to this version of MCS in one of these environments, you can no longer manage host access IDs with MCS.
Web Server Must be Configured to Allow both Secure and Unsecure Connections
Before installing MCS, make sure that your Web server's secure only option is cleared. This ensures that you can successfully install MCS, and provide access using either a secure or an unsecure connection, as necessary.
Installing on a Computer with Multiple IP Addresses and Apache Tomcat
If your computer contains a NIC card with more than one IP address, and you are using the Tomcat Java Servlet engine, the IP address you specify under MCS Local Host Name during installation must match the IP address that is used with IIS on your computer. This may be different from the IP address that is assigned to your computer. If the IP address specified during installation does not match the IP address used with IIS, an error is displayed.
Installing in a Clustered Environment
If you install MCS as a configuration server in a clustered environment, the server's managed services, heartbeat driver and replication timer, are not enabled by default. These services are used for managing client licenses and propagating server configurations across servers in a cluster.
To enable the heartbeat driver and replication timer, you'll need to edit the scm.properties file for the configuration server, located in the following directory:
| Application Server | Default Install Location |
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| Apache Tomcat | The location will be under the Tomcat install directory, as follows if Tomcat is installed with an Attachmate product. Windows: c:\Program Files\Attachmate\Tomcat\webapps\mcs\WEB-INF\data\mcs\scmUNIX: /opt/Tomcat/webapps/mcs/WEB-INF/data/mcs/scm
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| WebLogic or WebSphere |
Windows: c:\Program Files\Attachmate\mcs\WEB-INF\data\mcs\scmUNIX: /opt/Attachmate/mcs/WEB-INF/data/mcs/scmOS/390 USS: /opt/Attachmate/mcs/WEB-INF/data/mcs/scm
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| To enable the heartbeat driver and replication timer for your configuration server |
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Automatically Detecting IP Address Changes for your MCS Server
By default, if the IP address of your MCS server changes, the change is automatically detected. This is controlled by an option in your mcs.properties file, MCS.IntegrityCheck.CheckForIPChange.
MCS checks for changes when it starts. Because this can make startup slower, if you know that the address will never change, you may want to change the value for this option to false. Then, MCS will never check for IP changes.
Modifying Connection Information for a Configuration Server in a Clustered Environment
If, after installation, the IP address, host name, or port number of your MCS server or another configuration server changes, you need to manually reconfigure values for all the servers in the server cluster so that they point to the new location. If the change is in your MCS cluster, you may also need to reconfigure values in other server clusters.
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This procedure is necessary only if you work in a clustered environment. If you work in a single MCS server environment, a change in its IP address can be automatically detected. |
The following procedure assumes that your Web server has also been updated with the new values.
| To manually update connection information for a configuration server | ||||||||||
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| The most straightforward way to accomplish this change is to search the MCS install directory and subdirectories of your MCS servers and replace the values on all MCS servers on which they occur. Values that may need to be updated: |
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Display Problems when Using the Java Plug-in
When using the Java plug-in version 1.4.0, occasionally the MCS window won't display properly and portions may appear blank. Clicking on a blank area or resizing the window will usually cause it to display properly. This problem does not occur when using other versions of the plug-in.
Failure Using Client Certificates with Java Plug-in Version 1.4.x
If you attempt to use client certificate authentication with version 1.4.x of the Java plug-in as your default VM, a communication failure may occur. This can result in MCS menus not displaying, or not displaying properly. This happens only if all of the following criteria are met:
This failure does not occur if you use version 1.3.x of the Java plug-in, regardless of whether or not it is your default VM.
Internet Explorer Security Settings
If your Internet Explorer (IE) security settings are set to High, you will not be able to run some of the Java applets necessary to display various property pages in the MCS console window. Various IE error messages will be displayed regarding security and script errors.
Using Client Certificates That Contain Unicode Strings
If you are running MCS on either of the platforms listed below, you cannot use client certificates that contain Unicode strings in the subject distinguished name (DN) field of the certificate:
You can, however, use client certificates that do not contain Unicode strings. On Sun Solaris, you can also use Sun Java 2 SDK 1.3.x, which works with either.
Windows NT System with Screen Saver
If you are running MCS on a Windows NT system that uses a screen saver and your HTTP servlet performance is sluggish, you might be able to improve the performance of the servlets by turning off the screen saver.
Multiple Users Updating MCS Simultaneously
If multiple users are logged into MCS simultaneously, any changes made by one user will not appear on the other user's console until that user's browser is refreshed. For example, if Joe adds a new user to MCS Directory while Susan configures event logging, the newly-added user will not appear on Susan's console until she refreshes her browser.
Preventing the WebLogic Password Prompt on Linux (IBM S/390 and zSeries)
To avoid being prompted for the BEA WebLogic Server password each time you restart MCS, you can edit the WLS_PW entry in the startMCS.sh file. First, verify that you are able to edit the file by entering ls -l. Then, edit the startMCS.sh file (located in the WebLogic home directory) as follows:
# Set WLS_PW equal to your system password for no password prompt server startup. WLS_PW=wl_password
where wl_password is the password for the WebLogic application server.
Stopping the MCS Server on Linux/WebLogic (IBM S/390 and zSeries)
Enter the following command to stop the MCS server running on a BEA WebLogic Server under SuSE Linux or Turbolinux (IBM S/390 and zSeries):
./stopMCS.sh wl_password
where wl_password is the password for the WebLogic application server.
SOAP Error Created by Package Installer on WebLogic 5.1/Solaris
Error events may appear in the event log after installing a package using the MCS Package Installer component. The error may appear as follows:
An internal method returned an error : RemoteInstaller::call_SIinstallProduct(). Caught SOAPException (SOAP-ENV:Protocol): (SOAPException: fault code=SOAP-ENV:Protocol;msg=<truncated>
This error indicates a failure during an acknowledgement of the package install—it does not indicate an error with the install itself. The corresponding package has already been successfully installed and should function properly.
Uninstalling on WebLogic 6.1
If you are running MCS with WebLogic 6.1, you should stop MCS before beginning the uninstall process. The uninstall process will not automatically complete. When the uninstall window displays the message, "Connecting to server..." you need to manually start your WebLogic server before the process can continue. In addition, when the uninstall process has completed, you need to restart your computer to finish uninstalling MCS.
Service Control Manager Properties
The following options are included in the mcs.properties file for configuring the MCS Service Control Manager (SCM):
com.attachmate.mcs.system.systemcheck.services.HeartBeatDriver
Service Control Manager Services Continue to Run After MCS has been Shut Down
After you stop MCS, Service Control Manager services may continue to run. These services include: FailureControlService, HeartBeatDriver, ReplicationTimer, UpdateTimer, TraceLogGarbageCollection, and TerminalIdService. If these services continue to run after you close MCS, you will have to stop them manually, either on the command line or through Windows Task Manager. If you leave the services running, you may have trouble restarting MCS, or see errors in your log file related to this problem.
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