PQ57425: Timeout enablement on the Apache/IHS webserver with plug-ins.

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Abstract
IHS/iPlanet does not timeout hanging READ requests.
Download Description
USERS AFFECTED:
WebSphere Application Server 3.5 users of IHS.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
The timeout directive in the HTTPD.CONF wasn't being honored by requests handled by the WebSphere Application Server plug-ins. Network problems could halt servlet processing indefinitely once enough of the webserver threads were blocking on IO between the webserver and the web browser due to the network problems.

The fix was to make the plug-ins honor the timeout directive. With this fix applied, the plug-ins will only block on IO requests for as long as the Timeout directive is set in the httpd.conf. This can't prevent servlet processing from halting in the worst case scenario network problems, but it does allow us to handle common types of network problems much more gracefully.

PROBLEM CONCLUSION:
The timeout has been enabled, and positive feedback has been received on the fix.

NOTES:
If you have a remote webserver, apply this interim fix to webserver side only.

We recommend to configure IHS 1.3.12.7, IHS 1.3.19.5, IHS 1.3.26.2 or higher with WebSphere Application Server v3.5.x, depending on its supported configurations.

This fix (PQ57425) is superseded by new Cumulative Plugin fix PQ76785. You have to apply PQ76785 rather than PQ57425. The fix PQ76785 must be applied on ALL WebSphere and web server machines.

PQ76785 includes also the interim fix PQ65964 which fixes the "Wrong port number on sendRedirect()" problem described in the following:
"The WebSphere IHS/Apache plugin was getting the wrong port number for http request, from the wrong place. In most configurations, the port number will be correct - it could be incorrect for configurations where the webserver listens on a different port than what the request was sent to originally (for instance, a proxy or load balancer that redirects the request to IHS). Getting the wrong port number can impact virtual host matching, and also breaks sendRedirect()s on relative paths. We changed the code so the plug-in is definitely getting the port from the host header, and so it gets the correct port if it does have to default to asking the server what port a request came in on.

The interim fix PQ76785 fixes also WebSphere Application Server v3.5 & WebSphere Application Server v 4.0 coexistence problem.

PQ57425 fix is included in PTF7 for WebSphere Application Server v3.5.x.
Prerequisites
None
Installation instructions
Please review the README for detailed installation instructions
URLLANGUAGESIZE(Bytes)
ReadmeUS English3229
Download package
DownloadRELEASE DATELANGUAGESIZE(Bytes)
PQ57425 - 3.5.4 - AIX5/16/2002US English296960
PQ57425 - 3.5.4 - Linux3/13/2002US English219556
PQ57425 - 3.5.4 - Sun3/22/2002US English118987
PQ57425 - 3.5.4 - Windows4/4/2002US English120741
PQ57425 - 3.5.5 - AIX3/12/2002US English122125
PQ57425 - 3.5.5 - HPUX5/31/2002US English460800
PQ57425 - 3.5.5 - Linux3/13/2002US English220126
PQ57425 - 3.5.5 - Sun3/13/2002US English119003
PQ57425 - 3.5.5 - Windows3/15/2002US English120374
PQ57425 - 3.5.6 - AIX5/21/2002US English296960
PQ57425 - 3.5.6 - Sun5/21/2002US English307200
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Document Information

Product categories: Software, Application Servers, Distributed Application & Web Servers, WebSphere Application Server, Plug-in
Operating system(s): Multi-Platform, Windows, AIX, HPUX, Linux, Solaris
Software version: 3.5.4, 3.5.5, 3.5.6
Software edition: Advanced, Standard
Reference #: 4004587
IBM Group: Software Group
Modified date: 2003-10-17