Remote Administrator's Console Will Not Start

Technote (FAQ)
Problem
The administrator's console (adminclient.sh or adminclient.bat) will not start when connecting to a remote WebSphere Administration Server. Whyr?
Solution
1. Is the admin server running?

Check <was root>/logs/tracefile and make sure that you see "open for e-business" and no error exceptions before "open for e-business".

2. Are you able to run a local admin console (on the same box as the WAS server)?

If you can't connect locally, you usually won't be able to connect remotely. The exception to that rule is a potential /etc/hosts problem - which might prevent you connecting locally but still allow you to connect remotely (depending on how each /etc/hosts file is defined). See item 6 below.

3. Is the version of WebSphere on the client machine the same as the version on the server?

Check the <WAS Root>/properties/com/ibm/websphere/product.xml files on both the client and server to be sure they match.

4. What user id is running the adminclient program on the client box?

Is that user the root user?

5. If it's not the root user, what happens when you run as root?

If it works when running as root, then the non-root user does not have the correct file permission's. The user running the admin console needs to have read and write permission's to all files in <WAS Root>/properties.

6. If running remote, both machines host/ip must match.

In other words, if you ping the WAS server from the server machine and ping the WAS server from the remote client machine, both should come back with matching ip addresses. If they don't, the remote admin console will fail.

**For more information on this, see Technotes 1078458 and 1000319.

7. Is there a firewall between the client and server?

If so, see Technotes 1000281 and 1006499.

8. Is security enabled on the WebSphere admin server?

If it is enabled, can you connect when security is turned off? If the answer is yes, read Technotes 1047217, 1030971, 1054655, and 1078658

9. If all else fails, take a trace of the adminclient and submit it to IBM WebSphere support:

    a. Go to WebSphere/AppServer/bin subdirectory and make a backup copy of adminclient.sh.

    b. Edit the adminclient.sh for the following:
    (1) Change

    elif [ "$1" = "debug"]
    then
    DEBUGOPTS='-traceString "com.ibm.*=all=enabled" '

    to

    elif [ "$1" = "debug"]
    then
    DEBUGOPTS='-traceString
    "com.ibm.*=all=enabled:ORBRas=all=enabled" '

    (2). Add the three trace parameters to the
    "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" statement. If "$DEBUGOPTS" is already in the statment, then there is no need to add "$DEBUGOPTS" again.

    Example:
    %JAVA_HOME/bin/java
    -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.Debug=true -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.CommTrace=true $DEBUGOPTS

    c. After the admin server has been started, run adminclient.sh using the statement "adminclient.sh -v 2>&1 | tee adminclienttrace" from WebSphere/AppServer/bin subdirectory.

    d. adminclient.sh also writes to a file besides the one you specify above. Look for this file on your system: $binDir/../logs/adminclient_audit_messages.log











Document Information

Product categories: Software, Application Servers, Distributed Application & Web Servers, WebSphere Application Server, Administrative Console (all non-scripting)
Operating system(s): Multi-Platform
Software version: 3.5, 4.0
Software edition: Advanced, Enterprise
Reference #: 1078660
IBM Group: Software Group
Modified date: 2004-08-03