PQ72326: WHEN KEEPALIVE IS EXCEEDED AND SHUTS DOWN INTERNAL CONNECTIONS IT IS PROPAGATING OUT TO THE EXTERNAL CLIENT WEBSERVER

 Fixes are available

5.0.1: WebSphere Application Server Version 5.0 Fix Pack 1 (Version 5.0.1)
5.0.1: WebSphere Application Server Enterprise Edition Version 5.0 Fix Pack 1



APAR status
Closed as program error.

Error description
to not be closed by WAS. Instead it should just be shutting
down the associated KeepAlive connection between the internal
HTTP Transport of WAS and the external IHS.
Example:
% TestXML -x XML/pslping.xml -s /XML_TCPP_T -p 11202 -h
mauiwdmmk2 -l 5HOST = mauiwdmmk2
Start TestXML at: 12:46:43.514
Post to URL     : /XML_TCPP_T HTTP/1.1  Host:mauiwdmmk2:11202
Http Connection Type : close
===== LOOP 1 =====
Test Case         : XML/pslping.xml
XML Send Size     : 232
XML Received Size : 430
+------ Dump Reply -----+
|
| Http Version : HTTP/1.1
| Status       : 200
| Reason       : OK
|
+------ Entity Dump -----+
|
| [Date]=[Thu, 14 Nov 2002 17:46:43 GMT]
| [Server]=[IBM_HTTP_SERVER/1.3.19.2  Apache/1.3.20 (Unix)]
| [Content-Length]=[430]
| [Connection]=[close]
| [Content-Type]=[text/xml]
| [Content-Language]=[en]
+------------------------+
Local fix
Debug module provided by L3 for testing.
They want to see if this module behaves more like the behavior
you are expecting.  If it does, then an APAR will be created and
an official efix developed.

1)  Stop the webserver.
2)  Backup the existing mod_ibm_app_server_http.so in the
    WebSphere/AppServer/bin directory.
3)  Copy the attached file into the WebSphere bin directory.
4)  Start the webserver.
5)  Run the test.
Customer indicated this had no effect on the problem but asked
why their httpd.conf file was pointing to mod_app_server_http.so
and the module provided and installed in WAS was
mod_ibm_app_server_http.so. Turns out they had httpd.conf file
pointing to the Apache module instead of the IBM IHS module. Had
customer cahnge the httpd.conf file to point to th ecorrect
module. Still no effect. L3 suggested one last change, add a
VirtualHost alias in the Host Aliases of WebSphere for
<hostname>:80 and regen the plugin. Once this was done, the
errors were eliminated and the KeepAlive functioned as desired.
Problem summary
****************************************************************
* USERS AFFECTED: WebSphere Application Server version 4.0     *
*                 users of the webserver plugins.              *
****************************************************************
* PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: The plugin would send the connection    *
*                      header received from the app server     *
*                      response back to the client.  This      *
*                      could result in connections closing     *
*                      that could have been Keep-Alive         *
*                      connections.                            *
****************************************************************
* RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
****************************************************************
The plugin should not propagate the Connection header from
the app server response in the response to the real client.
The webserver should be in charge of whether that connection
should be persistent or not.
Problem conclusion
The plugin now removes the connection header from the app
server response and allows the webserver to handle whether
the connection with the client is persistent or not.
Temporary fix
The fix has been delivered to the customer and we are
awaiting verification it is successful.
Comments
APAR information
APAR number PQ72326
Reported component name WAS BASE 5.0
Reported component ID 5630A3600
Reported release 00S
Status CLOSED PER
PE NoPE
HIPER NoHIPER
Special Attention NoSpecatt
Submitted date 2003-03-21
Closed date 2003-03-21
Last modified date 2003-03-21

APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:
PQ68477

APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Modules/Macros
PLUGIN          

Publications Referenced

Fix information
Fixed component name WAS BASE 5.0
Fixed component ID 5630A3600

Applicable component levels
R00S PSY    UP
R00A PSY    UP
R00W PSY    UP
R00H PSY    UP
R003 PSY    UP
R00I PSY    UP


Document Information


Product categories: Software > Application Servers > Distributed Application & Web Servers > WebSphere Application Server > General
Operating system(s):
Software version: 00S
Software edition:
Reference #: PQ72326
IBM Group: Software Group
Modified date: Mar 21, 2003