Use this information to troubleshoot problems that occur
when attempting to display a resource in a browser.
If you are not able to display a resource in your browser, follow
these steps:
- Verify that your HTTP server is healthy by accessing the URL http://server_name from
a browser and seeing whether the Welcome page appears. This action
indicates whether the HTTP server is up and running, regardless of
the state of WebSphere® Application Server.
- If the HTTP server Welcome page does not appear, that is, if you
get a browser message like page cannot be displayed or
something similar, try to diagnose
your web server problem.
- If the HTTP server appears to function correctly, the Application
Server might not be serving the target resource. Try to access the resource directly
through the Application Server instead of through the HTTP server.
If
you cannot access the resource directly through the Application Server,
verify that the URL used to access the resource is correct.
If
the URL is incorrect and it is created as a link from another JavaServer
Pages (JSP) file, servlet, or HTML file, try correcting it in the
browser URL field and reloading, to confirm that the problem is a
malformed URL. Correct
the URL in the "from" HTML file, servlet or JSP file.
If
the URL appears to be correct, but you cannot access the resource
directly through the Application Server, verify the health of the
hosting application server and web module:
- View the hosting application server and web module in the administrative
console to verify that they are up and running.
- Copy a simple HTML or JSP file, such as SimpleJsp.jsp,
which is in the WebSphere Application Server directory
structure, to your web module document root, and try to access the
file. If successful, the problem is with the resource.
View the JVM log of your Application Server
to find out why your resource cannot be found or served .
- If you can access the resource directly through the Application
Server, but not through an HTTP server, the problem lies with the
HTTP plug-in, the component that communicates between the HTTP server
and the WebSphere Application Server.
- If the JSP file and the servlet output are served, but not static
resources such as .html and image files, see the steps for enabling
file serving.
- If certain resources display correctly, but you cannot display
a servlet by its class name:
If none of these steps fixes your problem,
see if the problem has been identified and documented by looking at
available online support (hints and tips, technotes, and fixes). If
you do not find your problem listed there, see Troubleshooting help
from IBM.
Diagnosing web server problems
If
you are unable to view the welcome page of your HTTP server, determine
if the server is operating properly.
If the HTTP server does not start:
- Examine the HTTP server error log for clues.
- Try restoring the HTTP server to its configuration prior to installing WebSphere Application Server and restarting
it. If you are using IBM HTTP Server:
- Rename the file IHS_install_dir\httpd.conf.
- Copy the httpd.conf.default file to the httpd.conf directory.
- If Apache is running, stop and restart it.
- For the Sun ONE (iPlanet) Web Server, restore the obj.conf configuration
file for Sun ONE V4.1 and both obj.conf and magnus.conf files
for Sun ONE V6.0 and later.
- For the Microsoft Internet Information
Server (IIS), remove the WebSphere Application Server
plug-in through the IIS administrative GUI.
If restoring the HTTP server default configuration file
works, manually review the configuration file that has WebSphere Application Server updates to verify
directory and file names for WebSphere Application Server files. If you
cannot manually correct the configuration, you can uninstall and reinstall WebSphere Application Server to create a clean
HTTP configuration file.
If restoring the default configuration
file does not help, contact technical support for the web server you
are using. If you are using IBM HTTP Server with WebSphere Application Server, check available
online support (hints and tips, technotes, and fixes). If you do not
find your problem listed there, see Troubleshooting help from IBM.
Accessing a web resource through
the application server and bypassing the HTTP server
You
can bypass the HTTP server and access a web resource through the application
server. It is not recommended to serve a production website in this
way, but it provides a good diagnostic tool when it is not clear whether
a problem resides in the HTTP server, WebSphere Application Server, or the HTTP plug-in.
To
access a web resource through the Application Server:
- Determine the port of the HTTP service in the target application
server.
- In the administrative console, click .
- Under the Additional Properties of the web container, click HTTP
Transports. You see the ports listed for virtual hosts served
by the application server.
There can be more than one port listed.
In the default application server (server1), for example, 9060 is
the port reserved for administrative requests, 9443 and 9043 are used
for SSL-encrypted requests. To test the sample "snoop" servlet,
for example, use the default application port 9080, unless it changes.
- Use the HTTP transport port number of the application server to
access the resource from a browser. For example, if the port is 9080,
the URL is http://hostname:9080/myAppContext/myJSP.jsp.
- If you are still unable to access the resource, verify that the
HTTP transport port is in the "Host Alias" list:
- Click to check the Default virtual host and the HTTP transport
ports used by this application server.
- Click to check if the HTTP transport port
exists. Add an entry if necessary. For example, if the HTTP port for
your application is server is 9080, add a host alias of *:9082.