Running Web NMS 4.7 SP2 in Fedora Core 4

Running  Web NMS 4.7 SP2 in Fedora Core 4

- Limitations, Issues & Solutions -

      Introduction :

            AdventNet Web NMS officially claims support for "Fedora Core 4" OS from SP-2 fo Web NMS 4.7.0. There are few        
            limitations and issues, while using Web NMS with Fedora Core 4. This document details about those limitations and
            issues, along with  solutions/workaround to solve those things.

      Reference :

            Before installing Fedora Core 4 OS & running Web Nms in it, it is advisable  to refer the 
            Red Hat Linux Migration Resource Center for the guidelines for installing the OS and  their Limitations

1)  Higher version of libdb issue :

             A file named libdb-3.2.so is needed by Apache 2.0.47 bundled with Web NMS linux binary distribution.
            The libdb-3.2so file is no longer bundled in the newer versions of glibc packaged in Fedora Core4. This file
             was bundled in the older versions of glibc . Fedora Core 4 ships with higher version of libdb ( eg libdb-4.x.so).
             As this file with the expected version is not present in Fedora Core 4, Apache 2.0.47 bundled with Web NMS
             will not start.

      Solution :
                  
             To start  Web NMS 4.7.0 + SP2 in Fedora Core 4, you need to create a soft link for libdb-3.2.so pointing to
              libdb-4.x.so present in Fedore Core 4
              for example :
                                        ln -s /lib/libdb-4.2.so  /lib/libdb-3.2.so
2)   IPV6 and jdk1.4.2 issue :
                
             There is an issue in  Socket creation  using jdk1.4.2 and its higher version  on a dual stack host ( one that supports both IPv4
              and IPv6) .   Due to this Socket issue Web Nms will not start when jdk1.4.2  or its higher version is used .         

     Solution :

             a) This issue has been fixed in jdk1.5.0_02 (http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=5083013). 
                  Hence one can use this version of jdk When  dual stack host  ( eg Fedora Core4) is used.

                 Refer the following link also to know about other bugs regarding Jdk1.4.2 and its higher version on a dual stack host
                 http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=5087907  

                                                                                                           OR
      
            b)  If you are using jdk1.4.2 try adding the parameter Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true to the Web NMS application
                  startup parameters in startnms.sh file and startApplicationClient.sh file .This will make sure only IPV4 address
                  are  used from with in the java runtime . Doing this configuration will make Web Nms to perform discovery only
                  only IPv4 Nodes and not IPv6 nodes.

3)  Web Start Issue :
             
                Fedora Core4 ships with new versions of glibc (greater than 2.3.3) . The webstart version of jdk 1.4.x will not work
                for this new versions of glibc . You can refer the following URL regarding this bug
               [http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6188963]

      Solution :
 
                This bug has been  fixed in jdk1.5.0_02 . Hence webstart from Fedora Core 4 will start successfully when
                jdk1.5.0_02 is used

4)  Applet Client  in Mozilla:

                To  start the Applet client in Mozilla browser create the following soft link under <Mozilla_Home>/plugins

ln -s <jdk1.5.0_02 Home>/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so   /usr/lib/<FireFox Home>/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so

    Note :
                  The testing was carried out under the following configuration

                   OS                 :     Fedora Core 4
                   Kernel          :     6.11-1.1369_FC4 on an i686
                   Mysql           :     Mysql Version 3.23.58-classic
                   Jdk version :      jdk1.5.0_02