Cisco Works 2000 Login Applet Missing

[sspagnol]

Hi ,

I've had the intermittant problem where the login applet is missing

when users try to login into Cisco Works . I've tried all conventional

fixes that Cisco has recommended . The only work around is to restart

Cisco Works . The message I receive in the browser is "java null pointer

exception"

Has anyone experienced this problem and resolved it??

[kemahnken]

The first question is always what version of CW2K, OS/platform/patches is it running on, browser as well as java engine. Second are other applications running on the platform that are not CW2K?

Is the CW2K server located behind a firewall? Though if restarting the platform resolves the issue this shouldn't be an issue.

I've seen this issue many times and as a consultant the issue is generally related to one or more of the following:

1) Running CW2K on to small of a system

2) Attempting to change the default CW2K port

3) Insufficient memory (Windows)

4) NT 4.x is hit or miss (W2K is far more stable) - W2K SP1, SP2 or SP3

5) Sun patches in 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8 for security issues break CW2K - there's a recent 2.8 patch that breaks CW2K - You also need to have the right base patches.

6) Running other applications on the CW2K server

7) In appropriate system, rights and permission administration

8) If you're running on a Windos platform I've seen virus and other system protection systems cause CW2K/Other NMS applications to fail.

If you can provide details as to the configuration I might be able to provide specific guidance.

[sspagnol]

Hi ,

The Cisco Works is 4th Edition .

I did patch the OS recently with the latest Sun patch . The problem was

present before I patched the system .

This is an intermittant problem and I'm suspecting a memory allocation problem with java on the server .

There could be up to 30 -40 users logged in.

The JRE version is 1.1.7

The Current OS is :

SunOS alic1a 5.7 Generic_111437-01 sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-60alic1a

# ./prtdiag -v

System Configuration: Sun Microsystems sun4u Sun Enterprise 220R (2 X UltraSPARC-II 450MHz)

System clock frequency: 113 MHz

Memory size: 2048 Megabytes

========================= CPUs =========================

Run Ecache CPU CPU

Brd CPU Module MHz MB Impl. Mask

--- --- ------- ----- ------ ------ ----

0 0 0 450 4.0 US-II 10.0

0 2 2 450 4.0 US-II 10.0

[rmushtaq]

Make sure that the Java Plug-in version is 1.3.1 only. Also, since you've mentioned about that there could be 30-40 users logged in, does the problem occurs even if there are less than 15 users logged in simultaneously in CW2K?

[sspagnol]

Hi ,

Yes the Java plugin version is 1.3.1 ...I have never seen the problem with

the lab server which has less than 10 users logged in.

Thanks

Steve

[rmushtaq]

I believe that the problem is due to the number of users logged into the CW2K server at the same time. It's getting over loaded due to 30-40 useres.

[kemahnken]

The JRE 1.1.7 may be an issue, however, I don't remember the actual version that is required by CW2K 4th edition. I know the JRE for CW2K 5th is 1.2.2 and somewhere I thought that was true for the latest update of CW2K 4th.

Experience has shown that the wrong JRE or Java plug in (1.3.1) will result in weird problems. Memory allocation being a critical one.

Your user count is also high and you might be able to detune any discovery processes / schedules an mitigate the issue. In general, the number of concurrent users and discovery/polling and other things loaded on the server conspire to cause this problem.

I would make sure all the JRE elements are per the CW2K 4th specs and if they're not move them into spec. If other applications require JRE 1.1.7 then maybe reducing the number of users might mitigate the issue.

[sspagnol]

Thanks for you're help .. I'll look at the recommendations in more detail....

Regards

Steve