• Print  |
  • Feedback  |

Knowledge Base


TS-658

Web Server Troubleshooting Guide for SAS OnlineDocumentation

Troubleshooting:

If you are accessing the SAS OnlineDoc via a web server, use the following steps to determine the nature of the problem:

  1. The ixcgi file is the executable file that performs the search function within OnlineDoc. Verify that the appropriate ixcgi file from sasdoc/sashtml/scripts has been copied to the cgi-bin or scripts directory on your web server.

NOTE: The ixcgi file extension is specific to the web server platform. Refer to the OnlineDoc installation instructions for more information. These can be obtained from the following link:

http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/

Choose the platform you want, and then choose OnlineDoc from the Product List. Then choose the latest OnlineDoc Installation instructions for either the PDF format or HTML format of OnlineDoc.

2. Verify that permissions have been set properly for the ixcgi file that was copied to the web server.

The ixcgi file must have executable permissions so that client machines can access the search program.

3. Verify that the ixcgi program can be executed by running the image from a command line on the web server machine.

On your web server, go to the physical location where the ixcgi program is stored. Execute the ixcgi program. When executing this program, on non-Windows platforms, the results should be similar to:

Content-type: text/html

<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Environment Variables</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>

<H1>OnlineDoc Version 3.0</H1>

argc: 1<P>

argv[0]: ixcgi_hp<P>

Current directory: /cgi-bin<P>

</BODY></HTML>

For Windows platforms, there will be no output, and there should be no errors, but the Task Manager will indicate that the ixcgi process has been started.

4. Verify that the web server is configured properly to execute CGI programs.

From a browser on the client machine, try to access the ixcgi image via a URL of the form:

http://xxx.yyy.com/cgi-bin/ixcgi?

where the path http://xxx.yyy.com/cgi-bin/ixcgi represents the physical location on your web server to the ixcgi file you copied per the SAS OnlineDoc installation instructions. If your browser tries to download the program as a file, your web server is not configured properly to execute CGI programs.

NOTE: The ixcgi filename is specific to the platform on which it is used.

5. Verify that the proper search tool has been uncommented in the applet.htm file. This file is typically located in sasdoc/sashtml.

Per the SAS OnlineDoc installation instructions, you must modify applet.htm to uncomment the appropriate search tool for the platform on which your web server is running.

You should be able to cut and paste the value from the search tool parameter in the applet.htm file to your browser and see the same results as you see in step 4. In some cases, it may be necessary to include the full path to the search program as opposed to the partial path specified in applet.htm. For example, on a Windows web server, you may need to put http://xxx.yyy.com/cgi-bin/ixcgi.exe as opposed to the short path of "/cgi-bin/ixcgi.exe".

6. Try the search function with the Java console open in debug mode to determine which errors occur.

To turn on debugging in the Java console, launch SAS OnlineDoc, click on the ‘Search’ tab, and enter CTRL-F5 in the search terms area. Then, open the Java console window.

Internet Explorer:

Go to View->Java Console

Netscape:

Go to Communicator->Tools->Java console

Go back to the SAS OnlineDoc and enter the search string of your choice. This may provide additional error messages to assist in determining the problem.

The Java console in debug mode will display the URL that is being accessed by the search program. You may be able to see additional errors by cutting and pasting the displayed URL to your browser.

7. Check the web server logs to see if there are any additional error messages that occur.

Your web server log may have additional information about errors that occur when searching the SAS OnlineDoc.

 

Specific information for OS/390 OpenEdition web servers:

It may be necessary to add information to your web server startup file to access the appropriate C

Run-Time Libraries. If errors occur in your web server log beginning with LSCX that indicate a problem with the transient library, then you will need to add the following information to your web server startup file:

//CTRANS DD DSN=sas_prefix.SASC.TRANSLIB,DISP=SHR

or, set up the environment variable ddn_CTRANS to point to the latest version of the transient library.

SAS OnlineDoc requires version 6.00 or higher of the transient libraries.