Troubleshooting TCP/IP
 Setup

Do I have the right TCP/IP version?
What if I'm not connected to the Internet?
Is my TCP/IP installed correctly?

Installation

How do I recover from error 1?
How do I recover from error 2?
How do I recover from error 3?
How do I recover from error 4?
How do I recover from warning 5?
How do I recover from error 6?
How do I recover from warning 7?
How do I recover from error 8?
How do I recover from warning 9?

Upgrading and Registering

How do I recover from an expired or bad license number?
How do I change from version 3 to version 4?

Common Situations

Why can't users connect to my server?
Why isn't my license number recognised anymore?
Why is my server slow?

Multi-Homed Sites

How do I setup a Multi-Homed Site?

Mail (SMTP and POP3) Setup

What do I need to setup for mail?

Setup
Do I have the right TCP/IP version?

PowerWeb Server++ for OS/2 requires OS/2 Warp with TCP/IP, using either the Warp Connect or the Warp Server version.

Regardless of whether you are running Warp Connect or Warp Server, we strongly recommend that you run the Merlin TCP/IP stack, as this fixes a number of problems with IBM's TCP/IP that can cause system crashes. The Merlin TCP/IP stack is available from our FTP site at:

ftp://ftp.compusource.co.za/pub/tcpipfix

You should download all the files contained in that directory and unzip their contents from the root of your boot drive.

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What if I'm not connected to the Internet?

  • You can always run PowerWeb standalone, or you can run it on a Intranet if you are connected to a TCP/IP network.
  • If your machine is standalone, you can run PowerWeb Secure Server++ in "localhost" mode, which allows you to serve to your own "local" machine only.
  • If you are on a TCP/IP network, you can serve to any computer on the network.

This is how you ensure your machine is setup for localhost operation:
  1. Run TCPCFG.EXE (the icon labelled "TCP/IP Configuration" in your TCP/IP folder)
  2. Select the "Network" tab within the notebook.
  3. Within the "Interface to Configure" listbox, select "Loopback Interface" and check the checkbox labelled "Enable Interface" and ensure that the edit field "IP Address" contains the text "127.0.0.1".
  4. Close the configuration notebook and save your changes.
  5. Shutdown and reboot your machine.

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Is my TCP/IP installed correctly?

These are the steps to go through to test your TCP/IP:

  1. ping your LAN adapter's IP address to measure response.
    Our IP address is 196.31.1.61, you must replace our IP address with your IP address.

    You can ping IP addresses on other computers to see if you can connect to them or they can ping your IP address to see if they can connect to you. If you can't then either you or they have either installed TCP/IP incorrectly or you have a network routing problem.

    This is the result when ours works:

    ping 196.31.1.61

    ping 196.31.1.61: 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 196.31.1.61: icmp_seq=0. time=0. ms
    64 bytes from 196.31.1.61: icmp_seq=1. time=0. ms
    64 bytes from 196.31.1.61: icmp_seq=2. time=0. ms

    This is what happens when it doesn't work:
    ping 196.31.1.61

    ping 196.31.1.61: 56 data bytes

    Note: If the ping fails, you must re-install TCP/IP or contact your TCP/IP vendor.

  2. Run the hostid program from your command line and check if it matches the IP address of your LAN adapter.
    If the IP address does not match, then run "hostid 196.31.1.61" with your IP address to set it correctly.

  3. (a) Run the hostname program from your command line and check it gives you the correct host name of your computer.
    The correct name is the "canonical" name of your computer, which is the main name by which external users will reference your machine.

    If the hostname is wrong, you must edit the HOSTS file contained in the ETC directory on your hard drive.
    To discover the ETC directory location, run the command

    set etc
    Note: If this ETC environment variable is not set, your TCP/IP should be re-installed.

    (b) Your hosts file is a list of IP addresses (one per line) followed by the equivalent host names.

    For example, our HOSTS file looks like this:

    196.31.1.61 www.compusource.co.za ftp.compusource.co.za compusource.co.za
    196.31.1.1 www.siteone.com
    196.31.1.2 www.sitetwo.com
    196.31.1.3 www.sitethree.com
    196.31.1.4 www.sitefour.com
    196.31.1.5 smtp.compusource.co.za
    127.0.0.1 localhost
    If the above all works correctly, then your basic TCP/IP services are working correctly.

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Installation
How do I recover from error 1?

Either TCP/IP is not installed on your system, or there is no IP address defined on your machine. To install TCP/IP, purchase Warp Connect or Warp Server and perform a selective install of Networking Products.

If you have installed TCP/IP, and you haven't got a LAN adapter or a permanent Internet link, you will need to run PowerWeb in local mode, which means that it will serve to your machine only. The easiest way to setup OS/2 to server locally is:

  1. Run TCPCFG.EXE (the icon labelled "TCP/IP Configuration" in your TCP/IP folder)
  2. Select the "Network" tab within the notebook.
  3. Within the "Interface to Configure" listbox, select "Loopback Interface" and check the checkbox labelled "Enable Interface" and ensure that the edit field "IP Address" contains the text "127.0.0.1".
  4. Close the configuration notebook and save your changes.
  5. Shutdown and reboot your machine.
  6. Change directory to PowerWeb.
  7. Run " install -local " to install your PowerWeb server.

If you have a LAN adapter or permanent Internet link, then use "ping" to determine whether your interface is working. For example, if your IP address is 196.12.34.56, then use ping 196.12.34.56 and check whether the ping packets are being transmitted successfully. If they are not coming through, your TCP/IP configuration is not setup correctly, and you will need to run the TCPCFG.EXE (the icon labelled "TCP/IP Configuration" in your TCP/IP folder) configuration program.

If the ping was successful, then try running "hostid 196.12.34.56 " (according to your IP address) and repeat running " install -d ". If this still does not find an IP address, you could have a damaged set of TCP/IP or PowerWeb files, in which case you should re-install TCP/IP and unzip and re-install PowerWeb again.

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How do I recover from error 2?

TCP/IP requires a one-to-many mapping between an IP address and its host names. This mapping is set up either within your HOSTS file or by your domain name server (DNS). We recommend that you set up your HOSTS file regardless of whether you are running DNS, as it enables faster lookup of your server's host name while PowerWeb is running.

The HOSTS file is contained within your TCP/IP etc directory. To discover its location, type " set etc " on an OS/2 command line. If this ETC environment variable is not set, your TCP/IP should be re-installed.

Your HOSTS file is a list of IP addresses (one per line) followed by the equivalent host names. For example, our HOSTS file looks like this:

196.31.1.61 www.compusource.co.za compusource.co.za
127.0.0.1 localhost
An alternative way of defining your host names is:
  1. Run TCPCFG.EXE (the icon labelled "TCP/IP Configuration" in your TCP/IP folder)
  2. Select the "HostNames" tab within the notebook and goto page 2.
  3. Add or modify your existing entries in the listbox.
  4. Be sure to check the checkbox "Look through HOSTS file before going to nameserver"
  5. Close the configuration notebook and save your changes.

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How do I recover from error 3?

PowerWeb ensures that your IP address maps to your host name and also that your host name maps back to the original IP address. If the mapping back from the host name to the IP address fails, it means that your HOSTS file is not set up correctly.

Refer to the notes regarding Error 2 above for setting up your HOSTS file.

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How do I recover from error 4?

This error message occurs when you have multiple IP addresses defined on your machine, and your HOSTS file is inconsistent. In this case PowerWeb mapped your primary IP address to a specific host name, but when that host name was mapped back to an IP address, a different IP address was returned. This is a serious error and will cause malfunctioning of your server.

Refer to the notes regarding Error 2 above for setting up your HOSTS file.

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How do I recover from warning 5?

This warning message indicates that you are either not online to the Internet or that your domain name server (DNS) is malfunctioning. If you are serving only locally or to your private LAN and not to the Internet you can ignore this warning.

If your server is meant to be online to the Internet, then the most likely cause of this message is that your TCP/IP configuration settings do not specify a valid DNS server IP address, or your service provider's DNS is either not operating or is not setup correctly. The easiest way to test this is to use your Web browser to access other sites on the Internet.

To define your DNS server's IP address for a permanent Internet connection:

  1. Run TCPCFG.EXE (the icon labelled "TCP/IP Configuration" in your TCP/IP folder)
  2. Select the "HostNames" tab within the notebook and goto page 1.
  3. Fill in the "Nameserver addresses" listbox.
  4. Close the configuration notebook and save your changes.
  5. Shutdown and reboot your machine.

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How do I recover from error 6?

This message indicates that you were previously running a server on the same machine as you are installing PowerWeb. If you shut down that TCP/IP service and wait a while (sometimes as long as 5 minutes), IBM's TCP/IP will release the port and enable PowerWeb to use it. In the case of port 80 (for HTTP), PowerWeb will automatically choose port 8000 instead and install itself on that port, allowing you to run your old server (if any) alongside PowerWeb. You can always change your HTTP port later by choosing "Services" from the main PowerWeb admin page while PowerWeb is running.

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How do I recover from warning 7?

PowerWeb needs to know your timezone for your machine's location so that it can send the correct timestamp information to remote clients. Many Web browsers rely on the server's clock and timezone being correctly set so that they can cache images or documents locally, fetching new copies only when the cache is out-of-date.

To define your timezone:

  1. Run TCPCFG.EXE (the icon labelled "TCP/IP Configuration" in your TCP/IP folder)
  2. Select the "General" tab within the notebook.
  3. Fill in the "Timezone" edit field.
  4. If you are unsure what setting to use, read the Help - it can be complex, but then the specifications of timezones around the world are complex anyway.
  5. Close the configuration notebook and save your changes.
  6. Shutdown and reboot your machine.

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How do I recover from error 8?

PowerWeb needs to know where to locate vital files used for host name lookup which requires that your ETC environment variable be set.

You have probably not setup TCP/IP correctly, so you should re-install it.

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How do I recover from warning 9?

PowerWeb needs to use your HOSTS file to determine host name aliases of your machine to be able to correctly run SMTP and POP3 services.

Your environment variable USE_HOSTS_FIRST must be set to 1 in your config.sys file in order for these services to work correctly.

SET USE_HOSTS_FIRST=1

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Upgrading and Registering
How do I recover from an expired or bad license number?

On server startup, if the server responds saying you have an expired or invalid license, it will attempt to load in LocalHost mode.

If you are upgrading from version 3 to version 4, you are likely to see this message. The quickest solution is:

  1. Edit the powerweb.cfg file in the conf sub-directory and modify your license number from your version 3 license to your version 4 or later license. Look for the keyword "license" in the file and you will see the license number a few lines further down.

  2. Change your default IP address back from 127.0.0.1 to your own ip address, by typing the command line:
    hostid 196.12.34.56
    (according to your IP address)
  3. Reload PowerWeb Server. It should now recognise your new version 4 license.

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Common Situations
Why can't users connect to my server?

Follow the ping instructions above to determine where the fault lies.

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Why isn't my license number recognised anymore?

One of the following has occurred:

  1. Your IP address and your host name have both changed.
    You must apply for a new license in compliance with the Licensing Agreement.

  2. Your test drive has expired.
    You can start PowerWeb in local mode with:
    powerweb -local
    and then you can register PowerWeb and obtain a valid license.

  3. Your configuration file is corrupt.
    Restore it from backup or re-install.

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Why is my server slow?

If your PowerWeb server seems to be slow, then it is likely to be a networking problem. This can be diagnosed as follows:

  1. Start PowerWeb
  2. Within an OS/2 command session, change directory to "\powerweb\sys401.r1\bin" (which is the location for version 4.01 and may be different on your system if you are running another version).
  3. Execute the command
    submit -r10
    which will send 10 consecutive requests to your server for its home page.
  4. Look at the average time reported - it should be between 10 and 80 milliseconds depending on the speed of your machine and whether any other programs are running at the time.
  5. If the time is substantially above 80 milliseconds, shutdown and reboot your machine, because the IBM TCP/IP stack sometimes needs re-initialising. If the speed is still slow, you probably have a TCP/IP configuration problem.
  6. If the speed is OK on the server machine, then go to another workstation on the same TCP/IP subnet and execute the "submit" command again, but this time mention your server's IP address and also execute a ping, as follows:
    submit -r10 -i12.34.56.78
    ping 12.34.56.78
  7. Network delays will mean the average response time is likely to be worse, but the time should not increase by much more than the average ping time.

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Multi-Homed Sites
How do I setup a Multi-Homed Site?

Use the IP wizard to setup multiple IP addresses by simply filling in the form.

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Mail (SMTP and POP3) Setup
What do I need to setup for mail?

Please read the mail overview for instructions.

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