Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes

Transcription

1 Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes June 04, 2002 These release notes cover the following topics of Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). About WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) New features System requirements Web browser requirements Known issues - common to the English and German versions Known issues - specific to the German version Resolved issues Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 1

2 About WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) About WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) WEBppliance 3.1 quickly converts a Ensim ServerXchange -managed Red Hat Linux 7.2 server into a robust Web hosting appliance that is easily managed through Web browser-based user interfaces. WEBppliance 3.1 is packaged with core Web hosting server applications and features such as a Web server, a mail server, a FTP server, a DNS server, and site security for users. WEBppliance 3.1 also includes useful administration tools such as a File Manager to help work with directories and files, a user account manager to maintain the accounts on a domain, and a backup manager to perform data backups. WEBppliance 3.1 has four different levels of users: the appliance owner, the reseller, the domain owner, and users on the domain. Depending on their role, WEBppliance 3.1 allows users to easily access all the features available to them through separate Web browser-based user interfaces. The user levels are as follows: Appliance owner - managed by an Appliance Administrator The appliance level of administration is designed for the hosting provider or reseller who either owns server hardware or has remote access to the server. The Appliance Administrator can perform the following tasks. Set up the server with Web hosting capabilities Configure the domain server applications for customers Create and manage new domains Automate frequently performed administrative tasks Back up and restore individual sites Add Resellers Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 2

3 About WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Reseller - managed by a Reseller Administrator The reseller level of administration is designed for the reseller who wants to set up and manage domains. The Reseller Administrator can perform the following tasks. Create and manage new domains View, create and modify Service Plans List all owned sites Domain owner - managed by a Site Administrator This level of administration is designed for businesses that want to manage their hosted domains and the services installed on the domains. The Site Administrator can perform the following tasks. Set up security features for an entire domain or just an individual Web site Manage the user accounts on an entire domain or an individual Web site Set up protected directories on the Apache Web server Set up and manage domain and FTP features Work with directories and files View traffic reports Back up and restore domain files User account holder or subscriber - managed by a User Administrator The user account level of administration is designed for a user account holder or subscriber of a domain who is assigned an user account. The User Administrator can perform the following tasks. Maintain account contact information Set up services and access messages over the Internet Publish Web site content Back up and restore data Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 3

4 New features New features Reseller Administrator Earlier versions of WEBppliance consisted of three levels (Appliance, Site and User Administrator level). A new level, the Reseller Administrator level, has been introduced in WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). Through the Reseller interface, the Reseller Administrator can easily manage Web hosting administrative tasks and set up sites without having to worry about the risk and effort involved in maintaining server hardware and software. Repair option for protected directories Repair option for protected directories has been introduced in WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH), which is used for the following: Finding errors in.htaccess files and repairing them Checking for deleted groups with access to protected directory and repairing the required files Multilingual support in WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) is internationalized, which means it supports multiple languages. At each of the four levels (Appliance, Reseller, Site, and User Administrator), the user can select the language preference. The language preference is login-based, that is, it lasts as long as the user is logged on. English and German are the two default languages supported by WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). Shared-SSH domain is reachable through improved URL In WEBppliance 3.1, the shared-ssl domain is reachable (both HTML and cgi-bin) through server>/<domain>/<url> as well as through server>/~<domain>/<url>. Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 4

5 System requirements Language preference for the site reports WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) supports language selection at the domain owner level. The Site Administrators can choose the language in which they want the site reports to be generated. Once a language is selected it is used to generate site reports, and the effect is visible the next day. The language preference can be subsequently changed. Online Help in multiple languages WEBppliance 3.1 supports online Help in multiple languages. The online Help is accessible through the Help link on the left navigation bar of the WEBppliance 3.1 interface. A Help icon is also present at the top-right hand corner of the individual pages for context sensitive Help. System requirements WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) can be installed on Linux Dedicated Servers or Private Servers that use ServerXchange server management software. Important: Please ensure that you have installed the ServerXchange patch before you install WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). The ServerXchange patch includes compatibility fixes for supporting WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). If the patch is not installed, the WEBppliance 3.1 installation will fail. Table 1 lists the minimum system requirements needed for your server. Table 1. Minimum system requirements Operating system Processor Memory (RAM) Disk space Red Hat Linux 7.2 Intel -compatible 256 MB 700 MB Important: You must set the memory at a minimum of 256 MB. Failure to do so will cause the WEBppliance 3.1for Linux (LH) installation to fail and leave the server in an inconsistent state. Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 5

6 Web browser requirements Web browser requirements In order to view the installed application, it is recommended that you use one of the following browsers. Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 5.0 and later Important: If you are using Internet Explorer, version 6.0, please verify that you have set your security settings (under Internet Options) to medium; otherwise some pages may not display properly. Netscape 4.7x or 6.2 We do not recommend using Netscape 6.0 and 6.1 since performance and functional problems have been experienced in these releases. Known issues - common to the English and German versions This section describes the known issues of WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). The numbers in parentheses refer to the Ensim Problem Report (PR). After uninstalling WEBppliance 3.1 from a private server, you must reinitialize the private server before you install the services again; otherwise, the installation will fail. To re-initialize the private server, delete the existing private server from the ServerXchange Server & Application Manager, and add a new private server with the same network settings. When a Site Administrator deletes a user, the aliases and responders of the user are not removed. If the users have a main alias (that is, an alias which is not shared with any other user or alias) assigned to themselves, then this alias will be redirected to site_blackhole. The Site Administrator needs to remove the aliases and responders of this user through the WEBppliance 3.1 sendmail interface. (13290) If the domain name is changed, the Site Administrator for that domain must log out and re-log on to have the change in domain name reflected in the current session. (13440) Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 6

7 Known issues - common to the English and German versions Adding a domain fails if the Site Administrator name begins with a number (for example, 123Joe). This is because Linux does not allow group or user names to start with numbers. (13750) The Microsoft FrontPage password does not get updated when the Site Administrator password is changed. Please ensure that you change your FrontPage password when the Site Administrator password is changed. (13836) Having the list owner name same as any of the list leads to the messages moving in a loop. Make sure that the list owner and any of the mailing lists do not have same mailing address. Configuring virtual DNS in WEBppliance 3.1 interface removes an IP address if it already exists in the interface and does not restore the original setting if removed. This can override the system configuration as configured in /etc/sysconfig/ifcfg-ethn:n. In case of single interface eth0, the problem is not immediately apparent as the interface will still respond to the IP address. However, if the virtual DNS is removed from BIND interface, then it is removed from the interface and no longer responds until restarted. (14688) messages fail to get delivered if domain.com is hosted somewhere else. The workaround is, modify sendmail.cf in the chrooted environment and change the following: # Mailer table (overriding domains) Kmailertable hash -o /etc/mail/mailertable.db # to # Mailer table (overriding domains) Kmailertable hash -o /etc/mail/mailertable2.db Create an empty file mailertable2.db and copy /etc/mail/mailertable.db to the chrooted etc/mail/mailertable.db. So when sendmail chroots in (when using SMTP AUTH) it will use the mailertable.db and know to use virthostmail to deliver the mail. Basically all domains will need to have their mailertable.db updated with every other domain that is on the server. (15008). Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 7

8 Known issues - common to the English and German versions In site configurations, if you disable Vacation AutoResponder, then the users of that site will not be able to use the Forwarding feature. In order to enable the users of a site to use Forwarding feature, ensure that you do not disable Vacation AutoResponder of that particular site. (13755) In WEBppliance 3.1, specifying a secondary DNS server in the DNS manager adds it to the allow-transfer {localhost;} in each zone. So, secondry DNS server cannot get zone transfer from WEBppliance 3.1. You have to manually specify this in the file named_conf_zone.tmpl located at /usr/lib/opcenter/bind/. (16365) After you upgrade, SSH using SSH2 works but SSH using SSH1 fails. Refer to the following example to make SSH using SSH1 work. (16416) For example: Use ssh -1 -l user#domain.com instead of ssh -1 -l user@domain.com SquirrelMail and Miva Merchant consume approximately 9 MB and 11 MB of disk space per site, respectively. Please ensure that you have at least 20 MB free disk space, in order to add a site with SquirrelMail and Miva Merchant enabled. (15473) Miva Merchant cannot be internationalized. (16133) If you log on to MySQL as a default user, the phpmyadmin does not accept the Site Administrator password. You have to manually change the MySQL password to the Site Administrator password. (15435) Currently, the individual sites' filesystems only include the system locale files for the English language. Hence, if some system command like mkdir /rmdir/rm fails, then the error message will be displayed in English. This means that the Details window contains English output from the system commands (like rmdir). (15870) _vti_cnf is a special directory maintained by FrontPage. The Site Administrator is advised not to protect this directory using the protect directory interface. (14464) Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 8

9 Known issues - common to the English and German versions Before enabling FrontPage for a site make sure that the document root of the site does not contain.htaccess files, which are not compatible with FrontPage (manually created.htaccess files or the ones created through WEBppliance 3.1 Protect Directories interface are not compatible with FrontPage). If the.htaccess files exist they will be renamed as.htaccess.old and the existing protection will be lost. (14637, 14995, and 15009) In WEBppliance 3.1, if you update the domain name of a site the corresponding Apache Web server name does not get updated automatically. You have to update it manually. (12158) At the Appliance Administrator Interface level, you must change the Web server name entry in order to reflect on the new site name. At the Command Line Interface level, enter the following command. # /usr/local/bin/editvirtdomain -s site<xyz> -c ipinfo,namebased=0,ipaddrs=\[ \],nbaddrs=\[\] -c siteinfo,domain=newsitename -c apache,webserver=newsitename site<xyz> The individual sites do not currently have the locale files for all languages. Hence, some system commands like mkdir, rm, etc., which run at the site level will generate the output messages in English if the command fails. This means that in the Details window, after any operation at the site-level, you may see English output. (15869) You cannot take a backup of a suspended site because the compression utilities (tar and zip) are not available for a suspended site. If you attempt to take a backup of a suspended site, you will receive an message stating that the backup failed for that particular site. (13991) Tomcat occupies at least 25 MB of RAM and runs more than 20 processes when it starts. Whenever you start WEBppliance 3.1, the Tomcat daemon starts too, resulting in slower server performance. The minimum system requirements for Tomcat are as follows: Processor - Intel Pentium II Memory MB of RAM Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 9

10 Known issues - common to the English and German versions For adding a site at the Appliance and Reseller Administrator levels, make sure that the DNS server used by the Appliance Server is reachable and properly configured. (16472) The installation of WEBppliance 3.1 fails if Red Hat Linux 7.2 is installed in any language apart from English (en_us). During Red Hat Linux 7.2 installation, in the language selection screen, make sure you select English (en_us) as the language for running the installation program. (17072) If the Appliance Administrator sets the value of MaxClients in the Apache Configuration to 0, and restarts the Apache Web Server from the command line, then Apache will give the following warning: "WARNING: Require MaxClients > 0, setting to 1". (17054) Microsoft FrontPage uses a Web-directory protection mechanism that is incompatible with WEBppliance's.htaccess manager. Enabling FrontPage on site where the existing Document Root already has.htaccess files (not created by FrontPage) will cause the existing.htaccess files to be renamed to.htaccess.old. This will effectively override the sites' earlier protection model. The following warning message will be displayed to the Appliance Administrator: "(WARNING): The Document Root for this site contained the following files that were incompatible with FrontPage:<...list of incompatible.htaccess files...> These files have been renamed to.htaccess.old. This effectively overrides the previous security for this directory. Please inform the Site Administrator about these changes!" The Site Administrator should either not enable FrontPage for the site (the assumption being that if.htaccess files are available, FrontPage may not be required), or enable FrontPage for the site, but be aware that FrontPage uses its own protection model. (16763) Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 10

11 Known issues - specific to the German version Known issues - specific to the German version This section describes the known issues specific to the German version of WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). The numbers in parentheses refer to the Ensim Problem Report (PR). The GUI contains some English strings. The Reseller service cannot be hidden. This issue can be resolved using the hot fix provided by Ensim. Contact Ensim Support to obtain the hot fix. (17259) The GUI displays dots and commas in the American style. The dot (.) is used as the decimal symbol and the comma (,) is used as the digit grouping symbol. (17305) Backing up all sites from the Appliance Administrator interface fails with an error, which is sent as to root@localhost. This issue can be resolved using the hot fix provided by Ensim. Contact Ensim Support to obtain the hot fix. (17263) Adding a file to the clipboard displays the following wrong message: Are you sure you want to remove the checked file(s)?. (17278) Removing a previously copied file from the clipboard results in an error and the file not being removed. (17306) In every new site the alias MAILER-DAEMON is routed to the postmaster. Site users can use the postmaster alias (in etc/aliases) by setting it up as an alias of their accounts. (17280) Clicking the Detail link in mod_perl results in a 404 error. (17304) The UW IMAP daemon contains a buffer overflow which allows a logged in, remote user to execute commands on the server with the user's UID/GID. (17285) Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 11

12 Resolved issues Resolved issues This describes the resolved issues of WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH). To accommodate the names of German cities with special characters, the German special characters (äöüß) are now a part of the WEBppliance 3.1 string. You can now include these characters in the text fields. However, for other languages, the support for all special characters is not yet enabled. Hence we are restricted to the following characters in strings. a-z A-Z 0-9 _ - äöüß Miva Merchant Addon and MySQL Addon can now be uninstalled simultaneously. WEBppliance 3.1 now cleans up a site's document root before running the FrontPage administrator program and enabling FrontPage for a site. The clean up involves renaming all the incompatible `.htaccess' to `.htaccess.old`, hence, the problem of a site being in an inconsistent state is resolved. Ensim Corporation 1366 Borregas Avenue Sunnyvale, CA (408) Ensim Corporation. All rights reserved. Ensim is a registered trademark. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Product information is subject to change without notice. Ensim WEBppliance 3.1 for Linux (LH) Release Notes 12