Ignited by Nexus

Almost 3 years ago I was working as a Management Analyst for the State and I was given the opportunity to attend the Nexus ’07 event in Bellevue. I was unsure what the event was all about and how it was going to be incorporated with my job. A group of us drove to the event and was intrigued with the research that I had done on the event and the number of products that they offered information on. When we arrived we attended the welcome presentation and speaker that introduced me to a new technology for me in document imaging. I knew that we had incorporated a small part of this into the agency I was working for but was unclear as to how it worked. We broke into our choice of four sessions. It was incredibly interesting and helpful. For the next 2 days I found that each breakout session was very informative and at that point I could definitely see how this technology was incredibly applicable to any business in some way. I made notes and gathers brochures and information on different products and ideas that could be applied to different areas of the agency.

Not only did I gather such great information on new products for the agency but I also was able to meet the vendors and product developers for the different solutions. There were opportunities during the mingle times and product demonstrations that I could approach a vendor or representative and share my ideas and they were so informative and provided even more ideas for me to apply.

By the end of the event I was ready to do it all over again and attend different breakout sessions to learn about more exciting products and apply to my ideas. During the drive home I found that I was not the only one that had this kind of experience. Everyone had ideas and solutions and products that we could apply to different areas of the agency to not only save time but money as well.

When I started working for ImageSource I had no idea that the event that I had attended three years ago was put on by … well…. Us. I am looking forward to this upcoming NEXUS ’10 event on November 4-5. Now I will be attending it from the other side as one of the vendors who will no doubt be in contact with someone that is attending like I had three years ago looking for inspiration. For all those readers out there, be sure to register early so you don’t miss out.

Jen Hilt
Support Engineer
ImageSource Inc

Exchange 2010 Upgrade

As part of our Enterprise Content Management system we are upgrading our Exchange servers to 2010 to better handle our enterprise demands for e-mail content and integrate with SharePoint 2010.  Upgrading from Exchange Server 2003 to 2010 most users won’t notice a huge difference in E-mail performance but where they will notice changes is the new look and feel of OWA (Outlook Web Access) 2010.  OWA 2010 has some great new features such as Conversation view, which allows a user to view the whole chain of responses in one threaded view.   Another great feature that I think everyone will be happy about is that in OWA 2010 all  messages show up on one page, with OWA 2003 the maximum limit was 100 per page, now with OWA 2010 there is no limit no matter how big your inbox is all your messages are on one page.   Also a great feature which we just tested is the function to allow a user to remotely wipe their phone via OWA, so if your phone is lost or stolen you can completely wipe your phone clean of sensitive information.  

 At ImageSource we represent a variety of software options, our consulting services provide an independent and objective approach. Many consultants use a one size fits all philosophy. Our flexible and proven methodologies allow us to help you define truly suitable solutions for ECM and integration with corporatet office tools. 

Will Hart
Support Engineer
ImageSource, Inc.

How To Perform Basic Web Troubleshooting for IPM Web

Web troubleshooting can be difficult and searching through Oracle Metalink to get information can be even worse.   I found this record in the Oracle Archives and thought it may help out other Acorde/Stellent/Oracle IPM/UCM users.  The following is a general guide for troubleshooting issues with the IPM Web service.  Hopefully reviewing the installation checklist and going through this troubleshooting guide will resolve most configuration issues with the web service.

Solution

Installation Phase

This phase encompasses all steps outlined in the install doc. If problems occur during or immediately following the installation, please review these steps:

1. How was the installation done?

At the console or through terminal services?

Terminal services has been known to cause serious issues in our installation of the web. It appears that when the install is done in this way, some files are not registered properly. Typically, you will see errors pointing to COM (login errors, plugin errors, etc.).

2. Were all the installation steps followed?

Check permissions, and verify that objects under the IBPMWeb and IBPMData folder all have the correct permissions. Reset all child objects under IBPMWeb and IBPMData. Make sure the correct web extensions are enabled.

3. Has the current problem been happening since the system was installed?

If yes, then you may need to review the install documentation.

4. Check the HKLM/Software/Optika/TRANSPORT/MANAGER_ADDRS

Make sure it points to the actual Request Broker machine (either the hostname or IP address). Also make sure the webserver can ping that address or hostname.

5. Is there a client or other services installed on the webserver?

If so, please understand that this is not a recommended configuration. In the event it is unavoidable, make sure that the services, (client and web) are all installed into the same location. For IPM web, the DLLs should be installed into C:\Program Files\Stellent\IBPM.

Startup Phase

This phase encompasses the process after installation or after an IISRESET.

1. Do the clients get the login screen?

If not, then we’re failing prior to getting all the ASP\DLLs loaded. Typically this points to either a permissions issue or a corruption in the IBPMWeb\OTInfrastructure\AcordeObjectHeaders folder. Delete all the files in that folder and do an IISRESET from a command prompt.

2. Can the user successfully login?

If not, this means that we are not getting a COM connection open to validate the user. Typically we will see a 29515 error appear stating we were not able to reach a service. In this case look at the permissions on the HKLM\Software\Optika registry key. Another item to look at is to make sure that if for some reason we have a client on the webserver that it is installed into the same folder as the IBPMWeb. Installing elsewhere will cause the web problems when it goes to register DLLs.

3. Is the error in the workcenter or elsewhere?

If after login we see an error on the workcenter, this points to an issue with the AcordeObjectHeaders folder. Rebuild that directory.

If the error happens in another window or frame then we’ll need to investigate those individually.

4. Is the client machine following a shortcut that points to a file below IBPMWeb?

In the past we have seen issues where a client will follow a shortcut that they created when at the login screen of the IPM Web. Doing so causes certain startup processes to be bypassed and can cause problems later because they may be using outdated connection information or other bad data that can cause varied problems.

Post Startup Phase

This phase encompasses any issues that occur after a successful installation and login. These errors typically come from problems with COM or from the connection to the backend servers. If these errors occur after an upgrade to the OS then check to make sure that any firewall or antivirus changes have been deactivated temporarily until we can determine if one of them is the cause.

Plug-in related Problems

For issues related to the plugin, look at the following:

1. Does the Messenger virtual directory contain an ISAPIMsgr.dll?

If not, then the Messenger virtual directory is pointed to the wrong location. Delete and re-create the Messenger virtual directory and point it at C:\Program Files\Stellent\IBPM

2. Does IUSR/IWAM have full control to the IBPMData folder?

If not, correct the security settings and then reset all child objects on that directory.

3. Are the users accessing the web with the hostname or IP address?

If they are using the hostname, you may want to adjust the Web Settings so that it uses hostname over IP (Login with a Web Administrator, click Administration -> Choose Web Settings -> Change the first section to use hostname and specify hostname.domain.com in the text box->Save the settings.)

4. Is there a proxy between the clients and the webserver?

If so, use the explanation for #3 and change the setting to hostname.

5. Are we seeing a *.opt file get created in the IBPMData\IBPMSessionData\<sessionid> folder?

If so, is the file larger than 4k? If so, open the file in a test editor and see what the message is. If it is larger than 4k we can assume that the images are getting to the webserver from export. This would indicate an issue with the plugin loading the image from IBPMData.

6. Check the IIS log and see if ISAPIMsgr.dll is listed as being accessed.

The log can be found at C:\Windows(orWINNT)\System32\LogFiles\W3SVC(number of website)\ and will be named after the date in which it was created. This file is helpful in troubleshooting different problems when you need to see if certain items are being requested from the web server.

How to do a complete uninstall of the IPM Web:

1. Use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall the web

2. Delete the Program Files\Stellent folder

3. Open Regedit and delete HKLM\Software\Optika and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Optika

4. Remove the entries in the IIS Administrator for IBPMWeb, IBPMData and Messenger virtual Directories.

When all else fails…

o When all else fails, get another machine and install the web on it temporarily. Does it exhibit the same issues?

o Was the web installed via Terminal Services? If so, re-install from the console.

o Was the IPMWeb uninstalled and re-installed, or just updated over the older version?

o Was the web installed over a network share? If so, try installing from the CDROM.

If you are still unable to resolve the issue, get the following information:

1. What OS version and service pack does the webserver have installed?

2. Does the webserver also have other applications installed (besides IBPMWeb) and are they running under the same website?

3. What version of IBPMWeb are they installing/using and does that version match the backend IPM servers?

4. Is the customer using custom web applications? Were these recently implemented or altered?

5. Does the customer have Antivirus scanning the IBPMWeb and IBPMData folders? If so, have them exclude these directories for the real time scan.

6. What version of IE is installed on the clients?

7. What version of the J2RE is installed on the clients?

8. How many users are accessing the IBPMWeb at any given time?

9. How much RAM is installed, and how fast are the CPUs along with how machine CPUs are present.

10. Enable IBPMWeb logging. Login into the web with a user which has been granted the Web Administrator Policy; Click Administration; Choose Web Defaults; Check m_AcordeWebLogging; Save, and do an IISRESET. A log will be produced at the root of C drive called AcordeWeb<date>.log. After the error is reproduced and a log is created, turn web logging back off because logging is not thread safe. Supply this log to ImageSource tech support and it will be analyzed for it any info it can provide.

Leigh Woody
Program Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

Integrating Legacy Systems with ECM

I’ve been working on a project that required scraping values from an IBM Terminal Emulator and using them for updating indexes in an Oracle IPM imaging repository and was lucky enough to have the ILINX AIK tool to work with in accomplishing this task.

The first challenge was in dealing with the values that we were gathering from the Terminal Emulator Screen.  The way that the data was served to the terminal emulator was not parsed into separate values.  The AIK allowed us, through VB Script, to parse the data into a form that we could use.  Once the data was massaged into a usable form, we used the values to update indexes in Oracle IBPM.  The ILINX AIK natively comes with connections to Oracle IPM for searching.  However, updating index values on documents that already exist in the system can be a challenge.

To overcome this obstacle we used the ILINX AIK to map the data into an executable.  This option was used for performing the Oracle IPM Index updates, and we were able to accomplish this by mapping the data to an executable with the mapped index values as arguments, and having the executable perform the index updates.

In the distributed final project, end users select the line on the Terminal screen that holds the data they need to update in Oracle IPM , click a button (one of the event choices for telling the AIK when to perform the action you designated for it), and are able to move on to their next task.

The flexibility of this product is one of its strong suites.  Out of the box it comes with connectors for everything from Terminal Emulators to .NET windows, it gives you the ability to set scripts in each project if needed to correct issues that could be present with the data pulled.  Additionally, it has a wide array of choices for triggering data pull events.  If one of the many options native to the AIK for mapping your output data won’t work, it has the flexibility to allow you to create your own output method thus, giving System Engineer’s and Project Managers endless possibilities when setting up systems and processes where a client would like to scrape data from a screen and have it stored in another location.

The first challenge was in dealing with the values that we were gathering from the Terminal Emulator Screen.  The way that the data was served to the terminal emulator was not parsed into separate values.  The AIK allowed us, through VB Script, to parse the data into a form that we could use.  Once the data was massaged into a usable form, we used the values to update indexes in Oracle IBPM.  The ILINX AIK natively comes with connections to Oracle IBPM for searching.  However, updating index values on documents that already exist in the system can be a challenge.

To overcome this obstacle we used the ILINX AIK to map the data into an executable.  This option was used for performing the Oracle IBPM Index updates, and we were able to accomplish this by mapping the data to an executable with the mapped index values as agruments, and having the executable perform the index updates.

In the distributed final project, end users select the line on the Terminal screen that holds the data they need to update in Oracle IBPM , click a button (one of the event choices for telling the AIK when to perform the action you designated for it), and are able to move on to their next task.

The flexibility of this product is one of its strong suites.  Out of the box it comes with connectors for everything from Terminal Emulators to .NET windows, it gives you the ability to set scripts in each project if needed to correct issues that could be present with the data pulled.  Additionally, it has a wide array of choices for triggering data pull events.  If one of the many options native to the ILINX AIK for mapping your output data won’t work, it has the flexibility to allow you to create your own output method thus, giving System Engineer’s and Project Managers endless possibilities when setting up systems and processes where a client would like to scrape data from a screen and have it stored in another location.

 

Random McParks
Support Engineer
ImageSource Inc.