Posts in Category "Application"

Connect 8.2.2.3 Licensed Patch Now Available

The Adobe Connect 8.2.2.3 patch for Licensed (On-Premise) customers is now live.

Please find the zip file with the patch and deployment instructions here:

http://helpx.adobe.com/adobe-connect/kb/connect-8-2-patches.html

Note: The patch 8.2.2.3 contains all the patches from 8.2.2.1 – 8.2.2.3. This can be applied directly on the version 8.2.2.0.

Adobe Connect 9.0.2 Release Notes

We have just published a technote regarding the Release Notes for the upcoming 9.0.2 Adobe Connect release.

Please review the technote here:

http://helpx.adobe.com/adobe-connect/kb/connect-902-release-notes.html

Adobe Connect Service Cyclers

Periodically, licensed (on-premise) deployments of Adobe Connect Pro will have to have the services stopped or cycled during periods of modification, customization, troubleshooting, or potentially on a scheduled basis.
For convenience, you can copy the appropriate code below into a new file and save at a batch (.bat) file. Running this batch file will stop all the services in the correct order and then restart them in the appropriate order either all at once (automatically) or after a keystroke (prompted) by the user.

For a scheduled periodic cycling of the services, you can setup a scheduled task in Windows (on the Connect server) to run this batch file or have it controlled by a centralized enterprise scheduler like Tidal. Of course if setting up a scheduled task, you’d need to select the one without the forced keystroke.

First, take everything in between the lines (from @ECHO OFF through @ECHO OFF) and save as a .bat file to the Connect server.

Then you can run it manually or point a scheduled task to it.

I have posted a few different options below…see the descriptions then the code below them.  These are applicable to Adobe Connect Pro 8.x and 9.x.  There are additional services with 9.x (i.e. Adobe Connect CQ-Author service, Adobe Connect CQ-Publish service) as well as the Flash Media Gateway (FMG) and Adobe Connect Presence Server services that are in both C8 and C9 that may or may be needed.  You can add these services to the batch files if applicable.

1.) Below is a cycler that just stops and starts all the applicable services (FMS,FMSAdmin,ConnectPro, and the CPTelephonyService). It is up to you and your deployment, whether you need the CPTelephonyService or not.  This version will do it all automatically and won’t force you to perform a keystroke to start once the services are stopped. This version is good for a scheduled task to point to. Again, you may remove the FMSAdmin and/or CPTelephonyService services if you wish, as they are not always needed.  I also added a ping in the middle so it adds more time before restarting the services (in case there is a delay in stopping the FMS service, which sometimes happens).

———————————snip below here and save to a .bat file—————————-

@ECHO OFF
REM ----------------CONNECT SERVICE AUTOMATIC CYCLING ----------------
REM
REM This batch file stops and starts the Adobe Connect and Flash Media Server Services
REM

REM
REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
@ECHO ON

net stop ConnectPro
net stop CPTelephonyService
net stop FMSAdmin
net stop FMS
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 20000>nul
net start FMS
net start FMSAdmin
net start ConnectPro
net start CPTelephonyService

@ECHO OFF

———————————snip above this and save to a .bat file——————————

2.) Below is a cycler that stops the services (same as above) but requires a keystroke to start up the services again. This is handy if you are doing work on the server or troubleshooting and you want to quickly stop the services but not restart them until you are ready.

 

———————————snip below here and save to a .bat file—————————-

@ECHO OFF
REM ----------------CONNECT SERVICE AUTOMATIC CYCLING WITH KEYSTROKE---------------- 
REM
REM This batch file stops and starts the Adobe Connect and Flash Media Server Services
REM
REM
REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
@ECHO ON
net stop ConnectPro
net stop CPTelephonyService
net stop FMSAdmin
net stop FMS /y
@ECHO OFF
@ECHO Press a key to START services
PAUSE
@ECHO ON
net start FMS
net start FMSAdmin
net start ConnectPro
net start CPTelephonyService
@ECHO OFF

———————————snip above this and save to a .bat file——————————

3.) Below is a cycler that stops the services on an Edge server and clears the cache before restarting.

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE EDGE SERVER DIRECTORY STRUCTURE ON YOUR MACHINE BEFORE USING THIS. YOU’LL HAVE TO CHANGE THE LOCATION TO MATCH YOUR OWN.

Additional Notes:

The Edge server will need a maintenance script to clear old cache and keep them fresh; run the following .bat file as a scheduled task on each Connect Edge server; feel free to edit this file to reduce or prolong the ping-induced delays. The key is to allow enough time between each command for services to stop and start. Different servers respond differently, some requiring more time and some less time. By stopping the services, it unlocks the cache for thorough deletion:

 

———————————snip below here and save to a .bat file—————————-

@ECHO OFF
REM ------CONNECT SERVICE AUTOMATIC CYCLING---------------
REM 
REM This batch file stops and starts Connect Edge Services and Clears the Cache
REM
REM ------------------------------------------------------------
@ECHO ON
net stop fmsadmin
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 10000>nul
net stop fms
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 200000>nul
del /Q /S c:\breeze\edgeserver\win32\cache\http\*.*
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 10000>nul
net start fms
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 10000>nul
net start fmsadmin
@ECHO OFF

———————————snip above this and save to a .bat file——————————

Adobe Connect 9 | Contents won’t load in iFrames

Problem :

Since we’ve got our Adobe Connect servers upgraded to version 9, our contents embedded in iFrames have stopped working.

None of our contents and recordings seem to work now from our website in any browser we use. This has always used to work, since a couple of months, until just a few days ago.

Environment :

Adobe Connect 9.0.0.1   Hosted/Licensed

Reason :

  • If you have integrated your Adobe Connect contents or recordings, with an external LMS system or on an external website for users, via the use of iFrames, and if your Adobe Connect server is upgraded to version 9, you might run into this issue.
  • Adobe has recognized this to be caused due to a known bug : Bug#3313120.

 

Workaround :

To workaround this for now, users may try and modify their scripting code in such a way, that it opens the content in a new window, instead of an iFrame, if its feasible and works for them.

Additional Information :

Adobe Engineering is working to fix this right now.

Latest Update : Tentatively expected to be fixed with the next patch release.

 

 

Using mode=xml to Debug or Obtain Additional Information in ACP

Introduction:

While navigating and performing tasks in the Adobe Connect Manager (all server versions), it is sometimes useful to further identify properties of the account, the item(s) you are viewing, the server you are currently connected to, the session, and any error messages you may be encountering.  Using an additional URL query string in the browser’s address bar, you can display additional XML data in the bottom of each browser page you visit in your active Adobe Connect Manager session.

Using mode=xml

A typical URL to an Adobe Connect login page would look like this (using Adobe Hosted as an example):

http://my.adobeconnect.com/

If you wish to also get the XML data displayed at the bottom of the page, you can append ‘?mode=xml‘ to the URL above and hit enter or go on your browser to navigate to that page.

(so the url would now be: http://my.connectURL.com?mode=xml)

The current page and each page after this (during this browser session) will have the XML data displayed in a nice debugging window in the bottom of the page (scroll all the way down after navigating to the page, to view).  You will notice now the ‘mode=xml’ will be present in each subsequent URL in the address bar during your session in the Adobe Connect Manager.  It will automatically get added to each query after this, in that session.

If you are already logged into Adobe Connect and are browsing around in the Adobe Connect Manager and wish to add the XML data at the bottom of an existing page, you can add ‘&mode=xml‘ (not the ‘&’ in place of the ‘?’) to the end of the URL you are currently on (and hit refresh in the browser to resend the query and obtain the debugging window at the bottom of the browser session).  This is because you would already have a ‘?’ present in the query string in the URL.  Everything parameter added after that initial query will have the ‘&’ preceding it.

So a an example would be if you were actively viewing the Home page in your Adobe Connect account at:

http://my.connectURL.com/admin/home/homepage?account-id=XXXXXXX&principal-id=XXXXX&showNotif=true

You would then add ‘&mode=xml‘ to the end so it would now appear as this:

http://my.connectURL.com/admin/home/homepage?account-id=XXXXXXX&principal-id=XXXXX&showNotif=true&mode=xml

Results

Some useful information returned from this XML output is:

  • status code: This will generally have an ‘ok’ value unless an error is encountered.
  • cookie: This is your current session value
  • host: This is the Adobe Connect URL (domain)
  • local host: This is the actual server name you are connected to
  • version: The Adobe Connect Server version
  • account-id: The account ID (only applicable to Hosted accounts as a Licensed/On Premise account is always = ’7′)
  • user information (user-id, name, login of the user currently connect to the Adobe Connect session)

…along with many other parameters and data for the current page/account you are connected to and viewing.

Use Cases

Debugging

  • When doing this, one thing you’ll recognize is that in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari (all the browsers I’ve tested) you will get the server name (Local Host value) in the Tab’s description of the page you are viewing.  This is very helpful in quickly testing (for example) an Adobe Connect cluster.  You may want to make sure all servers in the cluster are accepting requests for the web application piece of Adobe Connect.  You can append the ?mode=xml parameter to the URL, hit refresh on the browser, and see the actual server that is handling that request to the web application.  You can keep hitting refresh and see what servers you are on in subsequent requests.
  • While using an Adobe Connect cluster (whether it is a Licensed/On Premise deployment or an Adobe Connect Hosted account), you may want to see what local host you are on when making a request, so you can go back and look at server logs (or notify Adobe support with specific information regarding what server you were connected to).  For Licensed/On-Premise installations, it is very useful because if you run into an error or problem with a specific function of the Adobe Connect web application, you can identify what server you are on and that will help you pinpoint exactly what server in the cluster handled the request.  You can then go straight to that server to review the applicable server logs.
  • You can also obtain a little more information to an existing/visible error message that may be appearing in the UI.  Sometimes you may have a situation where you get a ‘Request Not Processed’ or other non-descript error message in the browser.  To get more information on what could be happening, you can get some additional logging by looking at the response and status in the XML results that get printed in that XML debugging window by adding the mode=xml parameter to the URL.

 

 

Connect 9 Services fail to start for server’s having time zone set to east of Japan

PROBLEM -: I have upgraded/installed Connect 9 on my server having timezone set to east of Japan.

When i start the connect services i get the error -:

“The Adobe connect service service on local computed started and then stopped.Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs”.

On checking the ConnectProService.log file you have the following error

2012/08/23 09:56:32 | STATUS | wrapper | --> Wrapper Started as Service
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | STATUS | wrapper | Java Service Wrapper Standard Edition 64-bit 3.3.9
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | STATUS | wrapper | Copyright 1999-2009 Tanuki Software, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | STATUS | wrapper | http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.org
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | STATUS | wrapper |
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | License Error:
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | The license keys are incorrect.
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | Please verify that the wrapper.license.* properties match exactly
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | and that the following property values match those required for the license:
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | wrapper.java.mainclass=org.tanukisoftware.wrapper.WrapperStartStopApp
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | wrapper.app.parameter.1=org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper |
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | A license can be obtained from the Java Service Wrapper site:
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.org/doc/english/purchase.html
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper |
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | Licenses can be generated for any of the following Host Ids.
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | The first Host Id is recommended.
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | Host Ids:
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | 005056af0080 (#1)
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | 005056af000b (#2)
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper |
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | ERROR | wrapper | Optional host name for license: Breeze20
2012/08/23 09:56:32 | STATUS | wrapper | <-- Wrapper Stopped

REASON -: This is being caused by the bug within Tanuki Java Service Wrapper that is used with Connect 9 causing the failure of connect services when the server timezone is set to east of Japan.

You can cross check by setting the server timezone to west of Japan, The connect services would start.

 

SOLUTION -: Applicable only for Connect 9 servers  having timezone east of Japan. 

1. Download http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.com/download/3.5.15/wrapper-windows-x86-64-3.5.15-st.zip

2. Extract the file wrapper-windows-x86-64-3.5.15-st.zip

3. Locate the wrapper.exe on wrapper-windows-x86-64-3.5.15-st\bin  folder

4. Navigate to directory /breeze/9.0.0.1/appserv and rename the file ConnectProSvc.exe to ConnectProSvc.exe.orig

5. Copy the file wrapper.exe from step 3 and paste it to /breeze/9.0.0.1/appserv folder.

6. Rename the file /breeze/9.0.0.1/appserv/wrapper.exe to ConnectProSvc.exe

7. Navigate to /breeze/9.0.0.1/TelephonyService folder and rename TelephonyService.exe to TelephonyService.exe.orig

8. Copy wrapper.exe from step 3 and paste it to /breeze/9.0.0.1/TelephonyService folder.

9. Navigate to /breeze/9.0.0.1/TelephonyService/  folder and rename wrapper.exe to TelephonyService.exe

10. Start Connect and Telephony services

 

The problem only affects servers with time zones between +10:00 and +11:59 UTC. Therefore, the problem can affect licensed customers in Australia (East coast) and New Zealand.

Java Exception Error while importing database in to the new server

Problem:

Java Exception Error while importing Database in to the new server

Kind of Environment: Licensed

Reason:

If you see this in debug logs:

05-26 01:40:50] console-8510-1 (ERROR) Exception thrown java.lang.NullPointerException at com.macromedia.airspeed.FeatureManager.updateFeatureSet(FeatureManager.java:172) at com.macromedia.airspeed.FeatureManager.isDisabled(FeatureManager.java:78)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.macromedia.airspeed.FeatureManager.updateFeatureSet(FeatureManager.java:172) at com.macromedia.airspeed.FeatureManager.isDisabled(FeatureManager.java:78

Solution:

PPS_ACCOUNTS_FEATURE table was not updated properly.

Please call Support in order to get further assistance.

 

Adobe Connect Upgrade Error | Port 80 in use | Win 2003 / 2008

Problem :

My Adobe Connect service doesn’t start and I cannot get the login page to come up;

Reason :

The Adobe Connect service will not start or will not open the login page, if the server’s port 80 is in use, by any other application/process.

Solution :

Port 80 can be in use by other web servers[like IIS,Apache Tomcat], if installed on the same machine, as the Connect server machine. It is highly recommended, that you should ensure that no other application (or IIS), is listening on port 80.

Additionally, if you’re running on a Win 2003/2008 server, and if you have your SQL server installed on the same box as Connect, it is very likely that you might run into this issue.

SQL Server Reporting service on Windows 2003/2008, are bound to listen on port 80 by default. This would prohibit Adobe Connect, to start or launch the login page, since the port would be occupied, by the SQL’s reporting service. To fix this problem, ensure that this service is not running or listening on port 80.

In order to ensure that, port 80 is not in use by this service, we can run the following command to find out :

  • Open a command prompt window on the Connect server
  • Run the command netstat -a -b
  • This command determines, the list of ports, which are in use by the system, along with their process names, & via this process name, we can identify, which service/process, is using port 80.
  • If you find port 80 in use by a system.exe process, which has a Process Id(Pid) 4, ensure your SQL Server’s Reporting service is not running.
  • Once this service is stopped or alternately configured to listen on any other port, you should be able to start the Adobe Connect service successfully and get to the login page as well.