WebObjects Systems
Frequently Asked Questions

Title: WebObjects System Frequently Asked Questions
Entry Number: 2124
Last Updated: <<Date September 18, 1997>>
Keywords: WOF, WebObjects, Systems, FAQ

....Release Notes
....Documentation
....Platforms
....Servers
....Uninstalling
....Database Adaptors
....MS IIS Configuration
....If All Elese Fails

Introduction

Welcome to Tech Support Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).  This document is updated regularly to reflect Apple Enterprise Technical Support's most commonly asked technical questions.  You can use this document as a quick reference guide for issues that may or may not be found in the documentation or otherwise be readily available. 

When additional sources of information are available about a topic they are indicated in the See Also: section.  Much of the information in this document is expanded upon in other NeXTanswers documents and in the on-line and printed NEXTSTEP documentation.

Release Notes

Q.	Where can I get the latest release notes? 
A.	Release notes are available at:
	http://enterprise.apple.com/NeXTanswers/HTMLFiles/2531.htmld/2531.html

Documentation

Q.	Where can I get the latest documentation? 
A.	All of the documentation is available on the Apple DevWorld WWW server at:
	http://devworld.apple.com/dev/SWTechPubs/Documents/WebObjects/

	What formats?
	It is available in both HTML and Acrobat PDF formats.

Platforms

Q.	What platforms are supported?
A.	Supported:	NT, Solaris, NEXTSTEP (Intel, Mach, Sparc, HPPA)
	Future:	HP-UX, Dec Unix
	Unsupported:	Mac OS, Linux, RS-6000, SGI, Windows95

Servers

Q.	What servers are known to work, known not to work, or untested?
A.	Work:	Netscape (Communications, Commerce)
		Apache
		Miscrosoft IIS (WebObjects Beta 2 or later)
	Reportedly
	Work:	IBM Connection Server
	Don't Work:	O'Reilly Internet Server
		Spry

Uninstalling

Q.	Once I've installed WOF, how do I remove it?
A.	NEXTSTEP:	Run the Installer.app as root, open the receipt /NextLibrary/Receipts/WebObjects.pkg and /NextLibrary/Receipts/WebServer.pkg, then click on the Delete button.
	Solaris:	rm -r /usr/NextLibrary/WebObjects
	NT:	(1) bring up the File Manager
		(2) select the desired folder you wish to delete
		(3) select the Security->Permissions menu item
		(4) select Everyone from the list
		(5) select Full Control from the popup list
		(6) click OK
		(7) you can now delete the directory from the File manager

Database Adaptors

Q.	What databases/adaptors are supported under WO Enterprise?
A.	Apple:	Sybase and Oracle adaptors.
	3rd Party:	Informix, Quickbase, AS/400, Supra, DB2, Gupta SQL Base, VSAM,
		ADABAS, IMS/DB, and NCR Teradata.
	Other:	Databases may also be accessed via other programming languages
		 (C, C++, COBOL, etc) with suitable libraries provided by your database 
		vendor.

MS IIS Configuration

Q.	How do I configure the Microsoft IIS for WebObjects?
A.	Note, this bug concerns Microsoft IIS Server running on Windows NT Server (Microsoft IIS Server does not currently run on Windows NT Workstation). On Windows NT Server, if you install WebObjects under a C:\NeXT directory, the cgi adaptor won't autostart your applications correctly. The IIS Server creates subprocesses with a special user that has no privilege at all, and that has no access to the NEXT_ROOT environment variable. An autostarted application won't have any privilege either, and won't be able to locate NeXT resources (for example TimeZone files).

First:

7	Install all your NeXT software under the root directory. When the installer asks you for a directory name to be the root of all NeXT software, set it to the root directory of a drive (such as C:\).
7	When asked for your cgi-bin directory, you should enter the path of the Scripts directory.

After installation:

7	In the Scripts directory rename WebObjects to WebObjects.exe
7	In C:\NextLibrary\WebObjects\Executables, make a copy of DefaultApp and name the copy DefaultApp.exe. (You need to have both DefaultApp and DefaultApp.exe in that directory.)

Then, either:

7	Run the Internet Service Manager application, bring up the Server Properties panel, and change the Anonymous Logon Username and Password to a user with administrator privileges. This will allow you to autostart web applications from the browser.

Or:

7	Start your web applications by hand.

Also, if you're using the IIS Server, the URL to your WebObjects application should contain /Scripts/WebObjects.exe instead of /cgi-bin/WebObjects, as the cgi-bin directory is actually called Scripts. For example, http://server/Scripts/WebObjects.exe/Examples/HelloWorld is the right way to invoke the HelloWorld application.

If All Else Fails

Q.	I've read all the Release Notes and still can't get WebObjects installed and running?
A.	It seems that on some systems the /tmp or C:\TEMP directories either don't exist or don't have read/write permissions set correctly.  Be sure the directory can been seen and accessed by all.  WebObjects, other apps and users need access to this directory to work properly.