Web container custom properties

To specify web container custom properties, from the WAS console, go to...

Servers | Server Types | WebSphere application servers | server_name | Web Container Settings | Web container | Additional Properties | Custom Properties | New

Restart servers after making a change..

Custom properties provided with the Application Server.

We can use the Custom properties page to define the following properties for use by the JVM.

BodyContentBuffSize

The size of the body content buffer for a JSP file can affect the performance of some applications. By default, the body content buffer size is 512 bytes. However, we can use the BodyContentBuffSize custom property to set a different buffer value.

Name	Default value
BodyContentBuffSize	512

com.ibm.ws.jsf.disablealternatefacesconfigsearch

Disables MyFaces searching for META-INF/*.faces-config.xml for all web applications on a server.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsf.disablealternatefacesconfigsearch	false

com.ibm.ws.jsp.enableDefaultIsELIgnoredInTag

Typically Expression Language (EL) expressions in tag files get evaluated before the tag files a JavaServer Page (JSP) is compiled. However, under certain conditions these EL expressions in a tag file do not get evaluated if the <el-ignored> attribute is set to true.

To ensure that EL expressions are always evaluated, set the com.ibm.ws.jsp.enableDefaultIsELIgnoredInTag custom property to true. The default value for this property is false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsp.enableDefaultIsELIgnoredInTag	false

com.ibm.ws.jsp.expressionreturnemptystring

Enable you to indicate whether we want the JSP container to return an empty string or null for unset values in an expression.

An expression, such as the following expression, can return a value of null when testValue is null in the testBean:

<input type='text' name='test' value='<%=testBean.getTestValue()%>'maxlength="16">

Some applications expect an empty string to be returned in these situations rather than the value of null. If the applications you are running expect an empty string to be returned, add this custom property to the web container settings and set the property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsp.expressionreturnemptystring	false

com.ibm.ws.jsp.getWriterOnEmptyBuffer

The dynamic cache service uses flushes to determine when one cacheable web fragment, such as a JSP include or a c:import, ends and the next web fragment begins. If we set the com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.usecdatatrim custom property to true for the JSP engine, all of the white space and extra lines in the generated Java code are stripped out. In this situation, there might not be any content to write before the first flush. If the generated Java code contains text or other code before the first flush then normal dynamic cache service processing occurs.

If we set the com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.usecdatatrim custom property to true, and are using the dynamic cache service, you must also set the com.ibm.ws.jsp.getWriterOnEmptyBuffer custom property to true. This custom property requires the JSP Engine to call the flush function when it reaches the end of the first cachable web fragments even if there is not any data to flush. The default value for this property is false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsp.getWriterOnEmptyBuffer	false

com.ibm.ws.jsp.limitBuffer

The body content buffer size of the tag bodies for a JSP (JSP) file are reused to optimize performance. If the size of a tag body increases beyond the default body content buffer size, the buffer is resized to accommodate the tag body. However, the buffer is not reset to the default size after serving a request. As a result, the heap memory used by org.apache.jasper.runtime.BodyContentImpl implementation might increase over time. We can configure the body content buffer size by setting an integer value for the BodyContentBuffSize custom property. For more information, see BodyContentBuffSize.

Use to deallocate large body content buffer sizes and create a buffer with the default buffer size.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsp.limitBuffer	false

com.ibm.ws.jsp.throwExceptionForAddELResolver

Set the com.ibm.ws.jsp.throwExceptionForAddELResolver property to true if we do not want to allow an ELResolver to be registered from a servlet or a filter after the application has received a request from the client. When true, an IllegalStateException is thrown as specified by the JSP (Java Server Pages) specification for addELResolver() method of the JspApplicationContext interface.

The default value for this property is false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsp.throwExceptionForAddELResolver	false

(zos) com.ibm.ws.jsp.zosFileLockRetrying

Specify, in seconds, the amount of time during which a thread continues to try to obtain a lock on a JSP.

A JSP file is locked before the start of the compile process, and unlocked after the compile process completes. If a thread fails to lock a JSP, the thread continues to try to obtain the file lock for that JSP for up to 240 seconds. If the thread cannot obtains the lock during this time interval, an error message is issued. The thread does not make any additional attempts to obtain a lock for the JSP.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.jsp.zosFileLockRetrying	240

(zos) com.ibm.ws.jsp.zosReCompile

Specify how many times a thread should attempt to lock a JSP.

After a thread obtains the lock for a JSP, the thread determines whether the JSP is already compiled. If the JSP is not compiled, the thread tries to compile the JSP.

If after the specified number of tries, the thread cannot compile the JSP, an error message is issued. The thread does not make any additional attempts to compile the JSP.

Name	Default value
Default	5

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.allowDotsinName

If the requested static file has multiple consecutive dots in the name, the request is rejected by the server as a forbidden request.

When true, the requested file is served.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.allowDotsinName	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.allowPrivAccessGetResource

The path to the file defined with the EDR (extended document root) option is not considered part of the installed application artifacts. Therefore, accessing the file requires special permissions. A Java.security.AccessControlException: Access denied (java.io.FilePermission) exception is issued if the required permissions are not provided for this file in the web application.

When true, the application is allow the access to the file whose path is defined in the EDR.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.allowPrivAccessGetResource	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.AllowQueryParamWithNoEqual

If the query parameter in a URL only contains the string "name" instead of the expected "name=value" format, the server returns the value of request.getParameter("name") query as null.

When true, if the query parameter in a URL only contains the string "name", the server returns an empty string as the value for the request.getParameter("name") query

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.AllowQueryParamWithNoEqual	false

(v8552) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.appendMetaInfResourcesInLooseLib

This property removes the additional path when deploying an application in a loose configuration, and is mainly used in a development environment or server.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.appendMetaInfResourcesInLooseLib	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.asyncmaxsizetaskpool

Specify the maximum task queue size which is used to hold the dispatched asynchronous servlet.

Name	Default Value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.asyncmaxsizetaskpool	5000

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.asyncpurgeinterval

Interval which the web container should purge the task queue to release the resource of the canceled tasks.

Name	Default Value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.asyncpurgeinterval	30000

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channelwritetype

By default, the web container uses asynchronous writes to write response data in chunks up to the response buffer size. For larger responses that are greater than the response buffer size, the web container continues to buffer response data into memory while waiting for an asynchronous write of a response data chunk to complete. This process can result in part of a large response held in memory, which can lead to high memory usage and potentially an out of memory error. An application server hang might also occur when a server is simultaneously processing more requests than web container-defined threads.

If the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channelwritetype property is set to sync, synchronous writing is used, otherwise asynchronous writing is used by default. With synchronous writing, response data are written synchronously in chunks of up to the value of responsebuffersize and no response data are buffered into memory while waiting for a synchronous write of a response data chunk to complete. As a result, the approximate maximum amount of response data that is held in memory is equal to the responsebuffersize multiplied by the number of web container threads. The maximum number of requests that can be processed simultaneously by the web container is limited by the number of web container threads. Additional requests are queued, waiting for a request that is in process to complete.

The responsebuffersize web container custom property defines the maximum amount of response data written by the web container in a single chunk, and is 32k by default. As a result, it is used to change the number of writes needed by the web container to send complete response data. However, if an application flushes response data, any response data held by the web container is immediately written irrespective of the responsebuffersize.

Use the following name-value pair to write chunks of data using synchronous writes.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channelwritetype	async

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.checkEDRinGetRealPath

The ServletContext.getRealPath() Java Servlet API does not return the correct path for a requested resource when the resource exists in an extendedDocumentRoot path and does not exist in the installed application path. The ServletContext.getRealPath() Java Servlet API to look for the requested resource in the extendedDocumentRoot path if the resource is not found in the installed application path, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.checkEDRinGetRealPath custom property to true.

When true, and the requested resource is also not found in the extendedDocumentRoot path, a null value is returned.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.checkEDRinGetRealPath	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.copyattributeskeyset

This custom property addresses a situation where the request.getAttributeNames method returns a list of values. If a servlet modifies the list using the request.removeAttribute method, subsequent calls to the nextElement method causes a java.util.ConcurrentModificationException exception. To enable a servlet to modify the list, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.copyattributeskeyset custom property to true. When you set this custom property to true, a copy of the list of attributes is returned, which enables the servlet to modify the list without resulting in a java.util.ConcurrentModificationException exception when the nextElement method is called.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.copyattributeskeyset	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.decodeParamViaReqEncoding

When the inbound request URI is not UTF-8 encoded, but the request encoding is set to UTF-8, characters whose encoded values are different in ISO-8859 are displayed incorrectly in the response. For example if the request is sent using Internet Explorer, the characters are displayed as n-tilde (Ñ) characters. To ensure the characters are encoded and decoded correctly, based on the request encoding set, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.decodeParamViaReqEncoding Web container custom property to the Web container settings and set it to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.decodeParamViaReqEncoding	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableSetCharacterEncodingAfterParametersRead

The web container processes a setCharacterEncoding(String) method of the ServletRequest API even if it is called after the post data is parsed. According to the Java Servlet Specification, the web container should ignore a setCharacterEncoding(String) method if the method is called after the data is parsed.

The web container to ignore a setCharacterEncoding(String) method if the method is called after the data is parsed, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableSetCharacterEncodingAfterParametersRead custom property to the web container configuration settings and set this property to true.

The default value for this property is false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableSetCharacterEncodingAfterParametersRead	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableStaticMappingCache

Disable the static caching. It can be set in the console or though the context parameter in the web.xml.

To disable static caching for all deployed applications, use an asterisk. To disable static caching for specific applications, use a comma.

For example, com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableStaticMappingCache=* will disable static caching for all deployed applications. com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableStaticMappingCache=SpecialApp,RareApp will disable static caching for only those two applications.

We can also set a context parameter in the web.xml to disable static caching for the application. The parameter name is com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.DISABLE_STATIC_MAPPING_CACHE and set the parameter value to true.

There is no default value for this property.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableStaticMappingCache	none

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableSystemAppGlobalListenerLoading

If a system application is the first to start, and the application attempts to load a global listener in a shared library that is associated with the server classloader, the application does not load that listener and prevents the listener from being loaded or invoked by a later non-system application. Set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableSystemAppGlobalListenerLoading custom property to true to prevent system applications from loading global listeners. When true, the system application does not attempt to load the global listeners and later non-system applications can load them from a shared library associated with a server class loader.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disableSystemAppGlobalListenerLoading	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disablexPoweredBy

When you configure server security, we can turn off the X-Powered-By header if we do not want to reveal which server you are running. Use this custom property to disable the X-Powered-By header, which prevents the header from being sent on the HTTP response. The default value is false. However, set this property to true, to disable this header.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disablexPoweredBy	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disallowAllFileServing

Disable file serving on all applications on a specific application server.

We can enable file serving on a global level across a given application server using the fileServingEnabled custom property. However, the fileServingEnabled property is overridden by the specific deployment information of each application. Therefore, the current fileServingEnabled custom property only applies as a backup in case an application does not define the fileServingEnabled setting itself.

To globally override this setting on a specific application server to prevent the application server from serving static files regardless of their individual deployment settings, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disallowAllFileServing web container custom property to true using the following name-value pair.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disallowAllFileServing	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disallowserveservletsbyclassname

When the serveServletsByClassnameEnabled property is enabled, it is possible to access servlets directly, resulting in a possible security exposure. Define the following custom property to disallow the use of the serveServletsByClassnameEnabled property across the entire application server level.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.disallowserveservletsbyclassname	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.discernUnavailableServlet

Typically, when the web container receives an UnavailableException, it cannot determine whether the exception was issued from a servlet or a dispatched resource. Therefore, the web container automatically marks the servlet unavailable even if it is the dispatched resource that is unavailable.

If we are running on Version 7.0.0.5 or later, and have set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.discernUnavailableServlet custom property to true, any UnavailableException that is issued from a dispatched resource is placed in a wrapper. This wrapper enables the web container to determine whether the exception was issued from the servlet or a dispatched resource. If the exception is not issued by the servlet, the web container does not mark the servlet unavailable.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.discernUnavailableServlet	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER

The RequestDispatcher propagates the exceptions from the dispatched servlets back to the dispatching servlets. This is a change in behavior from that in previous releases. If we do not want the application to throw exceptions back to the servlet doing the dispatching, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER custom property to the settings for the web container and set the property to false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER	true

Supported configurations: The com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError custom property supersedes the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER custom property. When you enable the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError custom property by setting its value to true, the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER custom property is also set to true.

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError

When a JavaServer Page (JSP) file contains a compilation error, the runtime error is caught and handled directly by the container. Exceptions are not propagated and addressed by the dispatched JSP resource. With the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError custom property, exceptions are propagated back to the dispatched JSP resource.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError	false

Supported configurations: The com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError custom property supersedes the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER custom property. When you enable the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSError custom property by setting its value to true, the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.dispatcherRethrowSER custom property is also set to true.

(zos) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.divertrecursiveexceptiontoerrorlog

When a recursive error occurs in an application, the exception message is logged by the trace audit method, which directs the message to the system console. If we need the message to be logged in the error log instead, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.divertrecursiveexceptiontoerrorlog custom property to the web container configuration settings, and set the property to true. When the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.divertrecursiveexceptiontoerrorlog property is set to true, exception messages are sent to the error log instead of to the system console.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.divertrecursiveexceptiontoerrorlog	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.donotservebyclassname

List of classes that cannot be served by the class name.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.donotservebyclassname	none

(v8554)

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.emptyServletMappings

If set to true, the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.emptyServletMappings custom property returns an empty collection when the servlet mappings are requested by the getMappings() method and no mappings have yet been added.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.emptyServletMappings	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enabledefaultservletrequestpathelements

To correctly map a request to a default servlet, you must determine the proper servlet path and PathInfo values. The following table shows the affects on the Servlet Path and PathInfo values when set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enabledefaultservletrequestpathelements custom property to a true or false value.

Path and PathInfo values. Values for Servlet Path and

Value	Servlet Path value	PathInfo value
true	Set to the contents of the URI after the Context Path	Set to a null value
false (Default)	Set to an empty string	Set based on the contents of the URI after the Context Path

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableErrorExceptionTypeFirst

When an exception occurs, the Web container searches for an error page to handle that exception. The default searching order is:

1. Any matching error-code error page

2. Any matching exception-type error page

The matched error-code page is always returned even if there is also a matching exception type error page defined in the web.xml file. To have the Web container search and use the exception-type before the error-code, set this property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableErrorExceptionTypeFirst	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableExactMatchJSecurityCheck

Specify this property to allow the keyword j_security_check to be used as part of the name of a resource. Typically, if a URI contains the keyword j_security_check the login process is initiated.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableExactMatchJSecurityCheck	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableJspMappingOverride

When a url-pattern is defined in the jsp-property-group of the web.xml, file, it is typically mapped to, and handled by the JavaServer Page (JSP) engine. If we have applications that must override this mapping so that they can handle and serve the JSP content themselves, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableJspMappingOverride property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableJspMappingOverride	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableMultiReadOfPostData

Set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableMultiReadOfPostData custom property to true to enable multiple reads of post data. When true, the post data can be read multiple times as either an InputStream or Reader, and as parameters.

When the web container is enabled for multiple reads of post data, we can set up an application to complete the following actions if we want that application to re-read post data from the beginning using either an InputStream or Reader:

1. Obtain the InputStream or Reader

2. Read the data

3. Close the InputStrean or Reader

If either the first or third action does not occur, the next read of the post data is not reset to the beginning of that data.

The web container automatically completes this sequence if an application re-reads the post data as parameters.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.enableMultiReadOfPostData	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.excludehandledtypesclasses

Exclude the handle type classes from being passed into the onStartup method of the ServletContainerInitializer implementation class.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.excludehandledtypesclasses	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extractHostHeaderPort and trusthostheaderport

The getServerPort method relies on the getVirtualPort method of the channel, which returns a port number in the following order:

1. Port number from the request URL

2. Port number from the request host header

This order is compliant with HTTP/1.1 RFC but not with the Java Servlet Specification Version 2.4 API, which requires the port number from the host header to be returned first, if any, or the request URL. The correct returned URL for the previous example is: http://ProxyServer:8888. The web container was modified to return a port number from the host header, if any, or the URL port that accepted the client connection. Set the trusthostheaderport and the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extractHostHeaderPort custom property to true to return the port number from the request host header first. Use the console, you would set these properties as follows:

trusthostheaderport = true com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extractHostHeaderPort = true

Avoid trouble: You CANNOT set these properties in web.xml to have them take effect as intended.gotcha We can set these properties as web container custom properties in the console using the following two sets of name-value pairs:

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.extractHostHeaderPort	false
trusthostheaderport	false

(zos) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.fileWrapperEvents

Static files are handled by a file wrapper that does not generate SMF and PMI data for static files. In Version 5.1 processing of static files was performed by SimpleFileServlet which generated both SMF and PMI data. If we are migrating from Version 5.1, and we need to generate SMF and PMI data when serving static files, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.fileWrapperEvents custom property to the web container configuration settings, and set the property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.fileWrapperEvents	false

(zos) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.FileWrapperEventsLessDetail

The SMF type 120 record displays the name of the static resource instead of FileServletWrapper in the name field of a static file report. If we migrated from an earlier version of the product, and want your SMF type 120 record to display FileServletWrapper in the name field of a static file report, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.FileWrapperEventsLessDetail custom property to the web container settings and set it to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.FileWrapperEventsLessDetail	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.finishresponseonclose

Have web containers close connections when a servlet calls close() on a writer or output stream.

Typically, when a servlet calls close() on a writer or output stream, the web container sends the data that has been written to the writer or output stream to the client, and then waits for the servlet service() method to finish before it closes the connection. This delay might be interpreted as a response completion delay, especially if a servlet service() method does not complete until sometime after the writer or output stream is closed.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.finishresponseonclose	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ForceDifferentCookiePaths

When you configure an application to use a cookie to track the session, the default path for the cookie is set to the context root of the application. Therefore, the cookie is only sent to requests that are made to this application. To change the default path to be "/" (forward slash), such that the cookie is sent to requests for any application in this domain, set the ForceDifferentCookiePaths session manager custom property.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ForceDifferentCookiePaths	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.handlingRequestWithOverridenPath

When an application overrides the URI pathinfo, the server does not use the overriden path to service the request, but instead uses the original request URI pathinfo. The server to use the overriden URI path then set com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.handlingRequestWithOverridenPath to true. Normally, when an application overrides the request URI path, that URI path should be used by application and not by server.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.handlingRequestWithOverridenPath	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.HTTPOnlyCookies

Protect against client-side scripts accessing protected cookies and acquiring their content. The HTTPOnly attribute is added to each cookie specified. The HTTPOnly attribute for JSESSIONID and LTPA cookies is enabled by default. Prior to WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, the com.ibm.ws.security.addHttpOnlyAttributeToCookies custom property default was false. For WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, the default is true. Prior to WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.HTTPOnlyCookies custom property is used to add the HTTPOnly attribute to session cookies. To add the HTTPOnly attribute in WAS v8.0, enable Set session cookies to HTTPOnly to help prevent cross-site scripting attacks under session management cookie settings. This option is enabled by default.

Values:

*	All cookies are given the HTTPOnly attribute.
Comma delimited list of cookies	Only cookies matching those in list are given HTTPOnly attribute. Cookies can contain wild card characters.

For example...

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.HTTPOnlyCookies=*
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.HTTPOnlyCookies=cookieName1,Account3Cookie,JsessionID

Cookie names used in specifying com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.HTTPOnlyCookies are case-insensitive.

To disable, unselect ...

Server Types | Application servers | Session management | Cookies | Set session cookies to HTTPOnly to help prevent cross-site scripting attacks

For more information on the interaction of these two custom properties, see Cookie settings and Enablement and migration considerations of Security hardening features.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.HTTPOnlyCookies	none

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignoreinjectionfailure

If a resource or EJB injection fails during the servlet initialization process, an error message is written to the server log files. However, the error message is not propagated to the client. In addition, the servlet is put into service and it is not reinitialized until its application is restarted. During this time, if a request is received that references the resource, which previously failed to inject, a NullPointerException exception results. Similarly, this problem can occur during the filter and listener initialization processes.

Lets we specify whether to propagate these error messages and whether to put a servlet into service. By default, the custom property is set to false, which retains the previously described behavior. To enable the propagation of these injection exceptions to the client and to not put the servlet into service, you must leave this custom property set to false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignoreinjectionfailure	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignoreInvalidQueryString

When the web container encounters an encoding character in a query string pair that is not valid, it throws an IllegalArgumentException exception and, by default, ignores the entire query string. In applications where every field in the query string is an essential resource, it might not be desirable to ignore the entire query string. If we set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignoreInvalidQueryString custom property to true, the web container ignores query string pairs that are not valid and continues to process valid query string pairs.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignoreInvalidQueryString	false

(v8552) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignorePostConstructOverriddenMethod

If a parent class has its annotated @PostConstruct method overridden by a subclass, when the target subclass annotated method is called, the web container invokes the target subclass twice. If we set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignorePostConstructOverriddenMethod custom property to true, the web container only invokes the target subclass method once, and any parent's overridden methods are ignored.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ignorePostConstructOverriddenMethod	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.IgnoreSessiononStaticFileRequest

The web container accesses a session for the static file requests involving filters. This action can result in a performance degradation, for example, when running with database session persistence. If we set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.IgnoreSessiononStaticFileRequest custom property to true, the web container cannot access a session for the static files requests involving filters.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.IgnoreSessiononStaticFileRequest	false

(WAS v8.5.0.1) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.initFilterBeforeInitServlet

Set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.initFilterBeforeInitServlet custom property to true to initialize filters before initializing load-on-startup servlets during the startup process for an application.

Avoid trouble: Both the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokeFilterInitAtStartup property and the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.initFilterBeforeInitServlet property must be set to true for the filters to be initialized first on application startupgotcha

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.initFilterBeforeInitServlet	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokeFilterAfterService

Ensures the web container does not call the failing flush() when the OutputStream is closed.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokeFilterAfterService	true

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokeFilterInitAtStartup

Enables the web container to invoke the init method and initialize a filter during the startup process for an application.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokeFilterInitAtStartup	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.KeepUnreadPostDataAfterResponseSentToClient

This property indicates whether post data is available to read after the client response is completed, following either the completion of a forward request completes, or a return from a sendRedirect. If true, post data is available to read after the client response is completed either after a forward request completes, which is the default behavior, or on a return from a sendRedirect,, which occurs when the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SendResponseToClientAsPartOfSendRedirect custom property is set to true. However, setting this property to true requires unread post data to be held in memory until the target resource completes, and increases memory usage.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.KeepUnreadPostDataAfterResponseSentToClient	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.logServletContainerInitializerClassloadingErrors

When examining the classes of an application to see if they match any of the criteria specified by the HandlesTypes annotation of a ServletContainerInitializer, the container might run into class loading problems if one or more of the optional application JAR files are missing. Because the container does not decide whether these types of class loading failures prevent the application from working correctly, it ignores the failures and provides a configuration option that logs them.

Setting this property to true turns on logging.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.logServletContainerInitializerClassloadingErrors	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.mapFiltersToAsterisk

When processing a request, the web container recognizes servlet mappings to "*" as the same as servlet mappings to "/*". To provide the same behavior with filter mapping, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.mapFiltersToAsterisk custom property to true. Setting the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.mapFiltersToAsterisk custom property to true causes the web container to recognize filter mappings to "*" as a filter mapping to "/*". This custom property is not case-sensitive.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.mapFiltersToAsterisk	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.maxParamPerRequest

We can use this property to change the maximum number of parameters allowed in the inbound requests, based on the applications and environment. The maximum number of parameters allowed per inbound request (GET or POST) defaults to 10000.

We can set this property to -1 if we do not want to limit the number of parameters that can be included in a request.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.maxParamPerRequest	10000

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.modifiedFileNotFoundExceptionBehavior

When a file does not exist and is the target of an include or forward operation for a request dispatcher, a FileNotFoundException occurs. You enable this file not found exception behavior by setting this custom property to true and allowing the exception to be thrown when a file does not exist. If we set this property to false, the FileNotFoundException is suppressed as well as any logging of the failure. Also, if such a request results in a 404 exception, FFDCs are no longer created.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.modifiedFileNotfFoundExceptionBehavior	true

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ModifiedSinceLaterThanFileTimeStamp

When true, the web container returns a 304 response if the If-Modified-Since timestamp of the requested variant is newer than the timestamp of the target variant.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ModifiedSinceLaterThanFileTimeStamp	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.normalizerequesturi

Typically, request URI 404 errors do not occur if a request URI is submitted from a browser, because most modern browsers automatically normalizes a request URI before calling WAS. Therefore, by default, the web container does not normalize a request URI before trying to resolve that URI to an application and servlet mapping.

A request URI, that includes /./ or /../ as part of an application context, that has not been normalized, might fail with a 404 error. Similarly, a request URI, that includes /./" or /../ as part of a servlet path, that has not been normalized, fails to match a servlet mapping, which also results in a 404 error, even though the URI is normalized before resolving the URI to a JSP or static file.

We can set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.normalizerequesturi custom property to true and the web container normalizes these types of request URIs.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.normalizerequesturi	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.parseUTF8PostData

If the web container attempts to process a request that includes UTF-8 post data that is not URL encoded, the target resource accesses the post data as parameters. However, the UTF-8 data is not decoded correctly and the result data might be lost.

To resolve this issue, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.parseUTF8PostData custom property to true. When the web container processes parameters, it detects UTF-8 post data that is not URL encoded and includes the data in the parameter values.

To use this function, set the value to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.parseUTF8PostData	false

(v8554)

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.preserveRequestParameterValues

Preserve the original values of the parameter values used on the request.

The javax.servlet.ServletRequest.getParameterValues() method returns an array of String of the request parameter values. If this array of String is modified directly, The original request parameter values can be lost. Any subsequent call to javax.servlet.ServletRequest.getParameterValues() method returns the modified values.

To preserve the original request parameter values, set the value to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.preserveRequestParameterValues	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.provideQStringToWelcomeFile

Typically, when a request is initially sent to the context root of the application, the request is forwarded to a welcome file. If a query string is included in an initial request, it is unavailable to the welcome file if you included the request.getQueryString() attribute in the welcome file. However, the query string is available to the welcome file if you included the javax.servlet.forward.query_string attribute in the welcome file.

If use the request.getQueryString() attribute, instead of the javax.servlet.forward.query_string attribute, to make the query string available to the welcome file, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.provideQStringToWelcomeFile custom property to the web container configuration and set the property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.provideQStringToWelcomeFile	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.RedirectWithPathInfo

When the redirect location provided is a relative URL and is without a leading '/' then during the conversion of the relative URI value to an absolute URL, the server removes the PathInfo from the existing URI.

Set com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.RedirectWithPathInfo to true to ensure that existing PathInfo is not removed. The extra path information until the last trailing slash will be appended to the URI and then redirected to the resource.

Name	Value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.RedirectWithPathInfo	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.removeAttributeForNullObject

By default, the getAttributeNames() method can return an attribute name whose value has been set to null if the value passed to the ServletRequest.setAttribute() or ServleContextt.setAttribute() methods is null. This default behavior is not in accordance to the API.

The web container to remove the attribute if the null object is passed to the ServletRequest.setAttribute() or ServleContextt.setAttribute() method, add this com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.removeAttributeForNullObject custom property to the web container configuration, and set the property to true.

Data type	Default
Boolean	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.returnDefaultContextPath

Return the correct context path when an application is installed on the default context root. For example, when the property is set to true, the context path is set to an empty string for any application installed on the default context root.

Data type	Default
Boolean	False

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.searchMetaInfResourcesDuringAppStart

Disable the enhanced feature when searching for the /META-INF/resources.

Data type	Default
Boolean	True

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SendResponseToClientAsPartOfSendRedirect

This property indicates whether a response is completed as part of a a sendRedirect request. If true, a response is completed as part of a sendRedirect request, and any post data associated with the request is not available for a read on return from sendRedirect.

The default value is false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SendResponseToClientAsPartOfSendRedirect	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SendResponseToClientWhenResponseIsComplete

This property indicates whether a response is completed on return from a forward request.

If false, a response is not completed on return from a forward request. Instead, it is delayed until the target resource completes. Post data is available for a read after the forward completes.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SendResponseToClientAsPartOfSendRedirect	true

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.setcontenttypebysetheader

When autoResponseEncoding is enabled or when the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.contentTypeCompatibility property is set, the application server sets the content type of the response using an internal method. To enable setting the content-type using the ServletResponse.setContentType method instead, we need to set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.setcontenttypebysetheader custom property to false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.setcontenttypebysetheader	true

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServeWelcomeFileFromExtendedDocumentRoot

Typically, the first time the web container handles a request for a static welcome page that is not a JSP file, the web container does not search the ExtendedDocumentRoot for the welcome file unless the request for that welcome file is fully-qualified. If the request is fully-qualified, the web container serves the welcome file, and the context root of the application displays the welcome file. If the request for the static welcome file is not fully-qualified, the web container returns a 404 error, which indicates that the web container did not find the welcome file.

After the web container successfully serves a welcome file, the web container creates a mapping for that welcome file. The web container then uses this mapping to handle future requests for the welcome file, thereby eliminating the need for subsequent requests to be fully-qualified.

The web container to always search an application defined ExtendedDocumentRoot for a welcome file, even if the request is not fully-qualified, we can add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServeWelcomeFileFromExtendedDocumentRoot custom property to the web container settings, and set this property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServeWelcomeFileFromExtendedDocumentRoot	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServletDestroyWaitTime

By default, when an application is stopped the web container waits up to 60 seconds for each active request for a resource of that application to complete. We can now define the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServletDestroyWaitTime web container custom property to control the amount of time that the web container waits for an active request to complete when our owning application is stopped.

Set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServletDestroyWaitTime custom property to an integer value, which specifies the number of seconds to wait for a request to complete. The default value is 60 seconds.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.ServletDestroyWaitTime	60

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.setUnencodedHTMLinsendError

Typically, the web container encodes the specified error messages before formatting them, to prevent Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks on the client if the application does not sanitize these messages. However the Java Servlet Specification for the sendError(int, String) method, indicates that the server should create the response to look like an HTML-formatted server error page.

If we do not want the web container to encode the specified error messages before formatting them, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.setUnencodedHTMLinsendError custom property to the web container configuration settings, and set the property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.setUnencodedHTMLinsendError	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.skipInputStreamReadOnError

If true, the web container stops reading the remaining POST data if there has been an exception before or during the parsing of POST data.

Must be used in pair with the preventRequestBodyPurge channel custom property set to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.skipInputStreamReadOnError	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SkipMetaInfResourcesProcessing

The web container searches for static files and JSP (JSP) files in different locations, depending on application configuration. A web fragment comprises a JAR file in an application WEB-INF/lib directory. The JAR might include static resources in a META-INF/resources directory defined within the JAR file. To prevent the web container from searching the META-INF/resources directories, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SkipMetaInfResourcesProcessing web container custom property to true.

The default value for the custom property is false.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.SkipMetaInfResourcesProcessing	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressheadersinrequest

Suppress the inclusion of request headers that start with special characters, such as "$" or "_". Some applications do not handle request headers that start with special characters.

The value specified for this custom property is a delimited list of the header prefixes to be suppressed.

Example:

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressheadersinrequest=$WS,_WS

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressheadersinrequest	none

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressHtmlRecursiveErrorOutput

During a recursive error that an application-specified error page cannot handle, the stack trace and error message are output as an HTML page. This information includes class names and program information that the application developer does not want expose to the user.

We can set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressHtmlRecursiveErrorOutput web container custom property to suppress the HTML output of the error text, without changing the internal logging of the message. Set the custom property com.ibm.ws. webcontainer.suppressHtmlRecursiveErrorOutput to true to disable the HTML output of the error message to the user and present the user with blank page with a 500 error code.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressHtmlRecursiveErrorOutput	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLastZeroBytePackage

Typically, the last zero byte chunk is used to indicate to a client the end of the response data in a chunked encoded transmission. Some applications use this last zero to determine when the response data is completely received, and they can start processing it. If an error occurs in the application after the response headers are sent, the last chunk of data is still sent to the client. The client might not realize that an error has occurred, and attempt to process incomplete data.

If we set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLastZeroBytePackage custom property to true, if an error occurs in the application after the response headers are sent, the last chunk of data is not sent to the client.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLastZeroBytePackage	false

(WAS v8.5.0.1) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLoggingFileNotFoundExceptions

The web container generates a severe error message with a FileNotFoundException stack trace in the JVM logs when a missing file is requested. This might not be a severe error if the wrong file was accidentally requested. Set this property to true to generate a warning message in the JVM logs instead of a severe error message when a file is not found.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLoggingFileNotFoundExceptions	false

(V8502) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLoggingServiceRuntimeExcep

We can use this property to suppress the logging of any RuntimeException that occurs during service of a servlet.

By default, the Web container logs the exception of type RuntimeException in the JVM logs, if the exception occurs during the service of a servlet. When true, the web container does not log any type of RuntimeException that occurs during service of a servlet.

Avoid trouble: Setting true only suppresses the logging of exceptions of the type RuntimeException. Setting true does not effect exceptions that are thrown back to the caller.gotcha

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressLoggingServiceRuntimeExcep	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressServletExceptionLogging

If a servlet creates an exception, it is logged to the system console. If we do not want the web container to log servlet-created exceptions, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressServletExceptionLogging custom property to the web container configuration settings, and set the property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.suppressServletExceptionLogging	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.throwMissingJspException

Set true to create a FileNotFoundException when a resource included by a JSP file is missing. If not set to true, an error page displays.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.throwMissingJspException	false

(WAS v8.5.0.1) com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.throwpostconstructexception

Set true to propagate custom error messages to the error.xhtml file.

For transitioning users: The default value for this custom property has changed from Version 7.0. In Version 7.0, the default value is false.trns

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.throwpostconstructexception	true

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.tolerateLocaleMismatchForServingFiles

We might encounter a FileNotFound 404 error from the web container and the request is not served when the following encodings do not match:

• The file system encoding where an application is installed

• The file name encoding that is sent in a request URL

For example, if the request is for a double-byte character set (DBCS)-encoded file name and the file system locale is en_US, which is an ISO-8859 encoding, the match fails.

To resolve this issue, set the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.tolerateLocaleMismatchForServingFiles custom property to true. When you set this custom property, the web container tolerates the mismatch of the file system and requested file name encodings. The web container then serves the request for a valid file.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.tolerateLocaleMismatchForServingFiles	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.useOriginalRequestState

If a request is overridden or the application has implemented the ServletRequest interface, the application might fail to serve the request because either the overridden or implemented request object, instead of the request object, is being used to handling of the request. To ensure that the request object is used to handle the request, add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.useOriginalRequestState custom property to the web container configuration settings, and set it to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.useOriginalRequestState	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webgroupvhostnotfound

Error message SRVE0017W states "Web Group not found: {0}", and error message SRVE0255 states "A WebGroup/Virtual Host to handle {0} has not been defined". These messages might be returned when the application that is called to process the request serviced by IBM WAS is not found. We can use the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webgroupvhostnotfound custom property to change the text of these messages to text that is more suitable for the environment.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webgroupvhostnotfound	none

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.xPoweredBy

This custom property enables you to configure the value of the X-Powered-By header, which supplies the implementation information of the server.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.xPoweredBy	Servlet/3.0

com.ibm.websphere.management.application.sync.deleteSymbolicLinks

Symbolic links that exist in the application installation directory are deleted when the application is uninstalled or updated. To ensure that symbolic links are not deleted, add the com.ibm.websphere.management.application.sync.deleteSymbolicLinks custom property to the JVM and set it to false.

This property must be set at the node agent level.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.websphere.management.application.sync.deleteSymbolicLinks	true

(V8502) com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.allowMultipleAttributeValues

Set true to allow the web container to store multiple values for a custom tag attribute.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.allowMultipleAttributeValues	false

com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.convertAttrValueToString

Set true to convert start and end attributes of the repeat tag to strings before they are used.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.convertAttrValueToString	false

com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableElCache

Disable the commons-el expression cache if you are experiencing out of memory conditions because the hash maps are held by the expression evaluator.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableElCache	false

com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableResourceInjection

The resource injection feature accesses resources in applications differently than it did in earlier versions of the product, and causes the compiled method output to be larger than it was previously. If we have large JSP files that in earlier releases pushed the 65535 byte limit in the translated service method, they might now exceed this limit, causing the compile to fail.

If we encounter this situation, we can either break a large JSP file into smaller JSP files, and use <jsp:include> statements to combine them after they are compiled, or we can add the com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableResourceInjection custom property to the web container settings to disable the resource injection function during the JSP translation process. When the com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableResourceInjection custom property is set to true, the resource injection function is disabled for all applications.

If we only want to disable the resource injection function for specific applications, we can add the disableResourceInjection JSP attribute to the ibm-web-ext.xmi files for those specific applications.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableResourceInjection	false

com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableTldSearch

Improve application startup time. By default, when an application starts, the JSP engine searches the application installation directories for the taglib descriptor (TLD) files. This search process might increase the startup time for large applications with many files and directories. To disable this search process, set this property to true.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.disableTldSearch	false

com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.enabledoublequotesdecoding

Decode an encoded double quote character if it is embedded in a script function within a JSP file.

The JSP Container does not decode an encoded double quote character during the translation of a JSP file. Instead, there is a dependency on the browser to decode it. However, when an encoded double quote character exists inside a script function of a tag, the browser cannot decode it. Thus, when this custom property is not set, the encoded double quote character causes the script function to malfunction.

When you set this custom property, the value affects all of your deployed applications. To affect an individual application, set the enableDoubleQuotesDecoding JSP attribute to true within the ibm-web-ext.xmi file in the application.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.enabledoublequotesdecoding	false

com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.removexmlnsfromoutput

When the web container generates HTML code from a JSP document, the web container does not remove any xmlns attributes, specified for tags in the JSP document. Therefore, when the JSP document is rendered on the browser, the xmlns attributes remain in the generated HTML code.

To ensure that the xmlns attributes are always removed from generated HTML code, add the com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.removexmlnsfromoutput custom property to the web container configuration settings and set this property to true.

When you set this custom property , the value affects all of your deployed applications. To affect an individual application, set the removeXmlnsFromOutput JSP attribute to true within the ibm-web-ext.xmi file in the application.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.wsspi.jsp.removexmlnsfromoutput	false

(zos) ConnectionResponseTimeout

Set the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that the server waits for an application component to respond to an HTTP request. Set this variable for each of the HTTP transport channel definitions on the server. Set this variable for both SSL transport channels and non-SSL transport channels. If the response is not received within the specified length of time, the servant might fail with ABEND EC3 and RSN=04130007. Setting this timer prevents client applications from waiting for a response from an application component that might be deadlocked, looping, or encountering other processing problems that cause the application component to hang.

Use the server custom properties protocol_http_timeout_output_recovery, and protocol_https_timeout_output_recovery, to indicate the recovery action we want taken on timeouts for requests received over the HTTP and HTTPS transport channels.

Information	Value
Data type	Integer
Default	300 seconds

DebugSessionCrossover

The DebugSessionCrossover custom property enables code to perform additional checks to verify that only the session associated with the request is accessed or referenced. Messages are logged if any discrepancies are detected.

The use of the DebugSessionCrossover property as a web container custom property is deprecated. We can now define it as a session management custom property.

To enable session data crossover detection, set this property to true

Name	Default value
DebugSessionCrossover	false

Refer to the HTTP session problems article for additional information.

DecodeUrlAsUTF8

The UTF-8 encoded URL feature, which provides UTF-8 encoded Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to support the double-byte characters in URLs is enabled by default. We can prevent the web container from explicitly decoding URLs in UTF-8 and have them use the ISO-8859 standard as per the current HTTP specification by setting this custom property to false.

Name	Default value
DecodeUrlAsUTF8	true

DisableMultiThreadedServletConnectionMgmt

Enable connections to be reused across servlets. To use as a web container custom property from the console:

1. Click Application servers > server_name > Web container > Custom properties.

2. Create the DisableMultiThreadedServletConnectionMgmt property and set its value to true.

When this property is enabled, if the connection handle is not closed and the servlet ends, the web container (as part of postinvoke), parks the connection and does not close the connection handle.

Name	Default value
DisableMultiThreadedServletConnectionMgmt	false

com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.denyDuplicateFilterinChain

When an inbound request URI maps to multiple URL filter mappings the filter chain is updated with the same filter multiple times, causing the filter to be invoked multiple times for the same URI. If we add the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.denyDuplicateFilterinChain custom property to the web container settings and set this property to true, a filter is not added to a filter chain if it is already present in that chain.

Name	Default value
com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.denyDuplicateFilterinChain	false

enableInProcessConnections

Reduce response times and to reduce the number of threads used to service a request, which reduces the potential for a deadlock.

There is an optimized communication path between a web services client application and a web container that are located in the same application server process. Requests from the web services client that are normally sent to the web container using a network connection are delivered directly to the web container using an optimized local path. The local path is available because the web services client application and the web container are running in the same process. This optimized communication path is disabled by default. Before enabling this property, make sure that wild cards are not specified for the web container ports. Use specific ports for the web container when the optimized communication path is enabled.

To enable the optimized communication path, set this property to true.

Name	Default value
enableInProcessConnections	false

Refer to the Web services client to web container optimized communication topic for additional information.

(V8502) Avoid trouble: Some web services applications cannot safely share threads. If errors occur, also set the jaxws.useSafeIPC JVM property to true.gotcha

fileServingEnabled, directoryBrowsingEnabled, and serveServletsByClassnameEnabled

fileServingEnabled, directoryBrowsingEnabled, and similar properties are global settings for internal servlets. Web application archive (WAR) files that are packaged using third-party tools cannot specify behavior for the services that are exposed by the web container internal servlets.

We can use the fileServingEnabled, directoryBrowsingEnabled, and serveServletsByClassnameEnabled properties to globally enable and disable the fileServing, directoryBrowsing, and serveServletsByClassname functions for internal servlets for all web applications at the web container level.

• Set the fileServingEnabled, property to false disables the fileServing function.

• Set the directoryBrowsingEnabled, property to true enables the directoryBrowsing function.

• Set the serveServletsByClassnameEnabled property to true enables the serveServletsByClassnameEnabled function.

Name	Default value
fileServingEnabled	true
directoryBrowsingEnabled	false
serveServletsByClassnameEnabled	false

Settings defined in an assembly tool take precedence over the global settings that are set through the custom properties at the web container level.

Web application deployment extensions continue to hold configuration information for the services provided by the internal servlets, and take precedence over the global settings that are set through the custom properties at the web container level.

ForceSessionIdLengthCheck

Newly-generated session IDs are, by default, 23 characters in length, unless you use the HttpSessionIdLength custom property to specify a different maximum length for the session IDs.

When an incoming request has a session ID that is longer than the expected session ID length, and whose prefix is identical to a pre-existing session ID, the longer ID is used to return a new session. If the length of the session ID on the incoming request is larger then the maximum length specified for the system, such that it exceeds the width of the ID column in the session table column used in database persistence, an SQL0302 error occurs.

To prevent the occurrence of these SQL0302 errors, we can add the ForceSessionIdLengthCheck custom property to the web container custom properties and set it to true. When true, the length of a session ID cannot exceed 23 characters. If an incoming request has a session ID that is longer than 23 characters, the first 23 characters are used to return a new session.

Name	Default value
ForceSessionIdLengthCheck	false

ForceSessionInvalidationMultiple

The ForceSessionInvalidationMultiple custom property indicates whether the session manager should wait indefinitely for a request to complete before attempting to invalidate the session, or attempt to invalidate a session after the specified time limit has elapsed.

• If we specify 0 (zero) for this custom property, the session manager waits indefinitely until a request is complete before attempting to invalidate the session.

  If the requests normally are not bound by a response time limit, specify 0 for this property.

• If we specify a positive integer, such as 1, 2, or 3 for this custom property, even if a session is not known to have completed, the session manager attempts to invalidate the session if the indicated time period since the last access occurred has elapsed. This time period is the result of multiplying the value specified for this property and the value specified for the Session Timeout property. For example, if specified 2 minutes for the Session Timeout property and 2 for the ForceSessionInvalidationMultiple property, the session manager attempts to invalidate the session after 4 minutes.

  To invalidate the sessions after a certain amount of time has elapsed, specify the appropriate positive integer for this property.

Name	Default value
ForceSessionInvalidationMultiple	1

httpsIndicatorHeader

The custom property httpsIndicatorHeader manages HTTPS requests that are forwarded to an application server from an SSL offloader used in front of WAS. When an HTTPS request is received by an SSL offloader it is redirected over HTTP to an application server using WAS. The SSL offloader must be configured to add a special header indicating that the original request was over HTTPS. The httpsIndicatorHeader property specifies the request header key name added by the SSL box. The application server checks this indicator to determine if SSL is required. If it determines the request is SSL over HTTP, an HTTPS scheme is chosen.

Name	Default value
httpsIndicatorHeader	none

HttpSessionIdReuse

The custom property HttpSessionIdReuse determines whether the session manager can use the session ID sent from a browser to preserve session data across web applications that are running in an environment that is not configured for session persistence. In a multi-JVM environment, that is not configured for session persistence, setting this property to true enables the session manager to use the same session information for all of a user requests, even if the web applications that are handling these requests are governed by different JVM files. The default value for this property is false.

The use of the HttpSessionIdReuse property as a web container custom property is deprecated. You should now define this functionality as a session management custom property.

To enable the session manager to use the session ID sent from a browser to preserve session data across web applications that are running in an environment that is not configured for session persistence, set this property to true.

Name	Default value
HttpSessionIdReuse	false

listeners

The servlet specification supports applications registering listeners for servlet-related events on an individual application basis through the web.xml descriptor. However, using the listeners custom property, we can enable a server to listen to servlet events across web applications.

To implement global listening, a listener is registered at the web container level and is propagated to all of the installed and new web applications. This global behavior of internal servlet listeners is controlled by the listeners custom property using the following name-value pair format.

listeners=listener_class

Name	Default value
listeners	none

The value for this property is a string, specifying a comma-separated list of listener classes. The listener supplied must implement standard listener classes from the Java Servlet API or IBM listener extension classes.

(zos) MutualAuthCBindCheck

This property is only valid on the z/OS platform. Use the MutualAuthCBindCheck property to specify whether a client certificate should be resolved to a SAF principal.

Use to specify whether a client certificate should be resolved to a SAF principal. If true, all SSL connections from a browser must have a client certificate, and the user ID associated with that client certificate must have RACF CONTROL authority for CB.BIND.servername. Regardless whether client certificate authentication is being used in an SSL connection, if these conditions are not met, the connection is closed. Issue the following RACF command to give the user ID associated with that client certificate RACF CONTROL authority:

PERMIT CB.BIND.<optional SAF profile prefix>.clustername CLASS(CBIND) ID(clientCertUserid) ACCESS(CONTROL)

Name	Default value
MutualAuthCBindCheck	false

prependSlashToResource

WAS 5.x supports Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) without leading front slashes ( / ) . To preserve compatibility, we can set this custom property to true. When true, the web container ignores the specification and consider URLs without the leading front slash, use the following name-value pair.

Name	Default value
prependSlashToResource	false

trusted

The trusted custom property enables the application server to use inbound private headers from the web server plug-in. These inbound private headers notify the application server about the connection to the web server. When set the custom property to true, the application server uses the asserted information on the client certificates. These client certificates are used by the end user to connect to the web server and establish the client information, which is treated as the certificate for the end user. Then, the application server uses the certificate information for authentication purposes when client certificate authentication is used or when the application code accesses the javax.net.ssl.peer_certificates certificates. Because this information is asserted, it is insecure and potentially vulnerable to an attacker that is able to connect directly to the application server and bypass the web server.

Important: If we allow direct connections to the application server and use client certificates, set this custom property to false.

Name	Default value
trusted	true

UseOracleBLOB

The UseOracleBLOB custom property creates the HTTP session database table using the Binary Large Object (BLOB) data type for the medium column. This property increases performance of persistent sessions when Oracle databases are used.

Because of an Oracle restriction, BLOB support requires use of the oci database driver for Oracle for more than 4000 bytes of data. We must also ensure that a new sessions table is created before the server is restarted by dropping the old sessions table or by changing the datasource definition to reference a database that does not contain a sessions table.

To create a sessions table using the BLOB data type, set this property to true.

The use of the UseOracleBLOB property as a web container custom property is deprecated. You should now define this function as a session management custom property.

Name	Default value
UseOracleBLOB	false

setContentLengthOnClose

Toggle whether or not the content length should be set when an application explicitly closes the response.

The default and recommended value is true, however, set the value false if an application response contains double-byte characters.

Name	Default value
setContentLengthOnClose	true

Related concepts

Enablement and migration considerations of Security hardening features

Related tasks

Modify the default web container configuration

Configure transport chains

HTTP session problems

Web services client to web container optimized communication

JSP specific web container custom properties

Cookie settings

HTTP transport channel custom properties