Technote

(FAQ)
Page is forbidden when accessing WebSphere Commerce tools (HTTP Error 403)
Problem
When trying to access the WebSphere Commerce tools such as WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, the following message is displayed:

You are not authorized to view this page
HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden

In the Web server's error log, you see a message similar to this:
[Fri Jun 16 08:38:24 2006] [error] [client ip] (3401)Permission denied.: ZSRV_MSG064B: access to /adminconsole denied

You might also see any of these other symptoms:

Missing images in your store pages
Missing images in the tools logon pages
Javascript errors in the tools logon pages such as:
Error: "XBEvent" is undefined
Error: "URLParser" is undefined
Cause
This error is caused by incorrect file permissions in the WebSphere Commerce EAR file.

The root cause could be one of the following issues:

  1. iFix 6.0.2.5-WS-WAS-IFWC-file-permission was not installed prior to creating a WebSphere Commerce instance or installing a WebSphere Commerce fix pack.

  2. Your system does not have the required amount of memory for WebSphere Commerce. This caused the code that sets file permission to fail.

  3. The application distribution process during fix pack installation was delayed for some reason.

  4. The WebSphere Commerce instance is clustered on multiple WebSphere Nodes.

  5. A partial application update was performed, followed by a full update without restarting your server (stand-alone environment) or node agents (managed environment) in between the updates.

    Examples of a partial update:

    • Deploy your own customizations

    • Enabling an iFeature

    • Publish a store

    Examples of a full update:

    • Install a WebSphere Commerce Fixpack

    • Install a WebSphere Commerce APAR

Solution

Ensure that your system meets or exceeds the memory requirements as outlined in IBM WebSphere Commerce v6 hardware prerequisites.

Ensure that iFix 6.0.2.5-WS-WAS-IFWC-file-permission has been installed as outlined in the Required Maintenance documentation. After installing this iFix, stop and restart your server before moving to the recovery steps listed below.

For root causes #1 and #2 and #5:

If you created an instance with Configuration Manager before installing this iFix, if your system did not meet the memory requirements for WebSphere Commerce or if you did a full application update (such as fixpack installation) after a partial application update, follow these instructions to correct the file permissions in the WebSphere Commerce EAR file.

  1. For root cause 5, restart your server1 (stand-alone environment) or your node agents (managed environment) before performing these steps. This is not required for the other root causes.

  2. Open the WAS console.

  3. Stop the WebSphere Commerce instance:

    1. Expand Applications and click Enterprise Applications.

    2. Select the WC_instance application from the list of installed applications, where instance is the name of your WebSphere Commerce instance.

    3. Click Stop Application.

  4. Save the EAR file to your hard disk:

    1. Select the WC_instance application from the list of installed applications.

    2. Click Export.

    3. Follow the directions to save the EAR file to your hard disk. Note the location where you save the EAR file.

  5. Update your WebSphere Commerce instance:

    1. Expand Applications and click Enterprise Applications.

    2. Select the WC_instance application from the list of installed applications.

    3. Click Update. Select Full Application and Local File System.

    4. Click Browse and select the EAR file that you saved in step 4c. Click Next.

    5. Select Generate Default Bindings and click Next.

    6. Click Continue.

    7. Click Step 16 -- Summary. Click Finish.

    8. After the update is complete, scroll down and click Save to Master Configuration.

    9. Click Save.

  6. Set the file permissions:

    1. After the changes are complete, set the file permission on the EAR directory to 755. For example,
      chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/demo/WC_demo_cell/WC_demo.ear

  7. Restart your WebSphere Commerce instance:

    1. Expand Applications and click Enterprise Applications.

    2. Select the WC_instance application from the list of installed applications.

    3. Click Start Application to start WebSphere Commerce.

For root causes #3 and #4:

The Web server needs access to the Enterprise Application directory and all parent directories to serve the static Web content such as HTML or images. Each directory in the path to the EAR file must have read and execute permission for the user running the Web server.

In some cases, the fix pack installer might not set the permission correctly or you might have introduced a new node in your cluster with a Web server accessing static content on that node.

The path to the WebSphere Commerce EAR file is WC_profileDir/installedApps/WC_instance_cell/WC_instance.ear

Where:

  • WC_profileDir is the path to your WAS profile for this WebSphere Commerce instance.

  • instance is the name of your WebSphere Commerce instance.


An example path is /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/demo/installedApps/WC_demo_cell/WC_demo.ear

To correct the problem, ensure that each directory in this path has file permission 755. You can set the file permission using the following commands for the example path listed above:

chmod 755 /opt

chmod 755 /opt/IBM

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/demo

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/demo/installedApps

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/demo/installedApps/WC_demo_cell

chmod 755 /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/demo/installedApps/WC_demo_cell/WC_demo.ear

For i5/OS, these commands must be run from Q-Shell.

Related information
Required Maintenance for WebSphere Commerce 6.0
Cross Reference information
Segment Product Component Platform Version Edition
Commerce WebSphere Commerce Enterprise AIX, i5/OS, Linux, Linux iSeries, Linux pSeries, Linux xSeries, Linux zSeries, Solaris 6.0 Enterprise
Commerce WebSphere Commerce Professional Edition AIX, i5/OS, Linux, Linux iSeries, Linux pSeries, Linux xSeries, Linux zSeries, Solaris 6.0 Professional Edition
Commerce WebSphere Commerce - Express i5/OS, Linux 6.0 Express
   

Document Information

Current web document: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21240016