Testing the web help connection

If you use web help from ibm.com (remote help), which is the default configuration or web help from an intranet information center (intranet help) and have problems with your help content, such as missing content, you can test the access to the information center.

About this task

Your product help system can retrieve content that is downloaded to the help server or content that is in an information center that is hosted on ibm.com® or on a server on your company’s intranet.

To check your connection to the information center, find the remote information center that your help server uses by opening the remote help configuration page. For example, browse to https://localhost:9443/help/remote/remotehelp.jsp. Your remote information center might contain this URL: https://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0m1. Given that information, browse to a URL that has a /index.jsp on the end. For example, in another browser window, open http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0m1/index.jsp. If the information center opens without errors, verify that the correct information is displayed on the Remote help configuration page. If you cannot open the information center, contact your system administrator to troubleshoot your connection.

Procedure

  1. If you are using remote help, test the remote information center:
    1. On the help server, navigate to https://localhost:port/help-name/remote/remotehelp.jsp. To find the help context root (server, port, and help-name), open the help from the product by clicking ? > Help contents. Instead of server, use localhost or 127.0.0.1.
      Tip: To find the help context root (server, port, and help-name), open the help from the product by clicking ? > Help contents. Your URL is https://server:port/help-name/index.jsp.
      The Configure Information Centers page opens.
    2. Select the information center that is enabled and click Test connection.
    3. If the connection is successful, verify that the help is like what is in the information center. If the connection fails, verify that your server can access the remote information center as explained in step 2.
  2. To verify that your server can access the remote information center, find the remote information that your help server uses by browsing to the Configure Information Centers page. For example, browse to https://localhost:9443/help/remote/remotehelp.jsp. Your remote information center might contain this URL: https://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0m1. Given that information, browse to a URL that has a/index.jsp on the end. For example, in another browser window, open http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clmhelp/v3r0m1/index.jsp. If you cannot open the information center from your help server, troubleshoot your connection and proxy and firewall issues. If your environment does not allow you access to the remote information center, you must configure your help to use downloaded help content (local help).

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