Requirements for Edge components

This topic provides a link to hardware and software requirements for Edge components and describes guidelines for using Web browsers with the Caching Proxy Configuration and Administration forms and with the Load Balancer online help.

Hardware and software prerequisites

For information on supported hardware and software requirements for WebSphere® Application Server, Version 7.0 Edge components, link to the following Web page: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921.

SDK installation: The Java 2 SDK automatically installs with Load Balancer on all platforms.

Using browsers with the Caching Proxy Configuration and Administration forms

Minimum browser requirements

To configure the Caching Proxy using the Configuration and Administration forms, your browser must do the following:

For Linux and UNIX systems: For the recommended versions of Mozilla and Firefox browsers, refer to the following Web site and follow the links to the supported software Web page: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921.

For Windows systems: For the recommended versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Firefox browsers, refer to the following Web site and follow the links to the supported software Web page: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27006921.

Note:
On 64-bit PowerPC Linux systems, it will not be possible to access the Configuration and Administration forms with the Mozilla browser since there is no SDK available for this architecture. Alternatively, you can access the Configuration and Administration forms from a different machine with a supported web browser.

LIMITATION: The Administration forms left hand vertical scroll bar may not get displayed by the browser if the number of expanded elements is too large to be displayed in the window of the browser. This causes the expanded elements at the bottom of the list to be pushed out of the current viewing window of the browser and inaccessible. To solve this problem, limit the number of expanded elements in the left hand menu . If the number of expanded elements is large, collapse some of the elements until the elements at the bottom of the list are displayed in the browser window.

In order to properly display forms, the operating system that is actually displaying the form (the one on which the browser resides) must contain the appropriate font sets for the language in which the form is written. The browser interface, however, does not necessarily need to be in the same language as the forms.

For example, a Chinese version of the proxy server is running on a Solaris 9 system. A Mozilla browser with an English-language interface is loaded onto the Solaris host. This browser can be used locally to edit the Configuration and Administration forms. (Forms are served to the browser in the character set used by the proxy server--in this example, Chinese; however, the forms might not be displayed correctly if the browser and its underlying operating system are not properly configured to display the character set sent by the proxy server.)

Alternatively, if a Windows workstation with Chinese language support is available to remotely connect to the proxy server, it is possible to load a Chinese version of a Netscape browser onto the Windows workstation and use this browser to enter values in the forms. This second solution has the advantage of maintaining a consistent language interface for the administrator.

The font sets specific to operating systems greatly affect the display of various languages, particularly of double-byte characters, within the browsers. For example, a particular Chinese font set on AIX does not look exactly the same as a Chinese font set on Windows platforms. This causes some irregularities in the appearance of HTML text and Java applets within the Configuration and Administration forms. For the best appearance, only browsers running on Windows operating systems are recommended.

Note about Mozilla 1.4 browser on S/390 and PowerPC

The Java plugin installed with Mozilla 1.4 must be updated to version 1.4.2 or higher in order for the Administration Forms to be displayed correctly. Use the following steps to update the plugin:

  1. Link to http://plugindoc.mozdev.org
  2. Select the platform from the "Documentation" section
  3. Follow the instructions listed in the "Java Runtime Environment" section to update the plugin

Using browsers with the Load Balancer online help

To use the Load Balancer online help, your browser must support the following:

Using a browser that does not support these requirements can result in incorrectly formatted pages and functions that might not work correctly.