Troubleshooting
Problem
When "Read/Write timeout" of "Web server plug-in properties" is set to -1 via "WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console", The property becomes invalid. In the sense, the console view for it is greyed out.
Symptom
On a WebSphere AppServer 8.5 Console, to disable ServerIOTimeout variable when trying to set the Read/Write Timeout of "0" , if inadvertently an input of "-1" is provided instead, The following is observed
1. Setting Read/Write Timeout "-1" via Console.
2. Once saved, The Console view gets greyed out with a value of "0"
3> Now, The console view for Read/Write Timeout does not revert to "0" for any other negative value. Only for "-1". However, the plugin-cfg.xml shows the correct value of "-1" for ServerIOTimeout. This in effect renders the JVM to get marked down after a ServerIOTimeout of "1" second. A highly unrealistic value for ServerIOTimeout.
NOTE: 1. Read/Write Timeout from WebSphere Console is reflected as ServerIOTimeout in the plugin-cfg.xml file.
2. This is observation is consistent in WebSphere 7.0/8.0/8.5 versions.
Cause
In the past (pre WebSphere plugin 6.1), a ServerIOTimeout of "-1" was documented as "waiting for the OS to time out of the connection". i.e effectively disabling the ServerIOTimeout property.
Since WebSphere 6.1, we added a feature. A negative ServerIOTimeout effectively means that the JVM will be marked down after that finite ServerIOTimeout value elapses. This also means that a ServerIOTimeout of "-1" would render the JVM marked down in if the request is not served in "1" second.
Resolving The Problem
If customer wishes to deactivate ServerIOTimeout, they will need to set it to zero. The use of a negative value has been incorporated to logically mark the JVM offline from the plugin request handling and load-balancing perspective.
Although, the observation noticed is a bug from the console perspective, from a plugin perspective it functions as intended.
APAR PM94593 corrects the behavior of -1 not look like the timer is disabled but actually look like the mark down after 1 second setting. This applies to WAS70 and higher.
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Document Information
Modified date:
15 June 2018
UID
swg21645814