Unable to connect from Composer 7.3 to Content Server 7.3: "Server communication failure"

Arthy

Hello,
I have an urgent problem: I can't connect from Composer 7.3 to a 7.3 CS.
Everytime I try to install the Composer project to the CS, the login fails with error [DM_SESSION_E_RPC_ERROR]error: "Server communication failure".
The same Composer (exactly a copy) works correctly if used on the CS host. Obviously it's not a problem of IP address cause I put the CS IP in my hosts file and the CS is pingable from my PC.
The CS is 7.3.0130.0082 and I tried with Composer 7.3.0130.0034 and 7.3.000.0052 (the copy of that in the CS), always with the same results.
See the attached dctm_tools_....log.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Arthy

DCTM_Guru

What about ports? Make sure you don't have firewall on your PC enabled.

Arthy

I tried also disabling the firewall, same result.
The port is correct: 1489.
The same Composer and dfc.properties work on CS host but not on my PC.

DCTM_Guru

Do you have any dfc.jar installed on your PC outside of Composer dir? Maybe its compatibility issue.

s_vaidya

@Arthy
Port 1489 is only for DocBroker connection. After it is done, docbroker sends the details of CS back to DFC client, and then it will try to connect to actual CS port. So, you'll have to open up CS port too. Typically it is 50000. Also note that if you are running DFC in "secure" mode then DocBroker would be on 1490 and CS also might be on another port.

Arthy

All this clashes with the fact that:
1. I copied the entire Composer (also dfc.properties) from the CS host where it works, to my PC where it doesn't work
2. The same Composer works on my PC by connecting to another CS (another Documentum landscape)
3. I tried to totally disable Windows Firewall on my PC and the Composer still doesn't work

A friend of mine said something about a possible problem with the dfc.keystore file in the same folder as dfc.properties but I'm not familiar with this topic.
I've only seen that even if I delete that file and try to connect again, the file is recreated but I can't connect anyway.
Can you think of something?

shoeb_haque

You may have hit upon a DFC issue with support for anonymous ciphers. What is the version of Java on your machine? Have you tried connecting to the repo using native mode only?

rkavanagh

The error is showing an ssl handshake error. Is your docbroker/Server running in native, secure or dual? You can check the docbase log and docbroker log to see what port is being used (or the dm_server_config.secure_connect_mode or docbroker.ini). Depending on that you will want to update your dfc.properties as well to set dfc.session.secure_connect_default to match what you have for your server/docbroker. If the server is supporting native, try setting it to try_native_first.

MohamedYousuff

I had the same issue and found it is due to modified java security file at jre/lib/security/java.security. Once I restored to the default values, composer started working.
Check the JRE used by composer and ensure that the content of java.security file has default values.

In your case, I am expecting one or more of the below keys have been modified to prevent anon ciphers or other ciphers used in secure communications. Just restore the java.security file and retry again after restarting composer.

jdk.certpath.disabledAlgorithms jdk.jar.disabledAlgorithms jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms (most likely this key)

ArthyTrip

Hello MohamedYousuff, you solved.

Thank so much.

MohamedYousuff

Thanks ArthyTrip, amazing, you confirmed it after one year !

ArthyTrip

Oh yes, unfortunately a lot of time has passed.

I'm not going to say the reasons but ... well, we're back on track :-)

Thanks again!