PASSPORT Knowledge Base
Upgrading PASSPORT WEB TO HOST
Date Published: April 11, 2008
Date Updated: July 8, 2009

Title

Upgrading PASSPORT WEB TO HOST

Product

PASSPORT WEB TO HOST

Emulation Types

TN3270, TN5250, VT, SCO ANSI, Wyse 60

Issue

What steps do I need to take to upgrade PASSPORT WEB TO HOST?

Solution

  1. It is important to note that there have been changes to the system requirements for PASSPORT WEB TO HOST 2007 and higher. Print out and follow the Quickstart instructions from our web site. IMPORTANT: You will need to follow these instructions closely in order to prevent upgrade problems.

    http://www.zephyrcorp.com/web-terminal-emulator/quickstart.htm
  2. If you are installing PASSPORT WEB TO HOST to a new server, it is VERY IMPORTANT to make copies of your existing configuration files.
  3. Although all configuration files of prior versions of PASSPORT remain compatible with this release and will be automatically migrated when you install the new version over the old one, it is VERY IMPORTANT to make copies of your existing configuration files and perform the upgrade in your test environment first.
  4. Please perform the installation/upgrade in a test environment first.  Once testing has completed and you are ready to install/upgrade PASSPORT WEB TO HOST to the production environment, please do so during off-peak hours when users no longer need access to the server.

A few things to look out for after your upgrade:

On the web server, you may get a combination of ecode=405, ecode=500 or ecode=404 error if the conditions below are not met:

  1. If you installed the .NET framework before installing IIS, you will receive an HTTP error with eCode=405. You will need to register .NET with IIS:

    - Click Start, and then click Run.
    - In the Open text box, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
    - At the command prompt, type the following, and then press ENTER:

    "%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\aspnet_regiis.exe" -i

    In this path, version represents the version number of the .NET Framework that you installed on your server. You must replace this placeholder with the actual version number when you type the command.

  2. If your server has multiple .NET framework versions installed, the pec and pecadmin (or comparable) virtual directories need to be pointing to ASP.NET v 2.0 or higher.  This is done from the virtual directories properties.

  3. You may get an HTTP error with eCode=500 if you have multiple .NET framework versions running on the same IIS server.  You have to create a separate application pool for PASSPORT. See links for more info:

    http://forums.asp.net/t/1003070.aspx

    http://www.developer.com/net/asp/article.php/2245511

    When creating an application pool, you may have to (not always) change the identify authority to LocalSystem:

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  4. If you allow your users to save local configuration files, and you're having problems with custom toolbar, color, keyboard, etc. not transferring over after the upgrade.  See the following:

    PASSPORT remembers the last entered location for storing local configuration files. With PASSPORT WEB TO HOST version 2007 and higher, the default location for local configuration files is the users' My Documents directory. When you install this version, the current location for local configuration files becomes the user's My Documents directory, with the last known location being c:\Program Files\eClient Local Files, and the configuration files are automatically moved to the new location.

    If you change this location on the server before your users have downloaded and installed the new ActiveX component, the last known location for local configuration files becomes the My Documents directory, which is empty unless your users have already upgraded to 2007 or higher. To avoid this, you can either:

    1. Wait until users have upgraded to change the path for local files, or

    2. Set the path to save local configuration files to the eClient Local Files folder

On the workstation, your users will get an 'Invalid License Code' error if they're not able to download the new ActiveX from the server.

  1. Please make sure your users have permission to do this and that firewall and IE settings allow downloading of ActiveX components. If end users have problems downloading or installing the PASSPORT WEB TO HOST ActiveX component through Internet Explorer, they can instead download this client installation and install it manually. This can be done by simply clicking the Download button on the supplied PASSPORT WEB TO HOST Client web site, or it can be made available through a URL of the customer’s choice.

  2. If your users have session shortcuts that are pointing directly to the .zwh session profile, they will not be prompted to upgrade. Please make sure all links, shortcuts and bookmarks point to Ecomes.asp like the following link:

    http://YourWebSite/pec/    ecomes.asp?sessionprofile=3270dsp/sessions/mainframe-session1

  3. Your user's IE security settings (under Tools/Internet Options/Security) have to be set to medium-low or lower. If it is configured to use an Internet zone or has been customized, the following options need to set as followed:  

    Automatic Prompting for ActiveX Controls - Enable

    Download signed ActiveX controls - Enable or Prompt

    Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins - Enable or Prompt

    Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting - Enable or Prompt

Because of design changes to the program in version 2007 and higher that provide additional features and enhancements and Windows Vista® compatibility, you will need to take the following steps if you decide to roll back to the previous version after your upgrade:

  1. After re-installing your previous version on the server, you will need to copy the original configuration files back to the server. For more information, see Migrating an Existing PASSPORT WEB TO HOST Server
  2. Remove the ActiveX Component from end user’s machines so that they will be prompted to download the 2004 ActiveX control the next time they connect to a session. For more information, see Removing ActiveX Client Application
  3. Optionally, if your users have local attribute (.zat) or local keyboard (.zkb) profiles on their PCs (under eClient Local Files folder), you may have to remove these or disable them from the server to prevent incompatibility problems.  For more information on disabling local attributes and keyboards, see Giving Users Access to Their Personal Keyboard Layouts
  4. You may get the symptom where the session seems to launch ok, however, the screens are unusable and you cannot type anything. This is likely to be due to a passkmap.dll version mismatch. Version 2004 is using passkmap.dll of version 2007, therefore, causing the 'cannot type' issue. The following should resolve this:
    1. Remove the 2004 ActiveX
    2. Go to your Windows\System32 folder and delete the passkmap.dll file (this is the passkmap.dll for 2007 version)
    3. Download the 2004 ActiveX and launch a session again

More Information

Keywords

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