Common symptoms and resolutions for Host On-Demand connection failures

Resolving The Problem

COMM 655
If you are using a Host On-Demand session and you are unable to connect and have a COMM 655 in the Operator Information Area (OIA), the reason could be:

1) The host is not actively receiving connections or is not up. This occurs when the host has been re-IPLed or rebooted and the telnet server or TCP/IP fails to initialize or the console is waiting for a response to a message; or

2) There is a network disconnect between the client and the host; or

3) An incorrect session property in Host On-Demand is preventing the connection. For example, if SSH is being used, but the password or userid are not correct in the session settings, the session will fail to connect and you can get a COMM 655 in the OIA.


All of these three problems above require either your Host On-Demand administrator's help or your local Information Technology group's assistance.


COMM 657
If you are using a Host On-Demand session and you are unable to connect and have a COMM 657 in the OIA, the reason could be:

1) There is a personal or company firewall blocking incoming and/or outgoing connections to the host.

Check to see if you have a personal firewall installed on your computer. These include the Microsoft® Windows® Firewall or Symantec Client firewall. Other third-party vendors sometimes include a firewall that is enabled by default. Check the system tray on your desktop for applications blocking access.

Note: Pop-up blockers such as the pop-up blocker that comes with Microsoft Internet Explorer or Yahoo or Google toolbars usually affect the cached client download, but don't usually prevent session connections of clients that already have a session downloaded.

If the company-wide firewall is blocking content, you will need your local Information Technology group's help to open the ports.

2) In rare cases, if you are using a secure connection (you have a lock in the right hand corner of your Host On-Demand session), the certificate used to secure the connection can become corrupted. All users connecting to this host through Host On-Demand would be affected.

This instance requires the Host On-Demand administrator to remedy.

3) Another rare case is if using multiple layers of certificates and one of the intermediate certificates expires. Because the certificate that gets downloaded to the client may not be expired and thus not directly affected, the user could get a COMM 657 instead of a COMM 666 that normally indicates an expired certificate. Again, all users would be affected, not just one or several.

This situation also requires the Host On-Demand administrator or the system programmer of the host to resolve.


COMM662
1) If only one or a few Host On-Demand users fail to connect and are getting a COMM 662 in their session in the OIA, the user should point their browser to HODRemove.html, clear their Java 2 jar cache, or if using the Microsoft JVM, clear their temporary internet files, and try downloading the client again.

If the user has access to the file system of their machine, the browser settings, and the Java Control Panel, they can remedy. If, however, they are not administrators or power users of that machine, they will need someone who can access the files and settings to perform these actions.

or

2) If all users are getting this same message, the certificate being used to encrypt the Host on-Demand connection needs to be added to the file that will be downloaded to your client machine to make the secure connection.

This extra step needs to be completed by your Host On-Demand administrator.


COMM 666
This error message can be see under two conditions:

1a) The certificate that is being downloaded to the client to encrypt the telnet session is expired.

As in the statement above with COMM 662, if all users are getting this message, the Host On-Demand Administrator needs to renew the certificate and republish.

b) If one or a few users are getting this message, then the certificate may have been renewed, but you still have cached the old certificate. To correct this, the user should point their browser to HODRemove.html, clear their Java 2 jar cache, or if using the Microsoft JVM, clear their temporary internet files, and try downloading the client again.

2) The date on your computer is not correct. If the date on your computer is a date before the certificate was issued or is set to a date after the certificate expiration date, the Host On-Demand session will present a COMM 666 and fail to connect. You can correct the date on your computer, point to HODRemove.html, clear the Java 2 jar cache or the temporary internet files in your browser, then redownload the cached client.