• Article Type: General
• Product: MetaLib
• Product Version: 3

Description:
I changed the host names in our MetaLib installation and now MetaLib is not working. Please advise.

Resolution:
We have had several serious problems recently as a result of changes made to host names specified in the .metalib_conf/metalib_start file, in this section:
# Hostnames
setenv ORA_HOST
setenv Z39_HOST
setenv IP_HOST
setenv WWW_HOST
setenv PDS_HOST
setenv PDS_HOST_IN

Note that changes can be made ONLY to the host names IP_HOST and WWW_HOST. These can be changed in case the customer wants to display a different URL than the one they are using. For example, changing the hostname from octopus.ruk.cuni.cz to www.jiv.cz. Note that these two parameters should always be the same.

Regarding the other hosts specified in the file, ORA_HOST, Z39_HOST, PDS_HOST, PDS_HOST_IN, these should not be changed to any virtual host name under any circumstances. Their value is an internal parameter used for internal communications. We had serious problems when these parameters were changed resulting in total break-down of basic functionality in MetaLib such as communication with Oracle or communication with PDS. These host names do not have any representation when it comes to end users.