Notes from the field: Issues after going live with Sun JRE plugin

We went live with Sun JRE plugin on our first instance in the weekend. As expected, we got lot of calls for issues. Here's a list:

1. Proxy issues: All our ERPs are configured with load balancers. However, whenever a JVM like Jinitiator / Sun JRE is used, the connection is always between the forms server port and the user's PC directly. This is blocked by proxies. Being an internal site, we have configured IE to exclude the internal site's name in exclusion list. We also configured Java Control Panel applet to connect directly instead of using Browser Settings.

2. Popup windows don't popup but appear minimized: Described in Metalink Note 864861.1:

Cause

This issue is caused by a new 'feature' in Java 1.6.0_10 and above

More details of the feature can be found at:

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/new_plugin.xml?jre=6.0

Solution

To implement the solution, please execute the following steps:

Note - this is a client machine specific solution:

1. Click Start.

2. Click Control Panel.

3. Double click on Java Control Panel.

4. Click Advance tab in Java Control Panel.

5. Scroll to Java Plug-in entry.

6. Uncheck the check box for Enable next-generation Java Plug-in

3. JRE refuses to install : This was a weird one as nothing happened when we clicked on the Sun JRE executable downloaded to local disk. It turns out that the user's PC had issues and many other executables could not be installed as well. I have suggested to install this after booting Windows in Safe Mode.

Will update as I learn more.