PK82117: WEB SERVICES TEMPORARY ATTACHMENT FILE IS NOT DELETED

Fixes are available

APAR status

Closed as program error.

Error description

When an attachment is submitted with the SOAP message, a
temporary attachment file (for example /tmp/WebServices21170webs
ervices) is created during the outbound response processing on
the application server.

During that processing a handler associated with Service
Component Architecture (SCA) reads the outbound response and
causes a new attachment file to be created:
/opt/ibm/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/profile01/install
edApps/Node01Cell/SampleAttachApp.ear/SampleAttachWeb.war/WEB-IN
F/attachments/WebServices21171webservices

This causes the original MemoryManagedDataSource to be
orphaned and its file is never deleted.

Local fix

Set the com.ibm.websphere.webservices.attachements.maxMemCacheSi
ze property to 500.  This will keep the attachments in-core,
which will increase performance and avoid this problem.

Problem summary

****************************************************************
* USERS AFFECTED:  All IBM WebSphere Application Server users  *
*                  of JAX-RPC or Service Component             *
*                  Architecture (SCA)                          *
****************************************************************
* PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: Temporary files associated with web     *
*                      service attachments are not deleted     *
*                      from the customer's file system.        *
****************************************************************
* RECOMMENDATION:  Install a fixpack containing this APAR.     *
*                  Set the system property                     *
*                  "com.ibm.websphere.webservices.attachment.te*
*                  mpfile.expiration" to an expiration value   *
*                  (in seconds)                                *
****************************************************************
The JAX-RPC programming model allows customers to access
attachments from an incoming web service message.   The
customer may access the attachment immediately or the customer
may store the attachment for later processing.  Thus the
memory associated with the attachment may persist much longer
than the lifetime of the web service interaction.

The JAX-RPC specification does not dictate a lifetime for web
service attachments.  Thus there is no precise time when the
web service runtime can safely free the attachment.

For small attachments, the memory will eventually be freed by
the Java garbage collector.

For large attachments, the JAX-RPC runtime stores the
attachment data in a temporary file on the customer's file
system.   This technique allows the runtime to process
extremely large attachments without consuming memory.

If the customer's application does not access the attachment
or if the customer's application does not adequately close the
data handler associated with the attachment, the large
temporary file will not be freed.   There also may be other
circumstances where the attachment file might not be freed due
to exceptions outside of the web service stack.

Under these circumstances, the temporary attachment files may
accumulate on the customer's file system.   Some customers
have addressed this problem by running daemon processes to
routinely remove these temporary attachment files.

The SCA (Service Component Architecture) programming model uses
the JAX-RPC programming model as part of its implementation.
Thus customers that use SCA as part of WebSphere Enterprise
Service Bus or WebSphere Process Server may also encounter
this issue.

This APAR will address the issue by introducing a property to
allow customers to specify an expiration value for these
temporary attachment files.

Problem conclusion

As specified in the Problem Summary, it is difficult in many
circumstances to determine when an attachment can be released.
Two different solutions are provided for this APAR to assist
customers.

The first solution is an automatic solution that does not
require intervention from the customer.  The runtime is
changed to improve the finalization processing associated with
attachments.  For example, the temporary files are marked as
"deleteOnExit" so that they will be deleted when the JVM
terminates.  These automatic solutions are safe and do not
require a custom property.  However these automatic solutions
will not cover all of the customer scenarios and are not
guaranteed to work in some failure scenarios.

The second solution requires the use of a custom property.
The customer can set a system property
"com.ibm.websphere.webservices.attachment.tempfile.expiration"
to indicate an expiration time (in seconds) for an attachment.
The web services team suggests a value of 600 seconds.   If an
attachment is not accessed for a period of time greater than
the expiration time, the web service runtime is allowed to
delete the attachment.   The default setting for the custom
property is 0 seconds which is interpreted as forever.


The fix for this APAR is currently targeted for inclusion in
fix pack 6.0.2.27, 6.1.0.27, and 7.0.0.5.  Please refer to the
Recommended Updates page for delivery information:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg27004980

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

APAR number
PK82117
Reported component name
WEBS APP SERV N
Reported component ID
5724H8800
Reported release
60A
Status
CLOSED PER
PE
NoPE
HIPER
NoHIPER
Special Attention
NoSpecatt
Submitted date
2009-03-09
Closed date
2009-04-28
Last modified date
2009-04-28

APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:
APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

Fixed component name
WEBS APP SERV N
Fixed component ID
5724H8800

Applicable component levels

R60A PSY
UP
R60H PSY
UP
R60I PSY
UP
R60P PSY
UP
R60S PSY
UP
R60W PSY
UP
R60Z PSY
UP
R61A PSY
UP
R61H PSY
UP
R61I PSY
UP
R61P PSY
UP
R61S PSY
UP
R61W PSY
UP
R61Z PSY
UP
R700 PSY
UP

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSEQTP","label":"WebSphere Application Server"},"Platform":[{"code":"PF025","label":"Platform Independent"}],"Version":"6.0","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB45","label":"Automation"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
29 December 2021

Tips

PK82117: WEB SERVICES TEMPORARY ATTACHMENT FILE IS NOT DELETED

Fixes are available

Subscribe

APAR status

Closed as program error.

Error description

Local fix

Problem summary

Problem conclusion

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

APAR number

Reported component name

Reported component ID

Reported release

Status

PE

HIPER

Special Attention

Submitted date

Closed date

Last modified date

APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

Fixed component name

Fixed component ID

Applicable component levels

R60A PSY

R60H PSY

R60I PSY

R60P PSY

R60S PSY

R60W PSY

R60Z PSY

R61A PSY

R61H PSY

R61I PSY

R61P PSY

R61S PSY

R61W PSY

R61Z PSY

R700 PSY

Document Information

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