1334956 - Various problems that solved by using FQDN in portal URL

Symptom

While not using fully qualified domain names, you may expect various problems. For example:

• Receiving different JS errors:
  1. "Error: Object required"
  2. "Error: Access is denied"
  3. "'undefined' is null or not an object"
  4. "Error: object required"
  Getting a JS error is possible if it is enabled in the browser configuration. If it is disabled, all a user might see is a warning sign on the browser frame (represents a problem when rendering the web page).

• In the administration environment the Portal Catalog is empty, and no content is displayed. This might be in addition to JS errors (options #2, #3 & #4 above).

• DSM (version 1.0) is not working. A JS error might be thrown ("Access is denied").
  In addition an error might be thrown (if configured under 'Support Desk' -> 'SAP Application') -
  "Session Management will not work!
  Please check the DSM log file for details."

• Malfunctioning of iView/Page features like Automatic Height adjustment, Add tray option, etc.

• Authentication problems - getting pop up window requesting username and password.

• When accessing a backend application (WD ABAP/JAVA) through the portal, events (like "button pressed" or "link pressed") are not working.

• FPN: Failing while registering the producer portal.

Reason and Prerequisites

FQDN is necessary for the following reasons:

• Javascript origin policy (Privacy limitation of browsers) - communication between two different web pages is allowed only if both pages are from the same domain. This is a common browser prerequisite.
  This is particularly important when using the portal, due to usage of cross-frame JavaScript.
  More information can be found under: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same_origin_policy
  https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Same_origin_policy_for_JavaScript

• One domain is required with which cookies can be set domain-wide, for instance, SSO2 cookies. In HTTPS environment in particular, client and server names must correspond to each other for certificates and for the SSL protocol.

Solution

When using the portal, fully qualified domain names should be used.

A fully qualified domain name (FQDN) is a domain name that specifies its exact location in the tree hierarchy of the Domain Name System (DNS). It specifies all domain levels, including the top-level domain and the root domain. A fully qualified domain name is distinguished by its unambiguity it can only be interpreted one way.

For more information please refer to "Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN)" at help.sap.com:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/67/be9442572e1231e10000000a1550b0/frameset.htm

When FPN problem issued as a result of wrong FPN configurations:
Please check in the registration editor of the producer, the consumer URL field. It should be constructed from: <protocol>://<host>:<port>, where the <host> should be with a fully qualified domain, and nothing should be written after the <port> (a common mistake is to add 'irj'). The fully qualified domain should be inserted also in the producer details as part of the host name during the creation.
If one of the above fields is wrong, please deregister, change the value, and register again.
For more FPN configuration issues please refer to note 880482.