AFPA/FRCA Questions and Answers

Why are objects not being returned from the FRCA cache when my IHS configuration uses filters

You can't use filters, such as mod_headers, mod_ext_filter, mod_deflate, or mod_includes, in a context that is to be cached by FRCA.

Since these filters can potentially modify the response on the way out and the cache would not see that modification, the objects are not placed into the cache. For example, if a header was modified, it would go out the first time but not necessarily when served by the cache. For that reason, the objects are not even placed into the cache.

Also refer to the 'Restrictions on cached content' page in the IBM HTTP Server 6.1 InfoCenter for additional information about restrictions on cached content.

Why does Windows Event Viewer report 'afpa service failed to start' after IHS 7.0 install

There is a problem with the base IHS 7.0 install that can cause a driver load error being reported with each system reboot (after the install of IHS 7.0).
The symptom is that after a system restart, an error message indicates that "At least one service or driver failed during system startup."
Inspection of the Event Viewer shows the error:

The afpa service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

Cause:
The cause is a problem in the base IHS 7.0 install. With the deprecation of AFPA in IHS 7.0, the IHS install was changed to no longer copy the afpa.sys driver to the C:\Windows\system32\drivers directory. However, the registry entry is still created that causes an attempt to load the afpa.sys driver at system startup.
{The registry entry creation should have been removed from the install also, but was inadvertently left in. Since it is a problem with the install of the base 7.0 version, it cannot be resolved in a fixpack}.

Resolution:
The error can be easily resolved by doing either of the following:

The problem probably won't occur on a system that has been upgraded to 7.0 from a prior IHS version, since the C:\Windows\system32\drivers directory on that system will probably already have an afpa.sys file from the install of the earlier version. (The afpa.sys supplied with 7.0 is the same as in 6.1).