RILOE II Remote Console doesn't work with Java 7.

[gyrobbie]

I have a ML370 G3 with a RILOE II board running Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition. I used to remotely manage it from an HP rugged notebook nr3610 (well, it's really an Itronix GoBook III [a "260+"] with an HP bios and HP labels), running XP SP3 Pro. Yes, all pretty antique, but functioning quite well.

Until Java 7 came along.

Suddenly, I cannot open a Remote Console anymore, I get the error: "remcons.class not found" (and much more details in the java console, but this is the essence). On the net I could not find references to this problem, not on Google, not at Java, not here. There's some rather similar problems, but nothing exactly the same and/or useful to me.

In the end I saw no other option than to reinstall Java 6 (6.45, to be exact), next to version 7. As Java allows for multiple installations, I thought I could just activate version 6 when running the remote desktop, and version 7 when doing other stuff that I need recent, updated Java for. This did not work, I had to completely remove the Java 7 installation before I could get the Remote Console and the Virtual Devices back to work.

Has anyone encountered this problem, and/or found a solution to it? Is there no remcons.class in Java 7, or does it reside at a place unknown to RILOE II? Or...?

Many thanks,

Rob

[Oscar A. Perez · Accepted solution]

Oracle made security "enhancements" to the new Java 7 Update 51 and decided to block all Rich Internet Applications (Applets and Web Start) out there that don't contain a "Permissions" attribute within the JAR Manifest file. This has caused lots of headaches to Java RIA developers around the world.

We've added the required attribute to iLO2, iLO3 and iLO4 JAR manifest files but, unfortunately RILOE-II card has been End of Life for more than 7 years so, you have no option but to use an older JRE version.

Same with iLO-1, by the way, which has been End of Life for about 5 years now.

[gyrobbie]

Thank you Oscar, and my apologies for responding this late (when uploading my original response it apparently  somehow got lost in cyberspace...). By your explanation I now know what's really going on here, something the error message ("remcons.class not found") was not very helpful with... Going back to version 6 is what I did, and surely everything works again, but still I wonder if this really is my only option, as you say. Why would it be impossible for me to just copy your solution and set this attribute myself? Is there stuff I need access to that I don't have, or...? Maybe it's not practical, but even then I'd just like to know if it were possible.... Thanks, again!  

[Matti_Kurkela]

You would have to set up a proxy that intercepts the browser's request to download the JAR file from the RILOE-II card, and then supplies the modified version of the JAR file with the proper attributes added. Or set up your own web page that will supply the modified JAR and all the required parameters for it. This is tricky, as I don't think these parameters have been documented by HP, and the parameters might actually include dynamically changing values to prevent such a "man-in-the-middle attack".

An easier way might be to add the RILOE-II cards to the Exception Site List in Java 7.

Start up the Java Control Panel, open the Security tab, and click on "Edit Site List..."

Add the URL for the RILOE-II card in the list.

(Disclaimer: I have not tested this with RILOE-II, but it has worked with various old iLO2 and other manufacturers' remote consoles with old firmware so far.)