Integrated Systems Management
Job Management Partner 1 : Hitachi Open Middleware Products Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 Service Pack 1 Compatibility

(July 22, 2005)

This is an announcement regarding Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 Service Pack 1 (abbreviated hereafter as Windows Server® 2003 SP1) compatibility for Hitachi Open Middleware products provided by Hitachi, Ltd., Software Division.

On this page

• Before Applying Windows Server® 2003 SP1
• Windows Server® 2003 SP1 Evaluation Results for Hitachi Open Middleware Products
• Precautions for When Applying Windows Server® 2003 SP1
  • Windows Firewall
  • Internet Explorer Security Enhancements
  • Data Execution Prevention (Hardware-enforced DEP)
• Contact Information

Before Applying Windows Server® 2003 SP1

Windows Server® 2003 SP1, released by Microsoft®, includes the multiple security patches and error fixes that have been included in Service Packs up to the present. Additionally, Windows Server® 2003 SP1 also includes added security-related functions equivalent to those added in Windows® XP Service Pack 2. As such, Windows Server® 2003 SP1 compatibility issues are of crucial importance, even more so than for previous Service Packs.

Hitachi Open Middleware products have been evaluated for Windows Server® 2003 SP1 compatibility. Until we evaluate the compatibility, we must ask that you either do not apply Windows Server® 2003 SP1, or apply it only after having carefully considered possible effects on your operating environment.

Windows Server® 2003 SP1 Evaluation Results for Hitachi Open Middleware Products

The following table lists products that passed the Windows Server® 2003 SP1 compatibility evaluations.

Precautions for When Applying Windows Server® 2003 SP1

Windows Firewall

Windows Server® 2003 SP1 includes Windows® Firewall, which is the result of a great deal of functional enhancements to the ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) security function included until now. Windows® Firewall contains security function improvements equivalent to those implemented in Windows® XP Service Pack 2.

Windows® Firewall provides security functions to protect against malicious programs and users carrying out attacks on networked computers by abusing unsolicited incoming traffic.

In Windows Server® 2003 SP1, Windows® Firewall is turned off by default. If Windows Firewall is not turned on, Hitachi Open middleware products will run without any problems. Enabling the function may affect operations, as doing so may cause certain applications to no longer be able to maintain normal communications, due to filtering by the network security function. Thus, relevant programs and port numbers must be registered to an exception list to avoid filtering.

As there are cases in which Hitachi Open Middleware products must be registered to the exception list, further information will be provided on this page as it becomes available.

Internet Explorer Security Enhancements

In Windows Server 2003 SP1, Internet Explorer security enhancements, including Pop-up Blocker, ActiveX and file download restrictions may affect some applications, Please see "Evaluation Results" in the Evaluation Results table lists.

Data Execution Prevention (Hardware-enforced DEP)

Data execution prevention (DEP) helps to prevent programs loaded in the data memory from running, thus avoiding buffer overflow. Unless the program has explicit permissions to execute, an exception is raised and the process will be terminated.

To read more about the DEP function, please click the following link:

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352/en-us

In particular, this function is hardware-enforced with it works with CPUs that have the NX (no-execute page-protection) function and is supported in Windows Server 2003 SP1 (and Windows XP SP2), if matched with the CPUs listed below:
(Note: this function must be enabled from the PC's BIOS to have effect.)

• Intel Xeon (EM64T)/Pentium 4 (function included in CPUs manufactured from November 2004 and onward)
• AMD Athlon64/Opteron

When the hardware-enforced DEP is activated, depending on the version of the Java Virtual Machine may be terminated and programs requiring the Java Virtual Machine as a prerequisite may be adversely affected. When this happens, the "Data Execution Prevention Warning" dialog appears. In Windows 2003 SP1, the DEP is activated by default, so please be aware of this.

If this dialog appears, please follow the procedure below to register your product as an exception, thus allowing the Java Virtual Machine to run from your product. The following procedure describes how to manually configure the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) on the computer:

1. From the Start Menu, click the Run button, type sysdm.cpl, and then click the OK button.
2. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click the Settings button.
3. On the Data Execution Prevention tab, click the Add button to add the programs of JAVA Virtual Machine that you do not want to use the DEP feature.
   (For example: C:\Program files\hitachi\java\jre\bin\java.exe)

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please e-mail us at:

• 2003sp1_soft@ml.itg.hitachi.co.jp

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