Technical Support

Questions and comments can be emailed to the Handle System Administrator at hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us. The Handle System Administrator manages the registration of handle services by Resolution Service Providers, the payment of registration and service fees, the creation and updating of handle prefixes, and answers questions about operating a local handle service and configuring a handle server. Users who have been assigned prefixes should reference them in their email messages. Administrators with more than one prefix should identify which prefix the question, problem, or sitebndl.zip file is associated with. Users should also subscribe to the Handle-Info Mailing List, a discussion list for developers and end users of the Handle System. It provides information and hosts discussion of the technical aspects of the system, and posts notices of upgrades and new versions of HANDLE.NET software.

DSpace Users

New DSpace users should follow the usual steps of registering as a Resolution Service Provider, and paying the prefix registration and annual service fees. Then follow the steps in DSpace System Documentation: Installation, Chapter 3, (currently found at http://www.dspace.org/1_6_0Documentation/) for running the Simple Setup program and configuring your server. Complete the Request DSpace Prefix form, and attach and upload the sitebndl.zip file generated by the Simple Setup. The Handle System Administrator will contact you about your prefix. Note that the handle server software included in your DSpace distribution may not be the latest version. If you see errors when resolving your handles, contact the Handle System Administrator at hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us, who may suggest that you replace your handle.jar file with the latest version.

If you are already a DSpace user, regardless of which version of DSpace you are running you are encouraged to upgrade to HANDLE.NET Software version 7.2 under the terms of the Handle System Public License (Ver. 2). If you are currently using the Handle System in your DSpace implementation with a prefix acquired before June 19, 2006, please contact the Handle System Administrator at hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us.

Quick Tips:

1. Moving your Handle Service and/or Changing a Handle Server's IP Address. If the IP address of your handle server changes, your handles won't resolve until you re-run the Simple Setup (instructions are in the install.txt file included with the software distribution) and send the resulting sitebndl.zip file to the Handle System Administrator at hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us so that the service information in your prefix can be updated. Be sure to identify the prefix to be updated in your email message.

2. Lost Passphrase. If you lose your passphrase, re-run the Simple Setup to re-configure the server and send the resulting sitebndl.zip file to the Handle System Administrator at hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us. Be sure to identify the prefix to be updated in your email message.

2. Dedicated Ports. A handle server needs dedicated ports, typically port 2641 (the ICANN registered handle port) and port 8000. No other processes, i.e., a web server, can be running on the same ports as your handle server.

3. Firewalls. A handle server should be installed on a machine with an Internet presence, preferably outside an organization's firewall. If that isn't possible, ports 2641 and 8000 on the firewall need to be open to incoming and outgoing traffic so that the Global Handle Registry can talk to your local server. Also, many networks are configured so that a server has a different IP address for internal and external access. (These addresses are typically in the ranges 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, and 192.168.0.0/16.) The two most likely ways these networks are set up are described in an FAQ, along with instructions for configuring and accessing the server.

4. 'Cannot Connect' error. This error means your handle server is not responding to client requests. Make sure it is running, and if it is, make sure that the IP address in the prefix record is correct, check that ports 2641 and 8000 in your firewall are open to ALL incoming or outgoing requests, and that no other processes are running on those ports.