The error message noted above may occur in some of the following circumstances:

• A board was downgraded from Discus Professional to freeware Discus, and the settings on the Discus Pro board were configured so as not to make the topics page publicly available.

• Server or permissions problems prevented the correct relocation of the board-topics.html file after changing security options in Discus Pro.

• Board topics page was not correctly uploaded from an initial software distribution, or was removed from the server due to administrative error.

• During an automatic or manual recovery from a backup, the board-topics.html file was not restored properly.

The following fixes may address this problem. DiscusWare recommends that the fixes be considered in the following order.

• Check the "secure" directory for a board-topics.html file. The "secure" directory is a subdirectory of the Discus administration directory. Typically the administration directory is named discus_admin_########. If there is a board-topics.html file in that directory, move the file to the "messages" directory within the Discus HTML directory. Any FTP transfers should be done in ASCII mode, and unix file permissions on the board-topics.html file in the "messages" directory should be set to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx). When the error message has gone away, use telnet or FTP to delete the board-topics.html file from the "secure" directory.

• If the board-topics.html file is not found in either the "secure" or "messages" directory, restore this file from the most recent backup of the board (or upload the original file from the Discus distribution). The restoration can be accomplished with a partial restoration through the Discus Pro "Backup Manager" functionality, or by manual upload of the file. The board-topics.html file should be restored to the "messages" directory and unix file permissions should be set to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx). Use ASCII mode for any FTP transfers of the board-topics.html file.

• A new board topics file can be built through Data Recovery. As the board administrator (typically "admin"), log in to the administration program and go to Data Recovery. Click the "Topics" tab and choose "Full Regeneration." Then click the "Recover Topics Page" button.

DiscusWare recommends the following proactive steps to prevent this problem:

• Confirm that permissions on the "messages" directory are 0777 (rwxrwxrwx).

• Confirm that permissions on the "secure" directory are 0777 (rwxrwxrwx).

• Keep regular backups of the board. A "minimal backup" through the Discus "Backup Manager" utility stores a copy of the board-topics.html file that can be later recovered in the case of disaster.

If the problem persists even after attempting all of these steps, please contact DiscusWare support by filling out an e-mail support request. Please include your administration password with your support request.