Older model Brocade Fiber Channel switches including IBM OEM Brocade switches use a Java webstart applet (Java Network Launching Protocol or JNLP file) for administration. If you've tried to administer a Brocade Fiber Channel switch lately with a newer browser, it is likely you've been denied access. Chrome, Firefox and IE have all discontinued support for NPAPI plugins, including Java webstart.
Pale Moon to the rescue!
The Pale Moon browser (from palemoon.org) is a fork of the Mozilla/Firefox code and has not (as of the date of this posting) removed the NPAPI Java plugin support. While they do recommend that you DISABLE this feature for security purposes, the ability to associate a JNLP file with a java webstart executable and run java applications in the browser via the NPAPI plugin is still supported.
To resolve your problem with administering your Brocade Fiber Channel switch using the Java applet, do the following (note: this assumes you already have Java installed):
1. Download and install the Pale Moon browser
2. Reboot your machine
3. Launch the Pale Moon browser
4. Point the URL to the IP or DNS address of your Brocade switch
5. When prompted on how to launch the JNLP file, browse to your Program Files (or Program Files x86 if 32-bit) Java directory, select the java version you want to use (directory), go to the bin directory, and select the javaws.exe as the executable for the JNLP file. For example: C:\>Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_91\bin\
6. If you receive a java security error, go to the Java app properties, go to the Security tab, and add the DNS or IP entry to the Exception Site list. Don't forget to put http:// or https:// in front of the entry.
I've had this solve my Brocade switch java access problem on IBM 2498 series switches including the 2498-B24 and 2498-24E (Brocade 300-series), as well as the Brocade 5470-based BNT Fiber Channel 10 and 20-port switches for the IBM Bladecenter Chassis. This also works on the Cybernetics VTL administration control panel for Cybernetics Virtual Tape Library devices. I have had the case on one laptop where I had to go into the file associations (I think it was a Windows 8.1 system) and associate the JNLP file type with the javaws.exe for execution.
