Configure Office document MIME types in IBM HTTP Server

When Maximo Attached Documents are served through IBM HTTP Server, modern Office files can be returned without a useful Content-Type header if the server has no mapping for their extensions. Add the registered media types to IBM HTTP Server so browsers and downstream security tools can identify the files correctly.

This applies when IBM HTTP Server serves the attachment. It does not configure Oracle WebLogic, another reverse proxy, object storage or an application endpoint that generates its own response headers.

Before editing: back up the active configuration, identify every IBM HTTP Server instance in the environment and rehearse the change outside production. Validate the configuration before restarting, then confirm the response headers rather than relying only on browser behavior.

Locate the active configuration

IBM HTTP Server normally keeps its configuration in the conf directory beneath the installation root. A traditional Maximo deployment might therefore use:

C:\IBM\HTTPServer\conf\httpd.conf

Configure the MIME type as:

<Maximo root>\IBM\IHS\conf\httpd.conf

Installations vary, so confirm the configuration file used by the running service. IBM requires the active file to retain the name httpd.conf.

Add the Office Open XML mappings

Place these directives with the existing MIME configuration. IBM documents AddType as a way to add to or override the mappings loaded from mime.types:

AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document docx
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet xlsx
AddType application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation pptx

The three mappings are:

IANA registers these media types. The extension argument is case-insensitive and IBM HTTP Server accepts it with or without a leading dot.

Validate and restart IBM HTTP Server

1. Run the configuration validation command supplied with your IBM HTTP Server installation.
2. Resolve every reported error before restarting the service.
3. Restart each IBM HTTP Server instance that serves Maximo attachments.
4. Request a representative DOCX, XLSX and PPTX attachment through the same hostname users access.
5. Inspect the response headers in browser developer tools or with an HTTP client.

For example:

curl -I "https://maximo.example.com/attachments/example.docx"

The response should include:

Content-Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

Repeat the check for XLSX and PPTX. Test the actual download as a normal Maximo user as well, including authorization, file integrity and the expected filename.

What the MIME type does not control

Content-Type tells the browser what kind of representation it received. It does not guarantee that the browser launches the locally installed Office application. Browser policy, operating-system associations, download settings and a Content-Disposition response header can still cause the file to download or open in another viewer.

If the header remains wrong after restarting IBM HTTP Server:

• confirm the request passed through the server whose configuration you changed
• check for another AddType, TypesConfig, virtual-host or proxy rule overriding the mapping
• determine whether Maximo or another upstream application generated the response header
• clear intermediary caches and retry with a new request
• compare behavior through each clustered or load-balanced web server

The exact Maximo and IBM HTTP Server releases used for this change are unknown. Verify the configuration against the documentation for your installed versions.

References

• IBM: Configuring IBM HTTP Server
• IBM: AddType configuration examples
• IANA media type registry