WebSphere Name Tree Browser Readme

(C) COPYRIGHT International Business Machines Corp., 1999,2000
All Rights Reserved * Licensed Materials - Property of IBM

Introduction

The WS Name Tree Browser is a Java 1.1 based application used to graphically view and manipulate the WS name space. It may be used as an alternative to the DCE Director on NT or the DCE cdsbrowser on AIX for viewing the WS Enterprise name space. The browser allows one to view the WebSphere name space, create new Naming contexts, delete Naming context, unbind Name bindings, and save to a file a string version of the IOR for a Naming context or Name binding. It may be used for Releases 2.0 and 3.0. Do not use it with Release 3.5.

The WebSphere Name Tree Browser, hereto referred to as JNTB [Java Name Tree Browser], is a client program that uses the IBM Java ORB and the CosNaming client Java bindings to communicate with a WS Name Server. The user interface is implemented with the Java JFC/Swing components. JNTB can from, NT or AIX remotely browse a WS Name Server running on any WS platform. JNTB is particularly handy for viewing the Name Space on the 390 from an NT client. WS Enterprise (CB) on S/390 does not use DCE as the backing technology for their name space -- they use LDAP.

JNTB is lightweight. It does not require DCE, nor does it require the WS runtime to be running or even installed. It does use some .zip and .jar files that are found in any WS installation though (WSA/WSEE). JNTB is packaged in a single .zip file [jntb.zip].

Getting Started

This section describes how configure and run JNTB.

Required Files WebSphere Enterprise Edition

You will need the following files or products to use JNTB:

jntb.zip - Contains the JNTB runtime.
classes.zip - Contains the Java core classes and is typically installed as part of the Java JDK. JDK 1.1.6 or better is recommended.
somojor.zip - Contains the IBM Java ORB and the CosNaming bindings.
ivbjfc.jar - When CB Object Builder is installed, this file is installed along with it. This file contains the Java JFC/Swing components. Alternatively, one can use the swingall.jar file that is shipped as part of the Java JFC/Swing distribution by Sun Microsystems.

Required Files WebSphere Advanced Edition

You will need the following files or products to use JNTB:

jntb.zip - Contains the JNTB runtime.
classes.zip - Contains the Java core classes and is typically installed as part of the Java JDK. JDK 1.1.6 or better is recommended.
ujc.zip - Contains the IBM Java ORB and the CosNaming bindings.
ejs.zip - May not be needed...
swingall.jar - When WSA is installed, this file is installed along with it. This file contains the Java JFC/Swing components. Alternatively, one can use the swingall.jar file that is shipped as part of the Java JFC/Swing distribution by Sun Microsystems.

Configuration

The configuration centers around the CLASSPATH and PATH environment variables.
There are a couple of ways to achieve this. You can manually set your CLASSPATH and start JNTB from the command line or rename and update the provided nametree.bat files.

Manually Setting and Running

The the zip and jar files mentioned previously must be added to the CLASSPATH. For instance, on NT, the CLASSPATH can be set as follows:

set CLASSPATH=c:\temp\jntb.zip;d:\Cbroker\lib\somojor.zip;d:\Cbroker\lib\ivbjfc.jar;c:\jdk1.1.6\lib\classes.zip;

set CLASSPATH=c:\temp\jntb.zip;e:\was\lib\ujc.jar;e:\was\libejs.jar;e:\was\lib\swingall.jar;

NOTE: The CLASSPATH may already by configured to accommodate Component Broker. To run JNTB, it is very important that somojor.zip appear before ibmcbjs.zip in the CLASSPATH.

You must also ensure that java is in your PATH environment variable. You can simply run java at the command line. If it is in your path, it should reply with a usage message.

The general format of the command line invocation is:

java [[-D property] [-D property]] com.ibm.CBNMTree.CBNMTree

To run JNTB browser, enter the following command:

java -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.BootstrapHost=<Name Server host name> com.ibm.CBNMTree.CBNameTree

Where <Name Server host name> should be substituted with the host name of a WS Host with a Name Server that is up and running. Note that the BootstrapHost property is only needed if you want to remotely browse a Name Server. If the browser is to be run on the same machine hosting the Name Server, then you can omit the BoostrapHost property.
This assumes that the WS Name Server is using the default port of 900. If this is not the case, then an additional property must be supplied to identify the port that the Name Server is using. The additional property is:

-Dcom.ibm.CORBA.BootstrapPort=<the port number>

For example, if I wanted to browse a Name Server on the host xyz that is using port 1009, I would enter the following command:

java -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.BootstrapHost=xyz -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.BoostrapPort=1009 com.ibm.CBNMTree.CBNameTree

NOTE: You may need to specify the fully qualified domain name of the Name Server host depending on your local Domain Name Service configuration, e.g. xyz.austin.ibm.com instead of just xyz. You can alternatively specify the TCP/IP address of the Name Server instead of its hostname if you prefer.

There are additional properties that may be of some use. The properties -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.CommTrace=true and -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.Debug=true, when used together, will display the in and out-bound ORB level packets that the Java ORB exchanges with a WS Name Server.

Using the supplied nametree.bat To Configure and Run

The nametree.bat file has the same requirements on the CLASSPATH and PATH environment variables as described above. Its main utility is its convenience -- once the bat file is properly configured you only need to remember the name of the bat file to run the Java Name Tree Browser (JNTB).

Edit the .bat file and change the paths to the various zip and jar files to suit your local installation.

To run the bat file, enter the name of the bat file at the command line and optionally pass the bootstrap host. If you don't pass the bootstrap host, then the local host is assumed to be running a WS Name Server. Here is an example of running the bat file and specifying a remote bootstrap host.

nametree.bat someserver.austin.ibm.com

Limitations

JNTB was developed and primarily tested on NT.
JNTB will run on AIX. However, the popup menus don't work for some reason. The popup menus contain the various name space manipluation actions. Therefore, on AIX, you can only browse the WS name space.
There is no refresh operation to update the JNTB user interface if the name tree is updated from an application other than JNTB itself. You would have to stop and restart JNTB to view items added to, or removed from, the name space. The browser does update the user interface when Naming context or bindings are removed or added.
The Java JFC/Swing classes do not provide the zippiest performance.
While the implementation of JNTB is pretty robust, better error reporting and messages could be used.
There is no online help option.
JNTB is not internationalized.
We have not tried to use the browser from a "secure" Java client setup.
JNTB is provided as is without any support from IBM. For this reason the source code for this program is made available.

Warnings

Since JNTB allows one to remotely manipulate a name space, it is possible for one to maliciously, or inadvertently, remove Naming contexts or Name bindings. Removing items from the name space should be done with great care since the WS runtime uses the name space repository for many Lifecyle/Factory related operations.