Setting up the run-time environment

At run time, the access client does not need to reside on a machine that contains IBM WebSphere InterChange Server, nor does it need to reside on the same machine as the development environment. However, for the access client to be able to locate the InterChange Server instance it needs at run time, it must be able to locate the Object Request Broker (ORB) server, which keeps track of the locations of different CORBA objects (including InterChange Server instances) and communicates this information to ORB clients (such as an access client). To obtain the location of the ORB server, the access client can use the Interoperable Object Reference File that its ICS instance generates. When ICS starts or reboots, it generates an Interoperable Object Reference file, which has the .ior extension. The access client can use this file to locate the ORB server, and, in turn, to communicate with its ICS instance.

Therefore, for the access client to locate its ICS instance, you must take the following steps:

  1. Request that InterChange Server generate a persistent .ior file.
  2. Ensure that the machine on which the access client resides is able to locate the .ior file for its InterChange Server instance.

Each of these steps is described in more detail in the following sections.

Generating a persistent .ior file

When InterChange Server version 3.1.0 or later is booted up, it generates a new .ior file. However, InterChange Server dynamically assigns a port number for the ORB server. If the port number changes each time the server boots, the access client cannot depend on the .ior file to locate the ORB Server. Therefore, an access client needs InterChange Server to generate a persistent .ior file.

To have InterChange Server generate a persistent .ior file, you must edit the ICS configuration file (InterchangeSystem.cfg) in an XML editor and add a subsection for CORBA, if one does not already exist. Figure 4 shows the XML code that defines an empty CORBA subsection (one with no configuration parameter defined).

Figure 4. XML definition of CORBA subsection

<tns:property>
   <tns:name>CORBA</tns:name>
   <tns:isEncrypted>false</tns:isEncrypted>
   <tns:updateMethod>system restart</tns:updateMethod>
   <tns:location>
      <tns:reposController>false</tns:reposController>
      <tns:reposAgent>false</tns:reposAgent>
      <tns:localConfig>true</tns:localConfig>
   </tns:location>
   XML definitions of CORBA properties go here
</tns:property>

The CORBA subsection specifies the static port number with the OAport configuration parameter, which has the following syntax:

OAport=portNumber

For example, if the static port number is to be 15000, assign a value of 15000 to its OAport parameter in the CORBA subsection. The following XML fragment would appear within the <tns:property> tag for the CORBA subsection, in the place indicated in Figure 4 with the string "XML definitions of CORBA properties go here":

   <tns:property>
     <tns:name>OAport</tns:name>
     <tns:value xml:space="preserve">15000</tns:value>
     <tns:isEncrypted>false</tns:isEncrypted>
     <tns:updateMethod>system restart</tns:updateMethod>
     <tns:location>
        <tns:reposController>false</tns:reposController>
        <tns:reposAgent>false</tns:reposAgent>
        <tns:localConfig>true</tns:localConfig>
     </tns:location>
   </tns:property>
Important:
The ICS configuration file is an XML file. To add the CORBA subsection and its configuration parameter, you must use an XML editor or must correctly format the appropriate XML tags.

For more information on the CORBA subsection in the configuration file, see the IBM WebSphere System Installation Guide for UNIX or for Windows.

Locating the .ior file

For the access client to locate the ORB server at run time, it must be able to locate the .ior file for its InterChange Server instance. Locating this file is not a problem if the access client and InterChange Server are on the same machine. However, if these two components are not on the same machine, you must take one of the following actions to ensure that the access-client machine can access the .ior file:

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