Installing and Configuring the Object Request Broker (ORB)

The InterChange Server system uses the IBM Java Object Request Broker (ORB) to handle ORB communication between InterChange Server and individual connectors. This section describes how to install and configure the ORB.

Installing the IBM Java ORB

The InterChange Server Installer installs the IBM Java ORB automatically as part of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). There are no special steps required to install the IBM Java ORB.

Configuring the IBM Java ORB

This section provides the following configuration information for the IBM Java ORB:

Customizing the ORB

By default, configuration of the IBM Java ORB is handled as part of its installation process. However, the IBM Java ORB supports several properties you can set to customize the ORB. These properties include the location of the ORB, number of ORB threads, and timing values. For a complete explanation of these properties and how to set them, refer to the System Administration Guide.

Configuring the ORB for the HA environment

In an HA environment, the IBM Java ORB must be configured to support use of the Persistent Naming Server and a virtual IP address. To do this, take the following steps:

  1. Make sure that the Persistent Naming Server is enabled.
  2. Configure other ICS services to depend on the Transient Naming Server.
  3. Register components with the cluster.
  4. Configure the virtual IP address for the multi-homed machine.

Enabling the Persistent Naming Server

The Persistent Naming Server is required for the HA environment. By default, this feature is enabled.

Note:
To start the Persistent Naming Server, use the PersistentNameServer.sh script. For more information, see Starting the IBM ORB Transient Naming Server.

Registering components with the cluster

The IBM Transient Naming Server provides the naming service for the InterChange Server system. It keeps track of the CORBA objects that are active. For the HA environment, you must create scripts similar to ICS-related processes that would be registered with the cluster. These scripts would allow the operating system to start, stop, and monitor the Transient Naming Server. Because the details of your cluster system are unique to your environment, the WebSphere InterChange Server product cannot include these scripts. Therefore, you must create them to work with your cluster system.

Note:
IBM does provide some Sample scripts with a README file as part of an IBM SupportPac. Scripts and files that assist with the HA implementation are available as unsupported in a Category 2 SupportPac. You can find information about these IBM SupportPacs by going to the following address and choosing Category 2 - Freeware in the Category field:

www.ibm.com/software/integration/support/supportpacs/

As part of the configuration of these Sample scripts, you must specify the Transient Naming Server as a dependency of InterChange Server (ICS). This action informs the operating system that ICS depends on the Transient Naming Server such that if the naming server fails and cannot be restarted by the operating system, ICS should be shut down; then, both the Transient Naming Server and ICS would be migrated to the secondary host. This same dependency exists between an adapter and the Transient Naming Server as well. Therefore, the adapters must also depend on the Transient Naming Server.

Note:
The Transient Naming Server does not need to be running on both the primary and secondary host. Because the Transient Naming Server is included in the dependencies of the InterChange Server service, the Cluster Server would start this naming server on each machine when the operating-system needs to migrate the processes over to the secondary host for any reason.

Configuring the multi-homed machine

In an HA environment, the InterChange Server system needs to be able to run on a multi-homed machine (a machine with multiple NIC cards). IBM Java ORB must be configured to use the virtual IP address, not the IP address on the private network between the two hosts. You must configure the virtual IP address in the following IBM Java ORB property:

com.ibm.CORBA.LocalHost

To configure this ORB property, take the following steps:

  1. Create a system environment variable called ORB_OAHOST.
  2. As the value for this environment variable, specify the virtual IP address of the multi-homed machine. A virtual IP address contains the following information:

The following specimen is an example of a virtual IP address:

10.5.1.214 255.255.255.0 10.5.1.255

In this example, 10.5.1.214 is the IP address, 255.255.255.0 is the subnet mask, and 10.5.1.255 is the local broadcast address.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2004