Administering the Object Request Broker

This section contains information about resolving problems related to the IBM Java Object Request Broker (ORB), which handles communication between IBM WebSphere InterChange Server and several of its components. This section provides information on the following topics:

Object Request Broker installation

IBM WebSphere InterChange Server requires the IBM Java ORB to communicate with several of its components, including adapters and System Manager. Use of the ORB requires installation of the IBM Java ORB.

The IBM Java ORB is installed as part of the IBM Java Runtime Environment (JRE) software, which the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server Installer installs automatically.

Steps for customizing the Object Request Broker

Perform the following steps to customize the Object Request Broker:

  1. Refer to Table 24 for the properties that the IBM Java ORB supports to customize its behavior.
  2. Specify the IBM ORB property and its value as a command-line option to the component's startup script. When you specify the IBM ORB property on the command line, you change it only for the component that you are starting. You specify an ORB property by preceding it with the -D command-line option. Properties you specify on the command line override any other property settings within the system or from the CWSharedEnv file.
  3. Edit the appropriate variable in the CWSharedEnv file. When you change the variable in the CWSharedEnv file, you change it for all components that read this file during their startup process. These components include any adapters, IBM WebSphere InterChange Server instances, the repos_copy utility, and the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server tools.
    Note:
    For more information on the CWSharedEnv file, see Administering run-time properties.

    As Table 24 shows, the ORB location is specified by special variables in the CWSharedEnv file. You must modify these variables in the CWSharedEnv file to change its location.

    Other ORB properties are listed in the ORB_PROPERTY variable of the CWSharedEnv file. In this variable, each IBM ORB property is preceded by the -D command-line option. To add or change an ORB property, you must add or change the appropriate -D option in the ORB_PROPERTY variable of the CWSharedEnv file. Properties you specify in the CWSharedEnv file override any other settings from the configuration file.

  4. Specify the configuration parameter (if one exists) in the appropriate configuration (.cfg) file. You can set many of the ORB properties with configuration parameters in the CORBA section of the configuration file. Both the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server configuration file (InterchangeSystem.cfg) and the adapter local configuration file can contain a CORBA section. When you specify the configuration parameter in the CORBA configuration file, you change it for all ORB-related tasks that the ORB server performs.
    Important:
    The configuration files are in XML format. Do not modify these files unless you use an XML editor or are very familiar with XML format!

    For example, to specify the maximum number of threads, you can take any of the following actions:


Table 24. IBM Java ORB properties that can be customized

IBM ORB property Configuration parameter Description
com.ibm.CORBA.ListenerPort OAport Port number on which the ORB server (within IBM WebSphere InterChange Server) listens for incoming requests.
com.ibm.CORBA.LocalHost OAipAddr IP address or host name of the machine on which the ORB server (within IBM WebSphere InterChange Server) is running.
com.ibm.CORBA.ThreadPool. MaximumSize OAthreadMax Maximum number of threads that the connection manager can create. The default value (zero) indicates that no size restriction exists.
com.ibm.CORBA.ThreadPool. InactivityTimeout OAthreadMaxIdle The time (in seconds) before an idle thread is destroyed.
com.ibm.CORBA.RequestTimeout None Number of seconds that a CORBA request waits before timing out. By default, there is no timeout; the ORB waits indefinitely for a response.
com.ibm.CORBA.LocateRequest None Timeout value (in seconds) for Locate Requests.
com.ibm.CORBA.FragmentTimeout None Maximum length of time that the ORB waits for second and subsequent message fragments before it times out. Set this property to zero to indicate no timeout. The default value is 30000.

Steps for changing the location of the Object Request Broker

Perform the following steps to change the location of the Object Request Broker during installation:

  1. Refer to Table 25 for the default ORB-location information.
  2. Change this default information during installation. In the Naming Server screen, the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server Installer prompts you for the IP address and port number for the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server instance. The installer saves this information in the appropriate variables of the product directory.

Table 25 also shows the variables within the CWSharedEnv file that specify the ORB location.

Table 25. Location of the IBM Java ORB

ORB location IBM ORB property Default value CWSharedEnv variable
IP address org.img.CORBA.ORBInitialHost Name of the local host ORB_HOST
Port number org.omg.CORBA.ORBInitialPort 14500 ORB_PORT

Perform one of the following steps to change the location of the Object Request Broker after installation:

For information on how to change ORB properties, see Steps for customizing the Object Request Broker.

Using the IBM Transient Name Server

Using IBM Transient Naming Server (tnameserv) provides the naming service for the IBM WebSphere Business Integration system. When a component of the IBM WebSphere Business Integration system starts, it registers itself with the IBM Transient Naming Server. When the component needs access to another business-integration-system component, it uses the naming service to determine the information it needs to locate and start interacting with that component. For example, when an adapter needs to communicate with IBM WebSphere InterChange Server, it obtains the location of IBM WebSphere InterChange Server through the Transient Naming Server.

Note:
The IBM Transient Naming Server is part of the IBM Java ORB. Therefore, it is installed automatically on the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server machine as part of the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server installation process.

Identification of registered components

The IBM WebSphere InterChange Server product provides the CosNameServer_Dump tool to list all valid IBM WebSphere InterChange Server ORB objects currently registered with the IBM Transient Naming Server. This tool is located in the bin subdirectory of the product directory. You invoke it with the following command: CosNameServer_Dump.bat.

Steps for using the Persistent Naming Server

When a component of the IBM WebSphere Business Integration system starts, it registers itself with the IBM Transient Naming Server and its CORBA object is stored in the memory of the Transient Naming Server. However, if the Transient Naming Server fails, its memory contents are lost. As a result, all components that had been registered with it must be rebooted so they can reregister with the naming service.

The Persistent Naming Server extends the capability of the IBM ORB Transient Naming Server so that the collection of CORBA objects that are registered with the Transient Naming Server are stored in a naming repository. The existence of the naming repository means that these CORBA references, rather than being only in the Transient Naming Server memory, are persistent; that is, they are available to other processes and IBM WebSphere InterChange Server components in the event that the Transient Naming Server fails. Other components do not need to shut down and restart in order to reregister with the naming service.

The default location of the naming repository is the following local file: ProductDir\CxCosNameRepos.ior.

Perform the following steps to change the location of the naming repository:

  1. Edit the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server configuration file (InterchangeSystem.cfg).
  2. Set the CosNamingPersistencyFile configuration parameter in the CORBA section. By default, the Persistent Naming Server is enabled; that is, references to CORBA objects are maintained in the naming repository.
  3. For the naming server to run, you must explicitly start it with the PersistentNameServer startup file, located in the bin subdirectory of the product directory. This startup file takes the following steps:

    As part of its startup process, IBM WebSphere InterChange Server updates the naming repository by copying the CORBA objects currently registered with the Transient Naming Server into the naming-repository file. When each adapter starts, it updates the naming repository with its information. If IBM WebSphere InterChange Server has not yet started when the adapter starts, the naming repository is updated whenever IBM WebSphere InterChange Server does start.

    Note:
    If the Persistent Naming Server fails, you can restart it with the PersistentNameServer startup script. However, you do not need to restart IBM WebSphere InterChange Server or any started adapters.

Perform the following steps to turn off the Persistent Naming Server:

  1. Edit the IBM WebSphere InterChange Server configuration file (InterchangeSystem.cfg).
  2. Set the CosNamingPersistency configuration parameter (located in the CORBA section) to false.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2004