iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3 Installation and ...baansupport.com/docs/baan/iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2...IONA’s OrbixWeb 3.2 and Borland’s VisiBroker 4.5 can be used

iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBA

A publication of:

Baan Development B.V. P.O.Box 143 3770 AC Barneveld The Netherlands

Printed in the Netherlands

© Baan Development B.V. 2002. All rights reserved.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Baan Development B.V.

Baan Development B.V. assumes no liability for any damages incurred, directly or indirectly, from any errors, omissions or discrepancies between the software and the information contained in this document.

Document Information

Code: U7993A US Group: User Documentation Edition: A Date: September, 2002

i

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBA

1 Introduction 1-1 Product overview 1-1 In-proc configuration 1-2 Architecture 1-3 Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations 1-4

2 Requirements 2-1 Hardware prerequisites 2-1 Software prerequisites 2-1 License keys 2-1

3 Installation 3-1 4 Configuration 4-1

Configure CORBA Connector 4-1 Configuration files 4-1 Configuration data 4-2 ORB product name 4-2 Server timeout 4-3 Wrapper packages 4-3 Inbound address mapping 4-3 Outbound address mapping 4-4 Configure the BusComponents 4-5 General 4-5 In-proc operation (inbound) 4-5 In-proc operation (outbound) 4-6

5 To use the CORBA Connector 5-1 Introduction 5-1 Inbound or outbound 5-1 To run the CORBA Connector out-proc 5-2 Inbound 5-2 Outbound 5-3 To run the CORBA Connector in-proc 5-3 Inbound 5-4 Outbound 5-4

6 Troubleshooting 6-1

Table of contents

Table of contents

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBA ii

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBAiii

CORBA Connector bridges the gap between the iBaan OpenWorld environment and the CORBA infrastructure. With the help of CORBA Connector, CORBA clients can access iBaan OpenWorld applications. Additionally, iBaan ERP and other iBaan OpenWorld clients can access CORBA objects.

This document explains how to install, configure, and run CORBA Connector.

This document consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 1, “Introduction,” contains a product overview and describes the architecture and related definitions.

Chapter 2, “Requirements,” contains a description of software required to run the CORBA Connector.

Chapter 3, “Installation,” describes how to install the product.

Chapter 4, “Configuration,” describes how to configure the product.

Chapter 5, “To use the CORBA Connector,” describes how to run the product, that is, how to start CORBA Connector to make the Connector ready for exchange of data and function calls between the connected applications.

Chapter 6, “Troubleshooting,” describes most common problems you can encounter when you run the CORBA Connector.

The development of integrations with CORBA Connector is described in the Developer’s Guide for Connector for CORBA (U8007A US).

References: Developer’s Guide for Connector for CORBA (U8007A US).

Installation and Configuration Guide for Adapter (U8008A US).

About this document

About this document

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBA iv

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBA1-1

This guide describes the installation and configuration of the iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3 Connector for CORBA. In addition, this document also describes how to apply the Connector in an iBaan OpenWorld integration.

Product overview CORBA Connector can be used in the following two ways (see Figure 1):

Inbound: A CORBA client uses CORBA Connector to access Business Object Interfaces (BOIs) in iBaan ERP.

Outbound: iBaan ERP uses CORBA Connector to access objects in a CORBA server.

iBaan ERP CORBA Connector CORBA client

OW

Adapter

(server)

OW

Adapter

(client)

CO

RB

A O

RB

BusDocs Methodinvokation

CO

RB

A O

RB

iBaan ERP CORBA Connector CORBA server

OW

Adapter

(client)

OW

Adapter

(server)

CO

RB

A O

RB


CO

RB

A O

RB

Outbound

Inbound

Figure 1 Inbound and outbound operation

1 Introduction

Introduction

Installation and Configuration Guide for Connector for CORBA 1-2

In general, you can use CORBA Connector to integrate applications in the following situation: One of the applications can communicate through iBaan OpenWorld Adapter, while the other application can communicate through a CORBA Object Request Broker.

Often, one of the applications in the integration is iBaan ERP. However, CORBA Connector is not restricted to integrations with iBaan ERP. CORBA Connector can be used for any application that communicate through iBaan OpenWorld Adapter.

iBaan OpenWorld Adapter and CORBA use two different types of connections:

iBaan OpenWorld Adapter facilitates communication by sending XML documents, called BusDocs, to BusComponents.

CORBA uses a commercially available Object Request Broker (ORB) to invoke methods on CORBA objects. In iBaan OpenWorld version 2.3, IONA’s OrbixWeb 3.2 and Borland’s VisiBroker 4.5 can be used.

In-proc configuration In Figure 1, you can see that iBaan ERP (or another application) connects with CORBA Connector using Adapter. Usually, to transport Bus Documents over a network, Adapter uses sockets (IP/TCP protocol) or Message-Oriented Middleware. To improve performance, you can configure the CORBA Connector in a way that enables the CORBA Connector to run in the iBaan OpenWorld Adapter process space. This configuration is called the in-proc configuration. In this case, Adapter hands over the Bus Document to the CORBA Connector without passing the Bus Document through the network.

You can perform in-proc configuration for both inbound and outbound connections.

In case of in-proc/inbound connections, CORBA Connector runs in the address space of the server.

In case of in-proc/outbound connections, CORBA Connector runs in the address space of the client.

Introduction


Architecture Figure 2 and Figure 3 illustrate the architecture of an iBaan OpenWorld Adapter – CORBA connection:

iBaan ERP(= server application) CORBA Connector

CORBA clientapplication

BOIimplemen-

tation

OW

Adapter (server)

OW

Adapter (client)

BOI BOIWrapper

COR

BA O

RB


CO

RBA

OR

BCORBA

clientstub

Figure 2 Inbound connection

iBaan ERP CORBA ConnectorCORBA server

application

OW

Adapter (client)

OW

Adapter (server)

Dis-patcher

CORBAclientstub

COR

BA O

RB

BusD ocsMethod

invokation

CO

RB

A O

RB

CORBAserverobject

CORBAwrapper

Figure 3 Outbound connection

Introduction


Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations Term Definition ASM Application Services Manager

ASM is a utility that can start an application automatically upon receipt of a call from another application.

iBaan OpenWorld iBaan OpenWorld is a suite of products that provides the complete integration framework to connect iBaan applications with one another, as well as with any third-party or homegrown application.

BOI Business Object Interface CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture

CORBA specifies an architecture that provides interoperability between objects in heterogeneous, distributed environments, in a way transparent to the programmer. Its design is based on OMG's object model. (Refer to www.omg.org).

DCD Document Content Description A DCD defines the properties for an object or a group of related objects. For example, for a customers object, the DCD defines what its fields are, such as CustomerName, CustomerID, and so on.

IDL Interface Definition Language IDL is a language to specify object interfaces. IDL specifies the externally visible characteristics of objects in a standard and implementation-independent way. In the context of this document, IDL means: CORBA IDL.

IOR Interoperable Object Reference ORB Object Request Broker

A system that passes a client’s requests for method executions on to CORBA object implementations.

POA Portable Object Adapter QCD Query Content Description

A QCD defines how to control the life cycle of the Business Object, for example, obtaining an object from the server database. The QCD defines the mapping between the interface and the underlying real object.

XML eXtensible Markup Language.


To use iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3 Connector for CORBA, the following is required:

iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite version 2.3.

iBaan ERP installation with all the components from Tools version 7.1a installed, if one of the applications in the integration is iBaan ERP.

A supported Object Request Broker (ORB). iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3 supports OrbixWeb 3.2 and VisiBroker 4.5, or a compatible ORB.

A platform supported by iBaan OpenWorld and the ORB that is used. For more information, refer to Installation and Configuration Guide for Adapter (U8008A US).

iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite version 2.3 includes the generic CORBA Connector Java classes and configuration and development tools.

Hardware prerequisites Any platform on which iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3 and a supported ORB can run is suitable to operate the Connector for CORBA.

Software prerequisites Connector for CORBA runs on all platforms on which iBaan OpenWorld Adapter runs, if an ORB is available on the platform. For more information, refer to Installation and Configuration Guide for Adapter (U8008A US).

License keys If you run the Connector for CORBA in the outbound direction, an iBaan OpenWorld server license is required for the Connector for CORBA.

2 Requirements

Requirements



iBaan OpenWorld Adapter must be installed on the run-time platform. For more information, refer to the Installation and Configuration Guide for Adapter.

To install the run-time part of CORBA Connector, take the following steps:

1 Copy the owcorba.jar file from the iBaan OpenWorld Adapter Suite 2.3, Runtime CD. You can find this file in the \ConnectorForCorba\all_platforms\ directory.

2 Add the jar file to the class path.

For best results, copy this jar file to the directory where the other OpenWorld jar files are stored.

In addition to the configuration of Adapter, CORBA Connector requires a unique configuration, which is described in the next chapter.

3 Installation

Installation



Configure CORBA Connector

Configuration files In general, you are not required to install CORBA Connector on the same machine as the client or the server of the integration. However, if you want to run the integration in-proc in the same address space as either the client or the server, CORBA Connector must of course be installed on the same machine as the client or the server.

Both OpenWorld Adapter and the ORB product must be installed and configured on every machine where the CORBA Connector runs.

CORBA Connector must be properly configured in order to operate as expected. The following configuration files are required:

CORBA Connector configuration file: owcorba.cfg. For outbound operation, a dispatcher configuration file james.cfg.

The system searches for both CORBA Connector configuration files, owcorba.cfg and james.cfg, in these locations, and in this order, until one of these configuration files is found:

Current working directory User’s home directory Class path

The configuration file james.cfg is generated during the development phase. You must install this file together with the generated CORBA Connector contents. For information about the development phase, refer to Developer’s Guide for Connector for CORBA (U8007A US).

The other file owcorba.cfg is created manually.

4 Configuration


Configuration data The following is an example of owcorba.cfg. Note that the example does not show every possible ways that address mapping can be specified:

[General] # orb is either OrbixWeb or VisiBroker orb=OrbixWeb # timeout is # of minutes timeout=60 [Packages] com.sun.example.wrappers com.moon.example.wrappers [Inbound] CXY00003|tmtstsimple|two=cn=buscomp1,o=baan.com CXY00003|tmtstcomplex|six=cn=buscomp2,o=baan.com tmtstcomplex|seven=cn=buscomp1,o=baan.com tmtstcomplex=cn=buscomp3,o=baan.com CXY00003|tmtstsimple|one=cn=buscomp4,o=baan.com CXY00003|tmtstsimple=cn=buscomp1,o=baan.com tmtstsimple|one=cn=buscomp2,o=baan.com tmtstsimple=cn=buscomp3,o=baan.com [Outbound] cn=component1,o=baan.com|tmtstsimple=simple:server1|joe.baan.com cn=component1,o=baan.com=server2

Following configuration data is stored in the owcorba.cfg file.

ORB product name. CORBA server timeout. Java package names for the wrapper classes. Inbound address mapping. Outbound address mapping.

ORB product name This configuration item can have two values, either OrbixWeb or VisiBroker. As a result, CORBA Connector uses either OrbixWeb 3.2 or VisiBroker 4.5.


Server timeout This configuration item specifies the CORBA server idle timeout, when OrbixWeb is used. If the server has been idle for at least this number of minutes, the server exits. When the CORBA Connector runs in-proc in the bshell, the bshell also exits.

The timeout has no effect when VisiBroker is used.

This item is optional. If this item is not present, no timeout will apply.

Wrapper packages The CORBA Connector loads wrapper classes dynamically on demand, during inbound and outbound operation. However, CORBA Connector does not have any information in which Java package a wrapper class resides. Therefore, you must specify a list of Java package names. CORBA Connector tries each specified package, and finally no package at all, until the class can be loaded. If CORBA cannot locate any class at all, a runtime exception occurs.

Inbound address mapping The inbound address mapping defines the address translation from the CORBA to the iBaan OpenWorld address space. The inbound address mapping maps CORBA object references to iBaan OpenWorld BusComponents.

The inbound address mapping section in owcorba.cfg can contain any number of lines, each of which looks like the following:

<CORBA object identification>=<OpenWorld buscomponent>

The CORBA object identification can take several forms, such as:

<ior> <server>|<interface>|<marker> <server>|<interface> <interface>|<marker> <interface>

CORBA Connector tries each of these forms in the given order, to find a mapping in the mapping configuration. In this way, a more or less detailed address mapping can be specified.

A call directed to a CORBA object will be forwarded to an OpenWorld buscomponent, according to the specified address translation.


CORBA object identification elements OrbixWeb VisiBroker <ior> Stringified object reference of

the object receiving the request

Stringified object reference of the object receiving the request

<server> Server name POA name <interface> Interface name Interface name <marker> Marker Not used

The buscomponent name is a fully qualified iBaan OpenWorld BusComponent name, such as cn=barneveld,o=baan.com.

Outbound address mapping The outbound address mapping defines the address mapping from the iBaan OpenWorld to the CORBA address space.

The outbound address mapping section in owcorba.cfg can contain any number of lines, each of which looks like the following:

<OpenWorld buscomponent>|<interface>=<CORBA object identification>

Or:

<OpenWorld buscomponent>=<CORBA object identification>

The <CORBA object identification> specifies the information required to connect to a CORBA object.

With OrbixWeb, <CORBA object identification> can be either one of the following:

<ior> <markerserver>|<host> <markerserver>

<markerserver> can be either one of the following:

<marker>:<server> :<server> <server>


With VisiBroker, <CORBA object identification> can be either one of the following:

<ior> <poa> <poa>|<host>

If no host is specified, the local host is used for binding.

Configure the BusComponents General The configuration of the BusComponents is explained in Installation and Configuration Guide for Adapter (U8008A US).

In case of an in-proc operation, the BusComponent must be configured in a special way to have the BusComponent started automatically.

Use the BusComponent Editor utility to configure the BusComponent for an in-proc operation.

In-proc operation (inbound) On the Connection Points tab, specify the following:

The connection point’s URI is: inproc://local/ Select Variable Policy.

On the Activation tab, specify the following:

Select the Activation Service check box. Select INPROC as the activation type. Specify as activation reference: baanerp-owserver . Select either shared or limitedshared as the pooling policy.

As soon as CORBA Connector connects to the BusComponent, when a call is coming in, the BusComponent starts up automatically.


In-proc operation (outbound) On the Connection Points tab, specify the following:

The connection point’s URI is inproc://local/ Select Variable Policy.

On the Activation tab, specify the following:

Select the Activation Service check box. Select INPROC as the activation service type. Specify as activation reference: corba-owserver. Select either shared or limitedshared as the pooling policy.

The BusComponent is automatically activated as soon as the BusComponent is connected.


Introduction In addition to the configuration information required by the iBaan OpenWorld Adapter, the CORBA Connector requires the following:

CORBA Connector configuration information stored in the owcorba.cfg configuration file, as described in Chapter 4, “Configuration.”

The Dispatcher Configuration file james.cfg for outbound interfaces.

Java classes containing the generated connector contents.

For information on how to generate connector contents and the james.cfg file, refer to the Developer’s Guide for Connector for CORBA (U8007A US).

Out-proc or in-proc

The CORBA Connector can run either as a separate process (out-proc), or in the iBaan OpenWorld client or server process space (in-proc).

Inbound or outbound CORBA Connector can run inbound or outbound.

With inbound-directed calls, the CORBA Connector runs as a CORBA-to-iBaan-OpenWorld connector. iBaan ERP is the iBaan OpenWorld server.

With outbound-directed calls, the CORBA Connector runs as an iBaan-OpenWorld-to-CORBA connector. iBaan ERP is the iBaan OpenWorld client.

As mentioned previously, the use of the CORBA Connector is not limited to iBaan ERP as client or server. The connector can serve to connect any CORBA and iBaan OpenWorld application, as long as the IDL adheres to the restrictions described in the Developer’s Guide for Connector for CORBA (U8007A US).

The procedure for each of these cases is described in the following sections. The commands shown later are the commands used on Windows using the Microsoft Java VM. If you use a different VM, and on UNIX platforms, you use the java command instead of the jview command.

5 To use the CORBA Connector


To run the CORBA Connector out-proc

Inbound

OrbixWeb

To start CORBA Connector running inbound using OrbixWeb, use the following command on a single line:

jview /cp:a C:\iona\lib\OrbixWeb.jar;tmcgwexample.jarcom.baan.owimpl.b3.corbaconnector.InboundCorbaServerCorbaServer=<server-name>

You must adapt the command to the particular configuration. Both OrbixWeb.jar and tmcgwexample.jar are appended to the class path. The tmcgwexample.jar file contains the generated contents classes. The iBaan OpenWorld runtime environment is assumed to have been set up properly before you start the CORBA Connector. For more information, refer to Installation and Configuration Guide for Adapter (U8008A US).

If a server-timeout value has been configured, the connector will shut down after the specified number of minutes idle time. Specifying no timeout means that the server will not shut down automatically. In that case, to stop the server you must stop the process, or end the task in Windows. For information about how to stop processes, refer to your operating system’s documentation.

The connector runs as a CORBA server, which will register itself with the name <server-name>. Each call is passed on to an iBaan OpenWorld Bus Component, as specified in the inbound address mapping.

In this example, the connector supports the tmcgwexample interface, because the code generated for this interface is in the class path. A connector can support any number of interfaces as long as the classes generated for the interfaces are in the classpath.

More than one inbound connector can run simultaneously. Each inbound connector must, of course, register with a unique server name. Another option is to run connectors distributed across several machines.


VisiBroker

The use of VisiBroker is similar to the use of OrbixWeb, which is described previously. The differences are the following:

Instead of OrbixWeb.jar, vbjorb.jar must be in the class path.

The argument CorbaServer=<server-name> does not specify a server name, but a POA name, which can be freely chosen.

The timeout has no effect.

Outbound

OrbixWeb

To start CORBA Connector running outbound using OrbixWeb, use the following command on a single line:

jview /cp:a C:\iona\lib\OrbixWeb.jar;tmcgwexample.jarcom.baan.owimpl.b3.corbaconnector.DispatcherBusComponent=“cn=cgw_cnl07728,o=baan.com”

Now, the connector acts as an iBaan OpenWorld server and listens to the BusComponent that is specified on the command line. Each call is forwarded to a CORBA object, as specified in the outbound address mapping.

Several outbound connectors can also run in parallel, each running different BusComponents.

In this case also, the connector can support any number of interfaces, and any number of outbound connectors can be running, as long as each connector serves a different BusComponents.

As mentioned previously, in the outbound situation, a james.cfg configuration file is required.

To run the CORBA Connector in-proc Running in-proc indicates that the connector runs in the same address space as the iBaan OpenWorld application (client or server).

Copy the jar files containing the generated connector contents classes to the target system, and add them to the class path.

The ORB jar files and the generated contents classes must be in the BSE class path.


Inbound The incoming calls are forwarded to the BusComponent that is specified in the inbound address mapping. Make sure that this BusComponent is configured for inbound in-proc operation, as described in Chapter 4, “Configuration.” In the inbound mapping, you can also specify that calls must be directed to different BusComponents. In that case, each of these BusComponents must have been configured for inbound in-proc operation.

Run the iBaan OpenWorld-enabled bshell from the command line with arguments: server otmboacorbagate -cargs CorbaServer=mycorbaserver

C:\Baan\bin\bshell6.2 –set BSE_CLASSPATH=C:\iona\lib\OrbixWeb.jar;tmcgwexample.jar –server otmboacorbagate –cargs CorbaServer=mycorbaserver

Run the bshell from the command line, or have the Orbix daemon start the bshell automatically.

If a timeout value has been configured, as soon as the timeout expires, the bshell will shut down.

As soon as the connector connects to the BusComponent (when a call is coming in) the BusComponent is started up automatically.

Outbound Usually, an iBaan OpenWorld client connects to a remote BusComponent when the client wants to send requests (method calls) to a server. In the in-proc situation, the BusComponent is local, and runs in the same address space as the client.

Make sure that the BusComponent is configured for outbound in-proc operation, as described in Chapter 4, “Configuration.”

The BusComponent is automatically activated as soon as the BusComponent is connected to.

EXAMPLE


Check whether the iBaan OpenWorld and CORBA environments work separately by writing and running some sample programs.

Switch iBaan OpenWorld Adapter logging on and check the details of the log file for more information. Most detailed information is logged if you specify full logging.

Check the class path.

Check the location of the directory service as specified in the iBaan OpenWorld configuration. This is the place where BusComponents are configured.

In case of unexpected bshell or JVM crashes or run-time errors, turn off the Java VM’s JIT compiler.

To turn off the Java VM’s JIT compiler:

On a Sun system with the Solaris operating system, set an environment variable JAVA_COMPILER=NONE, or use a java command-line switch.

On HP-UX set an environment variable JAVA_JIT=0 when running in-proc in the bshell; otherwise, use a java command-line switch to turn off JIT.

For details, and for other platforms, refer to the respective JVM’s documentation.

Configuration Verify in the OpenWorld log file whether the iBaan OpenWorld could locate the configuration files. If not, the iBaan ERP shows which directories have been searched.

Address translation When address translation fails, check the OpenWorld log file. The log file shows which mappings OpenWorld tries to resolve. At least one of those mappings must be present in the owcorba.cfg configuration file.

6 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting
