Administration guide > Configure the deployment environment > Configuring Object Request Brokers

Configure a custom Object Request Broker

WebSphere eXtreme Scale uses the Object Request Broker (ORB) to enable communication among processes. No action is required to use the Object Request Broker (ORB) provided by WebSphere eXtreme Scale or WebSphere Application Server for the WebSphere eXtreme Scale servers. Little effort is required to use the same ORBs for the WebSphere eXtreme Scale clients. If instead use a "custom" ORB, the ORB supplied with the IBM SDK is a good choice, although we will need to perform some configuration, as described here. ORBs from other vendors can be used, also with configuration.

Before you begin

Decide whether we will use the ORB provided with WebSphere eXtreme Scale or WebSphere Application Server, the ORB provided with the IBM SDK, or a third party ORB.

Figure 1. Choosing an ORB

You can make separate decisions for the WebSphere eXtreme Scale server processes and WebSphere eXtreme Scale client processes. While eXtreme Scale supports developer kits from most vendors, it is recommended you use the ORB that is supplied with eXtreme Scale for both the server and client processes. eXtreme Scale does not support the ORB that is supplied with Sun Microsystems Java™ Development Kit (JDK).

Become familiar with the configuration that is required to use the ORB of the choice.

Case 1: Default ORB

• For the WebSphere eXtreme Scale server processes, no configuration is required to use the ORB provided with WebSphere eXtreme Scale or WebSphere Application Server.

• For the WebSphere eXtreme Scale client processes, minimal classpath configuration is required to use the ORB provided with WebSphere eXtreme Scale or WebSphere Application Server.

Case 2: Custom ORB (IBM)

To configure the WebSphere eXtreme Scale client processes to use the ORB provided with the IBM SDK, see the instructions later in this topic. Use the IBM ORB whether you are using the IBM SDK or another development kit.

Use IBM SDK v5 (or later) requires less configuration effort than does IBM SDK v1.4.2.

Case 3: Custom ORB (Third party vendor)

Use a third party ORB for the WebSphere eXtreme Scale client processes is the least tested option. Any problems that you encounter when you use ORBs from independent software vendors must be reproducible with the IBM ORB and compatible JRE before you contact support.

The ORB supplied with the Sun Microsystems Java Development Kit (JDK) is not supported.

Procedure

• Configure the client processes to use one of the default ORBs (Case 1). Use the following JVM argument :

  -jvmArgs –Djava.endorsed.dirs=default_ORB_directory${pathSeparator}JRE_HOME/lib/endorsed
  

  The default ORB directory is : wxs_home/lib/endorsed. You also might need to edit the following properties in the orb.properties file:

  org.omg.CORBA.ORBClass=com.ibm.CORBA.iiop.ORB
  org.omg.CORBA.ORBSingletonClass=com.ibm.rmi.corba.ORBSingleton
  

• Configure client or server processes to use IBM SDK, v5 (Case 2).

  1. Copy the ORB JAR files into an empty directory, hereafter referred to as the custom_ORB_directory.

     • ibmorb.jar

     • ibmorbapi.jar

     Tip: If using a custom ORB from a third party vendor (Case 3), these additional JAR files might be required:

     • ibmext.jar

     • ibmcfw.jar, if using the NIO ORB

  2. Specify the custom_ORB_directory as an endorsed directory in the scripts that start the Java command.

     Tip: If your Java commands already refer to an endorsed directory, another option is to place the custom_ORB_directory under the existing endorsed directory – then you would not need to update the scripts. If you decide to update the scripts anyway, be sure to prepend the custom_ORB_directory to the existing –Djava.endorsed.dirs= argument, rather than completely replacing the existing argument.

     • Update scripts for a stand-alone eXtreme Scale environment.

       Edit the path for the OBJECTGRID_ENDORSED_DIRS variable in the setupCmdLine.bat|sh file to refer to the custom_ORB_directory. Save the changes.

     • Update scripts when eXtreme Scale is embedded in a WebSphere Application Server environment.

       Add the following system property and parameters to the startOgServer script:

       -jvmArgs –Djava.endorsed.dirs=custom_ORB_directory
       

     • Update custom scripts that you use to start a client application process or a server process.

       -Djava.endorsed.dirs=custom_ORB_directory
       

• Configure client or server processes to use IBM SDK, v1.4.2 (Case 2). If the environment contains a v1.4.2 SDK, integrate the IBM ORB into the specified SDK.

  1. Download and extract the ORB from an IBM SDK, v1.4.2.

     If no IBM SDK is available for the platform, download and extract the IBM Developer Kit for Linux, Java Technology Edition. See IBM developer kits.

  2. Copy the ORB JAR files to the target SDK. Copy the java/jre/lib/ibmorb.jar and java/jre/lib/ibmorbapi.jar files to the java/jre/lib/ext directory on the target SDK.

  3. Update the ORB properties. Create or edit the orb.properties file, which is in the java/jre/lib directory of the SDK. Add the following properties or verify that the following properties exist in the file:

     org.omg.CORBA.ORBClass=com.ibm.CORBA.iiop.ORB
     org.omg.CORBA.ORBSingletonClass=com.ibm.rmi.corba.ORBSingleton
     

     For descriptions of the properties and settings, see ORB properties file.

  4. Ensure the XML parser is available.

     • Download Xerces2 Java 2.9 from The Apache Xerces Project - Downloads.

     • Locate the xercesImpl.jar and xml-apis.jar files.

     • Copy the files to the lib/ext directory.

Parent topic:

Configure Object Request Brokers

Related concepts

ORB properties and file descriptor settings

Related tasks

Enable NIO or ChannelFramework on the ORB

Use the Object Request Broker with stand-alone WebSphere eXtreme Scale processes

Related reference

ORB properties file

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