Listener for XML/SOAP

The EntireX Listener for XML/SOAP runs in a servlet-enabled Web server with an installation of the Software AG Web Services Stack. It plugs the Web service's archives (Designer file with extension .aar) into Web servers. Typically the Web service clients access the Listener for XML/SOAP and send/receive XML/SOAP documents using HTTP/HTTPS.

This document covers the following topics:

See also Web Services Stack documentation in the Software AG Infrastructure Administrator's Guide, also available under http://documentation.softwareag.com > Guides for Tools Shared by Software AG Products.


Configuring Web Services

Configuring inside a Web Service Archive

Individual settings for Web services or groups of Web services are contained in the services.xml file that is part of a Web service archive (Designer file with extension .aar). Those settings originate from the Web Services Wrapper (default settings from generation) or from the Web Services Stack Configuration Editor (customized settings).

Using an External Configuration File

With an external configuration file you can override settings of the Web service's archive (Designer file with extension .aar) without modifying the Web service archive itself. This means you can use the same Web service archive in different Web server environments.

Start of instruction setTo use an external configuration file

  1. Define a name and a location for the external configuration file.

    In the parameter section of file axis2.xml, define a parameter "EntireX-XML-Listener" within a parameter "services". For the attribute "location" in parameter "services", specify an absolute or relative path to the external configuration file. File axis2.xml can be found in the conf directory or folder of the Web Services Stack Web application.

    <parameter name="EntireX-XML-Listener">
       <parameter name="services" location="<path for file
                       overwriting settings of EntireX services>" />
    </parameter>

    Notes:

    1. The path separator is a slash.
    2. If you are using the Software AG Web Server based on Apache Tomcat, the location of axis2.xml is defined in configuration file config.ini, which is located in <SuiteInstallDir>/profiles/CTP/configuration by default. The default location of axis2.xml is <SuiteInstallDir>/profiles/CTP/workspace/wsstack/repository/conf. See also Configuration > Web Services Stack Runtime > Runtime Configuration in the Web Services Stack documentation in the Software AG Infrastructure Administrator's Guide, also available under http://documentation.softwareag.com > Guides for Tools Shared by Software AG Products.
    3. The value of the location can contain operating system variables.
  2. Define services in the external configuration file.

    External configuration files are XML documents with a root element "serviceGroup". A service group is defined as a sequence of one or more services.

    To identify the service you are defining, specify an identifier for the attribute "name", for instance <service name= "service100">.

    To make common settings, that is, settings for all services, use an asterisk as identifier (<service name= "*">. Note that an individual setting can override a common setting.

    EntireX web service parameters that can be set are defined as subelements of "service". See the table below.

    Parameter Description More Information
    <exx-brokerID> The broker ID to use.  
    <exx-service> The service name is the triplet of server class/server name/service.  
    <exx-userID> The user ID for access to the broker. Using the Broker and RPC User ID/Password
    <exx-password> The password for secured access to the broker.
    <exx-password-encryption> Specifies how the password is encrypted in the configuration file. Encryption is performed automatically when the configuration file is read for the first time. Possible values: base64 | plain.  
    <exx-use-security> Deprecated. An internal automatic routine makes this parameter obsolete. Possible values: true | false.  
    <exx-rpc-userID> The RPC user ID sent to the RPC server. Using the Broker and RPC User ID/Password
    <exx-rpc-password> The RPC password sent to the RPC server.
    <exx-natural-security> Enable to send the RPC user ID/password pair. Possible values: true | false
    <exx-natural-library> By default the library name sent to the RPC server is retrieved from the IDL file (see library-definition under Software AG IDL Grammar in the IDL Editor documentation). The library name can be overwritten. This is useful if communicating with a Natural RPC server.  

    Example

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <serviceGroup> 
      <service name="*"> 
        <exx-use-security>true</exx-use-security>
      </service> 
      <service name="AService"> 
        <exx-brokerID>myhost:1977</exx-brokerID>
        <exx-service>RPC/ASERVICE/CALLNAT</exx-service>
        <exx-userID>test</exx-userID>
      </service> 
    </serviceGroup>
    

Using the Broker and RPC User ID/Password

EntireX supports two user ID/password pairs: a broker user ID/password pair and an (optional) RPC user ID/password pair sent from RPC clients to RPC servers. With EntireX Security, the broker user ID/password pair can be checked for authentication and authorization.

The RPC user ID/password pair is designed to be used by the receiving RPC server. This component's configuration determines whether the pair is considered or not. Useful scenarios are:

  • Credentials for Natural Security

  • Impersonation under z/OS (CICS, Batch, IMS)

  • Web Service Transport Security with the RPC Server for XML/SOAP, see XML Mapping Files

  • Service execution with client credentials for EntireX Adapter Listeners, see Configuring Listeners

  • etc.

Sending the RPC user ID/password pair needs to be explicitly enabled by the RPC client. If it is enabled but no RPC user ID/password pair is provided, the broker user ID/password pair is inherited to the RPC user ID/password pair.

With the parameter <exx-natural-security> (see Using an External Configuration File) sending the RPC user ID/password pair is enabled for the RPC Server for XML/SOAP. If you do so, we strongly recommend using SSL/TLS. See SSL/TLS, HTTP(S), and Certificates with EntireX.

Start of instruction setTo use the broker and RPC user ID/password

  1. Specify a broker user ID with parameter <exx-userID>.

  2. Optional. Specify broker password with parameter <exx-password>.

  3. Enable to send the RPC user ID/password pair with parameter <exx-use-natural-security> set to true.

  4. If different user IDs and/or passwords are used for broker and RPC, use the parameters <exx-rpc-userID> and <exx-rpc-password> to provide a different RPC user ID/password pair.

  5. By default the library name sent to the RPC server is retrieved from the IDL file (see library-definition under Software AG IDL Grammar in the IDL Editor documentation). The library name can be overwritten. This is useful if communicating with a Natural RPC server. Specify a library in parameter <exx-natural-library>.

If you need to log on to a Natural library without setting security credentials, refer to Logon to Natural Library.

Logon to Natural Library

By default the library name sent to the RPC server is retrieved from the IDL file (see library-definition under Software AG IDL Grammar in the IDL Editor documentation). The library name can be overwritten. This is useful if communicating with a Natural RPC server.

Start of instruction setTo overwrite the library name

  1. Specify the library in the parameter <exx-natural-library>.

  2. Set the parameter <exx-natural-security> to "true".

If you need to set security credentials, see Using the Broker and RPC User ID/Password.

Installing Web Services Stack in a Web Server

Deploying Web Services Stack Runtime to Tomcat

If you want to deploy Web Services Stack Web application and EntireX XML runtime to your own Apache Tomcat installation, perform the following steps:

Start of instruction setTo deploy to your own Apache Tomcat installation

  1. Stop Apache Tomcat.

  2. Make sure that the attribute unpackWars is set to "true" in the server.xml of your Apache Tomcat installation.

  3. Copy wsstack.war to the webapps directory of your Apache Tomcat installation.

  4. Start Apache Tomcat. The content of wsstack.war will be expanded into a directory wsstack under the webapps directory of the Apache Tomcat installation.

  5. Stop Apache Tomcat.

  6. Copy entirex.jar from the classes directory of your EntireX installation to the WEB-INF/lib directory of the expanded Web Services Stack Web application.

  7. Start Apache Tomcat.

Now you can deploy generated EntireX Web services (.aar) from the Designer.

Using Internationalization with the Listener for XML/SOAP

RPC Call (Broker Request)

The encoding for the RPC call (broker request) depends on the setting of following parameters in the given order:

  1. HTTP header/parameter exx-use-codepage travelling with the XML document incoming to the Listener for XML/SOAP. Valid values:

    true The encoding is retrieved from the incoming XML document.
    false The encoding of Java system property file.encoding.
    <character encoding> the given character encoding is used.

    See also The HTTP Interface in the XML/SOAP Wrapper documentation.

  2. Parameter Use Codepage, see Generating a Web Service, Step 4, check Set connection and security parameters in mapping file.

  3. Parameter Use Codepage, see EntireX Settings Page under Web Services Stack Configuration Editor.

Which encodings are valid depends on the version of your JVM. For a list of valid encodings, see Supported Encodings in your Java documentation. The codepage derived after the broker's locale string mapping process must be the same as the one used to encode the data and it must be supported by the broker. See Locale String Mapping.

Enable character conversion in the broker by setting the service-specific attribute CONVERSION to "SAGTRPC". See also Configuring ICU Conversion under z/OS | UNIX | Windows | BS2000. More information can be found under Internationalization with EntireX.

Outgoing XML Document (Response)

By default, the incoming XML encoding is used for the outgoing XML document (response). This can be disabled and an encoding defined in the XML mapping file is used. See Defining the XML Encoding in the XML Mapping Editor documentation.