Direct RPC is a component that enables RPC clients and RPC servers to connect directly to the EntireX Adapter without the EntireX Broker. This document covers the following topics:
To enable Direct RPC, choose in the EntireX Adapter's administration menu and follow the wizard. The table below gives an overview of parameters to be specified:
| Name | Values | Default | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status | "Stopped", "Running" | "Stopped" | Start or stop. | Current status of the Direct RPC component. |
| Logging Level | "Fatal", "Error", "Warning", "Info", "Debug", "Trace" | "Fatal" | Change logging level. | Logging level. See Notes. |
| TCP Port Number | Port number | "1971" | Change port number. | TCP listening port for Direct RPC. |
| SSL Port Number | Port number | - | Change port number. | SSL (or TLS) listening port for Direct RPC. |
| Keystore Alias (for SSL) | The alias name of a keystore defined in the Integration Server. | - | Change alias name. | Only needed for SSL. Defined in the IS web admin "Security > Keystore". |
| Auto Start | Enabled, Disabled | "Disabled" | Enable or disable. | Automatic start of Direct RPC during startup of the Adapter. |
Possible logging levels:
| Fatal | Fatal errors, Direct RPC cannot work correctly. |
|---|---|
| Error | Severe errors, Direct RPC continues to work correctly. |
| Warning | Errors with low severity. |
| Info | To follow the flow of requests between RPC clients, servers and Direct RPC. |
| Debug | All communication buffers will be written to the log file. |
| Trace | Internal use only (Software AG support). |
wmentirex.directrpcYYYYMMDD.log is located in folder logs in the Integration Server installation folder. To change the default location, see Adapter Settings.
It is not recommended to use "Info" , "Debug" or "Trace" in a production.
The default encoding of an RPC client or server is the same as the default encoding of the platform used. The table below gives an overview on default and available codepages:
| Platform | Default Codepage | Available Codepages (single byte only) |
|---|---|---|
| Windows/UNIX/Linux | ISO 8859-1 | ASCII codepages |
| IBM mainframe (z/OS, z/VSE) | CP037 | EBCDIC codepages |
| Fujitsu mainframe (BS2000/OSD) | CP273 | EBCDIC codepages |
To specify the encoding of an RPC client or server, see webMethods EntireX documentation.
The following table gives an overview on monitored objects:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Servers | Number of registered servers. |
| RPC Requests | Number of RPC requests. |
| Socket Connections | Number of plain socket connections (TCP) from RPC clients or servers. |
| Secure Socket Connections | Number of secure socket connections (SSL or TLS) from RPC clients or servers. |
| Direct Connections | Number of direct connections from Adapter services or Adapter Listeners. |
| Calls | Number of calls (including calls such as
logon).
|
| Conversations | Number of conversational calls. |
Notes:
Direct
Connections can be greater than zero even if Direct RPC is
stopped.
The following information is displayed for each service:
| Name | The name of the service |
|---|---|
| Type | "External RPC Server" or "Direct RPC Server". |
| Instances | Number of registered replicates. |
| Wait for Server | Number of client requests that are waiting for a free server to be processed. The percentage (number of calls waiting compared to the total number of calls) is helpful in deciding if further server replicates are necessary. |
| Action | Shutdown (only for external RPC servers). |
Note:
As a prerequisite, at least one server must be registered or listener
enabled.
The following information is displayed for each service:
| Service Name | The name of the service |
|---|---|
| Type | "Listener" or "RPC Server". |
| Name | Name of the Direct Listener or the external RPC server. |
| Host | Host where the external RPC Server is running. |
| Version | Version of the external RPC server. |
| Action | Shutdown (only for external RPC Servers). |
Note:Host, Name and Version can
only be displayed if the RPC server provides this information.
The functionality of Direct RPC as shown on the IS Administration Console's page is available with built-in services in the WmEntireX package. They correspond to the parameters on the IS Administration Console's page. When a service is executed, the signature of the input and output parameters is shown. The following services are available:
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getAutoStart
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getIbmMainframeDefaultCharset
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getKeyStoreAlias
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getLoggingLevel
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getSSLPortNumber
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getSiemensMainframeDefaultCharset
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getStatus
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getTCPPortNumber
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getWindowsUnixDefaultCharset
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setAutoStart
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setIbmMainframeDefaultCharset
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setKeyStoreAlias
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setLoggingLevel
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setSSLPortNumber
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setSiemensMainframeDefaultCharset
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setTCPPortNumber
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setWindowsUnixDefaultCharset
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:start
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:stop
In addition, there are 4 services for advanced configuration of the SSL transport:
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getSSLClientAuthentication
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:getTrustStoreAlias
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setSSLClientAuthentication
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setTrustStoreAlias
Note:
Use the setSSLClientAuthentication service to switch on
SSL client authentication. Client authentication requires that a truststore
alias has been set with
pub.wmentirex.directrpc.admin:setTrustStoreAlias. The truststore
alias is defined in the IS web admin Security >
Keystore. Note that the names of the keystore alias and
the truststore alias must be different.
An external RPC client cannot connect to an external RPC
server.
It is only possible that an adapter service connects to an external
RPC server, or an external RPC client connects to an adapter listener.
Exceptions to the rule above are some components of the EntireX Workbench: the IDL Tester, the IDL Extractor for COBOL, the IDL Extractor for Natural and the Natural Wrapper. This requires the latest version of the EntireX Workbench, and only single-byte encodings can be used.
Reliable RPC is not supported.
Command and Information Services (CIS) are not supported. Using this API (directly or through the System Management Hub) can result in errors, or the data returned is incomplete or missing.
An adapter listener and an external RPC server cannot be registered for the same service.
Replicates of external RPC servers must use the same encoding.
EntireX Security is not supported.
ACI applications are not supported. For Natural RPC clients or
servers, Broker ACI is only supported for versions higher than 1. See the
documentation on the ACIVERS parameter in Parameter
Reference in the latest Natural for Mainframe
documentation under
https://empower.softwareag.com/Products/Documentation/default.asp.