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icebox

README.md

This demo shows a very simple IceGrid deployment, with a single IceBox server hosting a number of IceBox services.

The demo also demonstrates how to use an environment variable in a server descriptor.

In application.xml, <env>LANG=en</env> defines an environment variable named "LANG" with value "en". The Hello object implementation HelloI reads the value of "LANG" and shows the message in the corresponding language; you can try to update the value to fr, de, es or it.

Setup

Start the IceGrid registry and node:

$ icegridnode --Ice.Config=config.grid

Note that for debug Windows builds you will need to use icegridnoded rather than icegridnode as the executable name.

Deploy the HelloSimpsons application (in file application.xml) with the IceGrid Admin graphical tool. If you prefer to use the command- line utility, use:

$ icegridadmin --Ice.Config=config.grid -e "application add application.xml"

Using the IceGrid Admin GUI

We suggest using the graphical IceGrid Admin tool with this demo. Follow these steps to log into the IceGrid registry and view the application you deployed above:

  • Launch the application. Windows users can use the IceGrid Admin icon from the Start menu, OS X users can use the IceGrid Admin icon from the Finder Applications folder, and users with a Linux RPM installation can use the icegridgui script to start the program:
    $ icegridgui

On other platforms, start it from a command window as follows:

    $ java -jar icegridgui.jar

The location of the JAR file varies by platform; for a Linux RPM
installation, the file resides in `/usr/share/java`. On other
platforms it can be found in `<Ice installation directory>/lib`.

  • Select Login... from the File menu.

  • In the "Saved Connections" dialog, click "New Connection" to open the "New Connection" wizard.

  • Select "Direct Connection" and click Next.

  • Enter "DemoIceGrid" for the IceGrid instance name and click next.

  • In "Endpoint Configuration", select "A hostname and port number?" and click Next.

  • Enter "localhost" for the Hostname. You can leave the port empty as the demo uses the default port. Click Next.

  • Enter any username and password combination and click Finish to log in.

  • Next time you want to connect, the connection will appear in the "Saved Connections" dialog, just select it and click Connect.

Adjusting the name of the IceBox executable

The name of the IceBox executable in application.xml is simply "icebox". If you compiled this demo in debug mode on Windows, or in a non-default mode on Linux, you need to modify your deployment so that IceGrid executes the desired version of the IceBox server instead of this default version.

The steps below assume you have already deployed the application using the instructions provided in the "Setup" section.

We recommend using the IceGrid Admin GUI to make this change. Follow the instructions in "Using the IceGrid Admin GUI" to start the application and log into the registry.

  • In the Live Deployment tab, open "node1", right-click on "IceBox", and select "Open Definition".

  • In the "Server Properties" pane, scroll down to the field "Path to Executable" and change it to the desired name:

    • "iceboxd" for a Windows debug build.
    • "icebox++11" for a Linux C++11 build.
    • "icebox32" for a Linux 32-bit build.
    • "icebox32++11" for a Linux 32-bit C++11 build.

  • Apply your changes, then redeploy the application by selecting "Save to Registry" from the File menu.

If you prefer to use the command-line tool instead, open the file application.xml in this directory, search for the text icebox, and change exe="icebox" to exe="<desired icebox name>". Then redeploy the application using the following command:

$ icegridadmin --Ice.Config=config.grid -e "application update application.xml"

Running the Client

In a command window, start the client as shown below:

  client

The client simply calls 'sayHello' on the replicated 'hello' object.

Stopping and restarting IceBox services

You can use the IceGrid Admin GUI or the command-line utility to stop and restart IceBox services. The commands below show how to manipulate the 'Lisa' service:

$ icegridadmin --Ice.Config=config.grid
>>> service stop IceBox Lisa
>>> service start IceBox Lisa

Administration through Glacier2

This demo also includes the configuration for a Glacier2 router (DemoGlacier2), to show how you could administer IceGrid from "the other side" of a firewall. (In this demo, however, all the components run on the same system.)

Follow these steps:

  • Connect to the IceGrid registry with icegridadmin or the IceGrid Admin graphical utility

  • Start the DemoGlacier2 server

  • Reconnect to the IceGrid registry, this time using a Glacier2 session. For example, using the command-line utility you must supply a proxy for the router:

   $ icegridadmin --Ice.Default.Router="DemoGlacier2/router:tcp -h localhost -p 4063"

In the IceGrid Admin GUI, use the Routed tab of the Login dialog. Change the Glacier2 instance name to "DemoGlacier2" and the endpoints to tcp -h localhost -p 4063.

DemoGlacier2 is configured to use a built-in permissions verifier that does not validate passwords, so you can log in using any username/password combination.