Instantiating an RMI Connector Server

The RMI connector server is an MBean, so we instantiate its class and register it in the MBean server. This operation could also be performed remotely, for example if a management application wants to access an agent through an alternative protocol.

Example 10–1 Instantiating the RMI Connector Server

// Instantiate an RMI connector server with default port
//
CommunicatorServer rmiConnector = new RmiConnectorServer();

try {
    // We let the RMI connector server provides its default name
    ObjectName rmiConnectorName = null;
    ObjectInstance rmiConnectorInstance =
        myMBeanServer.registerMBean( rmiConnector, rmiConnectorName );

} catch(Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Other constructors for the RmiConnectorServer class have parameters for specifying the port and the RMI service name that the connector server will use. The default constructor assigns port 1099 and name=RmiConnectorServer, as given by the static variables RMI_CONNECTOR_PORT and RMI_CONNECTOR_SERVER, respectively, of the ServiceName class. Both attributes can also be accessed through the getter and setter methods of the RmiConnectorServer class.

Each connector uses different parameters that are specific to its protocol. For example, the HTTP connector does not need a service name. The default values for all parameters are given by the static variables of the ServiceName class.

Registering a connector server as an MBean implies that its MBean server will handle the remote requests that it receives. However, you can specify a different object for fulfilling management requests through the setMBeanServer method that the RmiConnectorServer class inherits from the CommunicatorServer class. For security reasons, this method is not exposed in the RMI connector server MBean, so it must be called from the agent application.

Registering the connector server as an MBean is optional. For example, you might not want it exposed for management. In this case, you must use the setMBeanServer method to specify an object that implements the MBeanServer interface so that it can fulfill management requests.

A user can select a local server interface for an RMI connector server using the RMI property java.rmi.server.hostname.