9i report services need info. on CGI and RWSERVLET

Question

We are trying to use the reports 9i against forms 6i. I need to info. on how we can differentiate the two types of service(whether it is CGI or rwservlet).
Setup1:
1. Run rwserver -install server=TESTCGI
2. This creates the service and the testcgi.conf file
3. Make the compatibility to 6i in rwservlet.properties
4. In tnsnames specify the host=host1 port=1949
(Is this that all that I need to CGI?)
Setup2:
1. Run rwserver -install server=TESTSERVLET
2. This creates the service and the testservlet.conf file
3. Make the service manual so that it doesn't startup on its own.
4. Make the compatibility to 6i in rwservlet.properties
5. Also specify server_name=TESTSERVLET
6. Now start the service by typing http://host:8888/reports/rwservlet
(This sometimes start the service(I can see an icon) and is this the CGI service that is started by the servlet??. Sometimes it can't start the service giving port binding error. If I start the service TESTSERVLET by going to the services window and type the url http://host:8888/reports/rwservlet/showenv works fine.
I don't get any port bind error.
7. Is this case also do I need a tnsnames entry? If so what should be the port?
8. Is servlet internally calls CGI and is this how it works?
9. Why is that it can't start the service automatically when started using servlet sometimes?
I am little confused about both the architecture..Any help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

See comments in line:
1. Is report server and the listener(the one usually on
port 1949) are different processes altogether?9i Reports Server will start up a proxy server in a separate process, if
<compatible version="6i"/>
is set in server config file <server_name>.conf. The proxy server, which is running in a different process, will listen on the port.
2. If I issue the command, rwserver server=TESTSERVER(I
have no tnsnames entry for this server at this moment
in the tnsnames.ora file in the 9iR2 home) does it
start the report server alone? or the report server and
the listener process? rwserver server=TESTSERVER will start 9i TESTSERVER, but only start the proxy server if <compatible version="6i"/> is set. In the case that <compatible version="6i"/> is set, but no tnsnames entry for this server, the proxy will not be able to start, because it does not no which port to listen to.
3. If the above command starts the listener process by
itself which port does it use? (We had the option to
specify the port in previous releases, but not anymore
I guess. It used to be something like <executable>
port=<portno> in previous releases)Again, the port is defined in tnsnames.ora.
4. I assumed that specifying the entry for the report
server in the tnsnames.ora before starting the server
would start the listener process in the appropriate
port.
a. I made an entry in tnsnames.ora as SUPPORTSERVER
port=1949.
b. I ran the command rwserver server=SUPPORTSERVER
c. Did a netstat -a on the machine. Didn't see any
process listening on port 1949.
So my question is how do we specify the listening port?
where do we specify the listening port? If in
tnsnames.ora why I didn't see any listener process on
1949?Specifying the port in tnsnames.ora itself will not start the proxy server, you will need to uncomment <compatible version="6i"/> in $OH/reports/conf/<server_name>.conf. So make sure this and port number are both set correctly.
5. How do I determine what client Iam using? Is it like
below:
a. If I use only the following url
http://<web_server>.<domain_name>:<port>/<alias>/rwservlet?<parameters>
am I making use of servlet/oc4j? Does this mean servlet
has to be used only as a url?Yes, you are running report using Reports servelt. A servlet in its nature needs to be invoked in a web environment.
b. If I use the following url
http://<web_server>.<domain_name>:<port>/<alias>/rwcgi.exe?<parameters>
am I making use of cgi? Does this mean the cgi has to
be used only as a url?Yes, you are running report using CGI. A cgi program in its nature needs to be invoked in a web environment.
However, you don't have to run them from url. You can have your own program call Reports servlet/cgi, then return the result.
c. If for RUN_REPORT_OBJECT it uses ZRC, am I not using
servlet/oc4j? Since the document says, the servlet is
more stable than CGI, I want to use the servlet/oc4j.
Does this mean I should use only the above url and not
the RUN_REPORT_OBJECT?RUN_REPORT_OBJECT will not go through servlet. You can use show_document call to send request to servlet.
Hope this helps,
-Jeff