Connect caught listing registry?

Question

I ctrl-c'd my running RMI server and, as expected, cannot create a new registry on this port.
However, I created a small test app to attempt to 're-attach' to the registry:
try {
     /* does one already exist? */
serverRegistry = LocateRegistry.getRegistry("localhost");
System.out.println ("\n\nReturn from locateReg = " + serverRegistry + " \n\n");
try {
/* show names bound in registry */
     serverRegistry.list();
LocateRegistry succeeds in returning a Registry object.
However, serverRegistry.list() throws the following exception:
Exception java.rmi.ConnectException: Connection refused to host: localhost; nested exception is:
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect caught listing registry
I've probably oversimplified what needs to be done to regain access to the server, but does anyone know what's going on here?

Answer 1

LocateRegistry.getRegistry() merely gives you a client stub to the registry. Because the registry uses a well-known remote ID, this call will always succeed and by itself does not guarantee that the registry is up and running. You need to execute an actual registry API call to make sure [and list() is a good choice, for example].
Is your registry embedded into the server VM or running in a separate process [rmiregistry.exe]?