Looking up EJBs from a java client

Question

While trying to migrate my application from standalone-oc4j
to Oracle Application Server 10g, I ran into the following problem.
My application has a stateless session bean. When trying to lookup the bean (from a java client), I get the following exception:
javax.naming.NamingException: Lookup error: javax.naming.AuthenticationException
Invalid username/password for UnifyoccEAR (ias_admin)
My code used the username/password I used to log into web-based console (which I used to deploy the application). The lookup code follows:
Hashtable env = new Hashtable();
env.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
OracleJASLayer.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, "ormi://localhost:3201/UnifyoccEAR");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION, "simple");
env.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, username);
env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, password);
Context ctx = new InitialContext(env);
Object obj = ctx.lookup("unify/nxj/controlCenters/occ/ControlCenterEJB");
On a whim, I tried the old SCOTT/TIGER username/password and got the following
exception:
javax.naming.NoPermissionException: Not allowed to look up unify/nxj/controlCenters/occ/ControlCenterEJB,
check the namespace-access tag setting in orion-application.xml for details
So evidently, SCOTT/TIGER is in the security database used by the app (but isn't
authorized) while the ias_admin user is not in the security database.
I have the following questions:
1. In the default configuration, is there a username/password I can use to
lookup EJB homes in the jndi namespace of an OC4J instance? If so, what
is it?
2. Where is the security database? I tried looking in the web-based console
to find how to configure security and could not figure it out. I did find
the Security page for the application, but when I tried to add a user,
it had no effect. Furthermore, this page did not show a user entry for
SCOTT; hence, it doesn't seem that OC4J is actually using the information
on this page. This is strange because the path to this page is:
Farm > Application Server: ias_admin.lab10.sac.unify.com > OC4J: home > Application: UnifyoccEAR > Security
I then went to the Security page for the default application and found
that it did have a SCOTT user. So I added a new user and tried to run
my java client. This resulted in the javax.naming.AuthenticationException
described above (I was expected the NoPermissionException encounted when
using SCOTT/TIGER). Next, I used the Security page for the default application
to change the password for SCOTT and reran my java client using SCOTT/TIGER.
This time I was expecting an AuthenticationException exception, but got the
NoPermission exception. Therefore, it seems that OC4J isn't using this
security data either.
Hunting in the console (again) for the security database, I stumble accross
the Infrasturcture page and see an Identity Management section and see that
it is configure to use an Oracle Internet Directory server. Using
<ORACLE_HOME>/bin/oidadmin, I connect to the directory server and look
for the SCOTT user. I don't find it, so I believe that this can't be the
security database either.
3. Finally, how do I configure the OC4J instance such that it will allow
anonymous users to lookup my EJB from a java client?
Please help a confused and frustrated user.

Answer 1

Looking at your example, it looks like you are using a J2EE client container or some properties file to specify the JNDI environment used to create the initial context (for you use the no-arg constructor to InitialContext). Since our application needs to the ability to dynamically connect to ejb's running on different Java application servers (e.g., WebLogic, WebSphere, JBoss), such an approach will not work. Instead we must do it the old-fashioned way and pass the jdni connection info to the InitialContext constructor.
In any event, our problem isn't how to write the connection code, it is how to test it. Specifically, we can't figure out a valid username/password that will allow us to look up the home. Nor can we figure out how to configure security for the oc4j instance.