Rmi SocketTimeoutException

Question

Hi,
We�re using a RMI connection. In rare occasions, when the api calls that the rmi server performs take too much time, we get an UnmarshalException which wraps a SocketTimeOutException. It happens 60 seconds after the client sent request to the server, even though we set the socketTimeOut (through SocketFactory) to 3 minutes.
Another side effect is that the whole Application (rmi client side) stuck.
We think that it might have something to do with the rmi garbage collection, which by default happens every 60 seconds, so we set these parameters as well:
-Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=600000
And just on the safe side set this parameter:
-Dsun.rmi.activation.groupTimeout=600000
But nothing seems to work. We still get the UnmarshalException, after 60 seconds.
If you have a suggestion, or encountered the same problem, please advise.
Thanks,
Libby

Answer 1

My rmi server performs API calls to a dll. For example, one of these API calls is connect to some remote server. Connect can take up to 5 minutes. So, obviously I don't want to get timeout exception after just 1 minute. Is there a way to avoid getting the exception, and letting the server still work?
This is the SocketFactory I'm using:
public class TimedRMIClientSocketFactory implements RMIClientSocketFactory,
                    Serializable {
          private static final long     serialVersionUID     = 7765561455399852985L;
          private Integer mTimeOut;
          public Integer getTimeOut() {
                    return mTimeOut;
          public void setTimeOut(Integer aTimeOut) {
                    mTimeOut = aTimeOut;
          public Socket createSocket(String host, int port) throws IOException {
                    Socket s = new Socket(host, port);
                    s.setSoTimeout(mTimeOut); //RMI-TODO change
                    return s;
}And this is the thread that registers the server
          public void run() {
                    Registry registry = null;
                    String name = "PAWCJNIServer";
                    try {
                              ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(System.in);
                              MarshalledObject mo = (MarshalledObject) ois.readObject();
                              IJNICommRMIClient ps = (IJNICommRMIClient) mo.get();
                              pawcJNIServer = new JNICommRMIServer();
                              TimedRMIClientSocketFactory mySocketFactory = new TimedRMIClientSocketFactory();
                              mySocketFactory.setTimeOut(mTimeOut);
                              UnicastRemoteObject.exportObject(pawcJNIServer, 0, mySocketFactory, RMISocketFactory.getDefaultSocketFactory());
                              ps.registerServer(pawcJNIServer);
                              lastQueryDate = new Date();
                              while (true) {
                                        try {
                                                  Thread.sleep(mSleepTime); // check every minute
                                        catch (InterruptedException e) {
                                                  myLogger.log(Level.INFO, "RMIThread interrupted");
                                        myLogger.log(Level.FINER, "in rmi thread - woke up checking if should shutdown");
                                        if (System.currentTimeMillis() - lastQueryDate.getTime() > mTimeOutBeforeShutDownMyself) {
                                                  myLogger.log(Level.INFO, "in rmi thread - should shutdown");
                                                  break;
                                        else {
                                                  myLogger.log(Level.FINER, "in rmi thread - should not shutdown");
                              clean(registry, name);
                              myLogger.log(Level.INFO, "in rmi thread - finished clean, shut down now....");
                    catch (Exception e) {
                              myLogger.log(Level.INFO, "RMI thread got exception", e);
                              myLogger.log(Level.INFO, "in rmi thread - cleaning registry");
                              clean(registry, name);
                              myLogger.log(Level.INFO, "in rmi thread - finished clean, shut down now....");
}Thanks,
Libby