Sun J2EE SDK 1.3_01, java.lang.ClassCastException thrown during deployment

Question

I encountered a bug while using the deploytool to deploy
an EAR file to the Sun J2EE 1.3_01 server.
I submitted a bug report to Sun via the Sun Java Developer Connection.
(Sorry, it has not been assigned a BugID yet)
Question:
Does anybody know if the web container in Sun's
J2EE 1.3_01 server supports access to local enterprise beans?
Screenshots of the bug are available at
http://sync4j.sourceforge.net/deploymentbug/
Full details below....
-Sean
category: j2ee
subcategory: deployment
release: 1.3_01
hardware: x86
OSversion: windows_2000
synopsis: java.lang.ClassCastException thrown during deployment of Session bean
java -version
java version "1.3.1_01"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.1_01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.3.1_01, mixed mode)
C:\j2sdkee1.3\bin>j2ee -version
Java 2 Enterprise Edition version 1.3_01, build 1.3_01-b01
I built a EJB 2.0 compliant stateful session bean.
The session bean has a remote interface (ISyncRemote),
a remote home interface (ISyncHomeRemote),
a local interface (ISyncLocal),
and a local home interface (ISyncHomeLocal).
I built an HTTP Servlet that is supposed to access
the Stateful Session Bean using ISyncHomeLocal and
ISyncLocal
I run "deploytool.bat" in GUI mode to perform the deployment.
During deployment, the deploytool GUI displays a message
box which states:
"There was a deployment error.
java.rmi.ServerException: RemoteException occurred in server thread;
nested exception is:
java.rmi.RemoteException: An error was encountered while loading
a web component.
Please refer to
<J2EE_HOME>/logs/<machine-name>/j2ee//j2ee/error.log
for more information. Please verify your Application with the
Verifier tool."
The "error.log" file did not contain any useful information.
I ran the J2EE "verifier.bat" tool to verify that my EAR archive is OK.
The Sun J2EE server output this error string:
"java.lang.ClassCastException:
com.sun.enterprise.deployment.EjbExternalDescriptor"
Here is the full output from the Sun J2EE server:
C:\j2sdkee1.3\bin>j2ee -verbose
J2EE server listen port: 1050
Naming service started:1050
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/EstoreDB, url =
jdbc:cloudscape:rmi:CloudscapeDB;create=true
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/Cloudscape, url =
jdbc:cloudscape:rmi:CloudscapeDB;create=true
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/DB1, url =
jdbc:cloudscape:rmi:CloudscapeDB;create=true
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/DB2, url =
jdbc:cloudscape:rmi:CloudscapeDB;create=true
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/InventoryDB, url =
jdbc:cloudscape:rmi:CloudscapeDB;create=true
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/XACloudscape, url = jdbc/XACloudscape__xa
Binding DataSource, name = jdbc/XACloudscape__xa, dataSource =
COM.cloudscape.core.RemoteXaDataSourc
e@245536
Starting JMS service...
Initialization complete - waiting for client requests
Binding: < JMS Destination : jms/Queue , javax.jms.Queue >
Binding: < JMS Destination : jms/Topic , javax.jms.Topic >
Binding: < JMS Cnx Factory : TopicConnectionFactory , Topic , No properties >
Binding: < JMS Cnx Factory : jms/TopicConnectionFactory , Topic , No properties
>
Binding: < JMS Cnx Factory : QueueConnectionFactory , Queue , No properties >
Binding: < JMS Cnx Factory : jms/QueueConnectionFactory , Queue , No properties
>
Starting web service at port: 8000
Starting secure web service at port: 7000
J2EE SDK/1.3
Starting web service at port: 9191
J2EE SDK/1.3
J2EE server startup complete.
Compiling c:\j2sdkee1.3\repository\rbi\gnrtrTMP\Sync4j Server enterprise
application\sync4j\server\s
yncbean\SyncBean_LocalHomeImpl.java ....
Compiling c:\j2sdkee1.3\repository\rbi\gnrtrTMP\Sync4j Server enterprise
application\sync4j\server\s
yncbean\SyncBean_EJBLocalObjectImpl.java ....
Compiling c:\j2sdkee1.3\repository\rbi\gnrtrTMP\Sync4j Server enterprise
application\sync4j\server\s
yncbean\SyncBean_RemoteHomeImpl.java ....
Compiling c:\j2sdkee1.3\repository\rbi\gnrtrTMP\Sync4j Server enterprise
application\sync4j\server\s
yncbean\SyncBean_EJBObjectImpl.java ....
rmic sync4j.server.syncbean.SyncBean_RemoteHomeImpl...
rmic sync4j.server.syncbean.SyncBean_EJBObjectImpl...
c:\j2sdkee1.3\repository\rbi\applications\Sync4j Server enterprise
application1004172068449Server.ja
r
Binding name:`java:comp/env/ejb/ISyncHomeRemote`
Binding name:`java:comp/env/ejb/ISyncHomeLocal`
java.lang.ClassCastException:
com.sun.enterprise.deployment.EjbExternalDescriptor
at com.sun.enterprise.deployment.EjbReferenceDescriptor.getValue
(EjbReferenceDescriptor.java
:202)
at com.sun.enterprise.naming.NamingManagerImpl.bindObjects
(NamingManagerImpl.java:394)
at com.sun.web.server.WebService.addContext(WebService.java:148)
at com.sun.web.server.ServletDeployerImpl.loadWebComponents
(ServletDeployerImpl.java:214)
at
com.sun.enterprise.tools.deployment.backend.JarInstallerImpl.deployWebComponent
s
(JarInsta
llerImpl.java:791)
at
com.sun.enterprise.tools.deployment.backend.JarInstallerImpl.deployApplication
(JarInstall
erImpl.java:219)
at
org.omg.stub.com.sun.enterprise.tools.deployment.backend._JarInstallerImpl_Tie.
invoke(Un
known Source)
at com.sun.corba.ee.internal.corba.ServerDelegate.dispatch
(ServerDelegate.java:355)
at com.sun.corba.ee.internal.iiop.ORB.process(ORB.java:273)
at com.sun.corba.ee.internal.iiop.RequestProcessor.process
(RequestProcessor.java:84)
at com.sun.corba.ee.internal.orbutil.ThreadPool$PooledThread.run
(ThreadPool.java:99)
Does the Sun J2EE server implementation support the invocation
of Session EJB's via a Local interface?
Does the Sun J2EE server implementation allow a Servlet to invoke
Session EJB's via the bean's Local interface?
While researching this issue, I read the J2EE 1.3 final specification.
The spec says:
"The EJB container is required to access to local enterprise beans.
We recommend that the web container also support access to local
enterprise beans."
Does the web container in Sun's J2EE server support access to local enterprise beans?

Answer 1

I'm pretty much sure that you cannot access a
local Session bean from outside the EJB container.Please read the J2EE 1.3 specification before posting messages about EJB and J2EE.
According to the J2EE 1.3 specification:
"The EJB container is required to support access to local enterprise beans. We recommend that the web container also support access to local enterprise beans.
No support is provided for access to local enterprise beans from the application client container or the applet container."
If you use local interfaces for your session bean,
than your client must be local too. A local client is
a client that is collocated in the same JVM with the
session/entity that provides the local view and which
can be tightly coupled to the bean.My client is running in the same JVM as my EJB. The client is a servlet. The servlet is running in the same JVM as the EJB.
For what its worth, the error that I observed occurs during deployment. I haven't figured out why deployment is failing.