Web services client runtime troubleshooting tips

Web services client runtime troubleshooting tips

This topic discusses troubleshooting Web services clients.
Each section in this topic is a problem that you might experience during the run-time of a Web services client. A solution is provided to help you troubleshoot the problem.

The connection to the remote host fails
If the following error, WSWS3713E: Connection to the remote host host_name failed, displays when you are trying to connect to the remote host, check the following items:

If the host name that is listed in the error message is the correct host name, verify that the application with the Web service is running and is available.

If the host name that is listed in the error message is the incorrect host name, you might need to update the WSDL file for the Web service or override the endpoint URL that the host name needs to use. To override the Web service endpoint URL, see the information center topic "Configuring Web services client bindings." You can configure the port information with the information provided in this topic.

Running your Web service client with an ibm-jaxrpc-client.jar file in a Solaris environment can cause an exception
If you use the -jar option, for example, java -jar <java_application>.jar, to specify a Java application in a Solaris environment, a class not found exception can occur. To avoid an exception, use the -classpath option instead of the -jar option, for example,
java -jar <your_client_application>.jar, <main_class_file>
.
The problem occurs because the Sun JDK classloading specification is more strict than the IBM JDK specifications. You can make one of three changes to avoid an exception:
Use the -classpath option instead of the -jar option, for example,
java -jar <java_application>.jar, <main_class_file >
.
Use the -Djava.ext.dirs option with the -jar option, for example,
export WAS_HOME=/opt/IBM/WAS/AppServer ${WAS_HOME}/java/jre/bin/java 
-Djava.ext.dirs=${WAS_HOME}/runtimes 
-jar <your_client_application>.jar, <your_client_application>.args
.
Modify Class Path in Manifest.MF to include the Java archive (JAR) files that we need, for example,
Class Path: /opt/IBM/WAS/AppServer/runtimes/ibm-jaxrpc-client.jar 
Resolving DNS causes performance problems when using HTTP to connect to a service endpoint interface that is not based on a private IP address

The DNS service is often not available when you use HTTP to connect to a service endpoint interface that is based on a private IP address. Therefore, performance is degraded during the DNS resolution.
This problem occurs when the outbound HTTP connector in the Web service engine attempts to resolve the host address name and times out.
You can modify the HOSTS file for the targeted IP address to avoid the DNS resolution.

Runtime migration error
If you installed a Web service application that was developed for a WAS version prior to V6, you might get the following exception:
WSWS3701E: Error: An exception was encountered. Use wsdeploy to deploy your application. 
This may correct the problem. The exception is <exception data>.
This exception indicates that a problem occurred while running the application that was developed with tools supported by versions prior to V6. A solution to the problem is to uninstall the application, run the wsdeploy command and redeploy the application.

WebServicesFault exception displays during the appserver run time for certain Web Services Description Language (WSDL) files

A WebServicesFault exception displays during the appserver run time for WSDL files that define operations with document style and literal use, and use the SOAP header to transmit the input data.
If the WSDL files define the operation with document style and literal use, and this operation maps the input to the SOAP header, the Web services run time fails to find the correct operation for the target service and the WebServicesFault exception displays.
To solve the problem, change the WSDL files so that the operation does not have input that uses the SOAP header to transmit the data.

Increase the value of the ConnectionIOTimeOut parameter to avoid receiving an exception when hosting Web services on WebSphere Application Server

When hosting Web services on WebSphere Application Server, the following exception displays: java.net.SocketTimeOutException: Read Timed Out.
A slow network connection between the client and the Web service causes this problem. In such cases, the HTTP socket might time out before the Web service engine completely reads the SOAP request. In the majority of cases, a sudden increase in overall network activity causes this problem. The problem can also occur when the client is accessing the Web service from a slow network connection and when the SOAP request has a lot of data. To solve the problem, increase the ConnectionIOTimeOut parameter for the Web container HTTP transport. The default value is 5 seconds. Increase the value to 30 seconds or greater. Refer to HTTP transport custom properties for setting the value using the administrative console. Type the following property name and value:

Name: ConnectionIOTimeOut

Value: 30

If the Web service is hosted in a clustered environment, set the property on each appserver in the cluster. If your appserver is listening on more than one port number, set the property on all ports.

Executing a Web services client application with session persistence turned on or in a clustered environment might cause a WebServicesFault error
When you execute a Web services client application with session persistence turned on or in a cluster environment, an error might display because the Web service client attempts to use a connection that has been closed by the HTTP server. The following is an example of the error:
[mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss:ttt EST] 0000006e SystemErr     R WebServicesFault
 faultCode: {http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}Server.generalException
 faultString: java.io.IOException: Connection close: Read failed.Possible end of  stream encountered. 
 faultActor: null
 faultDetail: 
You can avoid this error by following one of two ways:

Set the com.ibm.websphere.webservices.http.requestResendEnabled property to true, for example, com.ibm.websphere.webservices.http.requestResendEnabled=true. When this property is set to true, the Web services client is programmed to re-send the request if the request has failed. Monitor your client runtime if you change the property value, because the request might be sent twice.
For example, if your client is a banking application, and you set the com.ibm.websphere.webservices.http.requestResendEnabled property to true, a transaction might be posted twice to an account. See Configure additional HTTP transport properties using the JVM custom property panel in the administrative console to configure the com.ibm.websphere.webservices.http.requestResendEnabled property.

If you are using the IBM HTTP Server on an AIX or Linux operating systems, you can set the MaxSpareThreads property to the same value as the MaxClients property that is located in the httpd.conf file. For example, if the MaxClients=600, change the MaxSpareThreads to equal 600 (MaxSpareThreads=600).
The advantage to choosing this way to avoid the error, is that the IBM HTTP Server does not shut down idle or near-idle connections. The disadvantage to this choice is that the IBM HTTP Server uses excess resources to keep extra threads available, even during periods of light activity. This choice can only be done on an AIX or Linux operating system.

Related tasks

Troubleshooting Web services

Related information

Web services: Resources for learning
Developing and deploying Web services clients

Reference topic