NCBI C Toolkit Cross Reference

C/doc/dispatcher.html


  1 <html>
  2 <head>
  3 <!-- put your site name between the title tags and uncomment
  4 -->
  5   <title>NCBI Dispatcher Parameters</title>
  6 
  7   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
  8 <!-- if you use the following meta tags, uncomment them.
  9 -->
 10   <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="dispatcher toolkit">
 11   <META NAME="description" CONTENT="NCBI dispatcher">
 12   <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/ncbi2.css">
 13 </head>
 14 
 15 
 16 <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" background="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/bkgd.gif" text="#000000" link="#CC6600" vlink="#CC6600">
 17 <!--  the header   --> 
 18 <table border="0" width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
 19   <tr> 
 20     <td width="140"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"> <img src="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/left.GIF" width="130" height="45" border="0"></a></td>
 21     <td width="360" class="head1" valign="BOTTOM"> <span class="H1">Network Configuration</span></td>
 22     <td width="100" valign="BOTTOM"></td>
 23   </tr>
 24 </table>
 25 <!--  the quicklinks bar   --> 
 26 <table CLASS="TEXT" border="0" width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" bgcolor="#000000">
 27   <tr CLASS="TEXT"  align="CENTER"> 
 28     <td width="100"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/" class="BAR">PubMed</a></td>
 29     <td width="100"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Entrez/" class="BAR">Entrez</a></td>
 30     <td width="100"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/" class="BAR">BLAST</a></td>
 31     <td width="100"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim/" class="BAR">OMIM</a></td>
 32     <td width="100"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/taxonomyhome.html"  class="BAR">Taxonomy</a></td>
 33     <td width="100"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/" class="BAR">Structure</a></td>
 34   </tr>
 35 </table>
 36 <!--  the contents   --> 
 37 <table border="0" width="600" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
 38   <tr valign="TOP"> <!--  left column   --> 
 39     <td width="125"> 
 40    <img src="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/spacer10.GIF" width="125" height="1" border="0">
 41    <p>
 42    <a href="#Switch" class="GUTTER">The Switch</a>
 43    <p>
 44    <a href="#OldDispatcher" class="GUTTER">Old Dispatcher</a>
 45    <p>
 46    <a href="#NewDispatcher" class="GUTTER">New Dispatcher</a>
 47    <p>
 48    <a href="#Firewalling" class="GUTTER">Firewalling</a>
 49    <p>
 50    <a href="#WorkAround" class="GUTTER">Work Arounds</a>
 51    <p>
 52    <a href="#Addendum" class="GUTTER">Additional Info</a>
 53    </td>
 54     <!-- extra column to force things over the gif border --> 
 55     <td width="15"><img src="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/corehtml/spacer10.GIF" width="15" height="1" border="0"> </td>
 56     <!-- right content column  --> 
 57     <td width="460"> 
 58       <p>&nbsp;</p>
 59 
 60 
 61 <h1>NCBI Dispatcher Parameters</h1>
 62 
 63 <p>
 64 There are two pieces of code in C toolkit that allow an application to contact
 65 NCBI dispatchers, the new and the old one. The old dispatcher is being phased out
 66 and is no longer supported at NCBI. All new services that are added get configured
 67 with the new dispatcher. The code to access the new dispatcher had been placed
 68 in the toolkit a while ago, and should be ready for use in all applications
 69 compiled and linked against the toolkit released since beginning of 2002
 70 [recent repository check showed that actually the cut-off date can perhaps be half
 71 a year earlier, in early summer 2001].
 72 Older applications have to be upgraded by re-compiling/re-linking in order
 73 to take advantage of the new code.
 74 
 75 <p>
 76 In the beginning of August 2002, the switch was made in the toolkit's code that
 77 now directs all network requests to go through the new dispatcher. So all
 78 applications linked against the toolkit at a later date should be using
 79 the new dispatcher automatically.
 80 
 81 <p>
 82 Below is the description of parameters and differences between the two dispatchers,
 83 and instructions on how to set an existing application to use the new dispatcher's
 84 code without rebuilding.
 85 
 86 <p>
 87 Although the dispatcher should work behind the scenes absolutely transparently
 88 for the user, some applications may fail if for example there
 89 are on-site configurational discrepancies between the two dispatchers.
 90 In fact, every attempt was made to keep the configurations consistent
 91 at the time of the switch, but still there is a little chance that
 92 something could have been missed.
 93 
 94 <p>
 95 <hr>
 96 
 97 
 98 <h2><a name="Switch">The switch</a></h2>
 99 
100 All <tt>SRV_...</tt> parameters, outlined below, can be set in either program
101 environment prior to the application run (using "<tt>setenv</tt>" command
102 in <tt>[t]csh</tt>, or "<tt>export</tt>" command in [ba]sh), or in the section
103 <tt>[NET_SERV]</tt> of the <tt>.rc</tt> (or <tt>.ini</tt>) file, also known as
104 a configuration (or registry) file of the application.<br>
105 <u>Note</u>: Settings in the environment always take precedence and override those read from the registry file.<br>
106 <u>Note</u>: On MS-Windows, the registry file usually resides in the master Windows directory, which is either
107 <tt>WINDOWS</tt> or <tt>WINNT</tt>.
108 
109 <p>
110 A dispatcher to use can be controlled by the environment
111 variable <tt>SRV_CONN_MODE</tt> as follows:
112 <p>
113 <table border="1" cellspacing="1">
114 <tr>
115 <td><tt>SRV_CONN_MODE=SERVICE</tt></td>
116 <td>chooses the new dispatcher [default for all programs built since mid August, 2002]</td>
117 </tr>
118 <tr>
119 <td><tt>SRV_CONN_MODE=WWW</tt></td>
120 <td>chooses the old dispatcher, without firewalling [this was the default prior to the switchover in mid August, 2002]</td>
121 </tr>
122 <tr>
123 <td><tt>SRV_CONN_MODE=FIREWALL</tt></td>
124 <td>chooses the old dispatcher, with firewalling</td>
125 </tr>
126 </table>
127 
128 <p>
129 
130 
131 <h2><a name="OldDispatcher">Parameters of the OLD dispatcher</a></h2>
132 
133 The parameters, which control the OLD dispatcher (both with and without firewall), are in the table below.
134 Please note that they can appear both in the environment or in the registry file (section <tt>[NET_SERV]</tt>),
135 with those found in the environment taking the precedence.
136 <p>
137 <table border="1" cellspacing="1">
138 <tr>
139 <td><table border="0" cellspacing="0">
140 <tr><td><tt>SRV_ENGINE_HOST</tt></td></tr>
141 <tr><td><tt>SRV_ENGINE_PORT</tt></td></tr>
142 </table></td>
143 <td>host and port to locate dispatcher. Default&nbsp;=&nbsp;<tt>www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80</tt>
144 (should normally not be changed)</td>
145 </tr>
146 <tr>
147 <td><tt>SRV_ENGINE_URL</tt></td>
148 <td>path part of URI to locate dispatcher. Default&nbsp;=&nbsp;<tt>/Service/nph-dispd.cgi</tt>
149 (should normally not be changed, either)</td>
150 </tr>
151 <tr>
152 <td><tt>SRV_CONN_TIMEOUT</tt></td>
153 <td>time (as a floating point value, seconds) to wait for network activity, at most. Default&nbsp;=&nbsp;30.
154 Special value <tt>INFINITE</tt> is also recognized to set the timeout value to "wait forever".<br>
155 <u>Note</u>: If you are in the United States, the default timeout of 30 seconds should
156 suffice. From foreign countries with poor Internet connections to the U.S., you may
157 want to increase this value.</td>
158 </tr>
159 <tr>
160 <td><tt>SRV_CONN_TRY</tt></td>
161 <td>how many connection attempts to perform if unsuccessful, default&nbsp;=&nbsp;3</td>
162 </tr>
163 <tr>
164 <td><table border="0" cellspacing="0">
165 <tr><td><tt>SRV_HTTP_PROXY_HOST</tt></td></tr>
166 <tr><td><tt>SRV_HTTP_PROXY_PORT</tt></td></tr>
167 </table></td>
168 <td>host and port of transparent HTTP proxy (if in use at the client's end), default&nbsp;=&nbsp;none</td>
169 </tr>
170 <tr>
171 <td><tt>SRV_PROXY_HOST</tt></td>
172 <td>CERN-like (non-transparent) proxy host (if in use at the client's end), default&nbsp;=&nbsp;none</td>
173 </tr>
174 <tr>
175 <td><tt>SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT</tt></td>
176 <td>switch to print debugging/trace output, default&nbsp;=&nbsp;NO<br>Activate printing with YES, 1, or TRUE.</td>
177 </tr>
178 <tr>
179 <td><tt>NI_SERVICE_NAME_&lt;<i>name</i>&gt;</tt></td>
180 <td>reassignment of the service name, e.g.:<br>
181     <tt>NI_SERVICE_NAME_ID1&nbsp;ID1Prod</tt><br>
182 used for temporary name override, if a developer instructed you to do so (usually, neither required nor advised).<br>
183 <u>Note</u>: Service <tt><i>name</i></tt> must be all capitalized for this setting to work,
184 e.g. "Entrez" becomes <tt>ENTREZ</tt>.</td>
185 </tr>
186 </table>
187 
188 <p>
189 Atlernate service name can also be specified via the registry file by defining they key
190 <tt>SERVICE_NAME</tt> with desired value, which should be located in the section having the
191 service name in all capitals. The following registry fragment changes the name of the
192 <tt>Entrez</tt> service:
193 <pre>
194 [ENTREZ]
195 SERVICE_NAME=EntrezTest
196 </pre>
197 
198 <p>
199 <hr>
200 
201 <h2><a name="NewDispatcher">Parameters of the NEW dispatcher</a></h2>
202 
203 For the sake of backward compatibility, all the above (<tt>SRV_...</tt>) parameters are accepted.
204 They could be either in the environment or in the registry file, section <tt>[NET_SERV]</tt>.
205 
206 <p>
207 The following additional parameters are also recognized (and are the preferred way to
208 tune up the new dispatcher). These parameters can be specified in the environment as
209 printed in the table, or they can be read from the registry file's section <tt>[CONN]</tt>,
210 but then without the prefix <tt>CONN</tt>. For example, the environment setting <tt>CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE</tt>
211 is equivalent to the following registry file fragment:
212 <pre>
213 [CONN]
214 FIREWALL=TRUE
215 </pre>
216 
217 <p>
218 There are also per-service settings, taking the form <tt>&lt;<i>NAME</i>&gt;_CONN_&lt;<i>PARAMETER</i>&gt;</tt>
219 in the environment, or just like printed below if found in the section <tt>[&lt;<i>NAME</i>&gt;]</tt>
220 in the registry file. For example, the following settings of <tt>FIREWALL</tt> in the
221 environment and the registry file are equivalent, and affect <tt>Bounce</tt> service only (leaving
222 all other services with default or their individual settings, if any):
223 <ul>
224 environment:
225 <pre>
226 BOUNCE_CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE
227 </pre>
228 </ul>
229 <ul>
230 registry file:
231 <pre>
232 [BOUNCE]
233 CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE
234 </pre>
235 </ul>
236 
237 <p>
238 The order of significance (from the most to the least) of specifications is as follows:
239 <ol>
240 <li>Per-service environment variable, e.g. <tt>BOUNCE_CONN_FILREWALL=TRUE</tt>;
241 <li>Per-service registry key, e.g. <tt>CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE</tt> in the section <tt>[BOUNCE]</tt>;
242 <li>Common environment setting, e.g. <tt>CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE</tt>;
243 <li>Common registry key from section <tt>[CONN]</tt>, e.g. <tt>FIREWALL=TRUE</tt>;
244 <li>Default setting.
245 </ol>
246 <p>
247 <table border="1" cellspacing="1">
248 <tr>
249 <td><table border="0" cellspacing="0">
250 <tr><td><tt>CONN_HOST</tt></td></tr>
251 <tr><td><tt>CONN_PORT</tt></td></tr>
252 </table></td>
253 <td>see <tt>SRV_ENGINE_HOST</tt> and <tt>SRV_ENGINE_PORT</tt> above.</td>
254 </tr>
255 <tr>
256 <td><tt>CONN_PATH</tt></td>
257 <td>see <tt>SRV_ENGINE_URL</tt>, default&nbsp;=&nbsp;<tt>/Service/dispd.cgi</tt></td>
258 </tr>
259 <tr>
260 <td><tt>CONN_ARGS</tt></td>
261 <td>arguments for service/dispatcher, going after the '?' in CGI's parameters, default&nbsp;=&nbsp;none</td>
262 </tr>
263 <tr>
264 <td><tt>CONN_REQ_METHOD</tt></td>
265 <td>HTTP request method to use (default&nbsp;=&nbsp;<tt>POST</tt>, may also
266 be one of <tt>ANY</tt> and <tt>GET</tt>).</td>
267 </tr>
268 <tr>
269 <td><tt>CONN_TIMEOUT</tt></td>
270 <td>see <tt>SRV_CONN_TIMEOUT</tt>.</td>
271 </tr>
272 <tr>
273 <td><tt>CONN_MAX_TRY</tt></td>
274 <td>see <tt>SRV_CONN_TRY</tt>.</td>
275 </tr>
276 <tr>
277 <td><table border="0" cellspacing="0">
278 <tr><td><tt>CONN_HTTP_PROXY_HOST</tt></td></tr>
279 <tr><td><tt>CONN_HTTP_PROXY_PORT</tt></td></tr>
280 </table></td>
281 <td>see <tt>SRV_HTTP_PROXY_HOST</tt> and <tt>SRV_HTTP_PROXY_PORT</tt>.</td>
282 </tr>
283 <tr>
284 <td><tt>CONN_PROXY_HOST</tt></td>
285 <td>see <tt>SRV_PROXY_HOST</tt>.</td>
286 </tr>
287 <tr>
288 <td><tt>CONN_DEBUG_PRINTOUT</tt></td>
289 <td>see <tt>SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT</tt>. Additional value <tt>DATA</tt> is provided to print
290 the network data as being transferred at the transport [TCP] layer.</td>
291 </tr>
292 <tr>
293 <td><tt>CONN_STATELESS</tt></td>
294 <td><tt>TRUE</tt> or <tt>FALSE</tt>, default&nbsp;=&nbsp;<tt>FALSE</tt>.<br>
295 A proper value has to be set depending on the nature of the client
296 (Web-browsers are <tt>CONN_STATELESS=TRUE</tt>).<br>
297 For dispatching by default, this variable is not to be touched!</td>
298 </tr>
299 <tr>
300 <td><tt>CONN_FIREWALL</tt></td>
301 <td><tt>TRUE</tt> or <tt>FALSE</tt>, default&nbsp;=&nbsp;<tt>FALSE</tt>.<br>
302 A proper value has to be chosen depending on whether the client is behind a firewall or not.
303 Use <tt>TRUE</tt> if so!<br> This parameter of the new dispatcher is analogous to switching
304 the old dispatcher into firewall  mode by specifying <tt>FIREWALL</tt> in <tt>SRV_CONN_MODE</tt>.</td>
305 </tr>
306 <tr>
307 <td><tt>&lt;<i>name</i>&gt;_CONN_SERVICE_NAME</tt></td>
308 <td>see description for <tt>NI_SERVICE_NAME_...</tt> above.</td>
309 </tr>
310 </table>
311 
312 <p>
313 When intermixed with older (<tt>SRV_...</tt>) parameters, the order of consideration is the following:
314 the new parameters (<tt>CONN_...</tt>) first as described in the table above, then <tt>SRV_...</tt>
315 parameters, thus all <tt>SRV_...</tt> parameters taking precedence over all <tt>CONN_...</tt> parameters.
316 The only exception is the service name override (<tt>{..._CONN|NI}_SERVICE_NAME_...</tt>), which works the different way:
317 <ul>
318 <li>All other parameters loaded, first <tt>CONN_...</tt> using the original service name as specified in the application
319 (e.g. <tt>Entrez</tt>) from the registry/environment, followed by <tt>SRV_...</tt> found in the registry/environment.
320 <li><tt>SERVICE_NAME</tt> registry key in the service's section followed by <tt>NI_SERVICE_NAME_...</tt> environment 
321 variable (if exist) are then consulted for an alternate name.
322 <li><tt>..._CONN_SERVICE_NAME</tt> environment variable (or service's registry section with <tt>SERVICE_NAME</tt> key)
323 in then consulted, using a new name from the substitution above (if occurred). This process is recursive but with
324 no loop detection, i.e. A_CONN_SERVICE_NAME=B and B_CONN_SERVICE_NAME=A would create an infinite loop, which
325 breaks the application. The following registry/environment combination changes the name of the <tt>Entrez</tt>
326 service into <tt>Entrez2</tt>:
327 <p>
328 environment:
329 <pre>
330 NI_SERVICE_NAME_ENTREZ=EntrezTest
331 </pre>
332 <p>
333 registry:
334 <pre>
335 [ENTREZ]
336 SERVICE_NAME=Entrez1 ; Note that this key is overriden in the env
337 
338 [ENTREZ_TEST]
339 SERVICE_NAME=Entrez2
340 </pre>
341 </ul>
342 
343 <p>
344 <u>Note</u> that if a client connects to new NCBI dispatcher, then
345 the dispatcher might be able to switch the client into pseudo-firewall
346 mode, should the dispatcher notice that this might be needed for the
347 client to further succeed with the service requested. This however
348 is <i>not</i> a substitute for <tt>CONN_FIREWALL</tt> parameter, and an application,
349 which connects from behind a firewall, must still use <tt>CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE</tt>
350 in order to function flawlessly.
351 
352 <p>
353 Also note that C toolkit can have debugging printouts disabled in the core,
354 thus <tt>{SRV|CONN}_DEBUG_PRINTOUT</tt> will have no or very little effect.
355 In order to override the core settings, <i>environment</i> setting
356 <tt>DEBUG_PRINTOUT=TRUE</tt> could be used. Unlike <tt>{SRV|CONN}_DEBUG_PRINTOUT</tt>
357 the last key has no effect outside the environment (and thus specifying <tt>DEBUG_PRINTOUT</tt>
358 in the registry file will not affect in-core logging settings). This override option
359 was recently added to the toolkit, and applications built before mid August 2002 lack this feature.
360 
361 <p>
362 For applications linked against C++ toolkit, <i>environment</i> settings
363 <tt>DIAG_POST_LEVEL=0</tt> and <tt>DIAG_TRACE=1</tt> would enable the debugging printouts
364 regardless of the in-core settings. You may also use these keys in the <tt>[DEBUG]</tt>
365 section of the registry file (but <i>not</i> in the <tt>[NET_SERV]</tt> or
366 <tt>[CONN]</tt> sections).
367 
368 <p>
369 <hr>
370 
371 
372 <h1><a name="Firewalling">Taking care of firewall connections</a></h1>
373 
374 <p>
375 If you are behind a firewall, it must be configured correctly to access NCBI
376 services. Your network administrators may have done this already. If not, please
377 have them read the section below.
378 
379 <p>
380 <b>The following section is intended for network administrators:</b>
381 
382 <p>
383 Using NCBI services from behind a security firewall requires opening ports in
384 your firewall. The ports to open are:
385 
386 <p align="center">
387 <pre>
388 Firewall Port        IP Address
389 --------------------------------
390  5860..5870         130.14.29.112
391  5860..5870         165.112.7.12
392 </pre>
393 
394 <p>
395 If your firewall is not transparent, the firewall port number
396 should be mapped to the same port number on the external host.
397 
398 <p>
399 While the not every port from the table above might be currently in use,
400 we stongly recommend you to have them all configured on your firewall.
401 
402 <p>
403 <u>TROUBLESHOOTING</u>:  You can test whether these ports are accessible from
404 your host by just running, for example (see the "Ports to open" list above):
405 <pre>
406   telnet 130.14.29.112 5861
407 </pre>
408 and entering a line of arbitrary text in the telnet session.
409 If everything is fine, your TELNET session would look as follows
410 (the line "test" is your input there):
411 
412 <pre>
413 | > telnet 130.14.29.112 5861
414 | Trying 130.14.29.112...
415 | Connected to 130.14.29.112.
416 | Escape character is '^]'.
417 | test
418 | NCBI Firewall Daemon:  Invalid ticket. Connection closed.
419 | Connection closed by foreign host.
420 </pre>
421 
422 <p>
423 There is also an auxiliary UNIX shell script
424 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/NETWORK/fwd_check.sh">fwd_check.sh</a> to check all of the above
425 addresses.
426 
427 <p>
428 To check the ports as they are seen from within NCBI you can use
429 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/NETWORK/fwd_check.cgi">this test page</a>,
430 which shows you whether the ports are open and the firewall daemon is
431 listening on them. The page does not however provide you with the information
432 whether these ports are accessible from your site. You still have to use
433 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/NETWORK/fwd_check.sh">fwd_check.sh</a>
434 to check that.
435 
436 <p>
437 <hr>
438 
439 
440 <h1><a name="WorkAround">Working around connectivity problems</a></h1>
441 
442 <p>
443 Executable <tt>Psrventr.REAL</tt>, which implements old <tt><b>Entrez</b></tt> service
444 on Solaris sparc, was confirmed flaky, and had to be removed from configurations of both new and old
445 dispatchers on the sparcs.
446 
447 <p>
448 Although this should not affect the users of the new dispatcher (as the
449 service had been moved to and is currently provided from a number of Intel machines),
450 the users of the old dispatcher (which was not ported to <tt>Linux/Intel</tt> platform, and
451 overall is considered for phasing out as inflexible and outdated) may be affected.
452 
453 <p>
454 The workaround is to use the code in the toolkit that has been around long
455 ago but was not made active until mid August 2002 - we then switched the toolkit
456 to use the new dispatcher code by default.
457 
458 <p>
459 For that, the user has to define <tt>SRV_CONN_MODE=SERVICE</tt> either in the environment,
460 or in the configuration (<tt>.ini</tt>) file, section <tt>[NET_SERV]</tt>, and can do so <i>without</i> an
461 absolute necessity of downloading the new toolkit code from NCBI and rebuilding. Only very-very old
462 applications will not be able to use the switch, and have to be upgraded by linking against freshened libraries.
463 
464 <p>
465 If an application runs from behind a firewall, then <tt>CONN_FIREWALL=TRUE</tt> should also be set in the environment
466 (in addition to <tt>SRV_CONN_MODE=SERVICE</tt>). Please note that <tt>CONN_FIREWALL</tt>
467 <i>must</i> remain set even if you switch into the newer toolkit release, which does not require setting
468 <tt>SRV_CONN_MODE</tt> for the use of the new dispatcher.
469 
470 <p>
471 <b>The overall rule</b> in the case when your application fails to connect to an NCBI service is to
472 undertake the following sequence of steps:
473 
474 <p>
475 <ol>
476 <li>Try to force your application to use the new dispatcher code by setting <tt><b>SRV_CONN_MODE</b></tt>
477 to <tt><b>SERVICE</b></tt> in the environment/registry;
478 <li>If this does not help, or if you are connecting from behind a firewall, try to set
479 <tt><b>CONN_FIREWALL</b></tt> to <tt><b>TRUE</b></tt> in addition to the above setting,
480 and run your application again;
481 <li>If you are still unable to connect, set <tt><b>SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT</b></tt> to <tt><b>TRUE</b></tt>,
482 and collect the output. (You may also need to set <i>environment</i> variable <tt><b>DEBUG_PRINTOUT</b></tt> to
483 <tt><b>TRUE</b></tt> in addition, if the in-core settings prevent debugging output from being released onto
484 the terminal. Please note that unlike other <tt><b>{CONN|SRV}...</b></tt> keys described in this document,
485 <tt><b>DEBUG_PRINTOUT</b></tt> is honored only if set in the environment and has <i>no</i> effect if
486 put in the registry file.) Beware that debugging output may be copious.
487 <ul>
488 <li>If with all the above settings you can find references to either <tt><b>Service/nph-dispd.cgi</b></tt>
489 or <tt><b>Service/nph-ncbid.cgi</b></tt> in the collected output, it means that your application was linked
490 against very old version of the toolkit and has to be rebuilt;
491 <li>If you cannot find references to either of these CGIs, then you can consider contacting
492 <a href="mailto:info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">NCBI Help Desk</a> to resolve your problem.
493 </ul>
494 </ol>
495 
496 <p>
497 Small reference on how to set the environment in various shells
498 (to know the shell in UNIX/Linux, execute "<tt>echo&nbsp;$SHELL</tt>"):
499 <ul>
500 <li>C-like shells: <tt>csh</tt> or <tt>tcsh</tt>
501 <pre>
502     setenv SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT TRUE
503 </pre>
504 <li>Born-like shells: <tt>sh</tt>, <tt>ash</tt>, <tt>ksh</tt>, <tt>zsh</tt>,
505 or <tt>bash</tt>
506 <pre>
507     SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT=TRUE; export SRV_DEBUG_PRINOUT
508 </pre>
509 In <tt>ksh</tt>, <tt>zsh</tt>, and <tt>bash</tt> the two commands above can be combined:
510 <pre>
511     export SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT=TRUE
512 </pre>
513 <li>DOS shell (MS-Windows/DOS): <tt>command.com</tt> or <tt>cmd.exe</tt>
514 <pre>
515     set SRV_DEBUG_PRINTOUT=TRUE
516 </pre>
517 </ul>
518 
519 <p>
520 <hr>
521 
522 
523 <h1><a name="Addendum">Additional Information</a></h1>
524 
525 <p>
526 <u>Note</u>: Very old NCBI clients used different application configuration settings and
527 ports than listed above. These clients are no longer supported by NCBI.
528 
529 <p>
530 More technical and brief note on dispatcher selection and parameters is in
531 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/C_DOC/lxr/source/network/nsclilib/readme"><tt>network/nsclilib/readme</tt></a>
532 located in the C toolkit source tree.
533 
534 <p>
535 Description of the new NCBI dispatcher can be found <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/CPP_DOC/tools/dispatcher/DISPD.html">here</a>.
536 
537 <p>
538 Discussion of firewall settings can be found <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/NETWORK/firewall.html">here</a> and also
539 provided in directory <tt>doc</tt> of the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/IEB/ToolBox/C_DOC/lxr/source/doc">C toolkit</a>.
540 
541 <p>
542 If you have a problem, which you are unable to resolve on your own, or
543 you have a question, please contact <a href="mailto:info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">
544 <tt>info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov</tt></a> for further information.
545 <p>&nbsp;</p>
546 
547 <p>
548 <hr>
549 <table border="0" cellspasing="0">
550 <tr><td>Source: distrib/doc/dispatcher.html</td><td>$Date: 2009/10/28 00:58:22 $</td><td>$Revision: 6.27 $</td></tr>
551 </table>
552 
553 
554     </td>
555 
556   </tr>
557 </table>
558 <!--  end of content  -->  
559 
560 </body>
561 </html>

source navigation ]   [ diff markup ]   [ identifier search ]   [ freetext search ]   [ file search ]  

This page was automatically generated by the LXR engine.
Visit the LXR main site for more information.