CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE 8.06

The OC4J Server Configuration Files

The OC4J server configuration files (also known as OC4J configuration files) help configure the OC4J server and are located in the following directory:

  $ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/<instance>/config

The OC4J server configuration files configure various OC4J instance-–related items such as ports, security, and basic J2EE services. These XML files are purely

exam watch: The configuration settings in the OC4J configuration files apply directly to the OC4J server, not the deployed J2EE applications. 

about configuring the OC4J instance itself and aren’t directly related to the deployment of the J2EE applications.

The OC4J server configuration files consist mainly of a set of Server XML configuration files and a set of Web site XML files. The server configuration files specify various properties of the OC4J server such as the listening ports, passwords, security, and related basic J2EE services as well as the data sources and Web sites. The Web site XML files are used to configure ports, Web contexts, and protocols to facilitate the functioning of the OC4J Web site.

Let’s review the important OC4J server XML files.

server.xml

The server.xml file is the key OC4J server configuration file; it contains references to most of the files used by the OC4J server. Besides configuring the OC4J server, the server.xml file also points to other configuration files, such as the jms.xml file for JMS support. This way, you can configure the various services in their own configuration files, but by referring to them in the server.xml file, you let it be known that these services are for the use of the OC4J instance. The server configuration files are OC4J instance specific and refer to the key J2EE configuration files. You don’t usually need to modify the OC4J server configuration files when you deploy J2EE applications. Here’s how the server.xml file references other configuration files:

  server.xml
  |----→rmi.xml
  |----> jms.xml
  |---→application.xml
  |       |--------→principals.xml
  |       ---------→data-sources.xml
  |----→global-web-application.xml
  -----→default-web-site.xml
              |------→default-web-app
              -------→web-app

Together, the server.xml, the application.xml, and the default-web-site.xml files define an application’s configuration.

You use the server.xml file for the following purposes:

• Configuring OC4J
  
• Referencing other configuration files
  
• Specifying J2EE applications

Let’s look at each of these three categories of tasks in detail in the following subsections.