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WebServices

There are several packages that can be used on OpenVMS for Web services, but my focus is on "Open Source" , non-commercial products - just because of the cost (none except time and some frustration).

There is just one that will go with Apache: the combination of Tomcat and Axis. Both are written in Java (and therefore there may be issues with system management to consider), somewhat adapted to fit VMS. Of course, both downloadable from the OpenVMS e-business site.

This HOW-TO describes how I set it all up - by no means complete of just the way it has to be done. But it works this way...

Apache (temporary link)

Tomcat

Axis

Due to their Unix background, most of these packages behave on VMS as if it was Unix. This is sometime awfully inefficient. SWS in itself f is not the biggest problem, though it won't use VMS-specific methods where I think it should. Tomcat is quite a different story. I suspect it is a Java application, partly or in total. It causes the system to use relatively large amounts of CPU cycles, memory and IO bandwidth - even doing nothing: I had it running for weeks, had 6-7 processes out swapped (almost constantly), and it had used DAYS of CPU and thousands of IO's

I worked with AXIS in a project - and I'm only impressed by the sheer complexity that is involved in interfacing to .NET applications using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).

Forget about "Simple". "Stupid" might be a better extension.

This inefficiency is the main reason why I abandoned SWS and turned to WASD as a webserver, and will avoid Java whenever possible. What can be done in Java can be done in C++ as well - assuming you know about proper programnming. Or in Pyton, or Ruby, or....

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