Axis C++ Linux Installation Guide

Contents

  • Introduction
  • What You Need
  • Installing Axis C++

    • Introduction

    This guide will help you to start with Axis C++. I'll explain the minimum steps needed to build and run Axis C++, and warn you about the common pitfalls.

    What You Need

    You need a few helper libraries for parsing XML, WSDL processing and introspection. You need to have the following in order to run Axis C++ engine.

          Apache web server (2.0.x or 1.3.x)  - You need to have Apache built with module so support, hence you need to have the source of Apache web server.
    Axis C++ uses Apache web server to host services.


          Expat (1.95.7) and/or Xerces C++ (2.2.0) XML parser(s)

    Axis C++ needs an XML parser to parse SOAP messages and WSDD files. It has a parser abstraction layer that helps users to select/switch between parsers. However only one parser library could be used at a time. Currently Expat and Xerces parsers are supported by Axis C++.


    Installing Axis C++

    1. Install Apache web server. In case you have already installed Apache , make sure that 'so modules' are enabled.
    This is because Axis C++ server engine is implemented as a 'so module'. (For Apache 1.3.x use --enable-module=so; for Apache 2.0.x use --enable-so when configuring. See Apache web server documentation for more details)



    2. Install Expat (1.95.7) and/or Xerces C++ (2.2.0) depending on your parser preferences. See the respective parser's documentation for installation instructions.



    3. Download Axis C++ source or binary distribution and extract the package.



    4. Define the following environment variables.

    AXISCPP_HOME="Path to Axis C++ source or binary extracted folder"
    e.g. AXISCPP_HOME="/my/home/axiscpp"

    AXISCPP_DEPLOY="Path to the folder where you want to install Axis C++"
    e.g. AXISCPP_DEPLOY="/usr/local/axiscpp_deploy"
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH="<path to parser library you use>/lib:$AXISCPP_DEPLOY/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
    export AXISCPP_HOME AXISCPP_DEPLOY LD_LIBRARY_PATH



    5. Build Axis C++ (If you have downloaded Axis C++ binaries, you can skip this step)

    cd $AXISCPP_HOME

    ./configure --prefix=$AXISCPP_DEPLOY --with-apache2=/path/to/Apache2 --with-xercesc=/path/to/xerces-c

    make

    make install


    The above set of instructions assume you have Apache 2.0.x web server and Xerces C++ parser.
    For more information on build options run ./configure --help.

    The libs created in build process are placed in $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/lib. (Provided that you used $AXISCPP_DEPLOY as --prefix option for configuring). Note that you need permission to install to the specified directory given in prefix option
     
    You need global access rights to the Axis C++ deploy folder to make sure that Axis C++ works properly.

    chmod -R 777 $AXISCPP_DEPLOY



    6. Configure Apache module

    Note: to execute the following steps, you may need to have super user rights on your machine.
    Now you need to edit httpd.conf file in <path to Apache web server installation>/conf by adding the following lines at the bottom of that file (assuming you are using Apache 2.0.x):

    LoadModule axis_module modules/libaxiscpp_mod2.so
    <Location /axis>
    SetHandler axis
    </Location>

    For Apache1.3.x LoadModule line should read as:
    LoadModule axis_module libexec/libaxiscpp_mod.so



    7. Configure server deployment descriptor file

    Now you need the server deployment descriptor (server.wsdd) to deploy server samples you built.
    There is a sample deployment descriptor called server.wsdd_linux in $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/etc to help to deploy samples.
    If you edit this file to your requirements then when you run step 9 it will be turned into server.wsdd. If you don't use scripts as described in step 9 then just rename server.wsdd_linux to server.wsdd after doing your changes. server.wsdd file is an XML file, and the contents are self descriptive.



    8. Set engine wide settings in configuration file

    Axis C++ uses a configuration file to let the user specify preferences such as log file locations, transport and parser libs to be used and location of deployment descriptor files.
    A sample configuration file named axiscpp.conf_linux is installed in $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/etc folder. Edit this file to your requirements.
    When you execute step 9 this file will be turned into axiscpp.conf. If you don't use scripts as described in step 9 then just rename axiscpp.conf_linux to axiscpp.conf after your changes

    Configuration file has the following Syntax:


    The comment character is '#'

    WSDDFilePath: The path to the server wsdd file

    ClientWSDDFilePath:The path to the client wsdd

    LogPath: The path to the Axis C++ server log

    ClientLogPath: The path to the Axis C++ client log

    Transport_http: The HTTP transport library

    XMLParser: The XML parser library

    A sample axiscpp.conf file:


    LogPath:/usr/local/axiscpp_deploy/log/AxisLog

    WSDDFilePath:/usr/local/axiscpp_deploy/etc/server.wsdd

    ClientLogPath:/usr/local/axiscpp_deploy/log/AxisClientLog

    XMLParser:/usr/local/axiscpp_deploy/lib/libaxis_xercesc.so

    Transport_http:/usr/local/axiscpp_deploy/lib/libaxis2_transport.so


    9. Deploying in apache

    Now we need to copy apache module (libaxiscpp_mod2.so for apache2 and libaxiscpp_mod.so for apache) to the correct places and start apache. To do that you can find scripts written in $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/bin.


    cd $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/bin

    To deploy on apache2
    sh deploy_apache2.sh

    To deploy on apache
    sh deploy_apache.sh

    Note that if you need to use a different parser you need to edit the script. For example if you use expat
    instead of

    cp -f ${AXISCPP_DEPLOY}/lib/libaxis_xercesc.so ${AXISCPP_DEPLOY}/lib/libaxis_xmlparser.so

    you need
    cp -f ${AXISCPP_DEPLOY}/lib/libaxis_expat.so ${AXISCPP_DEPLOY}/lib/libaxis_xmlparser.so

    Basically what is done in the script are,

      1. libaxiscpp_mod2.so is copied to /modules (the corresponding folder in apache is libexec)

      2. libaxis_xercesc.so or libaxis_expat.so (the parser you use) is renamed to libaxis_xmlparser.so.

      3. Apache is restarted

    So if you don't use the scripts you need to do the above three steps yourself.

    10. See Axis C++ in action

    Now the installation is complete. You can verify that the server side is working by accessing the URL http://localhost/axis/ using your web browser. You should get the Axis C++ welcome page and this page will show you a list of deployed services as specified by the $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/conf/server.wsdd file.


    Now you can run a client sample and see if it works.
    cd $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/bin
    ./base 

    To help you run several samples at once there is a script named run_interoptests.sh in $AXISCPP_DEPLOY/bin folder. You can try running that as well.


    PDF
    PDF