Progress
Open Client
Developer’s Guide


Connecting Over an Intranet

The AppServer environment provides a number of options for connecting to an AppServer over a company intranet. You can connect through a NamerServer or directly to an AppServer.

When you connect over a company intranet using a NameServer, the NameServer process coordinates access to multiple AppServers. Each AppServer identifies the application procedures that it supports using an Application Service name, which it registers with a particular NameServer. Therefore, the AppServer connection parameter provides the network address of a NameServer and the name of an Application Service. The specified NameServer locates an AppServer that supports the specified Application Service and provides the network address of that AppServer to the Progress Open Client Runtime. The Open Client Runtime then connects your application to this AppServer. Using the NameServer also provides location transparency and load balancing capabilities for an AppServer.

Connecting directly to an AppServer without a NameServer is desirable if the configuration for your application is simple and static, and as a result, you do not need location transparency or load balancing. For these configurations, taking advantage of the optional NameServer means having less to configure and manage.

Connecting directly to an AppServer also eliminates conflicts that might arise when you do not want to use the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) protocol that the NameServer uses. If you have restrictions that prohibit using UDP, you can connect directly to an AppServer to avoid these restrictions.

Both Java and ActiveX clients accept the AppServer connection parameter as a single string containing a universal resource locator (URL).

In general, all connection parameters are optional, depending on the AppServer configuration and the application requirements. For any parameter that you do not specify, Progress uses standard default values. However, you must ensure that any defaults are valid for your application environment. For more information, see Building Distributed Applications Using the Progress AppServer .

When you connect to the AppServer, you have the option of connecting through a NameServer or of connecting directly to the AppServer. The following shows the AppServer URL syntax for connecting to an AppServer through a NameServer over an intranet:

SYNTAX
[[AppServer:][//name-server-host][:name-server-port][service-name]] 

AppServer

Indicates that the Open Client should connect using a NameServer.

name-server-host

TCP/IP host address of the NameServer that holds the service registration.

name-server-port

TCP/IP port address for the NameServer specified with name-server-port.

service-name

Name of the Progress service that supports the application.

The following shows the AppServer URL syntax for connecting directly to an AppServer over an intranet:

SYNTAX
AppServerDC:[//AppServer-host][:AppServer-port][service-name] 

AppServerDC

Indicates the Open Client should connect directly to the AppServer.

AppServer-host

AppServer TCP/IP host address that holds the service.

AppServer-port

AppServer TCP/IP port address for the AppServer specified with AppServer-host.

service-name

Name of the Progress service that supports the application.


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