How to configure TCP/IP port numbers to be used by the OPS/MVS OPSLOG WebView feature?

Products

• OPS/MVS Event Management & Automation

Issue/Introduction

How to configure TCP/IP port numbers to be used by the OPS/MVS OPSLOG WebView feature?

 

Environment

OPS/MVS releases prior to 13.5

Resolution

OPSLOG WebView is a TCP/IP application that has no well-known port number.  It will usually operate on a port in the range of 1023-49151. These ports are generally available to installations for their own use. We arbitrarily chose port 6001 for WebView, but since that is not in the well-known range, we have no guarantee it will be suitable for a particular installation. Our port number appears in the opslog.jnlp file, and in the OPSLOGSV startup procedure. Both need to be changed to use a different port.

The OPSLOG WebView server can process communications for up to 50 users simultaneously. The server listens on port 6001 (or your own port) for client logon requests. When a request comes in, and authentication succeeds, the management of the TCP/IP connection is passed to a thread, which is similar to a subtask. All TCP/IP activity for that client is handled by the thread until he logs off. In effect, one port is doing the work for all logged on users, so only one port is needed for up to fifty concurrent users.

 

TCP/IP ports are the programming interface through which all TCP/IP communications flow. Unlike VTAM lines, these ports are a programming construct, and do not correspond to an identifiable piece of equipment.

Ports are identified by their number, usually expressed as a decimal integer. A TCP/IP host program can support 65535 ports. Each enabled port connects to a server program, and each client that needs a server connection requests the port number of the server that he wants. Thus, it is necessary for a server and client to agree upon a port number. Some common applications use a well-known port number by default. Well-known port numbers are in the range of 1-1023. These numbers comply with a standard published by an Internet administrative committee.* The HTTP server is an example of a server that has been assigned a well-known port number. When you enter a URL beginning with http:// into a web browser, the browser accesses TCP/IP port 80, because that is the port number assigned to the HTTP server. A URL beginning with HTTPS will be connected by default to port 443; also a well-known port.

 

Additional Information

The WebView feature was deprecated starting in release 14.0 of OPS/MVS