Ponder2 Installation

This page describes how to install and run Ponder2 using the ponder2.jar file and supporting libraries. You need Java 1.5 or above to run Ponder2. The change log contains details about the various releases and about new, upcoming changes.

Installation is very simple.

1. The Ponder2Downloads page contains the source and binary download files. Download the one that you require. The binary zip file is all that is necessary. The source zip file simply creates the same Jar files that are found in the binary zip, in fact the source zip file was used to create the binary zip.

2. Extract the files with unzip. Use the unzip program on Unix¹, Windows may automatically unzip the file otherwise double-click on it. All the files will be extracted to a directory/folder called ponder2

If you have the binary distribution then that's it! You will find an ant build file in the ponder2 directory along with the necessary library Jar files. If you have the source distribution, you need to build the Jar library files as follows:

Now follow the instructions below to test your installation. Further information regarding interacting with Ponder2 and writing your own Managed Objects can be found from the front page of this site.

Distribution Layout

There are several files and directories at the top level of the distribution, these are:

Running Ponder2

After downloading the Ponder2 files, Ponder2 can be run as either a stand-alone application or can be started within a Java VM. However it is started, there are some simple tests to ensure that it is running correctly. Ponder2 can be instantiated using Apache Ant, in which case you need Ant version 1.7 or later. If you don't have the appropriate version you can still run Ponder2 by following the instructions for running without ant.

Running with Ant

In the ponder2 directory is an Ant build.xml file. It provides the basic glue to run Ponder2 in a simple manner and should be sufficient for most work. To build and run the basic system simply enter the command

ant run

If all is well, you will see

Shell: trying port 13570
Reading boot.p2
Shell port 13570 ready

If you need to run the RMI communications then you can use the folowing command which will give the Ponder2 SMC the address of "rmi://localhost/Ponder2":

ant run -Drmi=Ponder2

The Sun rmiregistry program is required to use RMI and the Ant build script will test for its presence and start it in the background if necessary. If Ant has trouble starting rmiregistry then it will have to be started by hand first.

In addition to the above commands you may want Ponder2 to read your PonderTalk files so that you can start up your own programs. You can do this with the -Dboot option. The argument is a comma separated list of PonderTalk files. For instance to run the example SampleObject PonderTalk file included in the src directory you can use:

ant run -Dboot=SampleObject.p2

If you want to run a PonderTalk file and then exit you can use the special exit.p2 PonderTalk file following your own by using a file list e.g.

$ ant run -Dboot=SampleObject.p2,exit.p2
...
run:
     [java] Shell: trying port 13570
     [java] Reading boot.p2
     [java] Reading SampleObject.p2
     [java] Adding: A line of text
     [java] Retrieved: A line of text
     [java] Reading exit.p2
$

If you want to use Web Services for Ponder2 communications you need a more complex set-up. In this case follow the communications instructions.

Running without Ant

To run the basic system you need ponder2.jar, antlr-runtime.jar and qdparser.jar in your classpath. If you need to run the RMI communications or you want to use Web Services for Ponder2 communications you need a more complex setup. In either of these cases follow the communications instructions.

NB All these commands assume that your current directory is the ponder2 directory created by unzipping the distribution file(s).

To run Ponder2 as a stand alone application all that is needed is

(See startup arguments for argument information)

If all is well, you will see

Shell: trying port 13570
Reading boot.p2
Shell port 13570 ready

Ponder2 within a Java VM

To start Ponder2 with a Java VM you need to call the main method from a new Thread. To start Ponder2 with a port number of 13570 (the default.) See startup arguments for argument information.

   1 String args[] = { "-port", "13570" };
   2 net.ponder2.SelfManagedCell.main(args);

Method calls are available to interact with Ponder2 to create event types and policies and to inject new events.

Simple Tests

To test Ponder2, open a new terminal session and connect to port 13570 on your computer:

$ telnet localhost 13570

You will get a shell prompt from Ponder2's built-in, Unix-like shell (but it is not a real Unix shell!). Now enter

$ read testsetup.p2

This will load and execute the testsetup PonderTalk file which runs some PonderTalk and prints out a few messages. It the defines an event type and a policy which accepts that event. You can now create events causing the policy to be activated. The policy will simply print something out to show that it is working. The policy takes the name of a colour and a value. If the value is over 50 then the policy responds and prints out the event.

You can now try creating an event and sending it into the SMC (Self Managed Cell)

$ event colourevent "red" 60

This will print out an alert message (in the server window) and shows you that the policy server is running correctly. You should see:

$ event colourevent red 23
Command is event
Received event: colour=red intensity=60

Use ^C to kill the Ponder2 server. An easier way of starting the policy service so that it reads a PonderTalk file immediately is to use the -boot option. You will still need, however, the Telnet session to be able to enter the event command.

$ java <java options> -boot testsetup.p2

Using Ant you can do the same with

$ ant run -Dboot=testsetup.p2

Startup arguments

Ponder2 comprises one or more Java jar files depending upon what you want to do. The main Ponder2 jar file (ponder2.jar) will pick Managed Objects from other jar files on the classpath as necessary. The basic command to start Ponder2 is (assuming that theclasspath has been set up correctly, including ponder2.jar)

java [java options including classpath] net.ponder2.SelfManagedCell [Ponder2 options] [ - [user options]]

There are several runtime options that can be passed when Ponder2 is started.

• CategoryPonder2Installation