Installing and starting OSGi-enabled plug-ins

In this task, you install the dynamic plug-in bundle into the OSGi framework. Then, you start the plug-in.

Before you begin

Complete the following tasks before the OSGi-enabled plug-ins are installed and started.

The eXtreme Scale server or client bundle is installed into the Eclipse Equinox OSGi framework. See Installing eXtreme Scale bundles.
One or more dynamic BackingMap or ObjectGrid plug-ins are implemented. See Building eXtreme Scale dynamic plug-ins.
The dynamic plug-ins are packaged as OSGi services in OSGi bundles.
By default, the JVM continues to run when each eXtreme Scale server in an OSGi framework is stopped in the xscmd utility with the -c teardown command. If you want eXtreme Scale to exit the JVM after each server is stopped, then set the server property exitJVMOnTeardown to true. For more information, see Server properties file.

About this task

Install the bundle with the Eclipse Equinox console. There are several different methods to install the bundle, including a modification of the config.ini configuration file. Products that embed Eclipse Equinox include alternative methods for adding bundles in the config.ini file. For more information, seeEclipse runtime options.

OSGi allows bundles to be started that have duplicate services. WebSphere eXtreme Scale uses the latest service ranking. When multiple OSGi frameworks are started in an eXtreme Scale data grid, you must make sure that the correct service rankings are started on each server. Failure to do so causes the grid to be started with a mixture of different versions.

To see which versions are in-use by the data grid, use the xscmd utility to check the current and available rankings. For more information, see Updating OSGi services for eXtreme Scale plug-ins with xscmd.

Procedure

Install the plug-in bundle into the Eclipse Equinox OSGi framework with the OSGi console.

Start the Eclipse Equinox framework with the console enabled.

<java_home>/bin/java -jar <equinox_root>/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.6.1.R36x_v20100806.jar -console

Install the plug-in bundle in the Equinox console.
```
osgi> install file:///<path to bundle>
```
Equinox lists the bundle ID for the newly installed bundle:
```
Bundle id is 17
```
Enter the following line to start the bundle in the Equinox console, where <id> is the bundle ID assigned when the bundle was installed:
```
osgi>  start <id>
```
Retrieve the service status in the Equinox console to verify that the bundle started:
```
osgi> ss
```
When the bundle starts, the bundle lists the ACTIVE state, for example:
```
17      ACTIVE      com.mycompany.plugin.bundle_VRM
```

Install the plug-in bundle into the Eclipse Equinox OSGi framework with the config.ini file.

Copy the plug-in bundle into the Eclipse Equinox plug-ins directory:
For example:
```
<equinox_root>/plugins
```

Edit the Eclipse Equinox config.ini configuration file, and add the bundle to the osgi.bundles property.

For example:

osgi.bundles=\ 
org.eclipse.osgi.services_3.2.100.v20100503.jar@1:start, \
org.eclipse.osgi.util_3.2.100.v20100503.jar@1:start, \
org.eclipse.equinox.cm_1.0.200.v20100520.jar@1:start, \
com.mycompany.plugin.bundle_VRM.jar@1:start

Important: Verify that there is a blank line after the last bundle name. Each bundle is separated by a comma.

Start the Eclipse Equinox framework with the console enabled.

For example:

<java_home>/bin/java -jar <equinox_root>/plugins/org.eclipse.osgi_3.6.1.R36x_v20100806.jar -console

Retrieve the service status in the Equinox console to verify that the bundle started.
For example:
```
osgi> ss
```
When the bundle starts, the bundle lists the ACTIVE state; for example:
```
17      ACTIVE      com.mycompany.plugin.bundle_VRM
```

Results

The plug-in bundle is now installed and started. The eXtreme Scale container or client can now be started. For more information on developing eXtreme Scale plug-ins, see the System APIs and Plug-ins topic.