To Start ESCWA

This chapter details how you can start and configure ESCWA, including enabling it to operate using Transport Layer Security (TLS).

On UNIX, to start ESCWA as default:

  1. From a command prompt, execute cobsetenv to set the environment:
    . <product-install-dir>/bin/cobsetenv
    Note: The product install directory is typically located at /opt/microfocus/VisualCOBOL/opt/microfocus/EnterpriseServer/bin.
  2. Change to a new directory to store the ESCWA standard output, in this case, in a file called escwa.out and avoid blocking unmounting the current file system:
    cd working-directory
  3. To execute ESCWA in the background, type:
    nohup escwa < /dev/null > escwa.out 2>&1 &

In addition, ESCWA can only initially be contacted using the loopback address (localhost 127.0.0.1). You can access the application by using the following URL in your Web browser: http://localhost:10086.

Note: On the first occasion you access the Web interface, two warning messages will be displayed:
  • The ESCWA server is not TLS-enabled. Communications across the network will not be encrypted. Micro Focus recommends that you enable TLS settings as soon as possible.
  • Access and administration of the ESCWA server is not restricted. Micro Focus recommends that you configure user access as soon as possible.

To restrict access to ESCWA you need to enable a security manager. See Specifying an External Security Manager for more information.

You can access ESCWA from a Web browser on a remote host by turning off the loopback mode.

Note: Micro Focus recommends that you restrict access and enable TLS before turning off loopback mode.

You can turn off loopback mode using one of the following three methods:

  1. Modify the ESCWA application configuration file:
    1. Edit the commonwebadmin.json file, and change the value of the MfRequestedEndpoint property to tcp:*:10086.

      The application configuration file is located in $COBDIR/etc.

      Note: The commonwebadmin.json file is not overwritten when installing a new version of Visual COBOL. Previous versions of ESCWA used port 10004, therefore, you might need to modify the configuration file.
  2. Add a parameter to the service before starting it.

    On UNIX:

    1. From a command prompt, execute cobsetenv to set the environment:
      . <product-install-dir>/cobsetenv
      Note: The product install directory is typically located at /opt/microfocus/VisualCOBOL/bin.
    2. Change directory to $COBDIR/bin and type:
      nohup escwa --BasicConfig.MfRequestedEndpoint="tcp:*:10086" --write=true < /dev/null > escwa.out 2>&1 &
  3. Modify the requested endpoint from within ESCWA:
    1. In a browser, type the following into the search bar localhost:10086.
    2. Click .

      This opens the Enterprise Server Administration Configuration dialog box.

    3. Click SERVER SETTINGS to expand the available configuration options.
    4. In the Hostname or IP Address field, type *
    5. In the Port field, type 10086
      Note: You must restart the ESCWA service if you modify these fields.
    6. Click APPLY.
Note: You can substitute the IP and port values of tcp:*:10086 (protocol:ip_or_domain:port) with the IP or domain and port you require. The --write=true parameter enables configuration changes to be written to the config file.