Greetings,
We have found a need to stop and start Tomcat once in a while to allow
Tomcat to connect via HTTPS with some other servers. We think the
restart may be synchronizing the time Tomcat uses with the server OS
system time, and we are looking for ways to prevent having to stop/start
Tomcat.
Details:
Our instance of Tomcat 6.0.36 runs on HP-UX B11.31 ia64 with JVM Version
1.7.0.08. It hosts a custom servlet which, when invoked, connects with
a remote server via HTTPS to retrieve some data. However, after about a
month the timestamp Tomcat sends in the SSL handshake appears to drift
enough for the remote server's time to start rejecting requests because
the timestamp is too far off (according to our partner's remote
application logs).
We have confirmed that our server clock is set correctly and synced with
NTP, and matches the system clock on the remote server, which also uses
NTP. So one thing we thought might be happening is that Tomcat (or the
Java that Tomcat runs on) may be keeping an internal clock, perhaps
using a separate thread as a way to speed up the retrieval of time so
that it does not have to go to the OS system clock every time it needs
the current time. And maybe this internal clock is not synced with the
server time until Tomcat (or the JVM) is restarted.
If this is the case, would anyone have an idea of how to force Tomcat
(or Java) to use the server's system clock every time instead of using
its own internal clock? We do not care about the performance hit on
this because this is a low-volume application. Or, if we are
misunderstanding Tomcat and it actually uses the system clock every time
it needs to get the current time, is there something else we should be
looking at?
We have researched on the web, checked the Apache mail archives, read
the Tomcat configuration guide, looked up the Java system options, but
have not studied the Tomcat source code yet. We did find that there is
a Java Wrapper product out there by Tanuki Software that provides an
option to use system time or a background thread, which is what caused
us to wonder if Tomcat might be doing something similar.
For more information on what the Tanuki wrapper does, here is an excerpt
we found on their website
http://wrapper.tanukisoftware.com/doc/english/prop-use-system-time.html:
"As of Wrapper version 3.1.0, a new timer mechanism was added to the
Wrapper. This new timer was made the default in Wrapper version 3.2.0.
Rather than keeping time by querying the system clock, the Wrapper
creates a background thread which enters a light weight loop and
increments an internal "tick" counter. Internally all timekeeping has
been modified to be based on these "ticks". (If the system time is being
used, then the tick count at any particular moment is calculated from
the system time rather than from the counter.) "
Thanks in advance for any ideas that are shared.
Richard
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