Java RMI problems with multiple NICs

I have a system running Java SE 1.6U7 on Windows 2008 server. This system has several network interface communication (NIC) cards used for ethernet and TCP/IP communication . We have an RMI application that responds to clients communicating on NIC 1. The other NIC (designated NIC2 ) is on a different network.

When only NIC 1 is enabled we have no problems.

However, when NIC 2 is enabled, I get a connection refused RMI exception. Careful examination reveals the following course of events:

1) Client requests connection on <NIC 1 IP address>
2) Connection rejected on <NIC 2 IP address>

It appears that , when the server registers its service on the RMI registry, the RMI registry is recording it as being available on <NIC 2>, which of course the client can't see at all.

I have attempted to hard-code the rebind() call to NIC 1 IP address. I have also used -Djava.rmi.server.name on the command line to force that system property to NIC 1 address. Neither of these operations helped.

I note that this program has been running for years on Windows 2003 Server (equivalent to Windows XP) without a problem. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that name resolution, especially of 'localhost', has been revised greatly between the Microsoft versions.

Which leads me to the following questions:

1) Has anyone else encountered this?
2) Will upgrading to the latest version of Java solve this problem?
3) Is there a way to configure the server WITHOUT modifying the java program to ensure that the appropriate NIC appears in the RMI registry?
4) Failing that, is there a way to programmatically force this change? As I said, I have already attempted the usual suspects without success.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

It's most likely that the RMI ports are firewalled on NIC2.

Normally, no network application should be binding to a specific NIC. At best, it should only bind on (listen at) a specific IP address(es).

A server name is not the same thing as an IP address. The two are mappable to each other, but it's not a 1-to-1 mapping.

Checked. Firewall was down, so that wasn't the issue.

Eventually solved the problem by setting System.setSystemProperty("java.rmi.server.hostname" ...) directly in the body of the program. This forced the system to use the IP address I specified in that property.

Strange; I would have thought that passing -Djava.rmi.server.hostname= on the command line would have done that as well, only it didn't.

At any rate, the problem is solved.

Respectfully,

Brian P.