Client/Server Binding for Enterprise Server uses Micro Focus Common Client (MFCC), as its client communications API. MFCC is configured using the text file mf-client.dat in the base\bin directory. See the COBOL product documentation for more information on configuring MFCC using mf-client.dat.
Some MFCC configuration parameters deserve special mention in the context of Client/Server Binding applications:
- MFBINP digest: MFBINP messages, such as those used by Client/Server Binding for Enterprise Server, can optionally include a message digest which provides a way of checking that the message has not been accidentally altered in transit (e.g. by a network error). You can set the parameter "mfbinp-digest" in the "[defaults]" section to "md5" (case-insensitive) to enable an MD5 digest with every message, or "sha1" to enable an SHA-1 digest. We recommend setting this option if you are concerned about possible message corruption; the choice of MD5 versus SHA-1 is relatively unimportant in this application.
Note: The message digest will not protect against deliberate alteration if the attacker also updates the digest data.
- Timeouts: While Client/Server Binding provides a "timeout" configuration parameter to set timeouts for connecting to the server, and sending and receiving data, MFCC allows you to set separate connect and send/receive timeouts, This is useful for some applications. In particular, some administrators may want the application to time out quickly on connection, because they expect to contact the server almost immediately if it is running, but to have a much longer timeout for receiving data, because the server may take a while to process a request. To configure different connection and send/receive timeouts, do not use the Client/Server Binding timeout parameter. Instead, use the "connect-timeout" and "timeout" options in the "[defaults]" section of mf-client.dat. (You can also set these values using the "MFC_CONNECT_TIMEOUT" and "MFC_TIMEOUT" environment variables.)
