WebSphere: JNDI Context Lookup Failure

websphere

Solution

Well, this question is quite old, and I see that there's no accepted answer yet, so.

Here is what really happens:

- Your code executes a JNDI lookup to `java:comp/env/DB2_DB`.

- WebSphere uses the WAS-proprietary deployment descriptor (`ibm-web-bnd.xml`) to "translate" the application binding `DB2_DB` into a real name in the WebSphere JNDI tree (`jdbc/DB2DB`).

- WebSphere looks up `jdbc/DB2DB` and returning it to the caller.

You are getting a `NameNotFoundException` on the first lookup - the lookup of `java:comp/env/DB2_DB`. The problem is not with finding `jdbc/DB2DB`; it's with finding `DB2_DB` inside your component's environment.

Your deployment descriptor looks OK to me, so I'm guessing that the reason for your problem is this:

Context aContext = new InitialContext(settings);

You are constructing an `InitialContext` instance by providing a `Hashtable`. The `Hashtable` is often useful when you need to provide special parameters for the construction, but you must know when to use it and when to avoid it. Code that runs inside a JavaEE container and needs simple access to the container's JNDI tree rarely, if ever, should provide any `Hashtable` to the `InitialContext` constructor.

I wouldn't be surprised if those `settings` that you're passing into `InitialContext` contain, for example, a `PROVIDER_URL` key instructing the lookup to happen on some distant foreign JNDI tree.

So, I would start by scrapping that parameter:

Context aContext = new InitialContext();

And then give it another shot.

If that still fails, use WebSphere's `dumpNamespace` utility to get a clear picture of WebSphere's JNDI tree.

Problem

Original source