WebSphere Application Server Overview

Cell: It is an logical administrative boundary used to control application servers and applications.
When you create Deployment Manager Profile it will create a Cell.
Node : A profile with Node agent process is called as Node.
One physical system can contain many profiles which means many nodes on same system.

Profile : Profiles are collection of configuration files created from Installed Repository.
We have 4 types profiles
WAS 6.1 : Cell Profile,Dmgr Profile, Application Server Profile, Custom Profile
WAS 6.0 provided with 3 profiles : Dmgr Profile, Application Server Profile, Custom Profile
1.Deployment Manager Profile: It will create a Cell. When install Deployment Manager profile
we will get a process called dmgr.
We will be having GUI based administration and command based administration.
GUI based adminconsole is an application deployed on in built web container IBM HTTP Server
of WAS Server.
Admin Console is a single point of administration of servers and application under a cell.Dmgr
will contain Central Repository for all Nodes under that cell.
This profile used for Clustering, High Availability and Scalability.
Note: We cannt deploy Applications on Dmgr process it used for only administration.
When We create profile we need to remember below things.
1.Admin Port (WC_adminhost) =9060 (default )
2.Application Port (WC_defaulthost) = 9080 (default)
3.SOAP Port number (This is used in Federation Process )
We can find these details from configuration files(Which are XMLs ).
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/config/cells/<CellName>/nodes/<Node
Name>/ServerIndex.xml

Please find the wc_defaluthost,wc_adminhost,wc_defaulthost_secure,wc_adminhost_secure and

SOAP ports.

From Console We can find the each server ports as follows

Navigate like Servers
Application Servers
<ServerName>
Communication and Ports

2. Application Server Profile : When we create this profile we will have one process named
server1.you can not change name of this server.Adminconsole and FTP system applications are
installed on in build web container Web server.
We call this as stand alone node as Administration is controlled by Server1 process only.
1.Admin Port (WC_adminhost) =9060 (default )
2.Application Port (WC_defaulthost) = 9080 (default)
We can have many Application server profiles on single machine also.Then Admin port and
Application ports will get changed.
https://localhost:9060/ibm/console ----Admin Console URL
https://localhost:9080/<ApplicationURI> ---Application URL

We can federate application server profile to Dmgr using two ways.

1.From Admin Console
2.Command line
Federation from Admin Console :
Login to Dmgr admin console
System Administration
Nodes
Add

Provide the application server host name ,include apps ,include buses options
Click OK to start federation process.
Federation from Command Line:

We need to have Dmgr host name and SOAP port number handy here.
Login application profile server box/machine.
Need to run addNode command from profile bin directory.
Cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/<ProfileName>/bin
./add Node.sh <Dmgr Hostname> <Dmgr SOAP Port > -includeApps includeBuses
Cd C:/ProgramFiles/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/Profiles/<Profile Name>/bin
add Node.bat <Dmgr Hostname> <Dmgr SOAP Port > -includeApps includeBuses

Federation Process:
Federation process will stop running Server1 process. Federation process will takes place after
backup config.
Once federation is successful then you can see nodeagent process up and running for that profile.
Now we can create as many servers as you want under this profile.
Before Federation

After Federation

1.Profile called profile

2.Stand alone Node
3.Only one server process called Server1
4.No Nodeagent Process

1.Profile called as Node

5.Seperate Admin console is available

6.Config Repository will be available with in
Server
7.No Synchronization

2.Managed Node
3.We can create many server process
4.Node agent process will exists
5.Dmgr Adminconsole is used for config
changes
6.Config Repository will be available with Dmgr
7.For every config changes Nodeagent need to
Sync with Dmgr

3.Custom Profile :
We will call this profile as Empty Node. While installing this profile we need to supply Dmgr host
name and SOAP port details.
This is profile will be federated while installing without any server process in it.So thats why it is
called as Empty node.
Use of this empty node is that If we want to control(Start/Stop/Plug-in Generation/Plug-in
Propagation) Web servers (Other than IBMIHS) we need to have node agent to process.
In case of IBMIHS we will be having IBMIHS admin Service which act as nodeagent process
between Webserver and Dmgr.
4.Cell Profile :
It is will create one Dmgr profile and one Application server profile which is federated to create
Dmgr profile.
Means you will having dmgr console which has one AppSrv node.In that node we can see server1
process.

Profiles Creating Process:

Profiles are created while installing WAS.If we want to create profiles after WAS installation
We have two options.
1.GUI Mode
2.Command line
GUI Mode:
WAS 6.0 : We have Profile creation wizard.
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/ProfileCreator/pct.sh
C:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/ProfileCreator/pct.bat
WAS 6.1 :We have Profile Management Tool
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/ProfileManagement/pmt.sh
C:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/ProfileManagement/pmt.bat

Command Line:
We have command line tool to create ,delete,update profiles.

WAS 6.0 :
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/wasprofile.sh
C:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/ wasprofiles.bat

WAS 6.1:
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/manageprofile.sh
C:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/ manageprofiles.bat

Profile Delete Process: If we want delete a profile we cant do it from Command line tool
(wasprofiles.sh/manageprofiles.sh)

Security : Generally security will be disabled for Admin Console.It means every one who knows
host name and Admin port can access Admin console using url
http://<hostname>:9060/ibm/console
And they can configuration changes which is not acceptable.
To avoid this we can enable security which saves Admin console from unauthorized access.
We can 4 types of Repository stores to enable security
1.Local OS
2.Stand Alone LDAP
3.Federated LDAP
4.Customised Repository

If we use Local OS repository User name and password are stored in Local OS (windows/UNIX).
When Adminconsole accessed by some one ,it connects to Local OS and checks username and
password and grants the access. It is used for small number of users.
Note: To use Local OS WAS process should be running as root or administrative privileges.
Stand Alone LDAP used to store Large number of users.

We need to fill details in this page and below page also.

I will send you Separate document on this.

Federated Repository : Here user name and Passwords are stored in Flat files. It can be used for
only small environment.
WAS console provides 4 user roles for users. Once security enabled we can map users to this 4
roles to control them.
1.Administrator
2. Operator
3.Configurator
4.Monitor
Administrator can all Administrative activities.
Operator can start/stop Servers cannot do configuration changes
Configurator can do configuration changes.
Monitor can not start/stop servers and cannot do config changes.

Secutiry Disable : We can disable Security by two ways

1.AdminConsole
2.Editing Security.xml

Uncheck Circled option and restart the server to disable security to console.
If you select second option Enable Java 2 security, then security is enabled to application also.
Means we need provide user ID/password to access application also.

Command line Security disable to will do as follows

Open listed security.xml

Now security is disabled so in pic showing false if security enabled it will show True.
Just open this xml and change that true value to false to make security disable.

Server Start/Stop :
We can start stop servers from Dmgr consoles and command prompt.
If it a stand alone server we cannt stop from Admin console.
From command prompt
Stop server1 from Profile AppSrv01
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StartServer.sh server1
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StopServer.sh server1
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StartServer.bat server1
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StopServer.bat server1

Start/Stop Nodeagent :

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StartNode.sh
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StopNode.sh
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StartNode.bat
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StopNode.bat

Another way like below

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StartServer.sh nodeagent
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StopServer.sh nodeagent
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StartServer.bat nodeagent
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/StopServer.bat nodeagent
As nodeagent is also one server process, we can use above commands.
And it will stop nodeagent related to AppSrv01 profile only.

Start/Stop Dmgr :

We can Start/Stop Dmgr using below commands.Dmgr profile name is Dmgr01

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin/StartManager.sh
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin/StopManager.sh
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin/StartManager.bat
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin/StopManager.bat
Another way of doing it
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ Dmgr01/bin/StartServer.sh dmgr
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ Dmgr01/bin/StopServer.sh dmgr
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ Dmgr01/bin/StartServer.bat dmgr
C:/IBM//WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ Dmgr01/bin/StopServer.bat dmgr

WebServers:
Webservers are added to Admin console as Managed Node or Unmanaged Node.

Managed Node: A node with nodeagent called as Managed Node

Unmanaged Node: Node without nodeagent called as unmanaged Node.
If Managed Node contains webserver then we can Start/Stop of webserver and Plugin
Generate/Propagation can do from Admin console.
Unmanaged we cannt do all above actions.

Start /Stop Webserver:

From console we can goto Servers
Webservers
Select required webserver and click on Start/Stop buttons.

Command line :
/opt/IBMIHS/bin/apachectl Start/Stop/Restart
C:/IBM/IBMHTTPServer/bin/apachectl Start/Stop/Restart

If admin service installed we can use below commands to start/stop it

/opt/IBMIHS/bin/adminctl Start/Stop/Restart
C:/IBM/IBMHTTPServer/bin/adminctl Start/Stop/Restart

How to check Running Process :

On unix we can use below commands
Ps ef | grep java
Which will list all java running java processes.

Ps ef | grep <servername>
Examples :
Ps ef | grep server1 ,
Ps ef | grep nodeagent,
Ps ef | grep dmgr

Ps ef | grep <user ID>

Every process running with one user ID .It lists all processes running with mentioned user ID.
Example :

Ps ef | grep web
Lists all processes running with wedsrvr,webas,webadm all.

To check IBMIHS running or not :

Ps ef | grep httpd
It will list all webservers running on this machine including Admin process also.

In Pic I marked all running admin processes. Rest all are webserver processes.

Plug-ins :

Generally we access applications on application server using below url

https://localhost:9080/<ApplicatiionURI>

But Webserver will run on Port 80 which http default port

Webserver URL is
http://localhost = http://localhost :80/
http://<hostname> = http://<hostname>:80/
So if we want eliminate 9080 from WAS url we need to access Application from Webserver.
So here plug-in act as interface between webserver and WAS .
Plug-ins are separate module we need to install.
While installing plug-ins we need to provide webserver host name ,port number and path to
webserver configuration file /opt/IBMIHS/conf/httpd.conf
Where plug-in add location of plug-in file and loads WebSpherePlugin Module at the bottom of
httpd.conf file.

When we generate a plugin we can find generated plug-in file

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/config/cells/

We need to propagate same to

/opt/IBMIHS/Plugins/config/webserver1/

If we hit below URL process go like this

http://localhost/<applicationURI>

Here Plugin-cfg.xml contains all servers, cluster details, Application URIs deployed on all server
and Port details .
When ever Application modification, port changes, new application installation and uninstallation
we need to generate and propagate Plugin-cfg.xml.

Logs :
For every server process we will having main 6 log files.
SystemOut.log,SystemErr.log,native_stdout.log,native_stderr.log,startserver.log and stopserver.log
Startserver.log : When ever you try to start the server this will be get updated.
Stopserver.log : When ever we try to stop the server this will be get updated.
Below two logs also called as System logs.As they log all system (Server+applicationetc) logs.
System logs:
SystemOut.log : This is called all activities are logged here. Regarding application, server
start/stop and all other transactions updated here. It is very important log file for Server
For any issues first we look in this log and check other logs for other details.
SystemErr.log: Only application related, server related exceptions, errors will log here.

Below logs are called as Process logs.It logs are running java process information.

Process logs:
native_stdout.log : Same like SystemOut.log but logs all process related exceptions, transaction
info.
native_stderr.log : It logs all process related errors here.It alos logs garbage collection logs also.
Out of memory exceptions all are logged here.