websphere-infra

Configuring Standalone custom registry in WAS

2015-09-28T19:50:00.000+05:30

File-based repository Creation and configuration

Security is paramount for the Websphere Application server Environment
Global Security
a) Global security is enabled to secure your WAS server, but it requires a user registry.
b) A user registry contains the user and group names for authentication and authorization purposes.
c) When we configure it , the application server will connect to the registry and perform lookups to acquire user credentials used in areas where authorization is required.

There are four types of registry
Standalone custom registry :
Standalone custom registry Allows a custom registry that is essentially based on Java
code implementation.

Local operating system :
Local operating system Specified the registry for the local OS.

Standalone LDAP registry :
Standalone LDAP registry Only used LDAP defined users and groups and required

Federated repositories :
Federated repositories Manages users and groups across multiple repositories
using a virtual realm. The registries can also be made up
of the combinations of the other registry types.
File-based repository Creation and configuration
Step 1 : Create the user registry property file
This file will have the users with the password and the details of the user like userid and group id
a) Create a folder called <was_root>/fileRegistry on our Linux box
b) Create a file called user.props with contents placed below

# Format:
# name:passwd:uid:gids:display name
# where name = userId/userName of the user
# passwd = password of the user
# uid = uniqueId of the user
# gid = groupIds of the groups that the user belongs to
# display name = a (optional) display name for the user.
wasadmin:wasadmin:101:101:WebSphere Administrator

Step 2 : Create the Group registry property file
a) In the folder <was_root>/fileRegistry create a file called groups.props and the contents of the file
will be as follows:
# Format:
# name:gid:users:display name
# where name = groupId of the group
# gid = uniqueId of the group
# users = list of all the userIds that the group contains
# display name = a (optional) display name for the group.
admins:101:wasadmin:Administrative group

NOTE: Ensure that any new files you create are assigned appropriate rights using chmod and chown to ensure WebSphere processes can read the file.
NOTE : Add additional users like wasmon , wasops etc on these user.props and groups.props files

Step 3: Turning on global security
To turn on global security,
a)   Log in to the Admin console
b)   Navigate to the Security
c)   Click Global security, as shown in following screenshot

Step 4: Security Configuration Wizard
WebSphere has a wizard to set up basic security using an internal repository.

Click the Security Configuration Wizard button as shown in the previous
screenshot.

Step 5: Standalone custom registry
a) Start by selecting Standalone custom registry during our use of the Global security
wizard, as shown in the following screenshot:

Step 6: The Configure standalone custom registry page,

a) Type wasadmin in the Primary administrative user name and add two properties.
b) The usersFile property will point to the users.props file
c) The groupsFile property will point to the location of the groups.props file

Step 7 : Custom registry class name
Custom registry class name is already filled in with a Java class that exists in the
internals of WebSphere that contains the code for WebSphere to use the user.props
and groups.props files.

Step 8: Complete the Configurations
Click Next to view the summary, and then click Finish to complete your file-based repository.

Step 9 : Restart the Websphere Server

a) Stop Application Server
<was_profile_root>/bin/stopServer.sh server1
b) Start Application Server
<was_profile_root>/bin/startServer.sh server1

Step 10: Login to the Admin console
Once global security is enabled, log in to the standard login URL
http:Hostname:9060/ibm/console

You are being redirected to a secure site and a warning that you have received a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificatefrom an unknown Certificate Authority (CA) will be shown in the browser.

Type wasadmin for the username and wasadmin for the password and click Log in
to gain access to the administrative console.

THIS IS HOW WE WILL CONFIGURE THE FILE BASED REPOSITORY

Silent Installation of Websphere Application Server 8.5.5 on Linux

2015-09-28T19:47:00.001+05:30

Steps as follows

1) Download the necessary packages and the fixpacks from the Passport Advantage
2) Ensure the necessary access is available .. in our case its root ( Though we can install using a non-root user)
3) Create the necessary filesystems ( we will be installing in /apps )
4) Check for sufficient space in the filesystem to extract the zip files and the installation

Below are the files which we have downloaded and transferred in the server

Installation Manager 1.6
agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.6.0.20120831_1216.zip

WAS ND Fixpack 8.5.5.3
8.5.5-WS-WAS-FP0000003-part1.zip
8.5.5-WS-WAS-FP0000003-part2.zip

WASND 8.5.5 SDK
WS_SDK_JAVA_TEV7.0_1OF3_WAS_8.5.5.zip
WS_SDK_JAVA_TEV7.0_2OF3_WAS_8.5.5.zip
WS_SDK_JAVA_TEV7.0_3OF3_WAS_8.5.5.zip

WASND 8.5.5
WASND_v8.5.5_1of3.zip
WASND_v8.5.5_2of3.zip
WASND_v8.5.5_3of3.zip

I have created few folders within /IbmSoftware/was8.5.5/ and saved the corresponding files in these folders

PATH
/IbmSoftware/was8.5.5/IM1.6
agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.6.0.20120831_1216.zip
/IbmSoftware/was8.5.5/was8.5.5
WASND_v8.5.5_1of3.zip
WASND_v8.5.5_2of3.zip
WASND_v8.5.5_3of3.zip
/IbmSoftware/was8.5.5/sdk
WS_SDK_JAVA_TEV7.0_1OF3_WAS_8.5.5.zip
WS_SDK_JAVA_TEV7.0_2OF3_WAS_8.5.5.zip
WS_SDK_JAVA_TEV7.0_3OF3_WAS_8.5.5.zip
/IbmSoftware/was8.5.5/fixpack
8.5.5-WS-WAS-FP0000003-part1.zip
8.5.5-WS-WAS-FP0000003-part2.zip

For eg as below image

5)Installation of Installation Manager

a) Unzip the Installation Manager setup agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.6.0.20120831_1216.zip

#unzip agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.6.0.20120831_1216.zip

The extracted folder

Edit install.xml to define the location for IM installation
b) #vi install.xml

Add the below entries in the install.xml file

<profile kind=’self’ installLocation=’/apps/InstallationManager/eclipse’ id=’IBM Installation Manager’>
</profile>

Highlighted the entries in yellow where “/apps/InstallationManager/eclipse” is the location where I need to install the Installation Manager

c) Install IM1.6 silently
Execute #./installc –acceptLicense

This command reads the install.xml file and installed it in the location mentioned in it

Once the installation is completed the message “Installed <package> to the <location> directory is displayed

d) Verify the installation and the versions of Installation Manager

Navigate to /apps/InstallationManager/ folder

Execute ./imcl -version to check the version of IM fron /apps/InstallationManager/eclipese/tools/

THIS IS HOW WE INSTALL INSTALLATION MANAGER SILENTLY

6) CREATING THE Response xml files

a) Launching Xming to display the graphical interface of the commands
Note : you can use any other X11 utility for unix but I prefer Xming

============================================================================

CONFIGURING XMING

============================================================================

1)   Download Xming and install it on ur local machine from where you want to connect
2)   Execute the XLaunch icon
3)   Select Multiple Windows and “Next”

Select “Start no Client”

Select “No Access Control”

Click on Finish

Lauch Putty
And expand the Putty Settings > Connections >> SSH >> X11
Enable “X11 Forwarding” and mention localhost:0
Now put the ip and login

Once logged in enter “w” to determine the ip you are connecting to the WAS server with .. Here its 10.0.0.2

Export the display variable using
#export=DISPLAY=10.0.0.2:0.0

Run xclock to check if it works

This confirms that ths X11 forwarding works

7) Generating the response.xml files

a) Generating the response.xml files using the record funciton of IM

Execute #./IBMIM –record /apps/WAS8.8.8_Install.xml –skipInstall /tmp/was8.5.5

Where

-record : ensures we are using the record function
/apps/WAS8.8.8_Install.xml : is the response file which will be created ( any file name can be used)
-skipInstall : This is to skip the installation and only create the response
/tmp/was8.5.5 : is a temp location where the Installation Manager will extract the files ( this can be any location )

This will launch the Installation Manager in Skip Install Recording mode (Highlighted in Yellow)

b) Add the repositories needed for WAS 8.5.5 install
c) We will be installing the fixpack also together along with the base install

Select the repository.config for was8.5.5

Similarly do it for the repository.config for SDK folder and the fixpack 3

Click OK

c) Then Click Install to launch the installer function

This will display the packages for the installation ( We wil deselect the SDK for Liberty profile as its not needed for now)

e) Accept the License

f) Provide the path of the Shared Repository Directory ..

I gave it /apps/IMShared as I want all the installation binaries in /apps

g) Provide the path where you want the WAS8.5.5.3 to be installed

h) Select the options needed

Summary screen is displayed. Click Install
Here you can observe that the IBM WAS version is provided 8.5.5.3
IM has automatically detected the Fixpack also added in the repository

Click Finsh .

i) A file /apps/WAS8.8.8_Install.xml which is the response file for WAS8.5.5.3 Installation

Response file

Open the file /apps/WAS8.8.8_Install.xml
Some observation :
We can see the repository location for the packages
“/ibmSoftware…….”

j) Modify the installLocation as per your needs
Change the Profile id as required .. though not necessary unless you allready have an installation of was with the same profile id
Eg “ IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 MY SERVER”

Verify that the files once again for any typo error and save it

k) Execute the imcl to install the WAS

[root@mqnode was8.5.5]# /apps/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl input /apps/WAS8.5.5_Install.xml -acceptLicense -sP

After few minutes if all is well then it will give the output that WAS 8.5.5.3 is installed

l) Verify the Installation

m) Check the version using ./versionInfo.sh

Here we can see WAS ND 8.5.5.3 is installled at /apps/IBM location

NOTE:This response file can be used to install similar was8.5.5.3 on different machines

Also using the record function any Installation response file can be created ie for IHS , BPM8, Websphere Portal 8 etc .

Silent Installation of Installation Manager

2015-09-28T19:45:00.002+05:30

Silent Installation of Installation Manager 1.6

a) Unzip the Installation Manager setup agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.6.0.20120831_1216.zip

#unzip agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_1.6.0.20120831_1216.zip

The extracted folder

Edit install.xml to define the location for IM installation
b) #vi install.xml

Add the below entries in the install.xml file

<profile kind=’self’ installLocation=’/apps/InstallationManager/eclipse’ id=’IBM Installation Manager’>
</profile>

Highlighted the entries in yellow where “/apps/InstallationManager/eclipse” is the location where I need to install the Installation Manager

c) Install IM1.6 silently
Execute #./installc –acceptLicense

This command reads the install.xml file and installed it in the location mentioned in it

Once the installation is completed the message “Installed <package> to the <location> directory is displayed

d) Verify the installation and the versions of Installation Manager

Navigate to /apps/InstallationManager/ folder

Execute ./imcl -version to check the version of IM fron /apps/InstallationManager/eclipese/tools/

THIS IS HOW WE INSTALL INSTALLATION MANAGER SILENTLY

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Failed to create a thread: retVal -1073741830, errno 11

2015-09-28T19:44:00.002+05:30

I Recently got this issue when starting the App cluster Member for the first time ““java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Failed to create a thread: retVal -1073741830, errno 11″”

Issue :

a) The Dmgr started properly but when i when tried to start the cluster from the Dmgr for the first time i got this error in the System Out “java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Failed to create a thread: retVal -1073741830, errno 11″

Error Stack :

Caused by: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Failed to create a thread: retVal -1073741830, errno 11
at java.lang.Thread.startImpl(Native Method)
at java.lang.Thread.start(Thread.java:947)
at com.ibm.ws.dcs.vri.common.ThreadManager.getThread(ThreadManager.java:334)
at com.ibm.ws.dcs.vri.common.impl.DCSStackImpl.(DCSStackImpl.java:178)
at com.ibm.ws.dcs.rsmodule.impl.DCSRSStackImpl.(DCSRSStackImpl.java:215)
at com.ibm.ws.dcs.vri.common.impl.DCSCoreStackImpl.(DCSCoreStackImpl.java:79)
at com.ibm.ws.dcs.vri.common.impl.DCSCoreStackImpl.getInstance(DCSCoreStackImpl.java:75)
at com.ibm.ws.dcs.vri.common.impl.DCSStackFactory.getCoreStack(DCSStackFactory.java:92)
… 39 morestyle=”text-align: left;”>[3/12/15 19:31:53:888 IST] 00000001 WsServerImpl E WSVR0009E: Error occurred during startup
com.ibm.ws.exception.RuntimeError: Unable to start the CoordinatorComponentImpl
at com.ibm.ws.hamanager.runtime.CoordinatorComponentImpl.start

(CoordinatorComponentImpl.java:320)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerHelper.startComponents(ContainerHelper.java:539)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerImpl.startComponents(ContainerImpl.java:627)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ContainerImpl.start(ContainerImpl.java:618)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ServerImpl.start(ServerImpl.java:523)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServerImpl.bootServerContainer(WsServerImpl.java:311)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServerImpl.start(WsServerImpl.java:224)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServerImpl.main(WsServerImpl.java:697)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServer.main(WsServer.java:59)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:60)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:611)

Steps Tried :

a) Tried to Start the cluster Members using ./startServer.sh server1 but still the error in the SystemOut.log
I felt the heap memory was not sufficient for the JVM increased by 512 MB but still same error

b) On Revisitng the SystemOutLogs and concluded that it seems to be Native Memory issue error from the Java Stack Error

c) Checked the System Resources like CPU , Memory but they were all fine . Finally i checked the Ulimit
All the Parameters were unlimited except the “Max no of Process” (nproc) which was 1024 .

d) The Value for ulimit nproc was very less than the recommended .
In Linux here is a new configurations (/etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf ) which overrides the nproc setting in the /etc/security/limits.conf
Sample output of /etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf
#* soft nproc 1024

WebSphere instance only uses a few hundred of threads and it will go on increasing depending on the Load and the other instances in the server .
We also have to take into account the other threads which are running on the Machine . So the nproc count may reach if too many threads are opened

Solution:

a) Edit the /etc/security/limits.d/90-nproc.conf to increase the nproc limit for all users .You can also set it for specific user too ..
NOTE : A reboot is not required for this to take effect, however, the user must be completely logged out of the putty or the session and relogin to take the effect. The next time the user logs back in, the new value will be in place. This can be checked by running ‘ulimit -u’ as the user in question.

b) Update the /etc/security/limits.conf file for the nproc values to 131072 ( or any higher value )

It is recommended to set the ulimit -u or nproc to a value of 131072 when running on Linux to safely account for all the forked threads within processes that could be created

There are many documents avaliable on the internet for the steps to change the ulimit . please go through them too .

c) After I made those changes to the ulimit & 90-nproc.conf

d) Now i restarted my cluster member and it started without any error now

NOTE : There could be other reasons though for the “java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Failed to create a thread: retVal -1073741830, errno 11″ .. this is ONE of them

Important IMCL Commands

2015-09-28T19:42:00.001+05:30

1: Check the version of IBM Installation Manager

Command: ./imcl version

[root@wasnode tools]# pwd
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools
[root@wasnode tools]#
[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl version
Installation Manager (installed)
Version: 1.6.2
Internal Version: 1.6.2000.20130301_2248
[root@wasnode tools]#

=========================================================================
2: List Installed Packages
Command: ./imcl listInstalledPackages

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstalledPackagescom.ibm.cic.agent_1.6.2000.20130301_2248
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5003.20140730_1249

====> com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103 JAVA SDK
====> com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5003.20140730_1249 WAS ND 8.5

=========================================================================
3: List Installed Directory
Command: ./imcl listInstallationDirectories

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstallationDirectories/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer

The Installation of WAS ND and SDK is done at “/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer“

=========================================================================
4) Uninstalling packages by using imcl
Command: ./imcl uninstall
Uninstall packages from the tools directory by using Installation Manager command line (imcl) uninstall commands.
Before you begin
•To identify the package_id_version,feature_id, run the listAvailablePackages command.

Procedure
To uninstall a package by using imcl:
1) Navigate to the tool directory
2) Run the uninstall command: using imcl

imcl uninstall package_id_version,feature_id -installationDirectory installation_directory

NOTE : There are many options available with imcl, use that as per your requirement

3) List the Installed packages to verify the packages you want to uninstall
BE VERY CAREFUL BEFORE YOU SELECT THE PACKAGE IDs .. Bcoz there may be many Other Websphere Packages installed on different directories

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstalledPackagescom.ibm.cic.agent_1.6.2000.20130301_2248
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5003.20140730_1249

We will be uninstalling “com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103 com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5003.20140730_1249″

4) List the directories where the Websphere Packages are installed
BE VERY CAREFUL BEFORE YOU SELECT THE PACKAGE IDs .. Bcoz There many be many Other Websphere Packages installed on different directories

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstallationDirectories/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
[root@wasnode tools]#

Here I have only one location where WAS is installed

5) Launch the uninstall option for imcl command line

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl uninstall com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5003.20140730_1249 com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103 -installationDirectory /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
[root@wasnode tools]#

6) Validate it using “imcl listInstalledPackages” to ensure the WAS packages are removed

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstalledPackagescom.ibm.cic.agent_1.6.2000.20130301_2248
[root@wasnode tools]#

7) Delete the WAS Installed Folders post un-installation
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer

Video

This is how we uninstall WAS ND
=========================================================================
5: List Available Packages in the Repositories

Command: ./imcl listAvailablePackages
You need to use “imcl listAvailablePackages” command . It will display the Offerings and packages within the Repositories.

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories/IBMSoftware/was8.5_IHS_8.5/was8.5.5/WASND
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5000.20130514_1044[root@wasnode tools]#
[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories/IBMSoftware/was8.5_IHS_8.5/was8.5.5/SDK
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
com.ibm.websphere.liberty.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
[root@wasnode tools]#

=========================================================================

6: Install of Websphere ND 8.5 using imcl command line

Command: ./imcl install
To install the Product using imcl command you need to use “install” Option of imcl
a) Ensure all the prerequisites are satisfied like space , permission etc
b) Extract the WAS binaries in the server which you have downloaded
c) Execute the “imcl listAvailablePackages “ in the repository to validate the packages

[root@wasnode tools]# cd /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools
[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories /IBMSoftware/was8.5_IHS_8.5/was8.5.5/WASND
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5000.20130514_1044
[root@wasnode tools]#

d) Execute “imcl install” to Install the WAS ND Packages“com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5000.20130514_1044″

[root@wasnode tools]#./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5000.20130514_1044 -repositories /IBMSoftware/was8.5_IHS_8.5/was8.5.5/WASND -installationDirectory /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer -acceptLicense -sP
25% 50% 75% 100%
——————|——————|——————|——————|
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Installed com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5000.20130514_1044 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
[root@wasnode tools]#

Similarly you can install the SDK 7 Package too

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories /IBMSoftware/was8.5_IHS_8.5/was8.5.5/SDKcom.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
com.ibm.websphere.liberty.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
[root@wasnode tools]#[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103 -repositories /IBMSoftware/was8.5_IHS_8.5/was8.5.5/SDK -installationDirectory /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer -acceptLicense -sP25% 50% 75% 100%
——————|——————|——————|——————|
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Installed com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.

e) List the Installed packages to verify the packages you have installed

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstalledPackagescom.ibm.cic.agent_1.6.2000.20130301_2248
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v70_7.0.4001.20130510_2103
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5003.20140730_1249

f) List the directories where the Websphere Packages are installed

[root@wasnode tools]# ./imcl listInstallationDirectories
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
[root@wasnode tools]#

This completes the installation of WAS ND and JAVA SDK 7

=========================================================================
6: Updation of Websphere ND 8.5.5.1 FIXPACK using imcl command line
Command : ./imcl install

Current Version : WAS ND 8.5.5.0
New Version : WAS ND 8.5.5.1

Procedure
a) Stop All the WAS Processes ( dmgr, Nodeagent , Server ) Also Apply the Fixpack to Dmgr First before applying to other nodes

b) Take the tar backup of the WAS directories, Profiles, IIM, IIM Data ( var/ibm ) etc to revert in case of any issues

c) Check the Current version of the WAS Installation using “./imcl listInstalledPackages”

[root@connections tools]# cd /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools
[root@connections tools]# ./imcl listInstalledPackagescom.ibm.cic.agent_1.8.2001.20150409_1833
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5000.20130514_1044

The version is WAS ND 8.5.5.0

d) Check the Path of the WAS installation using “./imcl listInstallationDirectories”

[root@connections bin]# cd /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools
[root@connections tools]# ./imcl listInstallationDirectories
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer

e) Also Check the Version of WAS using “versionInfo.sh”

[root@connections tools]# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/
[root@connections bin]# ./versionInfo.shWVER0010I: Copyright (c) IBM Corporation 2002, 2012; All rights reserved.
WVER0012I: VersionInfo reporter version 1.15.1.48, dated 2/8/12——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
Name IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
Version 8.5.5.0
ID ND

e) Extract the Fixpack zip 8.5.5-WS-WASND-FP0000001-part1.zip & 8.5.5-WS-WASND-FP0000001-part2.zipin the same Folder .

I have extracted it in /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/

f) List the Available packages in the fixpack Extracted path ie /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/

Command : ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/

[root@connections tools]# ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/ com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242
…………………..
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242
………………………..
com.ibm.websphere.NDTRIAL.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242
[root@connections tools]#
[root@connections tools]#

Here we can see “com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242″ Package .. We will upgrade this package as we are using websphere.ND.V8.5.5

g) Update the Fixpack using the imcl command
Command: ./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242 -repositories /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/ -installationDirectory /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer -acceptLicense -sP

[root@connections tools]# ./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242 -repositories /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/ -installationDirectory /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer -acceptLicense -sP
25% 50% 75% 100%
——————|——————|——————|——————|
…………………………………………:….

h) After the completion of the above command . check the updated version of WAS , it should be WAS 8.5.5.1 now .
We can see that the package is now “com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242″

[root@connections ]# cd /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/
[root@connections tools]# ./imcl listInstalledPackagescom.ibm.cic.agent_1.8.2001.20150409_1833
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242
[root@connections tools]#

i) Check the versionInfo.sh to see if the Version of the WAS has been updated .

[root@connections tools]# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/
[root@connections bin]# ./versionInfo.shWVER0010I: Copyright (c) IBM Corporation 2002, 2012; All rights reserved.
——————————————————————————–Name IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
Version 8.5.5.1
ID ND ………….

j) Start the Dmgr, NodeAgent, WAS Servers after the fixpack updation and check the SystemOut.log to see if there are any errors

This is how we can easily update the fixpack using imcl

Update Websphere App Server Fixpack using “imcl” command line

2015-09-28T19:23:00.002+05:30

Note : This method to update Websphere Application Server can be used for Any WAS version which uses IBM Installation Manager

Command : ./imcl install

Current Version : WAS ND 8.5.5.0
New Version : WAS ND 8.5.5.1

Procedure
a) Stop All the WAS Processes ( dmgr, Nodeagent , Server ) Also Apply the Fixpack to Dmgr First before applying to other nodes

b) Take the tar backup of the WAS directories, Profiles, IIM, IIM Data ( var/ibm ) etc to revert in case of any issues

c) Check the Current version of the WAS Installation using Installation Manager Command Line : imcl “./imcl listInstalledPackages”

The version is WAS ND 8.5.5.0

d) Check the Path of the WAS installation using “./imcl listInstallationDirectories”

[root@connections bin]# cd /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools
[root@connections tools]# ./imcl listInstallationDirectories
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer

e) Also Check the Version of WAS using “versionInfo.sh”

f) Extract the Fixpack zip 8.5.5-WS-WASND-FP0000001-part1.zip & 8.5.5-WS-WASND-FP0000001-part2.zipin the same Folder .

I have extracted it in /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/

g) List the Available packages in the fixpack Extracted path ie /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/

Command : ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/

Here we can see “com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242″ Package .. We will upgrade this package as we are using websphere.ND.V8.5.5

h) Update the Fixpack using the imcl command
Command: ./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5001.20131018_2242 -repositories /IBMsoftware/Fixpacks/WASND_8.5.5.1FP/ -installationDirectory /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer -acceptLicense -sP

i) Check the versionInfo.sh to see if the Version of the WAS has been updated .

[root@connections tools]# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/
[root@connections bin]# ./versionInfo.shWVER0010I: Copyright (c) IBM Corporation 2002, 2012; All rights reserved.
——————————————————————————–Name IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
Version 8.5.5.1
ID ND ………….

j) Start the Dmgr, NodeAgent, WAS Servers after the fixpack updation and check the SystemOut.log to see if there are any errors

This is how we can easily update the fixpack using imcl

Create Cell, Custom, Dmgr & App Server Profile in WebSphere with ManageProfile

2015-09-28T19:20:00.002+05:30

NOTE:
a) Ensure that necessary permissions are available for the user running manageprofile.sh
b) Ensure that the filesystem has sufficient space for the creation of the profile
c) Please select the appropriate ProfileName , Directory path , CellName, NodeName etc as per your requirement

Cell Profile :
1) Cell profiles are actually two profiles in one profile creation method .
2) It has a deployment manager profile and a federated application server profile.
3) The federation is also automatically done by the profile creation wizard
4) An Application sever “server1” is also created by default
5) The profile can be created on the same host only and cannot span multiple physical servers
6) Its used to create a fast dev or a test environment for the development team

Steps to create a Cell Profile:
Step1 : Navigate to WAS_HOME/bin directory

[root@mercury MyServer]# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin

Execute ./manageprofile.sh

Cell Profile with Minimal Parameters

[root@mercury bin]#./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName Dmgr02 -adminUserName wasadmin-adminPassword p@ssword -enableAdminSecurity true -cellName mercuryCell01 -nodeNamemercuryCellManager01 -profilePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr02 -nodeProfilePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01 -appServerNodeNamemercuryNode02 -templatePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profileTemplates/cell/dmgr

Cell Profile with advanced options ( Custom Ports , Certificates )

[root@mercury bin]#./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName Dmgr02 -adminUserNamep@sswordwasadmin -adminPassword p@ssword -nodePortsFile/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/logs/manageprofiles/123_cellNode_portdef.props -enableAdminSecurity true -cellName mercuryCell01 -nodeName mercuryCellManager01 -portsFile/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/logs/manageprofiles/123_cellDmgr_portdef.props -personalCertDN cn=mercury.com,ou=mercuryCell01,ou=mercuryCellManager01,o=IBM,c=US -profilePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr02 -nodeProfilePath/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01 -appServerNodeName mercuryNode02 -enableService false -signingCertDN cn=mercury.com,ou=Root Certificate,ou=mercuryCell01,ou=mercuryCellManager01,o=IBM,c=US -hostName mercury.com -personalCertValidityPeriod 1 -signingCertValidityPeriod 15 -keyStorePassword WEBAS -templatePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profileTemplates/cell/dmgr

Step2: Checks to ensure proper profile creation
a) Should get an INSTCONSUCCESS message for manageprofile in the<WAS_HOME>/logs/manageprofiles/<ProfileName>_create.log
b) Navigate to the dmgr and appserver profile folders ie /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr02 &/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01
c) Get the admin console ports from AboutThisProfile.txt or serverindex.xml file for dmgr
d) Start the DMgr, Nodeagent and the server1
e) Check the logs for errors
=====================================================================================
=====================================================================================

Custom Profile
1) A custom profile defines an empty node on a system.
2) The main purpose of this profile is to define a node on a system which can be federated to a cell for management using the DMGR.
3) This profile needs to be federated to the dmgr cell during the profile creation or later using “./addNode.sh dmgr_host soap_port”
4) Before you can federate the custom profile to a cell, you will need to have a running deployment manager.

Steps to create a Custom Profile

Step1 : Navigate to WAS_HOME/bin directory

[root@mercury MyServer]# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin

Execute ./manageprofile.sh

[root@mercury bin]# ./manageprofiles.sh -create -defaultPorts -profileName Custom01 -profilePath/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Custom01 -templatePath/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profileTemplates/managed -hostName mercury.com -nodeNamemercuryNode01 -federateLater true

Step2: Checks to ensure proper profile creation
a) Should get an INSTCONSUCCESS message for manageprofile in the<WAS_HOME>/logs/manageprofiles/<ProfileName>_create.log
b) Navigate to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Custom01
c) Federate the Custom Profile node to the dmgr cell using “./addNode.sh dmgr_host soap_port”
d) Create Application Servers from the dmgr admin console

=====================================================================================
=====================================================================================

Deployment Manager Profile

1) The DMGR is a single administration in websphere application server,
2) Whenever we create a dmgr by default we will get one node, cell and adminconsole,
3) It is mainly used to do the administrative and configuration activities.
4) The application and cutom server profile has to be federate with the dmgr,
5) Once federation process has been done we can manage the servers from dmgr admin console

Steps to create a Deployment Manager Profile

Step1 : Navigate to WAS_HOME/bin directory

[root@mercury MyServer]# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin

Execute ./manageprofile.sh

[root@mercury bin]# ./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName Dmgr01 -profilePath/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01 -templatePath/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profileTemplates/management -serverTypeDEPLOYMENT_MANAGER -cellName Cell01 -nodeName Dmgr01 -hostName mercury.com -enableAdminSecurity true -adminUserName wasadmin -adminPassword passw0rd

Step2 : Checks to ensure proper profile creation
a) Should get an INSTCONSUCCESS message for manageprofile in the<WAS_HOME>/logs/manageprofiles/<ProfileName>_create.log
b) Navigate to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01
c) Start Dmgr using ./startManager.sh from /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin
d) Check logs for Error

=====================================================================================
=====================================================================================

Application Server Profile
1) This Profile is used to create a stand alone application server .
2) It will have its independent runtime JVM environment where we can deploy the application etc
3) This Profile can be later federated a DMGR cell to become part of a bigger deployment environment

Steps to create a Application Server Profile

Step1 : Navigate to WAS_HOME/bin directory

root@mqnode bin]#cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin

Execute ./manageprofile.sh

[root@mercury bin]# ./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName MYPROFILE -profilePath/appprofiles/MYPROFILE -templatePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profileTemplates/default-serverName TEST_SERVER -nodeName MYPROFILENode1 -hostName mercury.com -enableAdminSecurity true -adminUserName wasadmin -adminPassword wasadmin@12

Step2: Checks to ensure proper profile creation
a) Should get an INSTCONSUCCESS message for manageprofile in the<WAS_HOME>/logs/manageprofiles/<ProfileName>_create.log
b) Navigate to the profile folder ie /appprofiles/MYPROFILE
c) Start application server using ./startServer.sh TEST_SERVER
d) Check SystemOut.logs for Error

IHS Log Rotation

2015-01-09T16:28:00.001+05:30

This topic is about how to rotate the log , means how to generate a new log day by day with file size 5MB.

Making IBM HTTP Server Logs Rotates/Rolls Dialy

IBM HTTP Server has many Logs for it under Folder "<Installation_Directory>/IBM/HTTPServer/logs", sometimes those logs take much more time to open if they were too large and logged many data, you can customize those log files , we can say that defaults log in IBM HTTP Server are:

Admin Log : admin_access.log
Admin Error Log : admin_error.log.
Access Log : access_log.
Error Log : error_log.

In This tutorial we well represent how to make "Access log and Error Log" Rolling By Day and by Size :

Note : This tutorial in IBM HTTP Server v8.5 and Red hat Linux , take care when implementing it on other OS's

Steps in Appending the Logs it seems Like Apache Http Server :

Locate IBM HTTP Server in <Installation_DIR>/IBMHTTPServer/conf in Your Operating System, to edit the configuration.
Then Open httpd.conf.
Locate the line : CustomLog log/access_log common.
Comment the line, after this line type :

CommonLog "|/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin/rotatelog -l /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/log/access_log.%Y.%m.%d 5M" common
Where"y"represents Year, "m" for month, "d" for date and "5M" for 5MB files size.
Locate the Line : ErrorLog log/error_log.
Comement the Line and press enter and Enter the Code Below instead the current one :

ErrorLog "|/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin/rotatelog -l /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/log/error_log.%Y.%m.%d 5M"
Then Restart IBM HTTP Server .
Type the URL for the Host for IBM HTTP Server from Browser and you can see the access log is logging by the Current date.

For Every 5 minutes an new log will be generated and the old log will be saved as above

References :

rotatelogs - Piped logging program to rotate Apache logs is a simple program for use in conjunction with Apache's piped logfile feature. It supports rotation based on a time interval or maximum size of the log

Certificate expire issue in Websphere Application server

2015-01-09T16:23:00.001+05:30

RECOMMENDATION: Servers self-signed certificate will get replaced 60 days before they expire. That means about 10 months after the self-signed certificate gets created. This will cause a server outage on services like WebServer where the managing of the client signer certificate is a manual step. So this change will extend the life span of the default self-signed certificate to 15 years and provide addition warning time before certificates are automatically replaced.

In WAS 6.1 the default certificate expires in one year. Just before the expiration, the cert is renewed automatically. After this automatic cert renewal, dmgr cannot talk to nodeagents, resulting in “JSSL0080E SSL HandShake Execption”. If the renewal is done while WAS is up and running, the user has to update dmgr/trust.p12 and appsrv/trust.p12 when prompted during the next WAS shutdown. This does not work If WAS is running as a service on Windows platforms. If the cert is expired while WAS is NOT running, WAS has to be started with expired cert. Automatic renewal runs during the next start-up of dmgr. The user has to run sync node.

As a work around, the user currently has to add manually the renewed certs to the trust stores. Add the cert of Cell to Node, and the other one of Node to Cell. The error is produced as a direct result of automatice cert renewal. The renewed cert should be added to Cell and Node trust stores automatically.
Additionally, the certificate expiration monitor has been modified to properly handle this condition; this fix has been shipped in APAR PK48659. Local fix As a work around, the user currently has to add manually the renewed certs to the trust stores. Add the cert of Cell to Node, and the other one of Node to Cell.

How to create & add a new Signer certificates for existing profile.
Create new key.p12 keystore
SSL certificate and key management > Key stores and certificates > CellDefaultKeyStore > Personal certificates
Create Self Signed Cert
Alias:
Common Name:
Validity Period: 3650
Organization: xyz

Click OK
Extract certificate
SSL certificate and key management > Key stores and certificates > CellDefaultKeyStore > Personal certificates > Extract certificate

Certificate file name: -key.arm ex: Server Name-key.arm
Data type: Base64-encoded ASCII data

Default location for file to be created is:
/profiles/dmgr/etc/ ex: /opt/was61/profiles/dmgr/etc/

Import certificate created trust.p12
SSL certificate and key management > Key stores and certificates > CellDefaultTrustStore > Signer certificates

Alias: -key
File Name: /profiles/dmgr/etc/-key.arm
Data type: Base64-encoded ASCII data

Copy trust.p12 and key.p12 to all the nodes
FROM:
/profiles/dmgr/config/cells//trust.p12
/profiles/dmgr/config/cells//key.p12

TO: /profiles/dmgr/config/cells//nodes//trust.p12

/profiles/dmgr/config/cells/ /nodes/ /key.p12

Restart nodes and dmgr from command line. When prompted to accept certificate, accept the certificate.
Start dmgr
Sync nodes manually to dmgr. When prompted to accept certificate, accept the certificate.

8. SSL certificate and key management > SSL configurations > CellDefaultSSLSettings

Select the certificate that you created in the following drop downs:
Default server certificate alias
Default client certificate alias
Click ->Get Certificate Aliases
Click -> OK

9. SSL certificate and key management > Manage endpoint security configurations
NOTE: This is a similar process the needs to be completed for all nodes and cells, both inbound and outbound
Select Node Level:
Change
Certificate alias in key store: Certificate that you imported

Click -> Update Certificate Alias List

Click -> OK

Repeat for Node Level – Inbound and Outbound
Repeat for Cell Level – Inbound and Outbound

Request flow WAS

2015-01-08T19:52:00.000+05:30

The basic flow of the application starts when the user’s request to a URL.

The URL is a combination of the Hostname, port no and context root of the specific application.

The URL has a valid hostname/IPAddress of the application installed machine.

In most general, A HTTP Server/Webserver can handle the HTTP requests.

Webserver maintains and serve the static pages to the users and for dynamic pages it will direct the requests to the Application Server.

The Webserver plug-in uses a XML configuration file to determine whether a request is for WAS and identifies the request as addressing a Java servlet and utilizes its configuration data to pass the request on to the servlet runtime engine code. The appropriate servlet is invoked via HTTP.

Next, the servlet understands which method or call it needs to make to obtain the information to satisfy the client request.

The third step involves business logic written as part of the Enterprise JavaBeans, which connects to the back-tier database and performs the transaction.

When the query results are sent back to the WebSphere middle-tier environment, the Java servlet regains control and manages the response page generation which needs to be served back to the client making the original request.

To do that, an appropriate Java Server Page can be selected to help generate the dynamic content. The computed Web page with the results of the query is then served back to the Web client via the HTTP server.

Configure soap.client.props (When you have console secured)

2014-12-02T16:25:00.003+05:30

Once you have secured the console each time you need stop a websphere server by command line, you will need an administrator user and password, configuring the service user in the soap.client.props file is the idea of this laboratory, this activities need to be done by windows administrators, you should know why.

The idea is that you can stop any java server without password

In order to it work, you must set properties in the soap.client.props file.

Perform the following procedure:

1. Set the following properties in soap.client.props:
com.ibm.SOAP.securityEnabled=true
com.ibm.SOAP.loginUserid=<user_ID>
com.ibm.SOAP.loginPassword=<password>

2. Run one of the following commands to encrypt the password:
Windows:
PropFilePasswordEncoder.bat <path>\soap.client.props com.ibm.SOAP.loginPassword
UNIX or Linux:
<path>/PropFilePasswordEncoder.sh soap.client.props com.ibm.SOAP.loginPassword

in my case:
#cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/profiles/Dmgr_Prod/properties
#cp soap.client.props soap.client.props.bk
#vi soap.client.props
com.ibm.SOAP.securityEnabled=true
com.ibm.SOAP.loginUserid=wasadmin
com.ibm.SOAP.loginPassword=Wasadmin

SAVE the file
# ../bin/PropFilePasswordEncoder.sh soap.client.props com.ibm.SOAP.loginPassword

Now you can stop any websphere process using command line

NOTE:
As you can see, you no need to know what is the wasadmin password, only your Windows Administrator, this password should not expire because all user need to login to websphere will be authenticated by this user, that is the reason why it should not be used like infraestructure administrator.

Ahhh and copy the configured soap.client.props to all yours managed nodes!!!!

Securing WebSphere Console - WAS 8.5

2014-12-02T16:24:00.002+05:30

In this lab, we will secure the WebSphere console using Windows Active Directory, it is very easy and it let the security responsibilities to Windows Administrators

Steps
1.- Create a Service user in Windows to authenticate the others users
2.- Use the Security Wizzard
3.- Stop and Start WebSphere
4.- Done

1.- Create a Service user in Windows to authenticate the others users

Now you can check with your WebSphere box (or any other box) that you can access the directory with that user, please use only wasadmin as the name of this user, and for example Wasadmin as their password.

If ldapbrowser can search into Active Directory, WebSphere will do it too

2.- Use the Security Wizzard

3.- Stop and Start WebSphere
Now you must stop and start all your infraestructure, in my case I have 3 servers: ND, nodeagent and server1
When you start all again, just F5 into your browser

as you will see, the console will be redirected to a SSL comunication

Do what you need to do to accept the certificate

Now you must login into the console with the service user, in this case wasadmin

Congrats!!! now you must add one admin user to the console, you should no use the service user to adminstrate your was infraestructure.

again, go to Security -> Global security -> Administrative user roles

You are now into "Administrative user role" you must see here our service user account

Let's go to add a New administrator user, please click into Add...

in my case, I will add to myself, then I write H* and click into Search

Then you must pass the user to the right side and select the appropriate role

Click Ok and save

Now you must logout and login with your new administrative user

Congrats, you have a new administrative user account into your infrastructure

Install IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5 ND

2014-12-02T16:21:00.002+05:30

Install IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5 ND

In this part you will learn howto Install IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5 ND in RHEL 6.3, but with this knowledge you can install it over others Linux, Unix or Windows. Please be free to give me any question.

Sure you will install WebSphere 8.5 by first time in a Linux environment, if this is the case then you will need to run a step 0, its ets, prepare the linux enviroment

1.- Prepare linux enviroment
2.- Install Agent Installer 1.7 (IBM IM)
3.- Install WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5 ND binaries
4.- Install IHS 8.5
5.- Start IHS 8.5
6.- Configure WAS ND 8.5.5
7.- Install Plugin
8.- Configure Plugin
9.- Configure SSL

1.- Prepare linux enviroment

# yum install compat-libstdc++-296.i686 compat-libstdc++-33.i686
# yum install compat-libstdc++-33.x86_64
# yum install gtk2.i686 libXtst.i686

NOTE: My last install was over RHEL 6.4 and I use the IM 1.7 64 bits, I did not need the enviroment prepartation because the IM runs great!!! but you will need to run the WebSphere Customization Toolbox (WPT) you will need to install 32 bits libraries.
Maybe you need to disble SELinux too by temporarily switch off enforcement, if that is your case just run this:

# echo 0 >/selinux/enforce

2.- Install Agent Installer 1.7 (IBM IM)

For this step you will need the file agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_64_1.7.1000.20131119_2219.zip

# unzip agent.installer.linux.gtk.x86_64_1.7.1000.20131119_2219.zip

all will be unzipped here, see next picture, then you only must run the installer

# ./install

3.- Install WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5 ND binaries

You will need to download this files:

was.repo.8550.ihs.ilan_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.ihs.ilan_part2.zip
was.repo.8550.ndtrial_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.ndtrial_part2.zip
was.repo.8550.ndtrial_part3.zip
was.repo.8550.plg.ilan_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.plg.ilan_part2.zip
was.repo.8550.wct.ilan_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.wct.ilan_part2.zip

You can download binaries from http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/appserv-wasnd/

Now you must create next folder system to spread the repo
# mkdir -p /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/ihs
# mkdir -p /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/nd
# mkdir -p /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/plg
# mkdir -p /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/wct

and put into /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/ihs
was.repo.8550.ihs.ilan_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.ihs.ilan_part2.zip

into  /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/nd
was.repo.8550.ndtrial_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.ndtrial_part2.zip
was.repo.8550.ndtrial_part3.zip

into  /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/plg
was.repo.8550.plg.ilan_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.plg.ilan_part2.zip

and into  /opt/IBM/repositories/was.repo.8550/wct
was.repo.8550.wct.ilan_part1.zip
was.repo.8550.wct.ilan_part2.zip

unzip all files and erase zip files in case you need filesystem space
Next you can configure the ND 8.5.5 repository into IM

Now press Install

Be careful, I always put the version to AppServer folder, in this case is AppServer8.5

I Select JDK 64 bits

Do not create any profile here, we will create all in other moment

4.- Install IHS 8.5

Add the IHS 8.5.5 repository

Press OK

Now press install, select IHS...

As I have different IHS versions, I use the number of version, in this case HTTPServer8.5

select Http Port

congrats!!!!

5.- Start IHS 8.5

# cd /opt/IBM/HTTPServer8.5/bin/
# ./apachectl start

Now open it in your web browser

http://rhel63

6.- Configure WAS ND 8.5.5

Let's to create the dmgr profile

# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/bin
# ./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName Dmgr_Prod -templatePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/profileTemplates/dmgr -nodeName Prod_ENV -cellName Prod -hostName rhel63

Let's to create the Servers profile

# ./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName Servers -templatePath /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/profileTemplates/default -nodeName Germany -cellName Europa -hostName rhel63

Let's start the DMgr profile

# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/profiles/Dmgr_Prod/bin/
# ./startManager.sh

Let's start the server1 in Servers profile

# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/profiles/Servers/bin
# ./startServer.sh server1

check the port for open the admin console, by default the first WebSphere server take 9060 port, next server will take 9061, you can check the ports with this command:

# netstat -an | grep LISTEN | grep tcp | grep 906

9060 is dmgr and 9061 is server1, at this point you must understand that server1 is in a no management node, the idea is add this node to a dmgr node

as you can see, there is not any server in dmgr...yet

open server1 console too and find soap port

go to
Servers -> Server Types -> WebSphere application servers

select server1, look for ports in right panel of server1

in this case the SOAP port is 8880

Now logout and return to console in 9060 port, the DMgr Console

Now let's go to federate server1 from Servers profile, this process will create a new server called "nodeagent" who will be responsible to management all administration process and comunication between DMgr and all servers in this Node

Go to
System administration -> Nodes

press Add Node

In next screen in Node Conection Part put the name of your server (it must be defined before in /etc/hosts file), the SOAP port, that in this case is 8880 AND select in Options Include applications and Include buses

SORRY!! some messages are in spanish...

now you can see the new node..in this case Germany

start server1 using this console
go to
Servers -> Server Types -> WebSphere application servers

check apps
go to
Applications -> All applications

check http port
# netstat -an | grep LISTEN | grep tcp | grep 908

Open in a web browser the sample app

http://rhel63:9080/snoop

7.- Install Plugin

in the IM goto File -> Preferences... -> Add Repository...

Press Ok and Now just install the Plugin

8.- Configure Plugin

In order to configure the plugin we need to install the "WebSphere Customization Toolbox", it is the easier way to do it

Press Ok and just install the "WebSphere Customization Toolbox (ILAN)"

once finish the toolbox install you can starting by the IM at finished or by the menu of Operative System, as you wish

You can see the option at next picture

On Add Web Server Plug-in Location, complete these fields:
Name:Prod_Local_WebServer
Location:path to your Plugin install

Now you should see something like this

now you will create the properties for your webserver

select you webserver type

64 bits

be careful with your IHS Choice...I said that cose in my case I have differents IHS install

I used here:
user ID: wasadmin
Password: Wasadmin

user ID: wasadmin
Group : wasadmin
NOTE: why this is important? because this user/password is used to administrate webserver, specialty the remote webservers

WebServer Name (must be unique): ProdLocalWebServer

Choose local install and the folder of your ND 8.5 install

Will appear the name of your Dmgr

Ready, now we must run the Configure script

# cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins8.5/bin/
# ls

you will need to copy the configureProdLocalWebServer.sh script

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer8.5/profiles/Dmgr_Prod/bin
cp /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins8.5/bin/configureProdLocalWebServer.sh .

now we just run this script, he will make all the magic things for you...

# ./configureProdLocalWebServer.sh

Congrats!!!
now open admin console and check the new web server definition
go to
Servers - > All servers

You can test the snoop app using IHS, you will see that plugin is not prepared

here you could ask why the plugin does not work? the answer is that you need to update plugin.xml into webserver in order it works..then you must do it...update it

go to
Servers - > web servers

1.- mark ProdLocalWebServer server and press Generate plug-in

2.- mark ProdLocalWebServer server and press Propagate plugin

3.- mark ProdLocalWebServer server and press Stop

4.- mark ProdLocalWebServer server and press Start

Now go to Snoop App browser tab and press F5 to refresh and voilà!!!

9.- Configure SSL

To configure SSL we will use this doc, "Enabling SSL in the IBM HTTP Server configuration" but adapted to this situation, then:
1.- vi /opt/IBM/HTTPServer8.5/conf/httpd.conf
add all content between ###BEGIN to ###END just above the line containing "LoadModule was_ap22_module /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins8.5/bin/64bits/mod_was_ap22_http.so"

check next picture

save and close
2.- # mkdir /opt/IBM/HTTPServer8.5/ssl
Now in graphical env run next commands
# cd /opt/IBM/HTTPServer8.5/bin

You must create the key.kdb into /opt/IBM/HTTPServer8.5/ssl folder

put the password and be sure to mark Stash the password to a file

Next press New Seft Signed

fill all info

now you can close the ikeyman

Restart the IHS in order to start SSL port
3.- # ./apachectl restart
# netstat -an | grep 443

Now we can check it in any web browser

SSL is configured...very easy right?

New let's check if snoop app can open on SSL

Finished!!!

ODCF8005E - The P2P layer was unable to bind to a UDP port in WebSphere 8.5

2014-12-01T16:44:00.003+05:30

While starting JVM in WebSphere 8.5, you may encounter following error.

[7/1/13 0:21:33:113 SGT] 00000001 P2PBase              E   ODCF8005E: There was an unexpected exception while initializing the SON overlay; the exception is java.io.IOException: The P2P layer was unable to bind to a UDP port.
           at com.ibm.son.mesh.RawUDPImpl.<init>(RawUDPImpl.java:89)
            at com.ibm.son.mesh.UDPFactory.getUDP(UDPFactory.java:31)
            at com.ibm.son.mesh.Peer.<init>(Peer.java:468)
            at com.ibm.son.mesh.Peer.<init>(Peer.java:411)
            at com.ibm.ws.p2p.P2POverlayHelper.getPeer(P2POverlayHelper.java:147)
            at com.ibm.ws.p2p.P2PBase.getPeer(P2PBase.java:31)
            at com.ibm.ws.bbson.BBFactoryImpl.<init>(BBFactoryImpl.java:632)
            at java.lang.J9VMInternals.newInstanceImpl(Native Method)
            at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:1564)

This issue happens when OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS is conflict or doesn’t exist. You can fix this by verifying and ensuring it exists without conflict.

Start DMGR
Stop if any JVM’s running under problematic node
Stop Nodeagent
Login into Admin Console and navigate to

System Administration >> nodeagents >> nodeagent >> ports

Do you see OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS andOVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS here? Make a note of port number of these if you see.

If you don’t see, create them by following instructions:

Click on New
Check user-defined port
Port name - OVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
Host name – localhost
Port – 21001 (give any unused port number on server)

Click on New
Check user-defined port
Port name - OVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
Host name – localhost
Port – 21002 (give any unused port number on server)

Now, let’s verify port number between nodeagent and problematic JVM

Go to Servers >> server types >> Websphere application servers >> server01 >> ports

Do you see OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS andOVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS here? If yes verify to ensure it doesn’t conflict with your nodeagent port. If you don’t see them, then create new port by following instructions.

Click on New
Check user-defined port
Port name - OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
Host name – localhost
Port – 21003 (give any unused port number on server)

Click on New
Check user-defined port
Port name - OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
Host name – localhost
Port – 21004 (give any unused port number on server)

Save the configuration

Sync the node

./syncNode.sh localhost <soap port number>

Start the nodeagent

Start JVM

WebSphere 8.5.x Dynamic Cluster

2014-12-01T16:36:00.002+05:30

Dynamic cluster is the new Intelligent Management feature, which enables WebSphere 8.5 to dynamically stop, start and allocate resource as and when, required for an application running on a dynamic cluster. Dynamic cluster works in two modes: Add operation & Remove operation.

Add operation- in Add operation, it add resources when all servers in a dynamic cluster are started and demand is still not satisfied. This is possible through automatic actions, which you have defined under the Add operation.

Remove operation- in Remove operation, it stops the servers when demand is very minimal or if running resources are not required to serve the requests. This operation will never shutdown below the number of minimum active server instance configured in Remove operation.

Operational Mode

Operation Mode is the method that interacts with the dynamic operation environment. This has three modes: Manual, Supervised & Automatic.

Manual- it’s similar to the normal application server environment with static cluster. Manual operation mode is as good as WebSphere application server traditional cluster.

Supervised- provides information and recommendation for actions that WebSphere administrator can approve or deny.

Automatic- the intelligent management takes action automatically. Dynamic operations environment handles add/remove operation and provisioning.

Creating Dynamic Cluster

Go to Servers >> Clusters >> Dynamic clusters

Select Operational mode as Automatic and click on New

Select Server type as WebSphere application server and click on Next

Leave default method – Automatically define cluster members with rules

Provide Dynamic cluster name – First Dynamic Cluster and click on Next

You can select multiple Node Group if you have, in this course we have only one Node group as Default Group. Leave default setting and click on Next

Select dynamic cluster template as default and click on Next

Specify dynamic cluster specific properties are the one you configure how dynamic cluster should behave. We will leave the default settings as following and click on Next.

Keep one instance started at all times – dynamic cluster will be always active with one instance. By configuring this we ensure there is no application outage.

Do not limit thee number of instances that can start- dynamic cluster will start all instances in defined node as demand increases. By configuring this we ensure all resources are utilized when demand is high.

No isolation requirements- as we have only one Node Group we can continue with no isolation requirements.

Review the configuration summary and click on Finish to create Dynamic Cluster

Save the configuration and synchronize changes with nodes. Once done, you can see newly created Dynamic cluster is listed.

You can also see dynamic cluster member is created under Application servers and started one instance as we have selected to keep one instance started all times.

Now in this dynamic cluster setup, one instance will be always running. However, as demand increase other cluster instance also will be started.

What is Health Management in WebSphere 8.5?

2014-12-01T16:33:00.003+05:30

Learn Health Management in IBM WebSphere Application Server

Introduction

Health Management is part of WebSphere Virtual Enterprise environment, which is integrated in WebSphere Application Server 8.5. WebSphere 8.5 is integrated with Operational policies, which leverage Health Policies. Health Management is policy-driven approach to monitor the WebSphere enterprise application server usage and able to respond to the problem areas before outage occurs. Health Management has two elements: health controller and health policies.

Reaction Mode

Health Policies include the health condition, which you want to monitor in your environment. It reacts when your defined conditions are not met. There are two reaction modes: automatic or supervised mode.

Automatic mode: System will take an action when health policy violation is detected. For ex, if you configure to monitor memory usage and would like to restart JVM when message usage is 85% then system will restart targeted JVM when JVM heap size reach at 85%.

Supervised mode: System will create runtime task when health policy violation is detected. This requires manual intervention for WebSphere administrator to approve or deny the runtime task action.

Health Conditions

Health Condition is the object or metrics you want to monitor in your environment. There are eight following predefined health condition available in WebSphere 8.5. You do have an option to create custom health condition.

Age-based condition- this condition will monitor the defined JVM and take action when reaches a configured age threshold. Ex, you can configure this condition to restart JVM if it’s running for 15 days. Acceptable value for this condition is in Days or Hours as shown below.

Excessive request timeout condition- this condition will take action when the request timeout percentage exceeds the defined value. Acceptable value is in percentage as shown below.

Excessive response time condition- this will monitor the time it takes for request to complete and take action if the time exceeds the defined threshold. Ex, you can configure this condition to take thread dump when response time for request is one minute. Acceptable value is in Milliseconds, Seconds and Minutes as shown below.

Memory condition: excessive memory usage- monitors the memory usage of JVM and take action if it exceeds the threshold value. Ex, you can configure this condition to take JVM heap dump and restart JVM when memory usage exceeds the threshold. Acceptable value for JVM heap size is in percentage and offending time period in Seconds and Minutes as shown below.

Memory condition: memory leak- this will look for memory leaks on JVM and take action. This got three detection levels.

1. Fast (more false alarms)

2. Standard (some false alarms)

3. Slow (fewer false alarms)

Storm drain condition- monitor significant drop in the average response time and take action like generate thread dump and restart JVM. This got two Detection level.

1. Standard (some false alarms)

2. Slow (fewer false alarms)

Workload condition- this condition will detect once a JVM has served a configured number of requests. Ex, you can configure to restart JVM once it serves 20000000 requests.

Garbage collection percentage condition- this monitor percentage of time spent in garbage collection for defined time period and take action once exceeds the threshold. Acceptable value is percentage and sampling time period as shown below.

Health Action

Health Action is the health policy action to be run once exceeds the configured threshold. There are seven following predefined health action available in WebSphere 8.5. You do have an option to create custom health action.

Restart Server- to restart JVM
Take thread dumps– to take thread dumps of JVM
Take JVM heap dumps– to take JVM heap dumps
Generate an SNMP trap- generate SNMP trap for troubleshooting
Place server in maintenance mode- stop new client requests and serve only active session
Place server in maintenance mode and break affinity – stop new and existing action session
Place out of maintenance mode – ready to accept new requests

Health Policy Target

Health Policy or Action target can be JVM’s, Clusters, Dynamic clusters, on demand routers or Cells.

As next step, in next article I will talk about How to Create Health Policies

Free Resource: Download Optimizing Application Monitoring Free Whitepaper

Monitor Apache Web Server Load and Page Statistics

2014-12-01T16:17:00.001+05:30

Monitor Apache Web Server Load and Page Statistics

Feb12

As a System Admin it becomes very important to check the Apache server statistics for performance and troubleshooting any issues

Apache’s mod_status can be used to provide these details
Apache’s mod_status shows a plain HTML page containing the information about current statistics of web server state including.

Total number of incoming requests
Total number of bytes and counts server
CPU usage of Web server
Server Load
Server Uptime
Total Traffic
Total number of idle workers
PIDs with respective client and many more.

By default the status page is disabled to hide internal information from unauthorized users.
=======================================================================================
Enable mod_status in Apache
The default Apache installation comes with mod_status enabled
To validate it .
a) login in to the Apache server
b) Navigate to the Apache configuration file ie /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
[root@mqnode AppServer]# vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
c) Search for the word “mod_status”
#LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so
If its commented then uncomment it
d) Restart the apache instance using

[root@mqnode AppServer]# service httpd stop
Stopping httpd: [ OK ]
[root@mqnode AppServer]# service httpd start
Starting httpd: [ OK ]

=======================================================================================
Configure server-status

1) Login the the Apche Server
2)Open the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
3) Search for server-status

# Allow server status reports generated by mod_status,
# with the URL of http://servername/server-status
# Change the “.example.com” to match your domain to enable.
#
#<Location /server-status>
#    SetHandler server-status
#    Order deny,allow
#    Deny from all
#    Allow from .example.com
#</Location>

Remove the comment character (“#”) in front of each line.
Be careful about the “Allow from” line.
Here you can customize to put the IP address and fine tune the security to ensure that unauthorized access to server-status url
Recommended to use your IP address that you are connecting from.
You might also want to consider password-protecting this page using htpasswd.

4) We would use the htpasswd for security

5) Setup the htpasswd
[root@mqnode ~]# htpasswd -c /etc/httpd/conf/server-status-htpasswd status
New password:
Re-type new password:
Adding password for user status
[root@mqnode ~]# cat /etc/httpd/conf/server-status-htpasswd
status:hdtkPGbH2G81U

5) Use this /etc/httpd/conf/server-status-htpasswd within the configurations for server-status inhttpd.conf

<Location /server-status>
SetHandler server-status
AuthType basic
AuthName “Apache status”
AuthUserFile /etc/httpd/conf/server-status-htpasswd
Require valid-user
</Location>

Screenshot:
6) Enable ExtendedStatus
The “ExtendedStatus” settings adds more information to the statistics page like, CPU usage, request per second, total traffic, etc.

7) To enable it, edit the the same httpd.conf file and search for the word “Extended” and Uncomment the line and set the status “On” for ExtendedStatus directive.
ExtendedStatus On

8) Restart Apache
[root@mqnode ~]# service httpd restart
Stopping httpd: [ OK ]
Starting httpd: [ OK ]

9) Access mod_status Page
http://serveripaddress/server-status

It will prompt for the user name and password. Enter the Details

WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Version 8.5 (WAS ND 8.5)

2014-12-01T16:12:00.003+05:30

Silent Installation of Websphere Application Server 8.5 on Linux

Aug10

Below are the highlevel steps to install Websphere application server 8.5 ( you can customize it based on your requirement)
OS : Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Step1 : Download WAS 8.5 multiple platform from passport Advantage or use the media

Step 2: Unpack the images
Ensure there is sufficient space in the filesystem where you are extracting
You can use $df -h command to check the filesystem usage

a) For IBM Installation Manager
$ mkdir /tmp/IIM
$ cd /tmp/IIM
$ unzip /mnt/was/Software/WAS85/InstalMgr1.5.2_LNX_X86_WAS_8.5.zip

b) WAS 8.5 ( including ND, Supplements and SDK )

$ mkdir /tmp/WAS85
$ cd /tmp/WAS85
$ unzip /mnt/was/Software/WAS85/WAS_ND_V8.5_1_OF_3.zip
$ unzip /mnt/was/Software/WAS85/WAS_ND_V8.5_2_OF_3.zip
$ unzip /mnt/was/Software/WAS85/WAS_ND_V8.5_3_OF_3.zip

Here I have extracted the 3 zip files for WAS ND

Step 3: Set up the hard and soft file limits

$ vi /etc/security/limits.conf

Append: -
* soft nofile 65535
* hard nofile 65535

This may vary based on the OS . Refer the infocenter for more details

Step 4: Check the OS pre-requisites

a ) Refer the infocenter for more details
b ) The Installation manager would required the pre-requisite Linux libraries and RPMs.

Step 5: Install IBM Installation Manager (IIM)

$ cd /tmp/IIM/
$ ./installc -acceptLicense -nosplash

This will install IIM using the console option

Step 6: Check IIM version

$ /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/IBMIM -version -silent -nosplash
Installation Manager (installed)
Version: 1.5.2
Internal Version: 1.5.2000.20120223_0907

Step 7: Record the Response File

$ /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/IBMIM -record ~/install_WAS85.rsp -skipInstall /tmp

NOTE: I added the currently available set of WAS 8.5 iFixes: -

-rwxr-xr-x 1 501 games 205117 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm62795.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 501 games 304065 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm63690.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 501 games 251862 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm63827.zip
-rw-r–r– 1 501 games 300831 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm71296.zip
-rw-r–r– 1 501 games 1561566 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-wasihs-multios-ifpm72915.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 501 games 2252798 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-wasnd-distexceptibmi-ifpm64890.zip
-rw-r–r– 1 501 games 437441 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-wasnd-distexceptibmi-ifpm66137.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 501 games 227880 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-wasprod-ifpm64186.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 501 games 235550 Oct 3 13:20 8.5.0.0-ws-wasprod-multios-ifpm63479.zip

and that the code was located in /tmp/WAS85 and the iFixes were located in /tmp/WAS85/Fixes.

which results in: -
=================install_WAS85.rsp=======================================
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<!–The “acceptLicense” attribute has been deprecated. Use “-acceptLicense” command line option to accept license agreements.–>
<agent-input acceptLicense=’true’>
<server>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm62795.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm63690.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm63827.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-was-ifpm71296.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-wasihs-multios-ifpm72915.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-wasnd-distexceptibmi-ifpm64890.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-wasnd-distexceptibmi-ifpm66137.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-wasprod-ifpm64186.zip’/>
<repository location=’/tmp/WAS85/Fixes/8.5.0.0-ws-wasprod-multios-ifpm63479.zip’/>
</server>
<profile id=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ installLocation=’/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer‘>
<data key=’eclipseLocation’ value=’/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer‘/>
<data key=’user.import.profile’ value=’false’/>
<data key=’cic.selector.os’ value=’linux’/>
<data key=’cic.selector.arch’ value=’x86’/>
<data key=’cic.selector.ws’ value=’gtk’/>
<data key=’cic.selector.nl’ value=’en’/>
</profile>
<install modify=’false’>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WAS-IFPM62795′ version=’8.5.0.20120503_1150′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WAS-IFPM63690′ version=’8.5.0.20120611_1318′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WAS-IFPM63827′ version=’8.5.0.20120503_1507′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WASND-DistExceptIBMi-IFPM64890′ version=’8.5.0.20120608_1634′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WASND-DistExceptIBMi-IFPM66137′ version=’8.5.0.20120615_0733′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WASProd-IFPM64186′ version=’8.5.0.20120611_1543′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’8.5.0.0-WS-WASProd-MultiOS-IFPM63479′ version=’8.5.0.20120613_2056′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’-‘/>
<offering id=’com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85′ version=’8.5.0.20120501_1108′ profile=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ features=’core.feature,ejbdeploy,thinclient,embeddablecontainer,com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit,samples,liberty’ installFixes=’none’/>
</install>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.eclipseCache’ value=’/opt/IBM/IMShared‘/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.connectTimeout’ value=’30’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.readTimeout’ value=’45’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.downloadAutoRetryCount’ value=’0’/>
<preference name=’offering.service.repositories.areUsed’ value=’true’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.ssl.nonsecureMode’ value=’false’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.http.disablePreemptiveAuthentication’ value=’false’/>
<preference name=’http.ntlm.auth.kind’ value=’NTLM’/>
<preference name=’http.ntlm.auth.enableIntegrated.win32′ value=’true’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.preserveDownloadedArtifacts’ value=’true’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.keepFetchedFiles’ value=’false’/>
<preference name=’PassportAdvantageIsEnabled’ value=’false’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.searchForUpdates’ value=’false’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.agent.ui.displayInternalVersion’ value=’false’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.sharedUI.showErrorLog’ value=’true’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.sharedUI.showWarningLog’ value=’true’/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.sharedUI.showNoteLog’ value=’true’/>
</agent-input>

=================install_WAS85.rsp=======================================

This results in creating the above response file in the path mentioned.

NOTE: If you want to change the Installation to alternative path we can change the installLocation and eclipseLocation

—Before rsp File —————–
<profile id=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ installLocation=’/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer‘>
<data key=’eclipseLocation’ value=’/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer‘/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.eclipseCache’ value=’/opt/IBM/IMShared‘/>
—Before rsp File —————–

For Eg :
a) WAS to be installed in /apps/WAS85 instead of /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
b) Shared location from /opt/IBM/IMShared to /apps/IMShared

—After Changes rsp File —————–
<profile id=’IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5′ installLocation=’/apps/WAS85‘>
<data key=’eclipseLocation’ value=’/apps/WAS85‘/>
<preference name=’com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.eclipseCache’ value=’/apps/IMShared‘/>
—After Changes rsp File —————–

Step 8: Perform the installation

$ /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/IBMIM -input ~/install_WAS85.rsp -log install_WAS85.log -silent -nosplash -acceptLicense

After some time you will see the result as

Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WAS-IFPM62795_8.5.0.20120503_1150 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WAS-IFPM63690_8.5.0.20120611_1318 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WAS-IFPM63827_8.5.0.20120503_1507 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WASND-DistExceptIBMi-IFPM64890_8.5.0.20120608_1634 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WASND-DistExceptIBMi-IFPM66137_8.5.0.20120615_0733 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WASProd-IFPM64186_8.5.0.20120611_1543 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed 8.5.0.0-WS-WASProd-MultiOS-IFPM63479_8.5.0.20120613_2056 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Installed com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.0.20120501_1108 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.

Step 9: Validate the installation

$ /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/versionInfo.sh

——————————————————————————–
IBM WebSphere Product Installation Status Report
——————————————————————————–

Report at date and time October 3, 2012 3:16:37 PM BST

Installation
——————————————————————————–
Product Directory        /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
Version Directory        /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/properties/version
DTD Directory            /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/properties/version/dtd
Log Directory            /var/ibm/InstallationManager/logs

Product List
——————————————————————————–
ND installed

Installed Product
——————————————————————————–
Name                  IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
Version               8.5.0.0
ID                    ND
Build Level           gm1218.01
Build Date            5/1/12
Package               com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.0.20120501_1108
Architecture          x86-64 (64 bit)
Installed Features    IBM 64-bit WebSphere SDK for Java
WebSphere Application Server Full Profile
EJBDeploy tool for pre-EJB 3.0 modules
Embeddable EJB container
WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile
Sample applications
Stand-alone thin clients and resource adapters

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End Installation Status Report
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b) You can also check the folders to ensure that the files are created in the location/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer

Step 10: You can create the profiles now as required using PMT or manageprofile.sh

NOTE : you can use the similar steps to silently Install Websphere 8.0 also

Understanding virtual host mapping in WebSphere Application Server

2014-01-21T14:44:00.005+05:30

To see why this happens, it is important to understand how virtual host mapping in WebSphere works internally. Each application server maintains a map with the following structure:

{ host alias → { context root → Web module } }

That means that for each host alias, there is a separate map that maps from the context root to the Web module. Entries in these data structures are created (resp. removed) as Web modules are started (resp. stopped). Note that at this point wildcards are not replaced yet.

To illustrate how this works, consider the following sample topology:

A WebSphere application cluster with two members running on hosts srv-a.example.org and srv-b.example.org and listening on port 9080.
A Web server having two host names web1.example.org and web2.example.org and listening on port 80.
Two Web modules module1 (with context root /app1) and module2 (with context root /app2) that are expected to answer requests on host names web1.example.org and web2.example.org respectively.

If one further assumes that module1 and module2 should also accept requests sent directly to srv-a.example.org and srv-b.example.org (i.e. without going through the Web server), then one would define the following virtual hosts:

vhost1 with aliases web1.example.org:80 and *:9080.
vhost2 with aliases web2.example.org:80 and *:9080.

module1 would be mapped to vhost1 and module2 would be mapped to vhost2. Both cluster members would then build the following map internally:

Alias	Context root	Web module
`web1.example.org:80`	`/app1`	`module1`
`web2.example.org:80`	`/app2`	`module2`
`*:9080`	`/app1`	`module1`
`*:9080`	`/app2`	`module2`

In the example shown above, the fact that the same host alias appears in multiple virtual host definition doesn't cause any issue. Any request sent directly to the application servers via port 9080 will be routed correctly to the expected Web module.

Now consider a slightly different virtual host configuration:

vhost1 with aliases web1.example.org:80 and *:9080.
vhost2 with aliases web2.example.org:80, srv-a.example.org:9080 and srv-b.example.org:9080.

This will result in the following map:

Alias	Context root	Web module
`web1.example.org:80`	`/app1`	`module1`
`web2.example.org:80`	`/app2`	`module2`
`*:9080`	`/app1`	`module1`
`srv-a.example.org:9080`	`/app2`	`module2`
`srv-b.example.org:9080`	`/app2`	`module2`

In this case, things will not work as expected. In fact, requests for http://srv-a.example.org:9080/app1/index.html will not be routed tomodule1. As noted earlier, WebSphere will first match the Host header against the host aliases. The value of that header (srv-a.example.org:9080) matches both *:9080 and srv-a.example.org:9080, but WebSphere will select the second one because it is more specific than the alias with the wildcard. WebSphere will then look at the { context root → Web module } map for that alias. The problem is that this map now contains a single entry mapping /app2 to module2, i.e. there is no entry matching /app1/index.html.

The conclusion is that when configuring virtual hosts, a problem will occur if one virtual host has an alias of the form host:port and another one has an alias *:port with the same port number.

dynamic cache in WebSphere

2013-10-07T13:43:00.002+05:30

Dynamic Cache supports caching of Java servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSP), WebSphere command objects, Web services objects, and Java objects.

* The concept of caching static information in a browser, proxy or a webserver provides an effective way to reduce network and processing requirements. A larger overhead of many web applications is related to the serving, not of static content, but of dynamic content based on user input and retrieval of data from backend resources such as databases.

How to enable Dynamic Cache
* Dynamic cache is enabled by default on V6.1 WebSphere AppServers.
* To enable Servlet and JSP caching from the admin console, navigate to the web container
Servers –> Application Servers -> <select server> -> webcontainer settings –> webcontainer
* Check ‘Enable servlet caching’
* Save and restart the Application Server to put the changes into effect.

Specify what to be catched
- Now servlet caching is enabled, if is necessary to define which dynamic content will be cached and the rules by which it will be cached or invalidated. servlet and JSP caching will be policy based using the cachespec.xml file. The preferred location for the cachespec.xml file is within the web applications WEB-INF folder.

<cache>
<cache-instance name=”offloadtest”>
<cache-entry>
<class>servlet</class>
<name>/test.jsp</name>
<property name=”consume-subfragments”>true
<exclude>/Time.jsp</exclude>
</property>
<cache-id>
<component id=”name” type=”parameter”>
<required>true</required></component>
<timeout>180</timeout>
<inactivity>60</inactivity>
</cache-id>
</cache-entry>
</cache-instance>
</cache>

While the timeout directive dictates how long content can remain in cache before being refreshed, the Inactivity directive can cause a refresh prior to the timeout when a page is not used frequently.

The consume-subfragments property tells the cache not to stop saving content when it includes a child servlet. The parent entry will include all the content from all fragments in its cache entry, resulting in one big cache entry.

Use the <exclude> element to tell the cache to stop consuming for the excluded fragment and instead, create a placeholder for the include or forward.

A dependencyID identifies a cache entries dependency based on certain factors, such that when those factors occur they trigger an invalidation of all the cache entries that share this dependency.

How it works?
- The first request will result in a cache MISS. Full processing takes place for Time.jsp. The response is returned to the browser but also loaded into cache.
- Subsequent requests for Time.jsp result in a cache HIT until the cached copy of Time.jsp is invalidated.

Monitoring Dynamic cache
* Once Dynamic caching is configured, and dynamic content is cached, the content of the cache can be examined and monitored using the cachemonitor.
* An enterprise application called CacheMonitor is provided with WebSphere Application server. It is available in the folder <WebSphere InstallRoot>/installableApps and called CacheMonitor.ear.

Disk Offload
* By default, when the number of cache entries reaches the configured limit for a given application server, cache entries are removed from the memory cache, allowing newer entries to be stored in the cache. Use disk offload to copy the cache entries that are being removed from the memory cache to disk for potential future access. Disk offload is configured via the adminconsole either globally or for a specific cache instance.

Cache Instances
* Since different webapplications or pages may have different caching requirements, unique cache instances can be created for each. This allows applications to have greater flexibility and better tuning of cache resources.
* The characteristics of each servlet cache instance are a unique jndi name, disk offload policies, cache configuration and performance parameters.

Configure a new cache instance
goto Resources –> Cache Instances –> Servlet Cache Instance –> new
* A jndi name must be given to the cache instance which will be used to refer back to the instance in cachespec.xml.
* Check ‘Enable disk offload’ and specify a disk off load location, cache size and cache entry limits.

Cache Invalidation
* It is essential that timely invalidations of cached content take place for the integrity of the website.
Mechanisms for invalidation are:
-timeout or inactivity directives within cachespec.xml
-group-based invalidation mechanism through dependency IDs.
-Programmatic invalidation via the cache API ‘com.ibm.websphere.cache.*’
-The CacheMonitor

Some Tips
* WebSphere Application Server uses JVM memory to store cached objects. Therefore, it is important to know how much memory can be allocated for the cache and based on this information you can set the cache size to the proper value.
* Increase the priority of cache entries that are expensive to regenerate.
* Modify timeout of entries so that they stay in memory as long as they are valid.
* If the estimated total size of all cached objects is bigger than the available memory, you can enable the disk offload option.
* Increase the cache size if memory allows.

Understanding virtual host mapping in WebSphere Application Server

2013-10-04T10:47:00.002+05:30

Together with the context root, the virtual host assigned to a Web module determines under which URLs that Web module will be accessible. In WebSphere, a virtual host is simply a set of host aliases, where each alias specifies a host name (or a * wildcard to match any host name) and a port number. Configuring virtual hosts is pretty straightforward, but problems may occur if there are multiple virtual host definitions that have overlapping host aliases, i.e. if the same host name/port combination is matched by multiple virtual hosts.
To see why this happens, it is important to understand how virtual host mapping in WebSphere works internally. Each application server maintains a map with the following structure:
{ host alias → { context root → Web module } }
That means that for each host alias, there is a separate map that maps from the context root to the Web module. Entries in these data structures are created (resp. removed) as Web modules are started (resp. stopped). Note that at this point wildcards are not replaced yet.
To illustrate how this works, consider the following sample topology:

A WebSphere application cluster with two members running on hosts srv-a.example.org and srv-b.example.org and listening on port 9080.
A Web server having two host names web1.example.org and web2.example.org and listening on port 80.
Two Web modules module1 (with context root /app1) and module2 (with context root /app2) that are expected to answer requests on host names web1.example.org and web2.example.org respectively.

vhost1 with aliases web1.example.org:80 and *:9080.
vhost2 with aliases web2.example.org:80 and *:9080.

module1 would be mapped to vhost1 and module2 would be mapped to vhost2. Both cluster members would then build the following map internally:

Alias	Context root	Web module
`web1.example.org:80`	`/app1`	`module1`
`web2.example.org:80`	`/app2`	`module2`
`*:9080`	`/app1`	`module1`
`*:9080`	`/app2`	`module2`

The structure of the map described above implies that mapping a request to a Web module is a two-step process. WebSphere will first match the Hostheader of the incoming request. At this point, wildcards are processed. WebSphere will then use the corresponding { context root → Web module } map to look up the Web module based on the path part of the URL.
In the example shown above, the fact that the same host alias appears in multiple virtual host definition doesn't cause any issue. Any request sent directly to the application servers via port 9080 will be routed correctly to the expected Web module.
Now consider a slightly different virtual host configuration:

vhost1 with aliases web1.example.org:80 and *:9080.
vhost2 with aliases web2.example.org:80, srv-a.example.org:9080 and srv-b.example.org:9080.

This will result in the following map:

Alias	Context root	Web module
`web1.example.org:80`	`/app1`	`module1`
`web2.example.org:80`	`/app2`	`module2`
`*:9080`	`/app1`	`module1`
`srv-a.example.org:9080`	`/app2`	`module2`
`srv-b.example.org:9080`	`/app2`	`module2`

Useful Unix File Finding Commands

2013-09-24T20:21:00.003+05:30

Useful Unix File Finding Commands

Following are some bunch of commands that might be useful if you want to find files in unix/linux.

Large Files

Find files larger than 10MB in the current directory downwards…

find . -size +10000000c -ls

Find files larger than 100MB…

find . -size +100000000c -ls

Old Files

Find files last modified over 30days ago…

find . -type f -mtime 30 -ls

Find files last modified over 365days ago…

find . -type f -mtime 365 -ls

Find files last accessed over 30days ago…

find . -type f -atime 30 -ls

Find files last accessed over 365days ago…

find . -type f -atime 365 -ls

Find Recently Updated Files

There have been instances where a runaway process is seemingly using up any and all space left on a partition. Finding the culprit file is always useful.
If the file is being updated at the current time then we can use find to find files modified in the last day…

find . -type f -mtime -1 -ls

Better still, if we know a file is being written to now, we can touch a file and ask the find command to list any files updated after the timestamp of that file, which will logically then list the rogue file in question.

touch testfile

find .  -type f -newer testfile -ls

Finding tar Files

A clean up of redundant tar (backup) files, after completing a piece of work say, is sometimes forgotten. Conversely, if tar files are needed, they can be identified and duly compressed (using compress or gzip) if not already done so, to help save space. Either way, the following lists all tar files for review.

find . -type f -name "*.tar" -ls

find . -type f -name "*.tar.Z" -ls

Large Directories

List, in order, the largest sub-directories (units are in Kb)…

du -sk * | sort -n

Sometimes it is useful to then cd into that suspect directory and re-run the du command until the large files are found.

Removing Files using Find

The above find commands can be edited to remove the files found rather than list them. The “-ls” switch can be changed for “-exec rm {}\;”=.
e.g.

find . -type f -mtime 365 -exec rm {} \;

Running the command with the “-ls” switch first, is always prudent to see what will be removed.
The “-ls” switch prints out summary information about the file (like owner and permissions). If just the filename is required then swap “-ls” switch for “-print”.

Difference between War, Jar & Ear

2013-08-14T20:05:00.003+05:30

Difference between War, Jar & Ear

1.JAR : JAVA Archives and it allows aggregating many files into One.It usually hold java classes in lib.

JAR files (Java ARchive) allows aggregating many files into one, it is usually used to hold Java classes in a library. i.e. Math.jar

(file with a .jar extension)

2.War(web archive) This is Web Application archive which contains basic web application like servlet, jsp, html. This can be run on simple tomcat server

WAR files are similar to JAR files, except that they are specifically for web applications made from Servlets, JSPs, and supporting classes(file with a .war extension)

3.Ear (: Enterprise Archives)

An EAR file is an enterprise application deployed to an application server like WebLogic, WebSphere, JBOSS, etc. It might contain WARs, JARs, etc.

EAR = WAR(Web module) + JAR(can be EJB module or application client module)

files with a .ear extension

Too many files opened issue

2013-01-26T17:22:00.002+05:30

How to solve too many files issue?

This issue occur in two areas
1. If Web server, App server and Data base servers residing in One machine, then you m ayget this error
2. If socket timed out not mentioned then this issue may this issue.

Using ulimit -a command, we will find how many sockets had that machine. In any machine 1024 is the maximum sockets.

Bottleneck identification:

Using netstat -a|grep WAIT|wc -l command we will find how many sockets opened by the application. If 1024 connection are utilized then we will get too many open files.

If you want know which server opened more socket, just use lsof -p <Process ID> for finding the sockets opened by that process.

Internal Process of a socket: All HTTP requests internally used TCP connection. One TCP connection is one Socket in computer science language. So if you send n number of requests to the server , the server opens the socket to handle your requests but we need to close the sockets once your request got over other wise socket won't close, for this we need to mention the socket timed out.

Solutions:

For issue 1: Just increase the sockets using ulimit -Hn <Parameter> (Ex ulimit -Hn 2048)command, but it is not recommended , you have to discuss with your architect on this.

For issue 2: Just provide the socket time out in your server configuration file. In web server change the value in uri_worker.property file

Websphere application server Admin ND 7.0, Online training

2012-08-08T16:03:00.000+05:30

Websphere application serve 8.5.5 Administration on linux, Online /classroom training

This course provides the student with the necessary skill set to handle all sorts of administrative tasks on WebSphere Application server 8.5.5 ND.However with an instructor we can tremendously speed up the learning process. The following are the topics covered.

Contace details :

Suvash :9008500244

Mohan : 9739172531

gsgudi@gmail.com

Course type : Classroom/ online training

Duration: 5 weeks

8.5.5.0 New Features
Architecture

Websphere application server ND 8.5.5 Architecture

Need for application servers

WAS management features

WAS flavors

WAS Topologies

Installation

Virtual Box installation
Preparation and prerequisites

Graphical installation

Installation verification/problems during installation

Profiles

profile types
Different ways to create a profile
profile Directory structure
Profile Backup /restore
Profile Delete
Node federation
Workload Management (WLM) & High Availability
Clustering (vertical & Horizontal)
Virtual Host
start to end of request processing in clustered env
Edge Components
Load Balancer
HA Manager
System Management & Application
Log files
Cell, Dmgr, Node, Profile, Server terminology
Start/Stop Environment
Admin console overview
Deployment of JEE Applications (.war & .ear)
Synchronization of Config file & settings
Deploying your Applications

Application file types

Deploying an application

Starting and stopping your applications

Data access applications

Data sources

Preparing our sample database

JDBC providers

Creating a JDBC provider

Creating a J2C alias

Creating a data source

Deploying a data access application

Selecting installation options

Mapping modules to servers

Providing JSP reloading options for web modules

Mapping shared libraries

Mapping resource references to resources

Mapping virtual hosts for web modules

Mapping context roots for web modules

Reviewing the deployment steps

Using the application

IBM HTTP Server & Plug-in
Installing IHS and WebSphere Plug-in

Creating Web server definition

Plug-in generation and propagation

Administrative Scripting

The wsadmin tool

Interactive commands

Individual commands

Profile scripts

Command script files

Listing installed applications with Jython

Installing an application using Jython

Querying application status
Security
Global security

Global security registry types

Turning on global security

Standalone custom registry

Local operating system

Configuring an LDAP registry in WebSphere(LDAP config material)

Administrative roles

Mapping users and groups to administrative roles

Monitoring & Tuning
Enable Appl Server Performance monitoring
Dynamic Cache
Tivoli Performance Viewer (TPV)
TPV advisor
Request Metrics
JVM tuning

JVM core and heap dumps

Requesting a Java core dump using Jython

Requesting a heap dump using Jython

Requesting a Java core dump using the kill command

JVM-triggered heap dump

Analysing a Java core (thread) dump

Problem Determination & troubleshooting
where to start
symptoms of a problems
Importance of Log files, trace & analyzer
Heap dump & Thread dump
Hung Thread detection
Memory leaks diagnostics
How to send error to IBM

WebSphere Configuration

File structure

XML configuration files

Important properties files

Logs

JVM settings

Classloaders

SSL

SSL Concepts

Configure SSL between IHS and WAS

The ikeyman tool

Product Maintenance

Locating and downloading updates

Update installers

Applying updates

Verification of updates

Silent updates

Feature packs

Backing up your system

Installer logs

Interview Stuff
Sample WAS Resumes
Providing WAS FAQ’s
Certification Dump
Redbooks
Introducing you to IBM various WAS Resources.....