Configuration updates

We can make updates to the configuration using the developer tools or from the command line.

Update the server.xml file

The server.xml file can be updated either from the developer tools or from the command line. If there are any problems with the configuration, the specific configuration element updates that have problems do not take effect, but other successful updates are implemented.

This behavior can be changed by updating the onError variable from the default value of WARN to FAIL. If the value is set to FAIL, any problem with the configuration update causes the entire update to fail.

Updates occur if we update any files included from the server.xml file or configuration in the configDropins directories.

Restarting the server with an updated configuration

The WebSphere Application Server Liberty runtime environment caches the currently used configuration so that when you restart the server, the server.xml file is not processed unless there are any changes. If the server.xml file is changed, the cached configuration is updated with the new values. If any problems are found in the new configuration, the cached configuration values remain in use. The console log displays a warning message for each configuration element that is still using an older value. For example:

CWWKG0076W: The previous configuration for httpEndpoint with id defaultHttpEndpoint is still in use.

The server can be started without using cached configuration using the server script with the --clean option.

Parent topic: Administer Liberty