Configure a Liberty server farm manually

Configure a Liberty server farm manually

Overview

To install a Liberty server farm step by step, we...

Create the database
Write the configuration file
Configure SSL security
Configure the runtime database, operations console, and administration web applications
Set JNDI properties
Exchange signer certificates between truststores

Configure the REST connector for each farm server, defining the following parameters...

The Liberty administrator and password for the farm plug-in: admin.jmx.user and admin.jmx.pwd.

The keystore, required to exchange public certificates.

Configure a Liberty server farm
Create the administration services database.
We create this database only once, whatever the number of servers.

See...

DB2: Set up WLADMIN

Oracle: Set up WLADMIN

MySQL; Set up WLADMIN
Write the configuration file for the farm plug-in.
Write an XML file
Give it a meaningful name, for example LibertyFarm.xml.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Farm xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="FarmSchema.xsd">
  <LibertyNode ServerID="server id" 
               AdminPass="user password" 
               AdminUser="user name" 
               Hostname="host_name" 
               JMXPortNumber="port_number"/>

      .....
</Farm>
Where:

server id is the unique identifier of the server

user password is for connecting to the Liberty REST Connector.

user name is connecting to he Liberty REST Connector.

host name address is the host name of the Liberty server

port number is the HTTPS port number of the Liberty server
The port number must be different for each server that is hosted on the same computer.

Create one <LibertyNode> element per server in the farm. For example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Farm xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="FarmSchema.xsd">
  <LibertyNode ServerID="S1" AdminPass="demo" AdminUser="demo" Hostname="MyHostName" JMXPortNumber="9443"/>
  <LibertyNode ServerID="S2" AdminPass="demo" AdminUser="demo" Hostname="MyHostName" JMXPortNumber="9444"/>
</Farm>
The complete syntax of the elements and attributes of this XML file and the underlying XML schema is documented in Define a server farm.
Copy the configuration file to each computer where Liberty is installed or on a shared file system that all the servers of the farm can access.
Configure the runtime database.
We create this database only once, whatever the number of servers. For more information for each database, see the following documentation.

Set up the DB2 databases manually
Set up the Oracle databases manually
Set up the MySQL databases manually
Configure the operations console application.
Make a backup of...
LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/server.xml

Add the following lines into server.xml...
<application id="worklightconsole" 
             name="worklightconsole" location="worklightconsole.war" 
             type="war">

    <application-bnd>

        <security-role name="worklightadmin">
            <user name="demo"/>
        </security-role>

    </application-bnd>
</application>
Copy the operations console WAR file...
MF_HOME/WorklightServer/worklightconsole.war

...to the "apps" server directory of each Liberty farm server. The "apps" directory is in the same directory as the server.xml file.
Configure the administration services application.
Make a backup of...
LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/server.xml
Add the following lines into server.xml...
<jndiEntry jndiName="worklightconsole/ibm.worklight.admin.endpoint" 
           value='"*://*:*/worklightadmin"'/>

<application id="worklightadmin" 
            name="worklightadmin" 
            location="worklightadmin.war" 
            type="war">

        <application-bnd>

            <security-role name="worklightadmin">
                <user name="demo"/>
            </security-role>

        </application-bnd>

        <classloader 
                    delegation="parentLast">

            <privateLibrary>
                <fileset dir="${wlp.install.dir}/lib" 
                         includes="com.ibm.ws.crypto.passwordutil_1.0.2.jar"/>
            </privateLibrary>

        </classloader>
</application>
Copy the administration services WAR file...
MF_HOME/WorklightServer/worklightadmin.war

...to the "apps" server directory of each Liberty farm server. The "apps" directory is in the same directory as server.xml.

Configure the data sources as described in the following documentation.

DB2: Configure Liberty profile manually

Oracle: Configure Liberty profile manually

MySQL: Configure Liberty profile manually
Configure the JNDI properties
Make a backup of...
LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/server.xml
Add the following lines in server.xml...
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.topology.platform" 
           value="Liberty"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.topology.clustermode" 
           value="Farm"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.farm.type" 
           value="File"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.farm.definition.location" 
           value="<plugin xml file location>"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.admin.serverid" 
           value="<server id>"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.host" 
           value="host"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.port" 
           value="<server HTTPS port number>"/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.user" 
           value="demo" />
<jndiEntry jndiName="ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.pwd" 
           value="demo"/>
Where

<plugin xml file location> is the location of the configuration file that you wrote in step 2.

host is the host name of this server. This value must match the Hostname attribute of the <LibertyNode> element that corresponds to this server in the configuration file.

<server id> must have the same value as the ServerId attribute for this server in the <LibertyNode> element of the configuration file.

<server HTTPS port number> is the value of the httpsPort attribute in the <httpEndpoint> entry for this server.

The ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.user JNDI property must have the same value as the AdminUser attribute in the <LibertyNode> element of the configuration file.

The ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.pwd JNDI property must have the same value as the AdminPass attribute in the <LibertyNode> element of the configuration file.
Configure the data sources as described in the following documentation.

DB2: Configure Liberty profile for DB2 manually for MobileFirst Server administration

Oracle: Configure Liberty profile for Oracle manually for MobileFirst Server administration

MySQL: Configure Liberty profile for MySQL manually for MobileFirst Server administration
Configure the MobileFirst runtime environments.
Follow the instructions in Configure the Liberty profile manually.

Make a backup copy of...
LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/server.xml
Edit server.xml and insert...
LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/server.xml

...and add the following lines...
<jndiEntry jndiName="runtime name/publicWorkLightProtocol" 
           value='"http"'/>
<jndiEntry jndiName="runtime name/publicWorkLightPort" 
           value='"http port"'/>
The http port placeholder represents the port value of the httpPort attribute in the <httpEndpoint> element.
Exchange signer certificates between server truststores.
We can configure the truststore using such IBM utilities as KeyTool or iKeyman.

Import the public certificates of the other servers of the farm into this truststore.
Restart each instance of WebSphere Application Server so that this security configuration takes effect.

Replicate the LTPA keystores across farm members.
This step is required for Single Sign On (SSO) to work.

Start one of the farm member.
In case of a default LTPA configuration, the Liberty server generates a LTPA keystore...
LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/resources/security/ltpa.keys

...after it has successfully started.

Copy this ltpa.keys file in the directory LIBERTY_HOME/servers/server_name/resources/security of each farm member.
What to do next

Set up an IBM HTTP Server for Liberty.

Parent topic: Install a server farm