Install a WebSphere Application Server farm manually

To install a WebSphere Application Server server farm step by step, you create the database, write the configuration file, configure the runtime database, and the operations console and administration web applications, and exchange signer certificates between truststores.

Make sure we have defined the WebSphere Application Server profile.

To configure a farm of WebSphere Application Server servers, follow these steps:

1. Create the administrative services database.

2. Write the configuration file for the farm plug-in.

3. Configure the MobileFirst runtime database.

4. Install the operations console and administration services applications.

5. Configure the MobileFirst runtime environments.

6. Exchange signer certificates between server truststore for each server of the farm..

When we work in the wizard of the WebSphere Application Server administration console, where no step number is mentioned in the following procedure, click Next or click the subsequent step number wizard list.

1. Create the administrative services database.

   MobileFirst databases are shared among the application servers of a farm, which has two consequences:

   • We create this database only once, whatever the number of servers.

   • We cannot use the Derby database in such a topology because this database allows only a single connection at a time.

   For more information for each database, see the following documentation.

   • Set up the DB2 database manually for the MobileFirst Server administration

   • Set up the Oracle database manually for the MobileFirst Server administration

   • Set up the MySQL database manually for the MobileFirst Server administration

2. Write the configuration file for the farm plug-in.

   1. Create an XML file.

      Give it a meaningful name, for example WasFarm.xml.

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
      <Farm xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
      xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="FarmSchema.xsd">
          <WasNode ServerID="server id" AdminPass="user password" AdminUser="user name" 
                    Hostname="host name address" JMXPortNumber="port number"/>   
      .....
      </Farm>

      Where:

      • server id is the unique identifier of the server

      • user password is the WebSphere Application Server password.

      • user name is the WebSphere Application Server user name. This name must be in the WebSphere Application Server user registry but does not need to have a WebSphere Application Server role because the MobileFirst MBeans are not secured

      • host name address is the host name of the stand-alone WebSphere Application Server server.

      • port number is the SOAP port number of the stand-alone WebSphere Application Server server.

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

      There must be one <WasNode> 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">
        <WasNode ServerID="ServerOne" AdminPass="admin" AdminUser="admin" Hostname="MyHostName" JMXPortNumber="8686"/>
        <WasNode ServerID="ServerTwo" AdminPass="admin" AdminUser="admin" Hostname="MyHostName" JMXPortNumber="8687"/>
      </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.

   2. Copy the configuration file to each computer where WAS is installed or on a shared file system that all the servers of the farm can access.

3. Configure the MobileFirst runtime database.

   Important: In the context of a server farm, we must set the scope of the JDBC connection to server level.

   • Configure WebSphere Application Server for DB2 manually

   • Configure WebSphere Application Server for Oracle manually

   • Configure WebSphere Application Server for MySQL manually

   1. Follow the instructions for configuring the database.

   2. Log on to the WebSphere Application Server administration console.

   3. On the navigation pane, select Security > Global security.

   4. In Authentication, select Java Authentication and Authorization Service > J2C authentication data.

   5. Clear Prefix new alias names with the node name of the cell (for compatibility with earlier releases).

   6. Click Apply and then Save.

4. Install the operations console and administration services applications.

   1. Follow the instructions in Configure WebSphere Application Server for MobileFirst Server administration manually.

   2. On the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Types > Websphere enterprise applications.

   3. Click Install.

   4. Browse to the MF_HOME/WorklightServer/worklightadmin.war file for administrative services.

   5. Click Next.

   6. Select Detailed to show all installation options and parameters.

   7. Click Next, and then Continue.

   8. In Step 7 Map resource references to resource, enter /jdbc/WorklightAdminDS.

   9. In Step 9 Map context roots for web modules, enter /worklightadmin.

   10. In Step 10 Map environment entries for Web Modules...

       1. Enter WAS next to ibm.worklight.topology.platform.

       2. Enter Farm next to ibm.worklight.topology.clustermode

       3. Enter File next to ibm.worklight.farm.type.

       4. Enter the server identifier next to ibm.worklight.admin.serverid.

          This identifier must be the same as the one that you declared in the configuration file in step 2.

       5. Enter the location of the XML configuration file in sibm.worklight.farm.definition.location.

   11. In Step 11 Map security roles to users or groups, select the worklightadmin role and then selectMap Special Subjects > All Authenticated in Application's Realm.

   12. After Step 15, click Finish and save the configuration.

   13. Click the application name.

   14. In Detail properties, click Class loading and update detection.

   15. Select Class loaded with local class loader first (parent last).

   16. Click OK.

   17. Click the application name again.

   18. In Module, click Manage Modules and then click the module link.

   19. Select Class loaded with local class loader first (parent last).

   20. Click OK, and then again OK.

   21. Save the configuration.

5. Configure the MobileFirst runtime environments.

   For a list of JNDI properties, see List of JNDI properties for MobileFirst Server administration.

   1. Log on to the WebSphere Application Server administration console and go through the next steps for each deployed MobileFirst application.

   2. Configure WebSphere Application Server manually. We must configure variables, custom properties, and class loader policies. See Configure WebSphere Application Server manually.

   3. On the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Types > Websphere enterprise applications.

   4. Click the application name.

   5. In Web Module Properties, click Environment entries for Web Modules to display the JNDI properties.

   6. Enter WAS next to ibm.worklight.topology.platform.

   7. Enter Farm next to ibm.worklight.topology.clustermode.

   8. Enter SOAP or RMI next to ibm.worklight.admin.jmx.connector.

   9. Enter the server identifier for this server next to ibm.worklight.admin.serverid.

      This identifier must be the same as the one that you declared in the configuration file in the ServerId attribute of the <WasNode> element for this instance of WebSphere Application Server.

   10. Click OK and save the configuration.

   11. Click the application name.

   12. Click Startup behavior.

   13. Set 100 in Startup order, or a higher value, to ensure that the MobileFirst runtime environment starts after the administrative services.

   14. Click OK and save the configuration.

6. Exchange signer certificates between server truststore for each server of the farm.

   1. Log on to the WebSphere Application Server administration console.

   2. On the navigation pane, select Security > SSL certificate and key management.

   3. In Related Items, click Key stores and certificates.

   4. From the Keystore usages drop-down list, make sure that SSL keystores is selected.

   5. Import the certificates from all the other WebSphere Application Server servers of the farm.

      1. Click the NodeDefaultTrustStore.

      2. In the Additional Properties section, click Signer certificates.

      3. Click Retrieve from port.

      4. For each other server of the farm

         1. Enter its host name or IP address in the Host field.

         2. Enter its HTTPS transport (SSL) port in the Port field.

         3. From the SSL configuration for outbound connection drop-down list, select NodeDefaultSSLSettings.

         4. Enter an alias for this signer certificate in the Alias field.

         5. Click Retrieve signer information.

         6. Review the information that is retrieved from the remote certificate then click OK.

   6. Click Save.

   7. Restart the server.

Parent topic: Install a server farm