For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.

Configure WebSphere Application Server for Application Center manually

To configure WebSphere® Application Server for Application Center manually, we must configure variables, custom properties, and class loading policies.

Before you begin

Make sure that a WebSphere Application Server profile exists.

Procedure

1. Log on to the WebSphere Application Server administration console for our IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Server.
2. Enable application security.
   1. Click Security > Global Security.
   2. Ensure that Enable administrative security is selected. Application security can be enabled only if administrative security is enabled.
   3. Ensure that Enable application security is selected.
   4. Click OK.
   5. Save the changes.
   For more information, see Enabling security.
3. Create the Application Center JDBC data source and provider.

   See the appropriate section in Manually installing Application Center.

4. Install the Application Center console WAR file.
   1. Depending on your version of WebSphere Application Server, click one of the following options:
      • Applications > New > New Enterprise Application
      • Applications > New Application > New Enterprise Application

   2. Navigate to the MobileFirst Server installation directory mfserver_install_dir/ApplicationCenter/console.
   3. Select appcenterconsole.war and click Next.
   4. On the How do we want to install the application? page, click Detailed, and then click Next.
   5. On the Application Security Warnings page, click Continue.
   6. Click Next until you reach the "Map context roots for web modules" page.
   7. In the Context Root field, type /appcenterconsole.
   8. Click Next until you reach the "Map security roles to users or groups" page.
   9. Select all roles, click Map Special Subjects and select All Authenticated in Application's Realm.
   10. Click Next until you reach the Summary page.
   11. Click Finish and save the configuration.
5. Configure the class loader policies and then start the application:
   1. Click Applications > Application types > WebSphere Enterprise Applications.
   2. From the list of applications, click appcenterconsole_war.
   3. In the Detail Properties section, click the Class loading and update detection link.
   4. In the Class loader order pane, click Classes loaded with local class loader first (parent last).
   5. Click OK.
   6. In the Modules section, click Manage Modules.
   7. From the list of modules, click ApplicationCenterConsole.
   8. In the Class loader order pane, click Classes loaded with local class loader first (parent last).
   9. Click OK twice.
   10. Click Save.
   11. Select appcenterconsole_war and click Start.
6. Install the WAR file for Application Center services.
   1. Depending on your version of WebSphere Application Server, click one of the following options:
      • Applications > New > New Enterprise Application
      • Applications > New Application > New Enterprise Application

   2. Navigate to the MobileFirst Server installation directory mfserver_install_dir/ApplicationCenter/console.
   3. Select applicationcenter.war and click Next.
   4. On the How do we want to install the application? page, click Detailed, and then click Next.
   5. On the Application Security Warnings page, click Continue.
   6. Click Next until you reach the "Map resource references to resources" page.
   7. Click Browser and select the data source with the jdbc/AppCenterDS JNDI name.
   8. Click Apply.
   9. In the Context Root field, type /applicationcenter.
   10. Click Next until you reach the "Map security roles to users or groups" page.
   11. Select all roles, click Map Special Subjects, and select All Authenticated in Application's Realm.
   12. Click Next until you reach the Summary page.
   13. Click Finish and save the configuration.
7. Repeat step 5.
   1. Select applicationcenter.war from the list of applications in substeps b and k.
   2. Select ApplicationCenterServices in substep g.
8. Review the server class loader policy: Depending on your version of WebSphere Application Server, click Servers > Server Types > Application Servers or Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers and then select the server.
   • If the class loader policy is set to Multiple, do nothing.
   • If the class loader policy is set to Single and Class loading mode is set to Classes loaded with local class loader first (parent last), do nothing.
   • If Classloader policy is set to Single and Class loading mode is set to Classes loaded with parent class loader first, set Classloader policy to Multiple and set the classloader policy of all applications other than MobileFirst applications to Classes loaded with parent class loader first.

9. Save the configuration.
10. Configure a JNDI environment entry to indicate the directory with binary files of the aapt program, from the Android SDK platform-tools package.
    1. Determine a suitable directory for the aapt binary files in the WebSphere Application Server installation directory.
       • For a stand-alone server, we can use a directory such as WAS_INSTALL_DIR/optionalLibraries/IBM/mobilefirst/android-sdk.
       • For deployment to a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment cell, use WAS_INSTALL_DIR/profiles/profile-name/config/cells/cell-name/mobilefirst/android-sdk.
       • For deployment to a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment cluster, use WAS_INSTALL_DIR/profiles/profile-name/config/cells/cell-name/clusters/cluster-name/mobilefirst/android-sdk.
       • For deployment to a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment node, use WAS_INSTALL_DIR/profiles/profile-name/config/cells/cell-name/nodes/node-name/mobilefirst/android-sdk.
       • For deployment to a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment server, use WAS_INSTALL_DIR/profiles/profile-name/config/cells/cell-name/nodes/node-name/servers/server-name/mobilefirst/android-sdk.

    2. Copy the product_install_dir/ApplicationCenter/tools/android-sdk directory to the directory that you determined in Substep a.
    3. For WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment, click System administration > Nodes, select the nodes, and click Full Synchronize.
    4. Configure the environment entry (JNDI property) android.aapt.dir, and set as its value the directory that you determined in Substep a. The WAS_INSTALL_DIR/profiles/profile-name profile is replaced with the WebSphere Application Server variable reference ${USER_INSTALL_ROOT}.

Results

We can now access the Application Center at http://<server>:<port>/appcenterconsole, where server is the host name of your server and port is the port number (by default 9080).

What to do next

For more steps to configure the Application Center, see Configure the Java EE security roles on WebSphere Application Server full profile.

Parent topic: Deploy the Application Center WAR files and configuring the application server manually