Installing Dynamic Cache Monitor

The Dynamic Cache Monitor (Cache monitor) is an installable Web application that displays simple cache statistics, cache entries and cache policy information. The CacheMonitor.ear file is available in the <install_root>/installableApps directory of your appserver. For security reasons, not use the same host and port as used for your application. Therefore you first need to create virtual hosts and host aliases for the Cache monitor application:

1. Create a new virtual host called "cache_monitor". Click Environment -> Virtual Hosts -> New in the Administrative Console. Enter cache_monitor into the Name field and click Apply.

For vertical clustering, this must be repeated on every machine in the cluster.

2. Create a new host alias (verify which port numbers are available on your system first) for the cache_monitor host: a. Select Host Aliases from the Additional Properties pane. Click New. b. Enter a * (asterisk) into the Host Name field and add <your_port_nbr> (for example 9082).

3. Click OK and save your configuration.

4. Add a new HTTP transport port to your appserver(s): a. Click Servers -> Application Servers -> <your_app_server> -> Web Container -> HTTP transports. Click New. b. Enter * for the Host and <your_port_nbr> (for example, 9082) for the Port. c. Click OK and save your configuration.

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for each appserver in your cluster.

We are using three clustered appservers in our environment: Trade3Server1 and Trade3Server3 reside on the same machine, so we need different ports for these two application servers. Trade3Server2 resides on a different machine, so we can use the same port number as was used for Trade3Server1. Our configuration is as follows:

Port 9082 for Trade3Server1 and Trade3Server2

Port 9085 for Trade3Server3

Now that these preliminary tasks are done, you can install the Cache monitor application. Here is how to do this:

1. Open the Administrative Console and verify whether the Cache monitor is already installed. To do so, click Applications -> Enterprise Applications. See Figure 14-4. If CacheMonitor is not displayed in this list, click Install.

Figure 14-4 Installed Enterprise Applications

2. On the Preparing for the application installation panel (Figure 14-5), browse to the <install_root>/installableApps Server path, select the CacheMonitor.ear file. Click OK, then click Next.

Figure 14-5 Cache monitor installation - Select CacheMonitor.ear

3. On the next panel, enter cache_monitor for the Virtual Host. Click Next -> Continue.

Figure 14-6 Select Virtual Host - cache_monitor

4. Accept the default options on the next panel (Step 1) and click Next once again. See Figure 14-7.

Figure 14-7 Cache monitor installation - Installation options

5. Step 2 - Map virtual hosts for Web modules (Figure 14-8).

We have created a virtual host called "cache_monitor" in step 1 which we are now referring to.

Check Dynamic Cache Monitor and select the cache_monitor Virtual Host from the drop-down menu. Then click Next.

Figure 14-8 Cache monitor installation - Map virtual hosts for Web modules

6. Step 3 - Map modules to appservers (Figure 14-9).

On this panel, you need to select your appserver and the Dynamic Cache Monitor Module. Click Apply, then click Next.

Figure 14-9 Cache monitor installation - Map modules to appservers

7. Step 4 - Map security roles to users/group (Figure 14-10).

Select Administrator and All Authenticated, then click Next once more.

Figure 14-10 Cache monitor installation - Map security roles to users/groups

8. Confirm the installation on the Summary window as shown in Figure 14-11, click Finish and Save your changes to the master configuration.

Figure 14-11 Cache monitor installation - Summary

9. Regenerate plugin-cfg.xml. Click Environment -> Update Web Server Plugin -> OK.

10. Restart your appserver(s).

Generally, you can access the Cache monitor using a Web browser and the URL

http://<your hostname>:<your port_number>/cachemonitor 

We are using these URLs:

http://app1.itso.ibm.com:9082/cachemonitor/ for Trade3Server1

http://app2.itso.ibm.com:9082/cachemonitor/ for Trade3Server2

http://app1.itso.ibm.com:9085/cachemonitor/ for Trade3Server3

If your appserver is configured for global security, you need to provide a valid user ID and password after invoking the above URL.

Figure 14-12 shows the Cache monitor start page which allows access to the cache statistics and some configurable parameters. These are configured using the Dynamic Cache Administrative Console (see Enabling dynamic cache service).

Figure 14-12 WebSphere Cache monitor start page

We explain some functionality of the Cache monitor as we work on our sample scenarios, but please use the WebSphere InfoCenter to fully understand all functionality. The WebSphere Information Center is available at:

http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/infocenter.html

The ESI processor's cache is also monitored through the Dynamic Cache Monitor application. In order for the ESI processor's cache to be visible in the Cache monitor, the DynaCacheEsi application must be installed and the esiInvalidationMonitor property must be set to true in the plugin-cfg.xml file. See External caching by Web server plug-in for more information on the ESI processor.

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