Set up a local Web server

 

This topic describes how to install the Web server and the Web server plug-in on the machine where you installed WAS.

 

Overview

You can define a locally-installed Web server on an unmanaged or managed node. If the Web server is defined on an unmanaged node, the administrative functions are handled through the IBM HTTP Server administration server. If the Web server is defined on a managed node, the administrative functions of the Web server are handled through the node agent, which is beneficial.

Web servers that are not provided with the WebSphere Application Server product do not provide an administration server. Web servers that do not provide an administration server must reside on a managed node to facilitate plug-in administration functions and generation and propagation of the plugin-cfg.xml file.

The following steps create a Web server definition in the default profile.

 

Procedure

1. Install your WAS product.

   See Installing the product and additional software.

2. Install IBM HTTP Server or another supported Web server.

   See Installing IBM HTTP Server.

3. Install the binary plug-in module using the Plug-ins installation wizard.

   The Web server definition is automatically created and configured during the installation of the plug-ins.

   See Installing Web server plug-ins.

4. Complete the setup by creating the Web server definition using the console, or run the plug-in configuration script. The creation of this object is exclusive of the Web server installation. Select one of the following options:

    

   • Use the console.

     Create a Web server definition on an existing appserver or unmanaged node using the wizard:

     1. Click Servers > Web servers > New and use the Create new Web server entry wizard to create the Web server definition.

     2. Select the appropriate node.

     3. Select a template. Select a system template or a user-defined template for the Web server you want to create.

     4. Enter the Web server properties:

        • Type: The Web server vendor type

        • Port: The existing Web server port (default: 80)

        • Installation path: The Web server installation path. This field is required for IBM HTTP Server only.

        • Service name (Windows operating systems): The Windows operating system service name of the Web server.

          The default is IBMHTTPServer6.1.

        • Use secure protocol: Use the HTTPS protocol to communicate with the Web server. The default is HTTP.

        • Plug-in installation location: The directory path in which the plug-in is installed.

     5. Confirm the creation of the new Web server and click Finish.

     After creating the Web server, complete the following steps to verify that the plugin-key.kdb file is generated and to configure the Web server plug-in with SSL:

     1. Click Security > SSL certificate and key management.

     2. Under Configuration settings, click Manage endpoint security configurations.

     3. Under Inbound or Outbound, expand cell > nodes > Web_server_node_name > servers and click server.

     4. Under Related Items, click Key stores and certificates. The administrative console displays the CMSKeyStore configuration with the path to the plugin-key.kdb file.

     5. Export the default certificate from key.p12, and add it as a signer certificate to the plugin-key.kdb.

      

   • Running the plug-in configuration script.

     Refer to Configure a Web server and an appserver profile on the same machine.

     If you install the plug-in, save the plug-in configuration script to run after you create a managed node, otherwise an error occurs. Wait until the script runs successfully and creates the Web server definition on the managed node and node synchronization occurs before starting the Web server. Adding the node starts the node agent process. If the node agent is not running, start the node.

     If you want the Web server to handle requests for an application for multiple managed nodes, install the application on each managed node and on the Web server definition. The script already contains all of the information that gather when using the administrative console option.

     See startNode command for more information.

 

What to do next

You can configure non-IBM HTTP Server Web servers as a remote Web server on unmanaged nodes, or as a local Web server on managed nodes. For a non-IBM HTTP Server Web server on a managed node, the following functions are supported:

• Generation of the plug-in configuration, based on WebSphere Application Server repository changes.

• Propagation of the plugin-cfg.xml file, based on using node synchronization with the WAS node. Node synchronization is necessary in order to propagate configuration changes to the affected node or nodes.The plugin-cfg.xml file is propagated to the appserver node repository tree from the deployment manager repository.

  The plugin-cfg.xml file is propagated to the appserver node repository tree. This is not the default plugin-cfg.xml file installation location. Changes may have to be made to non-IBM HTTP Server Web server configuration files to update the location of the plugin-cfg.xml file that is read by the plug-in module. For example, Internet Information Services (IIS) has a file name called plugin-cfg.loc, which is read by the IIS plug-in modules to determine the location of the plugin-cfg.xml file. The plugin-cfg.loc file has to be updated to reflect the plugin-cfg.xml file location in the appserver node repository.

  Other non-IBM HTTP Server Web servers have different methods to specify the location of the plugin-cfg.xml file for the plug-in module. However, in order for propagation to work, update the location to reflect the location in the appserver node repository.

The following functions are not supported on a managed node:

• Start and stopping the Web server.

• View and editing the configuration file.

• View the Web server logs.

For a non-IBM HTTP Server Web Server on an unmanaged node, you can generate plug-in configuration, based on WebSphere Application server repository changes. The following functions are not supported on an unmanaged node for a non-IBM HTTP Server Web server:

• Start and stopping the Web server.

• View and editing the configuration file.

• View the Web server logs.

• Propagation of the Web server plugin-cfg.xml file.

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Web server collection
Web server configuration
Web server log file
Web server plug-in properties
Web server configuration file
Web server custom properties
Remote Web server management