4.8 Managing applications

Applications can be managed using the following methods:

Using scripts to manage applications is more complicated than using the other methods. It requires skill in at least one of the supported scripting languages and a complete understanding of the WAS configuration. However, scripting can offer a greater degree of control and can be quite useful in situations where you are performing the same administrative tasks multiple times, or when the tasks are to be done by multiple administrators.

Information about using wsadmin scripts is found in Chapter 5, Administration with scripting.

The rapid deployment tools in WebSphere Rapid Deployment provides a shortcut to installing, uninstalling, and updating applications. You can place full J2EE applications (EAR files), application modules (WAR files or EJB JAR files), or application artifacts (Java source files, Java class files, images, JSPs, and so on) into a configurable location on your file system, referred to as the monitored, or project, directory. The rapid deployment tools then automatically detect added or changed parts of these J2EE artifacts and performs the steps necessary to produce a running application on an appserver.

For information about using this feature, see Rapid deployment of J2EE applications topic in the Information Center.

Using the console is an easy way to install or update an application. Wizards take you through the process and provide help information at each step.

This is the method discussed in this section at a high level. A detailed example of it can be found in Chapter 14, Deploying applications.