Use configuration archive files in customized CIP profiles

A customized installation package (CIP) created with IBM WebSphere Installation Factory can contain a previously exported configuration archive of an existing profile to be bundled with an installation image, maintenance packages, user files, and scripts.

A configuration archive (CAR) file is an exported configuration file from an existing profile and contains all appserver configuration data including security settings, resources, defined ports, and so on. A CAR captures the configuration of a profile for later restoration to another application server node. The only configuration archives that can be restored in a CIP are unaugmented standalone appserver profiles. A CAR can only be restored into the same profile type in which it was exported.

The advantage of using a CAR is that all of this configuration, including any EAR files, can be reliably restored to many application server nodes. Importing a configuration archive also offers some performance advantages over creating a standalone appserver in the normal way.

Use the AdminTask command scripting interface to create the configuration archive. See the topic "ConfigArchiveOperations command group for AdminTask" in the WAS, V 7.0 Information Center for more information.

A CIP which includes a configuration archive can be used to install an exact replica of a model application serving environment with installed maintenance packages, configured profiles, and deployed applications. For this reason, the configuration archive support is one of the key customizations that make CIPs so powerful when creating large scale topologies.

We cannot restore a CAR enabled with a feature pack using a CIP. If a configuration contains feature pack capabilities, we cannot use a configuration archive to export or import configurations. If you run one of the import or export commands of the ConfigArchiveOperations command group for a feature pack configuration, the command might complete without reporting an error. No message displays when completing the import or export. However, there is no guarantee that the imported configuration will function correctly.

If restoring a customized profile that uses messaging, also include a script to configure the service integration bus (SIB). The original SIB configuration is not portable and, therefore, is not included in the CIP.



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Last updated Nov 11, 2010 1:01:09 PM CST