Administer stand-alone nodes using the administrative agent

We can configure an administrative agent, view or change stand-alone application server nodes registered to the administrative agent, and view or change job manager configurations for a registered node. An administrative agent provides a single interface to administer application servers in, development, unit test, or server farm environments, for example.

Install the WAS product.

The administrative agent provides a single interface to administer multiple unfederated (stand-alone) application server nodes in, for example, development, unit test, or server farm environments. By using a single interface to administer the application servers, you reduce the overhead of running administrative services in every application server.

We can use the administrative console of the administrative agent to configure the administrative agent, view and change properties for nodes registered to the administrative agent, register and unregister application server nodes with job managers, and view and change job manager configurations for a registered node. A job manager allows us to asynchronously submit and administer jobs for a node registered to the administrative agent when the node is also registered to the job manager.

• Set up the administrative agent environment.

  Create an administrative agent profile and one or more stand-alone application server profiles, called nodes, on the same computer and then register the node profiles with the administrative agent.

• Start and stop the administrative agent as needed.

  The administrative agent must be running to check for jobs for its registered stand-alone application server nodes.

• View and change properties for the administrative agent.

  1. Click System Administration > Administrative agent from the navigation of the administrative agent administrative console.

     • Optionally view the administrative agent properties on the Configuration tab and the Runtime tab.

     • Optionally select Start components as needed on the Configuration tab. Click Apply, and then click OK.

       Select the setting allows administrative agent components to start dynamically as needed for applications.

• View and change properties for a node registered to the administrative agent.

  1. Click System Administration > Administrative agent > Nodes.

     • We can view the nodes registered to the administrative agent.

     • Optionally click Register with Job manager to register an application server node with a job manager.

     • Optionally click Unregister from a Job Manager to unregister an application server node from a job manager.

  2. Click System Administration > Administrative agent > Nodes > node.

     • Optionally select Poll jobs from job manager to have the administrative agent retrieve jobs from the job manager for this node.

     • To change other properties for the node, click the links under Additional Properties.

• View and change job manager configurations for a registered node.

  1. Click System Administration > Administrative agent > Nodes > node > Job managers to view the job managers to which the node is registered.

  2. Click System Administration > Administrative agent > Nodes > node > Job managers > job_manager_UUID to change job manager-related properties for the registered node.

     • Optionally change the polling interval by entering an integer value.

       The administrative agent uses the polling interval to check for jobs from the job manager for this registered node.

     • Optionally change the web address of the job manager that the administrative agent polls for this registered node.

• Unregister a stand-alone application server node from the administrative agent.

  Unregister nodes if you no longer need the node in the administrative agent environment or if you intend to delete the stand-alone application server node profile. Run the deregisterNode command to unregister a node.

Results

Depending on the tasks that you completed, we might have configured the administrative agent, registered and unregistered application server nodes with job managers, viewed or changed properties for a node registered to the administrative agent, or viewed and changed the job manager configuration for a registered node.

What to do next

We can continue to administer registered nodes from the administrative agent. We can further configure the administrative agent using the links on the configuration tab of the administrative agent panel. We can register more nodes with the administrative agent using the registerNode command. We can unregister nodes from the administrative agent using the deregisterNode command.

We can register and unregister nodes with a job manager.

If we plan to change the system clock, stop all the application servers, the node agent servers, the deployment manager server, the administrative agent server, and the job manager server first. After you stop the servers, change the system clock, and then restart the servers. If we change the system clock on one system, you must ensure the clocks on all systems that communicate with each other and have WAS installed are synchronized. Otherwise, you might experience errors, such as security tokens no longer being valid.

(zos) If we plan to change the system clock, stop all the application servers, the node agent servers, the deployment manager server, the administrative agent server, the job manager server, and the location service daemon first. After you stop the servers and location service daemon, change the system clock, and then restart the servers and location service daemon. If we change the system clock on one system, you must ensure the clocks on all systems that communicate with each other and have WAS installed are synchronized. Otherwise, you might experience errors, such as security tokens no longer being valid.

Subtopics

• Administrative agent
  An administrative agent provides a single interface to administer multiple unfederated application server nodes in environments such as development, unit test or that portion of a server farm that resides on a single machine.

• Administrative agent security
  In a flexible management environment, a user ID must have the required authorization to use the administrative agent and to work with registered nodes.

• Set up the administrative agent environment
  An administrative agent environment consists of an administrative agent and the stand-alone application servers that it manages. Setting up an administrative agent environment involves creating an administrative agent profile and one or more stand-alone application server profiles, called nodes, on the same computer and then registering the node profiles with the administrative agent.

• Start and stop the administrative agent
  In the flexible management environment, we can start the administrative agent using the startServer command. We can stop the administrative agent using the stopServer command.

• Administrative agent settings
  Use this page to configure the administrative agent and view its properties.

• Node collection for the administrative agent
  Use this page to view the application server nodes that are registered to the administrative agent. The administrative agent provides a single interface to the registered nodes.

• Unregistering nodes of the administrative agent
  We can unregister application server nodes so that they are no longer registered to an administrative agent. Unregister nodes if you no longer need the node in the administrative agent environment or if you intend to delete the application server node profile. After you unregister a node from an administrative agent, we can use the node stand-alone, register the node with another administrative agent, or delete the application server node profile.

• Register or unregister with job manager settings
  Use this page to either register a node to a job manager or unregister a node from a job manager. The node can be a deployment manager or a node registered to an administrative agent.

• Job manager collection
  Use this page to view the job managers to which this node is registered. The job managers enable you to asynchronously submit and administer jobs, such as manage applications, for this node.

Related concepts

Administrative agent

Related tasks

Administer nodes remotely using the job manager

Create management profiles with administrative agents

manageprofiles command

startServer command

(zos) START command

registerNode command

deregisterNode command

stopServer command

(zos) STOP command