Manage node agents
Node agents are administrative agents that represent a node to the system and manage the servers on that node. Node agents monitor application servers on a host system and route administrative requests to servers.
Before we can manage a node agent, install the WAS Network Deployment product.
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.
A node agent is a server created automatically when a node is added to a cell. A node agent runs on every host computer system that participates in the WAS Network Deployment product. We can view information about a node agent, stop and start the processing of a node agent, stop and restart application servers on the node that is managed by the node agent, and so on.
A node agent is purely an administrative agent and is not involved in application serving functions. A node agent also hosts other important administrative functions, such as file transfer services, configuration synchronization, and performance monitoring.
Manage nodes through the wsadmin scripting tool, through the Java APIs, or through the console. Perform the following tasks to manage nodes on an application server through the console.
- View information about a node agent. Click System administration > Node agents in the console navigation tree. To view additional information about a particular node agent or to further configure a node agent, click the node agent name under Name.
IP versions: Both Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) are now supported by WebSphere Application Server, but there are restrictions that apply to using both IPv4 and IPv6 in the same cell. Note that when a node is added to a cell, the format in which the name is specified is based on the version of IP the node will be using.
- Stop and then restart the processing of a node agent. On the Node agents page, select the check box of the node agent to restart; then click Restart. It is important to keep a node agent running because a node agent must be running for application servers on the node managed by the node agent to run.
- Stop and then restart all of the application servers on the node that is managed by the node agent. On the Node agents page, select the check box of the node agent that manages the node with servers to restart, and click Restart all Servers on Node.
Clicking Restart all Servers on Node also stops and then restarts the node agent. Servers that were stopped when you clicked Restart all Servers on Node remain stopped.
The node agent for the node must be processing to restart application servers on the node.
- Stop the processing of a node agent. On the Node agents page, select the check box of the node agent to stop processing; click Stop.
Results
Depending on the steps that you completed, we have viewed information about a node agent, stopped and started the processing of a node agent, and stopped and restarted application servers on the node that is managed by the node agent.
What to do next
We can administer other aspects of the WAS Network Deployment environment, such as the deployment manager, nodes, and cells.
Subtopics
- Node agent collection
Use this page to view information about node agents. Node agents are administrative agents that monitor application servers on a host system and route administrative requests to servers. A node agent is the running server that represents a node in a Network Deployment environment.
Related concepts
(zos) Switching between 64 and 31 bit modes
Related tasks
Manage profiles for nonroot users
Security considerations when in a multi-node WebSphere Application Server WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment environment
IP version considerations for cells