Configure external WebSphere application servers
We can create middleware server representations of WebSphere application servers that are in other cells.
- If we have a large topology of WebSphere application servers, we can use the Migration Toolkit to create the representations of these servers in the environment.
- Federate the node running the WebSphere application server and create a representation of the server.
External WebSphere application servers are application servers that reside outside of the Intelligent Management cell. For example, we have two cells: one cell running WebSphere Application Server application servers, and another cell running Intelligent Management. In this scenario, we can install the node agent on the WebSphere nodes in the other cell, federate these nodes into the Intelligent Management cell, and create representations of the external WebSphere application servers. Using external WebSphere application servers can be useful in a migration scenario, because we can continue to route traffic to servers that are running an older version with the on demand router, while you work on migrating the servers and applications to the latest version. However, external WebSphere application servers are assisted lifecycle servers, and therefore do not receive the full lifecycle management provided when creating application servers directly in the Intelligent Management cell.
When you configure the external WebSphere application servers, if you installed WebSphere Application Server in a location other than the default directory, update the WebSphere variables with the installation directory. To perform server operations on the server, configure the server operations for the WAS middleware server representation.
Intelligent Management support for using external WebSphere application servers is stabilized in WebSphere application Server v8.5.5 and later. We can use the console or wsadmin scripting to manage these servers
- Update the WebSphere variables to match the settings on the node running the WAS.
- If we use wsadmin scripting, follow the directions in the topic on modifying variables .
- To modify the variables in the console, click Environment > WebSphere variables.
Edit the following variables:
- WAS51_HOME
- Location of the WAS installation.
- Default values are set at the cell scope level:
c:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
If the home directory is different on different nodes in our configuration, create the WAS51_HOME variable for a specific node.
- WAS6_HOME
- Location of the WAS v6 installation location.
- Default values are set at the cell scope level:
c:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\profiles\AppServer
opt/IBM/WebSphere/profiles/AppServer
If the home directory is different on different nodes in our configuration, create the WAS6_HOME variable for a specific node.
- WAS6_PROFILE_NAME
- Name of the profile in which the external WebSphere Application Server server resides on its physical computer.
- Update server operations for the WAS to include the user name and password.
- If we use wsadmin scripting, follow the directions in the topic on starting the wsadmin client. The startMiddlewareServer command and the stopMiddlewareServer command require a user name and password to run.
- To update server operations in the console, click Servers > Other middleware servers > External WebSphere Application Server > WebSphere_Application_Server > Server operations. Edit the start and stop server operations to include the user name and password required to run these commands.
What to do next
- To easily configure the remaining external WebSphere application servers, create a server template of the current external WebSphere Application Server.
- View the log files for the external WAS on the computer that hosts it.
- Edit configuration files for the external WAS on the computer that hosts it.
- After creating representations of all the external WebSphere application servers, we can add the representations to a dynamic cluster.
Related tasks
Configure middleware server operations Modify variables Start the wsadmin scripting client Add, managing, and removing nodes Add middleware servers to configurations Add assisted lifecycle middleware servers Create middleware server templates Create dynamic clusters
Intelligent Management: middleware server management administrative tasks addNode command Intelligent Management: middleware server creation administrative tasks