(ZOS) Clusters on which stateful session beans will be deployed

For a cluster of servers that span multiple systems in a sysplex, and that will have stateful session beans with an activation policy of Transaction deployed in them, the passivation directory should reside on an HFS (hierarchical file system) shared across the multiple systems in the sysplex on which the clustered servers will be running.

Before creating the cluster, it is important to consider the following:

• Does the cluster have cluster members that are on different systems in the sysplex?

• If so, do any of the applications that are to be deployed or are already deployed have stateful session beans?

• If so, do the Stateful Session beans have an activation policy of Transaction?

If we answered yes to all of the previous questions, then we should define a shared HFS (hierarchical file system) to be used as the passivation directory for the stateful session beans.

The name of the passivation directory should contain the install root and cluster name. In the following example, /WebSphere/V6R0M0/AppServer is also known as USER_INSTALL_ROOT, and the name of the cluster is cluster1.

/WebSphere/V6R0M0/AppServer/passivation/cluster1

For optimal performance, we should create a passivation directory for each cluster. Also, the default passivation directory should not be used for clusters; it should be used for non-clustered servers and servers that do not have stateful session beans with an activation policy of Transaction.

For information about defining a shared HFS, see z/OS UNIX System Services Planning.

See on EJB container settings for information on specifying the passivation directory with the administrative console.

EJB container settings