Use the same HTTP server to handle HTTP and HTTPS requests for multiple cells
In a multiple cell environment we might want to use the same HTTP server to send and receive HTTP and HTTPS requests for multiple cells. To accomplish this setup, we must merge the web server plug-in configuration files that are being used by the application servers in those cells into a single web server plug-in configuration file.
Use the following different configurations of the application server to combine the plug-in configuration files of multiple WebSphere Application Server, Network Deployment cells into a single configuration file.
This technique can also be employed to merge all of the web server plug-in configuration files into a single configuration file when we are migrating to a new release of the product and need to route traffic to multiple cells running an older version of WAS ND as well as the new version.
To create a single plug-in configuration file for all of our cells, first create a separate plug-in configuration file for each of the cells, and then combine these files into a single configuration file. The web server plug-in for each cell then uses the same web server plug-in configuration file.
Merge multiple web server plug-in configuration files into a single configuration file
- Use either the GenPluginCfg script, the administrative console, or wsadmin scripting to generate the plugin-cfg.xml file for each cell.
See the topic Implementing a web server plug-in for a description of how to use the administrative console to generate the plugin-cfg.xml file.
See the topic Regenerating the node plug-in configuration using scripting for a description of how to use wsadmin scripting to generate the plugin-cfg.xml file.
- Merge the plugin-cfg.xml files from multiple application server cells.
We can either manually merge the plugin-cfg.xml files or use the pluginCfgMerge tool to automatically merge the plugin-cfg.xml file from multiple application server profiles into a single output file. The pluginCfgMerge.bat and pluginCfgMerge.sh files are located in install_root/bin.
The pluginCfgMerge tool is provided in Fix Pack 7.0.0.13 for the z/OS and distributed platforms, and in Fix Pack 7.0.0.17 for the IBM i platform..
For more information about manually merging the plugin-cfg.xml files, see the technote on merging plugin-cfg.xml files from multiple application server profiles.
- Ensure that the cloneID value for each application server is unique.
Examine the cloneID value for each application server in the merged file to ensure that this value is unique for each application server. If the cloneID values in the merged file are not all unique, or if we are running with memory to memory session replication in peer to peer mode, use wsadmin scripting or the administrative console to configure unique HTTP session cloneIDs.
To use wsadmin commands for the Jython or Jacl programming language, see the documentation on configuring a unique HTTP session clone ID for each application server using scripting.
To configure a unique HTTP session clone ID using the administrative console:
- Click...
Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server > Container Settings > Web Container Settings > Web container > Additional Properties > Custom properties > New
- Enter HttpSessionCloneId in the Name field, and a unique value for the server in the Value field.
The unique value must be 8 - 9 alphanumeric characters in length. For example, test1234 is a valid cloneID value.
- Click Apply or OK.
- Click Save to save the configuration changes to the master configuration.
- Copy the merged plugin-cfg.xml file to...
plugin_installation_root/config/web_server/
...on the web server host.
- Ensure that we have defined the correct operating system file access permissions for the merged plugin-cfg.xml file. These file access permissions allow the HTTP server plug-in process to read the file.
When we complete this process, we have one plug-in configuration file for multiple application server cells, and can use the same HTTP server to handle HTTP and HTTPS requests for multiple cells.
Related:
Ways to install enterprise applications or modules Create application server profiles Configure for database session persistence Create or update a global web server plug-in configuration file Configure a unique HTTP session clone ID for each application server using scripting Implement a web server plug-in Regenerating the node plug-in configuration using scripting GenPluginCfg command Merging plugin-cfg.xml files from multiple nodes