Federating WebSphere Commerce

Federating your WebSphere Commerce environment allows you to manage multiple WebSphere Commerce instances from a single console. If you plan to cluster WebSphere Commerce, you are required to federate first.

To federate WebSphere Commerce into a deployment manager cell:

  1. Install the WAS ND product using the media supplied with WebSphere Commerce. This node now hosts the deployment manager. Although install other application servers on the same node as the deployment manager, it is not generally done unless you have a node with the capacity to host both products.

  2. Create a WAS Deployment Manager profile on the WAS ND machine. For more information on creating a WAS Deployment Manager profile, refer to the WAS Information Center:

    If you plan to create a deployment manager profile on the same node as your WebSphere Commerce instance, ensure that the deployment manager profile is created after WebSphere Commerce instance is created.


    I5/OS|Record the SOAP port number that is defined when creating your deployment manager profile. Refer to WAS profile information

  3. On the WAS ND machine, start the deployment manager profile.

  4. AIX|Linux|Solaris|Create the WAS non-root user and group if they do not already exist on the WebSphere Commerce node. Follow the instructions in the Creating required WAS users and groups section of the WebSphere Commerce Installation Guide.

  5. AIX|Linux|Solaris|Windows:

    To prevent problems in the next step, update the addNode script by completing the following instructions:

    1. AIX|Linux|Solaris|Log on to the WebSphere Commerce node as root.

    2. Open the following file in a text editor:

    3. In the text file, find the following line of text:

      • AIX|Linux|Solaris|"$JAVA_HOME"/bin/java \

      • Windows: "%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java" -Dcmd.properties.file=%TMPJAVAPROPFILE% %WAS_DEBUG% %WAS_TRACE% %CONSOLE_ENCODING% "%CLIENTSOAP%" "%JAASSOAP%" "%CLIENTSAS%" "-classpath" "%WAS_CLASSPATH%" "-Dws.ext.dirs=%WAS_EXT_DIRS%" "-Djava.util.logging.manager=com.ibm.ws.bootstrap.WsLogManager" "-Djava.util.logging.configureByServer=true" %USER_INSTALL_PROP% "-Dwas.install.root=%WAS_HOME%" "-DWAS_HOME=%WAS_HOME%" "com.ibm.ws.bootstrap.WSLauncher" "com.ibm.ws.management.tools.NodeFederationUtility" "%CONFIG_ROOT%" "%WAS_CELL%" "%WAS_NODE%" %*

    4. Complete one of the following steps:

      • AIX|Linux|Solaris|Insert the following below the "$JAVA_HOME"/bin/java \ line of text 
        -Xms256m -Xmxmax_allowedm \

      • Windows: Insert the following between the "-DWAS_HOME=%WAS_HOME%" and "com.ibm.ws.bootstrap.WSLauncher" entries 
        -Xms256m -Xmxmax_allowedm

      Where max_allowed is the maximum value allowable by your operating system. This value must a multiple of 1024. Append the letter k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate megabytes.

    5. Save the changes and exit the text editor.

    6. Log on to the WAS ND deployment manager Administrative Console.

    7. Expand System Administration > Deployment Manager > Java and Process Management > Process Definition > Java Virtual Machine.

    8. Change the Maximum Heap Size value to the maximum value supported by your operating system. For example, 1024 MB. You can reduce this number once you have completed the federation process.

    9. Restart the Deployment Manager.

  6. Before federating the WebSphere Commerce application server node into the deployment manager cell, set the SOAP connection timeout to 0. To adjust the SOAP timeout setting complete the following steps on the WebSphere Commerce node:

    1. Open the following file in a text editor: 
      WC_profiledir/properties/soap.client.props

    2. Search for the com.ibm.SOAP.requestTimeout entry. Record the existing value, and change the value to 0. For example, com.ibm.SOAP.requestTimeout=0.

    3. Save the file, and exit.

  7. Ensure that the system clock on your WebSphere Commerce node and your WAS ND node are synchronized within 5 minutes of each other and are set to the same time zone. If they are not, federation will fail.

  8. On the WebSphere Commerce node:

    1. AIX|Linux|Solaris|Log on as the non-root user.

    2. I5/OS|Start a QShell session by typing QSH at the i5/OS command prompt.

    3. Federate the WebSphere Commerce application server into the deployment manager cell by issuing the following command:

      • AIX|Linux|Solaris|WC_profiledir/bin/addNode.sh deployment_manager_host_name SOAP_port -includeapps

      • I5/OS:

        WC_profiledir/bin/addNode deployment_manager_host_name SOAP_port -includeapps

      • Windows: WC_profiledir/bin/addNode.bat deployment_manager_host_name SOAP_port -includeapps


      Your WebSphere Commerce instance is stopped automatically during the federation process. The command is shown on multiple lines for display purposes only, enter the command on one line.

      The variables and parameters in the command are defined as follows:

      WC_profiledir

      This directory is created for the WAS profile that is used by a WebSphere Commerce instance.

      deployment_manager_host_name

      This is the fully-qualified host name of the deployment manager node.

      SOAP_port

      This is the SOAP port on which the deployment manager listens. This port number is defined when creating the deployment manager profile. The default deployment manager port is 8879.

      -includeapps

      When federating a WebSphere Commerce profile that contains a WebSphere Commerce instance, include this parameter to ensure that the WebSphere Commerce application (EAR) file is transferred to the new configuration.


    AIX|Linux|Solaris|After federating a WebSphere Application Server profile, the node agent must be managed by the non-root user. For more information, refer to the following topic in the WAS Information Center:

  9. You must reset the SOAP connection timeout to the original value. To adjust the SOAP timeout setting complete the following steps on the WebSphere Commerce node:

    1. Open the following file in a text editor: 
      WC_profiledir/properties/soap.client.props

    2. Search for the com.ibm.SOAP.requestTimeout entry. Reset the entry to the original value. For more information, refer to:

    3. Save the file, and exit.

  10. If you are federating a profile that contains a WebSphere Commerce instance, recreate the cell level documents, such as a remote Web server, on your deployment manager node. To recreate these documents, complete the following steps on the WebSphere Commerce node:

    • Ensure your WebSphere Commerce instance is started.

    • This step is not required if you are adding a WAS node that does not contain WebSphere Commerce information

    1. AIX|Linux|Solaris: Switch to the WebSphere Commerce non-root user by running the following command in a terminal window: su - WC_non_root_user

    2. I5/OS:

      Start a QShell session by typing QShell at the i5/OS command prompt.

    3. Run the following command:

      AIX|Linux| 

      WC_installdir/bin/config_ant.sh -DinstanceName=instance ReconfigureCell




      WC_installdir/bin/config_ant.sh -DinstanceName=instance ReconfigureCell




      WC_installdir/bin/config_ant.bat -DinstanceName=instance ReconfigureCell

  11. If you had enabled security before you federated your WebSphere Commerce application, enable security again.

  12. If you had enabled automatic Web server configuration file (plugin-cfg.xml) propagation before federating, configure it again. Running the addNode command removes the Web server definition.

  13. If you are federating a non-WebSphere Commerce profile into the deployment manager cell:

    1. AIX|Linux|Solaris|Log on as the non-root user.

    2. I5/OS|Start a QShell session by typing QShell at the i5/OS command prompt.

    3. Federate the application server into the deployment manager cell by issuing the following command:

      • AIX|Linux|Solaris|WAS_profiledir/bin/addNode.sh deployment_manager_host_name SOAP_port -includeapps

      • I5/OS|WAS_profiledir/bin/addNode deployment_manager_host_name SOAP_port -includeapps

      • Windows: WAS_profiledir/bin/addNode.bat deployment_manager_host_name SOAP_port -includeapps

      The variables and parameters in the command are defined as follows:

      WAS_profiledir

      This directory is created for the WAS profile.

      deployment_manager_host_name

      This is the fully-qualified host name of the deployment manager node.

      SOAP_port

      This is the SOAP port on which the deployment manager listens. This port number is defined when creating the deployment manager profile. The default deployment manager port is 8879.

      -includeapps

      When federating a WebSphere Commerce profile that contains a WebSphere Commerce instance, include this parameter to ensure that the WebSphere Commerce application (EAR) file is transferred to the new configuration.

  14. Regenerate the Webserver plug-in for your Web server.

    1. Log on the WAS ND Administration Console server.

    2. Expand Servers > WebServers.

    3. Select webserver1 and click Generate Plug-in to generate the plugin-cfg.xml file for the Web server.

  15. Copy the updated plugin-cfg.xml file to your Web server machine:

    • AIX|Linux|Solaris|Windows:

      Communicating with Web servers

    • I5/OS:

      Communicating with Web servers

      The updated plugin-cfg.xml file must be copied to the Remote_configdir/httpconf directory on the remote Web server machine. Where Remote_configdir is the Remote Configuration Directory specified during instance creation.

  16. Update the path to the plugin-cfg.xml file in the Web server configuration file on the WebSphere Commerce node agent. For more information refer to the WebSphere Commerce Installation Guide.

  17. Restart your Web server.



Once you have federated the WebSphere Commerce application server nodes into a deployment manager cell, you can start and stop WebSphere Commerce by following the instructions in:

 

Related Concepts


WebSphere Commerce federation

 

Related tasks


Change the process execution properties
Remove an application server node from a cell