Prepare to create the cluster on Linux

If you installed a IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment, create a static cluster to handle failover requests. If you installed a IBM WebSphere Virtual Enterprise, create a dynamic cluster to balance member workloads.

Prerequisites

Prepare the Linux operating system in a clustered environment

Prepare the primary node on Linux

Create and augment a new dmgr profile on Linux

Prepare for creating the cluster and then choose the type of cluster to create:

1. If the dmgr is configured to use a stand-alone LDAP user registry, update wkplc.properties, located in...
   WP_PROFILE/ConfigEngine/properties

   on the primary node with the stand-alone LDAP user registry property values from the dmgr. We can find these settings under the heading...

   VMM Standalone LDAP configuration

   
   

   Set WasUserid and WasPassword to the dmgr user ID and password.

2. To create a dynamic cluster:

   1. Install WebSphere Virtual Enterprise and augment the dmgr profile.
   2. On the WebSphere Portal primary node, install WebSphere Virtual Enterprise and augment the wp_profile profile.

   Profile augmentation is performed using the Profile Management Tool (PMT) GUI on systems that support it or through manageprofiles.sh available on all systems. When using the GUI as discussed in the Related link, make sure we select type of augmentation..

   Operations Optimization

   to complete. Use manageprofiles.sh to augment a stand-alone application server profile from the command-line

3. Run the following command from the WP_PROFILE/bin directory to federate the primary node:

   ./addNode.sh dmgr_hostname dmgr_port -includeapps
    -username wasadmin  -password foo
   

   The variables are defined as:

   • dmgr_hostname is the TCP/IP host name of the dmgr server

   • dmgr_port is the SOAP port number of the dmgr server

   • wasadmin and foo are the user ID and password for the dmgr administrator

   If the WAS administrator user ID and password for the local node are different from the dmgr, add the following parameters:

   • -localusername local_wasadmin
   • -localpassword local_foo

   See the addNode command file for more information about the addNode command and other optional parameters.

   If addNode.sh fails for any reason before rerunning the task:

   1. If federation succeeded, run removeNode.sh

   2. If items exist, log on to the dmgr and...
      1. Remove all enterprise applications.

      2. Remove the WebSphere_Portal server definition.

      3. Remove the WebSphere Portal JDBC Provider.

4. Stop the WebSphere_Portal server on the primary node and verify the following parameters are set correctly in wkplc.properties:

   Although we can add these parameters (particularly passwords) directly to any task while creating the cluster, we might want to temporarily add them to the properties file. We can then remove them when we are finished to keep the environment secure.

   1. Set WasSoapPort to the port used to connect remotely to the dmgr.
      

   2. Set WasRemoteHostName to the full host name of the server used to remotely connect to the dmgr.
      

   3. Verify that WasUserid is set to the dmgr administrator user ID.

   4. Verify that WasPassword is set to the dmgr administrator password.
      

   5. Verify that PortalAdminPwd is set to the WebSphere Portal administrator password.
      

   6. Verify that ClusterName is set.
      

   7. Verify that PrimaryNode is set to true.
      

5. If we configured a database user registry or a property extension database on the dmgr, set up access to the database drivers:

   1. Set the property value for federated.db.DbType if using a database user registry or set the property value for la.DbType if using a property extension database in wkplc.properties.
      

      If you migrated the primary node from a version prior to Version 6.1.0 and we are not using a database user registry or a property extension database, set the property value for federated.db.DbType to the same value that is in wkplc.properties on the primary node.

   2. To add the library paths to the VMM_JDBC_CLASSPATH variable:

      1. Log on to the WAS WAS admin console.

      2. Click Environment > WebSphere Variables.

      3. Select scope: cell.

      4. Select the VMM_JDBC_CLASSPATH variable. If this variable does not exist, click New to create the variable.

      5. Enter the complete paths to the library files in Value. Separate multiple files with a colon (:); for example, enter...
         SQLLIB/java/db2jcc4.jar:SQLLIB/java/db2jcc_license_cu.jar

      6. Copy files set for the VMM_JDBC_CLASSPATH variable into the appserver/lib directory.

      7. Stop and restart the appropriate servers to propagate the changes.

   3. Create the local dmgr WebSphere variable used to access the database jars...
      ./ConfigEngine.sh wp-prep-vmm-db-secured-environment -DWasPassword=foo -DDbDomain=la|federated.db -Ddb_type.NodeDbLibrary=/path/to/dmgr/jars -DDmgrNodeName=dmgr_node_name

      Set db_type to your database type, for example db2. The /path/to/db/jars should be one of the following options:

      • DB2 Type 2 driver: db2java.zip
      • DB2 Type 4 driver: db2jcc4.jar;db2jcc_license_cu.jar
      • DB2 for z/OS Type 2 driver: db2java.zip
      • DB2 for z/OS Type 4 driver: db2jcc4.jar;db2jcc_license_cisuz.jar
      • Oracle: ojdbc14.jar
      • SQL Server JDBC driver: sqljdbc.jar

   4. Create the variable used to access the VMM database jars...
      ./ConfigEngine.sh wp-node-prep-vmm-db-secured-environment -DWasPassword=dmgr_password -DDbDomain=la|federated.db -DVmmNodeName=node_name -Ddb_type.NodeDbLibrary=/path/to/db/jars

      VmmNodeName is a list of one or more nodes names in the cell which share the same database driver paths. The db_type in db_type.NodeDbLibrary should be set to the type of database we are using, for example db2.

6. Choose one of the following options to create the cluster:
   • Create a static cluster: Choose this option to handle failover requests.
   • Create a dynamic cluster: Choose this option to dynamically balance member workloads.

• Create a static cluster on Linux
  After installing IBM WebSphere Portal on the primary node, configuring a remote database, and preparing the primary node to communicate with the dmgr, we can create the static cluster to handle failover requests.
• Create a dynamic cluster on Linux using WebSphere Virtual Enterprise
  After installing and configuring IBM WebSphere Portal on the primary node and all horizontal nodes, we can create a new dynamic cluster. A dynamic cluster monitors performance and load information and is able to dynamically create and remove cluster members based on the workload.

Parent: Set up a cluster on Linux
Previous: Create and augment a new dmgr profile on Linux
Next: Prepare a remote Web server when portal is installed on Linux in a clustered environment
Related:

Middleware nodes and servers

Plan the product installation