For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.

Install a server farm with the Server Configuration Tool

Use the Server Configuration Tool to configure each server in the farm according to the requirements of the single type of application server that is used for each member of the server farm.

When we plan a server farm with the Server Configuration Tool, first create the stand-alone servers and configure their respective truststores so that they can communicate with one another in a secure way. Then, run the tool that does the following operations:

• Configure the database instance that is shared by the MobileFirst Server components.
• Deploy the MobileFirst Server components to each server
• Modify its configuration to make it a member of a server farm

Procedure

1. Prepare the application servers that must be configured as the server farm members.
   1. Choose the type of application server to use to configure the members of the server farm. IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation supports the following application servers in server farms:
      • WebSphere® Application Server full profile

        Note: In a farm topology, we cannot use the RMI JMX connector. In this topology, only the SOAP connector is supported by IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation.

      • WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile
      • Apache Tomcat

      To know which versions of the application servers are supported, see System requirements.

      Important:

      IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation supports only homogeneous server farms. A server farm is homogeneous when it connects same type of application servers. Attempting to associate different types of application servers might lead to unpredictable behavior at run time. For example, a farm with a mix of Apache Tomcat servers and WebSphere Application Server full profile servers is an invalid configuration.

   2. Set up as many stand-alone servers as the number of members that we want in the farm.

      Each of these stand-alone servers must communicate with the same database. You must make sure that any port used by any of these servers is not also used by another server that is configured on the same host. This constraint applies to the ports used by HTTP, HTTPS, REST, SOAP, and RMI protocols.

      Each of these servers must have the MobileFirst Server administration service, the MobileFirst Server live update service, and one or more MobileFirst runtimes deployed on it.

      For more information about setting up a server, see Constraints on MobileFirst Server administration service, MobileFirst Server live update service and MobileFirst runtime.

   3. Exchange the signer certificates between all the servers in their respective truststores.

      This step is mandatory for the farms that use WebSphere Application Server full profile or Liberty as security must be enabled. In addition, for Liberty farms, the same LTPA configuration must be replicated on each server to ensure single-sign on capability. To do this configuration, follow the guidelines in step 6 of Configure a server farm manually.

2. Run the Server Configuration Tool for each server of the farm.

   All servers must share the same databases. Make sure to select the deployment type: Server farm deployment in the Application Server Settings panel. For more information about the tool, see Run the Server Configuration Tool.

Parent topic: Install a server farm