Web server plug-in properties settings
Use this page to view or change the settings of a Web server plug-in configuration file. The plug-in configuration file, plugin_cfg.xml, provides properties for establishing communication between the Web server and the Application Server.
To view this administrative console page, click Servers > Web Servers > Web_servername Plug-in Properties.
On the Configuration tab, one can edit fields. On the Runtime tab, one can look at read-only information.
The Runtime tab is available only when this Web server has accessed applications running on application servers and there is an http_plugin.log file.
Configuration tab
- Plug-in installation location
Specifies the fully qualified path to where the plug-in configuration file is installed.
Data type String Default The default value is the installation root directory. If you select a Web server plug-in during installation, the installer program configures the Web server to identify the location of the plugin-cfg.xml file, if possible. The Web server is considered installed on a local machine if it is on the same machine as the application server. It is considered installed on a remote machine if the Web server and the application server are on different machines.
- If the Web server is installed on a remote machine, the plug-in configuration file, by default, will be installed in the plugin_install_root/config/web_servername directory.
- If the Web server is installed on a local standalone machine, the plug-in configuration file, by default will be installed in the profile_install_root/config/cells/cell/nodes/web_servername _node/servers/web_servername directory.
- If the Web server is installed on a local distributed machine, the plug-in configuration file, by default will be installed in the profile_install_root/config/cells/cell/nodes/node/servers/web_servername directory.
The installer program adds a directive to the Web server configuration that specifies the location of the plugin-cfg.xml file.
For remote Web servers, copy the file from the local directory where the Application Server is installed to the remote machine. This is known as propagating the plug-in configuration file. If you are using an IBM HTTP Server V6 for your Web server, WAS can automatically propagate the plug-in configuration file for you to remote machines provided there is a working HTTP transport mechanism to propagate the file.
- Plug-in configuration file name
Specifies the file name of the configuration file for the plug-in. The Application Server generates the plugin-cfg.xml file by default. The configuration file identifies applications, Application Servers, clusters, and HTTP ports for the Web server. The Web server uses the file to access deployed applications on various Application Servers.
Data type String Default plugin-cfg.xml If you select a plug-in during installation, the installer program configures the Web server to identify the location and name of the plugin-cfg.xml file, if possible.
We can change the name of the plug-in configuration file. However, if you do change the file name, also change the Web server configuration to point to the new plug-in configuration file.
- Automatically generate plug-in configuration file
To automatically generate a plug-in configuration file to a remote Web server:
- This field must be checked.
- The plug-in configuration service must be enabled
When the plug-in configuration service is enabled, a plug-in configuration file is automatically generated for a Web server whenever:
- The WAS administrator defines new Web server.
- An application is deployed to an Application Server.
- An application is uninstalled.
- A virtual host definition is updated and saved.
Clear the check box if you want to manually generate a plug-in configuration file for this Web server.
Important: When the plug-in configuration file is generated, it does not include admin_host on the list of virtual hosts. Allowing Web servers to access the administrative console describes how to add it to the list.
- Automatically propagate plug-in configuration file
To automatically propagate a copy of a changed plug-in configuration file to a Web server:
- This field must be checked.
- The plug-in configuration service must be enabled
- A WAS node agent must be on the node that hosts the Web server associated with the changed plug-in configuration file.
Note: The plug-in configuration file can only be automatically propagated to a remote Web server if that Web server is an IBM HTTP Server V6.0 and its administration server is running.
Because the plug-in configuration service runs in the background and is not tied to the administrative console, the administrative console cannot show the results of the automatic propagation.
For distributed platforms, one can check the related messages in the deployment manager SystemOut.log to verify that the automatic propagation successfully completed.
- Ignore DNS failures during Web server startup
Specifies whether the plug-in ignores DNS failures within a configuration when starting.
This field corresponds to the IgnoreDNSFailures element in the plugin-cfg.xml file.
When set to true, the plug-in ignores DNS failures within a configuration and starts successfully if at least one server in each ServerCluster is able to resolve the host name. Any server for which the host name can not be resolved is marked unavailable for the life of the configuration. No attempts to resolve the host name are made later on during the routing of requests. If a DNS failure occurs, a log message is written to the plug-in log file and the plug-in initialization continues rather than causing the Web server not to start. When false is specified, DNS failures cause the Web server not to start.
Data type String Default false - Refresh configuration interval
Specifies the time interval, in seconds, at which the plug-in should check the configuration file to see if updates or changes have occurred. The plug-in checks the file for any modifications that have occurred since the last time the plug-in configuration was loaded.
In a development environment in which changes are frequent, a lower setting than the default setting of 60 seconds is preferable. In production, a higher value than the default is preferable because updates to the configuration will not occur so often. If the plug-in reload fails for some reason, a message is written to the plug-in log file and the previous configuration is used until the plug-in configuration file successfully reloads. If you are not seeing the changes you made to your plug-in configuration, check the plug-in log file for indications of the problem.
Data type Integer Default 60 seconds. - Plug-in logging
Specifies the location and name of the http_plugin.log file. Also specifies the scope of messages in the log.
This field corresponds to the RequestMetrics traceLevel element in the plugin-cfg.xml file.
The log describes the location and level of log messages that are written by the plug-in. If a log is not specified within the configuration file, then, in some cases, log messages are written to the Web server error log.
On a distributed platform, if the log file does not exist then it will be created. If the log file already exists, it will be opened in append mode and the previous plug-in log messages will remain.
Log file name - The fully qualified path to the log file to which the plug-in will write error messages.
Data type String Default plugin_install_root/logs/web_servername/http_plugin.log Specify the file path of the http_plugin.log file.
Log level- The level of detail of the log messages that the plug-in should write to the log. We can specify one of the following values for this attribute:
- Trace. All of the steps in the request process are logged in detail.
- Stats. The server selected for each request and other load balancing information relating to request handling is logged.
- Warn. All warning and error messages resulting from abnormal request processing are logged.
- Error. Only error messages resulting from abnormal request processing are logged.
If a Log level is not specified, the default value Error is used.
Be careful when setting the level to Trace. A lot of messages are logged at this level which can cause the disk space/file system to fill up very quickly. A Trace setting should never be used in a normally functioning environment as it adversely affects performance.
Data type String Default Error
Runtime tab
- Plug-in log file name
Specifies the fully qualified path to the log file to which the plug-in will write error messages. The default file path is plugin_install_root/logs/web_servername/http_plugin.log .
If the file does not exist then it will be created. If the file already exists, it will be opened in append mode and the previous plug-in log messages will remain.
This field corresponds to the RequestMetrics loggingEnabled element in the plugin-cfg.xml file.
Data type String Default for Linux and UNIX platforms plugin_install_root/logs/web_servername/http_plugin.log Default for Windows platforms plugin_install_root/logs/web_servername/http_plugin.log