WebLogic Server 8.1
System Administration

 

 


Domains

Domains are logically related resources, managed as a unit.

A domain always includes an admin server, and may also include managed servers. Managed servers can be configured into cluster. Managed servers in clusters can act as backups for services such as JMS and JTA that are hosted on another server instance in the cluster, and can function as virtual hosts.

 


Infrastructure

Sysadmin functions are done with MBeans.

The config.xml file, located on the machine that hosts the admin server, provides persistent storage of Mbean attribute values. Each domain has its own config.xml file.

Any -D arguments to the admin server upon startup are persisted to config.xml, and override old values.

When a managed server is started, the server receives a copy of the admin MBeans, and stores them in memory as configuration MBeans. Attributes can be overriden when starting a managed server, but these values are not written to config.xml.

Runtime Mbeans contain sets of attributes detailing runtime information for active instances and can be monitored using the console and commandline tools.

 

Managed Server Independence

If a managed server is unable to connect to the specified admin server during startup, it can retrieve its configuration directly by reading a copy of config.xml and other files located within the managed server's own file system.

A managed server that starts in this way is running in Managed Server Independence mode. In this mode, a server uses cached application files to deploy the applications that are targeted to the server. You cannot change a managed server's configuration until it is able to restore communication with the admin server. Failover for managed servers is applicable to both clustered and non-clustered servers.

 

Domain-Wide Administration Port

Administration ports provide:

Ability to start server in standby state, which closes all client connections except for the admin port.

Ability to separate admin traffic from application traffic, which ensures that admin operations such as starting and stopping servers, changing a server's configuration, and deploying applications, do not compete with high-volume application traffic on the same network connection.

Administration ports are optional.

 

Service Packs and WLS Instances

All WLS instances in a domain must run the same version of the WLS software. The admin server must also have the same or later service pack installed as the managed servers in its domain. For example, the admin server could be running version 8.1, Service Pack 1 while the managed servers are running version 8.1 without Service Pack 1.

 


Tools

 

Security

All system administration operations are protected based on the user name employed to access a system administration tool. A user (or the group a user belongs to) must be a member of one of four security roles. These roles grant or deny a user access to various sets of system administration operations. The roles are:

You can also set a security policy on WLS instances in a domain.

 

Sysadmin Server

The admin server does:

  1. Configuration
  2. Stopping and starting servers
  3. Monitoring server health and performance
  4. Monitoring application performance
  5. Viewing server logs
  6. Assistants, which step you through the following tasks:
  7. Creating JDBC connection pools and DataSources
  8. Deploying your applications
  9. Configuring SSL

The admin server persists changes to attributes in config.xml for the domain you are managing.

The command line interface invokes a Java class called weblogic.Admin. Arguments for this class enable you to perform many common management functions without knowing the JMX API.

Advanced Java programmers with knowledge of the JMX API from Sun Microsystems Inc. and WLS Mbeans can write their own management components as a Java class.

The Configuration Wizard is a tool for creating new domains, or reviving dormant domains:

  1. Create a new domain.for stand-alone servers, admin servers with managed servers, and clustered servers.

  2. Create a new domain based on a template. Templates allow you to re-create an existing domain for use in another context, such as migrating a domain containing an application under development to a production environment.

  3. Add JMS Configurations off-line to an existing domain.

  4. Add JDBC Connection pools, MultiPools, and DataSources, off-line, to an existing domain.

The wizard creates the appropriate directory structure for your domain, a basic config.xml file, and start scripts.

Run the wizard either using a GUI, or from the command line.

 

Logs

Each server has its own log as well as a standard HTTP access log. You can also configure a special domain log that contains a definable subset of log messages from all WLS instances in a domain.

 


Domain Resources

 

Servers

You can:

  1. Start and stop servers.
  2. Configure a server's Listen address, listen port, HTTP settings, and time outs.
  3. Configure HTTP server functionality and Virtual Hosts
  4. Configure logging and view logs
  5. Configure Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
  6. Deploy applications to specific servers
  7. Configure WLS resources active on the server, such as JDBC Connection Pools and startup classes.
  8. Tune the server for best performance

 

Clusters

WLS clusters allow you to distribute the work load of your application across multiple WLS instances. Clusters can improve performance and provide fail-over should a server instance become unavailable. For example, clusters provide several ways to replicate objects used in your applications so that data is not lost in the event of hardware failure.

You can architect combinations of clusters to distribute the work load in a way that provides the best performance for your applications.

Some services that are hosted on a single instance of WLS can be migrated from one server to another in the event of server failure. The system administration tools allow you to control these migrations.

 

Machines

A machine represents the computer that hosts an instance of WLS. You can define one or more machines and assign servers to the machine. For UNIX machines, you can configure UID and GID information.

 

Network Channels

A network channel is a configurable resource that defines the attributes of a network connection to WLS. You can use network channels to manage quality of service, meet varying connection requirements, and improve utilization of your systems and network resources.

 

JDBC

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) allows Java programs to interact with common DBMSs such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, MySQL, and others.

Using the System Administration tools you can manage and monitor connectivity between WLS and your database management system. Connectivity is usually established through connection pools or DataSources.

 

JMS

The Java Message Service (JMS) is used for accessing messaging systems, allowing communication between apps. WLS admin tools allow you to do the following with:

  1. Enable JMS

  2. Create JMS servers

  3. Create and/or customize values for:

    • JMS servers
    • Connection factories
    • Destinations (physical queues and topics)
    • Distributed destinations (sets of physical queue and topic members within a cluster)
    • Destination templates
    • Destination sort order (using destination keys)
    • Persistent stores
    • Paging stores
    • Session pools
    • Connection consumers.

  4. Set up custom JMS applications.

  5. Define thresholds and quotas.

  6. Enable any desired JMS features, such as server clustering, concurrent message processing, destination sort ordering, persistent messaging, message paging, flow control, and load balancing for distributed destinations.

 

WebLogic Messaging Bridge

A Messaging Bridge transfers messages between two messaging providers. The providers may be another implementation of WebLogic JMS or a third-party JMS provider.

 

Web Servers and Web Components

WLS can perform as a fully functional Web server. WLS can serve both static files such as HTML files and dynamic files such as Java servlets or Java ServerPages (JSP). Virtual hosting is also supported.

You can also use Web Servers such as Apache, Microsoft IIS, and Netscape with WLS.

 

WLS Deployment

The following J2EE formats are supported:

  1. Webapps
  2. Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB)
  3. Enterprise applications
  4. J2EE connectors
  5. Web services.

You can use the WebLogic Builder tool to deploy apps. WebLogic Builder is a stand-alone graphical tool for assembling a J2EE application, creating and editing deployment descriptors, and deploying an application on WLS.

 

Startup and Shutdown Classes

A startup class is a Java program that is automatically loaded and executed when a WLS instance is started or restarted and after other server initialization tasks have completed. A shutdown class is automatically loaded and executed when a WLS instance is shut down either from the admin server or using the weblogic.Admin shutdown command.

One uses the system administration tools to register and manage startup and shutdown classes.

 

JNDI

The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) API enables applications to look up objects.such as DataSources, EJBs, JMS, and MailSessions.by name. You can view the JNDI tree through the admin server.

 

Transactions

One uses the system administration tools to configure and enable the WLS Java Transaction API (JTA). The transaction configuration process involves configuring:

  1. Transaction time outs and limits
  2. Transaction Manager behavior

 

XML Registry

The XML Registry is a facility for configuring the XML resources of a domain. XML resources in WLS include the parser used by an application to parse XML data, the transformer used by an application to transform XML data, external entity resolution, and caching of external entities.

 

Security

The WLS security subsystem allows you to plug in third-party security solutions and also provides out-of-the box implementations for many common security systems. You can also create your own security solution and implement it in WLS.

For backwards compatibility, the security functionality available in version 6.0 and 6.1 of WLS is also supported when the domain is running in Compatibility Security Mode.

Using the administration tools, you can define:

  1. realms
  2. users
  3. groups
  4. passwords

WebLogic Tuxedo Connector

WebLogic Tuxedo Connector provides interoperability between WLS applications and Tuxedo services. The connector allows WLS clients to invoke Tuxedo services and Tuxedo clients to invoke WLS Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) in response to a service request.

 

Jolt

Jolt is a Java-based client API that manages requests to BEA Tuxedo services via a Jolt Service Listener (JSL) running on a Tuxedo server.

 

Mail

WLS includes the JavaMail API version 1.1.3 reference implementation from Sun Microsystems. Using the JavaMail API, you can add email capabilities to your WLS applications. JavaMail provides access from Java applications to IMAP- and SMTP-capable mail servers on your network or the Internet. It does not provide mail server functionality; so have access to a mail server to use JavaMail.

 


Starting the admin server

  1. Start an admin server.
  2. From a web browsers, go to:

    http://host:port/console

    Where host is the DNS name or IP address of the admin server, and port is the listen port on which the admin server is listening for requests (port 7001 by default). If you have configured a domain-wide Administration port, use that port number. If you configured the admin server to use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) add s after http as follows:

    https://host:port/console

    A domain-wide administration port always uses SSL.

    When the login page appears, enter the user name and the password you used to start the admin server (you may have specified this user name and password during the installation process) or enter a user name that belongs to one of the following security groups: Administrators, Operators, Deployers, or Monitors. These groups provide various levels of access to system administration functions in the admin server.

    Using the security system, you can add or delete users to one of these groups to provide controlled access to the console.

    If you have your browser configured to send HTTP requests to a proxy server, then you may need to configure your browser to not send admin server HTTP requests to the proxy. If the admin server is on the same machine as the browser, then ensure that requests sent to localhost or 127.0.0.1 are not sent to the proxy.

     


    Using WLS with Web Servers

    You can proxy requests from popular Web servers to an instance of WLS or a cluster of WLS by using one of the Web server plug-ins. Plug-ins are available for the following Web servers:

    1. Netscape Enterprise Server or IPlanet
    2. Microsoft Internet Information Server
    3. Apache

    Because these plug-ins operate in the native environment of the Web server, one manages the plug-ins through the administration facilities of that Web server.

    Special servlets are also included with the WLS distribution to proxy requests from an instance of WLS to another instance of WLS or to a cluster of WLS.

     

    Monitoring

    You can monitor:

     


    Licenses

    WLS requires a valid license to function. An evaluation copy of WLS is enabled for a limited time period so you can start using WLS immediately. To use WLS beyond the evaluation period, you will need to contact your salesperson about further evaluation or purchasing a license for each IP address on which you intend to use WLS. All WLS evaluation products are licensed for use on a single server with access allowed from up to 20 connections to the server.

    If you downloaded WLS from the BEA Web site, your evaluation license is included with the distribution. The WLS installation program allows you to specify the location of the BEA home directory, and installs a BEA license file, license.bea, in that directory.


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