Memoirs of eXtreme DragonSlayers, Part 18

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Follow these steps to install WebSphere Application Server V4.0 on your system:

1. Install WebSphere Application Server V4.0.
2. Verify the WebSphere Application Server installation.

Installing WebSphere Application Server V4.0

To install IBM WebSphere Application Server V4.0, Advanced Edition using the GUI installer interface, complete the following steps on the DB2WAS machine.

1. Create a Windows user ID called wasadmin. This user will be used for administering the WebSphere Application Server. Make sure the user has administrative rights on the machine.
2. Log on as an Administrator user in the local server domain (not part of a Windows domain).
3. Insert the IBM WebSphere Application Server V4.0, Advanced Edition CD.
4. Start the WebSphere Application Server installation by double-clicking Setup from the root of the CD.
5. In the Choose Setup Language window, select your national language from the drop-down menu (English is selected by default) and click OK.
6. In the WebSphere Application Server Attention window, read the warnings and then click Next to continue.
7. In the Installation Options window, select Typical Installation, and then click Next.
8. In the Choose Web server Plug-ins window, select only the IBM HTTP Server option and then click Next.
9. In the Security Options window, enter the wasadmin and [wasadmin password] of the Windows account under which the WebSphere Application Server is to run as a service. This is the account you created above. Click Next to continue.
10. In the Product Directory window, select the destination directory, then click Next. We selected D:\WebSphere\AppServer for WebSphere Application Server and D:\IBM HTTP Server for the HTTP Server.

    Although WebSphere and the HTTP Server can be installed at any location, the examples in this article assume they will be installed on the D drive.

11. In the Database Options window, enter the following and then click Next:
    • Database Type: DB2
    • Database Name: was_database

    Enter the name of the database you created previously in the DB2 database server as follows:

    • Database User ID: was_user
    • Password: was_password
    • Path: db2_install_path

    Because the WebSphere installation program automatically determines the location of the DB2 database software, accept the default value here.

    • Remote Database: leave unselected

    Important note: If an alert is displayed indicating that DB2 does not meet the requirements of WebSphere, you will need to exit the WebSphere installation and update the DB2 software (server or client) to the required release level. Once completed, restart the WebSphere installation from the beginning.

12. In the Select Program Folder window, accept the default and click Next.
13. In the Install Options Selected window, accept the default and click Next to start the installation process.
14. In the Setup Complete window, click Finish to complete the installation.
15. In the Restarting Windows window, select No, I will restart my computer later and then click OK.
16. Rename the createwasdb.scr file in the WAS_HOME\bin directory to createwasdb.bak.
17. To verify that WebSphere Application Server has installed properly, check WAS_HOME\logs\wssetup.log and ensure that no errors have occurred:
    • Errors:0

    There should be an Install Complete statement at the end of the log to indicate a successful installation.

18. Reboot the system.

Verify the WebSphere Application Server installation

To verify the installation of IBM WebSphere Application Server V4.0, Advanced Edition, the following tasks must be completed in order:

1. Check the installation log.
2. Check that Windows services are present.
3. Check the admin.config settings.
4. Check the Web server configuration file changes.
5. Start the WebSphere administrative server processes.
6. Start WebSphere Default Server.
7. Regenerate Web server plug-in settings.
8. Restart Web server processes.
9. Verify Web server plug-in configuration.

Check the installation log

Check that the installation log WAS_HOME\logs\wssetup.log does not contain any errors.

Check that Windows services are present

1. Open a Services window by clicking Start>Settings>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services.
2. Look for "IBM WS AdminServer 4.0" and ensure that it has been added as a Manual service.

Check the admin.config settings

Check the WAS_HOME\bin\admin.config settings:

1. Check that the repository database settings are correct for the database type (DB2), instance (was), and user ID (was) used in our test environment:

   com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbdataSourceClassName= COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.DB2ConnectionPoolDataSource com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbserverName= com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbportNumber= com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbdatabaseName=was_database com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbuser=was_user com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbpassword=was_password com.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.dbdisable2Phase=true

   
   
2. Check that the DB2 path-related parameters (shown in Table 3, below) contain the absolute path of the DB2 java directory: db2_install_path\java.

   Table 3. DB2 path-related parameters

   Parameter	Must contain path
   com.ibm.ejs.sm.util.process.Nanny.adminServerJvmArgs	D:/SQLLIB/java/db2java.zip
   com.ibm.ejs.sm.util.process.Nanny.path	D:\\SQLLIB\\bin D:\\SQLLIB\\function

3. Check that the WebSphere schema and initial configuration (for example, the Default Server) will be written to the repository database on startup, as listed in Table 4, below.

   Table 4. WebSphere schema and initial configuration

   Parameter	Required value
   com.ejs.sm.adminServer.createTables	true
   install.initial.config	true

Check the Web server configuration file changes

To check the Web server configuration file changes, complete the following steps:

1. Check that these required settings have been added to the IBM HTTP Server configuration file HTTP_HOME\conf\httpd.conf as a result of the WebSphere installation:

   LoadModule ibm_app_server_http_module D:/WebSphere/AppServer/bin/mod_ibm_app_server_http.dll WebSpherePluginConfig D:\WebSphere \AppServer \config \plugin-cfg.xml

   
   
2. If not, manually add the lines to the end of the httpd.conf file and save the changes.

Start the WebSphere administrative server processes

The WebSphere administrative server needs to be started to test both the installation and the connectivity between WebSphere and the WebSphere administrative database hosted in DB2:

1. Run the WebSphere administrative server by issuing the following command: WAS_HOME\bin \adminserver.bat.
2. WebSphere administrative server startup is successful if the following conditions are met:
1. The IBM WS AdminServer 4.0 entry in the Windows 2000 services control panel shows a status of Started.
2. The last line of the WAS_HOME\logs\tracefile file is similar to the following:

   [02.04.03 23:15:02:094 CST ] 4dfcf34d Server A WSVR0023I:Server__adminServer open for e-business

   
   

Start WebSphere default server

The WebSphere installation type (Typical) chosen for our test environment installs a default application server (Default Server) into the WebSphere administrative domain. You can use this application server and its Web applications to verify that the WebSphere installation is working correctly.

To start the Default Server, perform the following steps:

1. Start the WebSphere Administrative Console by issuing the following command: WAS_HOME\bin \adminclient.bat.
2. Right-click Default Server under the hostname node and select Start from the pop-up menu.
3. The default server has been successfully started if the following conditions are met:
1. The last line in the administrative console event messages pane shows the following message: Transport http is listening on port 9,080
2. The last line of the WAS_HOME\logs\Default_Server_stdout.log file is similar to the following:

   [02.04.03 23:15:02:094 CST ] 4dfcf34d Server A WSVR0023I:Server Default Server open for e-business

   
   
4. Verify that the default server Web container has been properly installed and configured by accessing its servlets through the Web server "embedded" within the WebSphere V4.0 Web container:
1. Using a Web browser, request the following URL: http://hostname:9080/servlet/snoop. The browser should show some basic servlet information, such as Servlet Name should be "snoop."" If you get any errors, there is a problem.
2. Using a Web browser, request the following URL: http://hostname:9080/webapp/examples/showCfg.

   The embedded Web server is a new feature introduced with WebSphere V4.0. In previous releases, a standalone Web server was required to access any resource hosted in WebSphere.

5. Close the WebSphere Administrative Console.

Regenerate Web server plug-in settings

Before the default server can be accessed from a standalone Web server (such as IBM HTTP Server) the Web server plug-in settings file WAS_HOME\config\plugin-cfg.xml must be regenerated to reflect the following settings used by the Web server plug-in:

• Virtual host settings
• Application server transports
• Web container URIs

Perform the following steps:

1. Run the WebSphere Administrative Console by issuing the following command (if it's not currently running): WAS_HOME\bin \adminclient.bat.
2. Right-click the node hostname that contains the default server application server and select Regen Webserver Plugin from the pop-up menu.

   Tip: WebSphere provides a command-line tool that can be used to regenerate the Web server plug-in configuration without having to run the WebSphere Administrative Console:
   
   WAS_HOME\bin \GenPluginCfg.bat -adminNodeName hostname

3. Check that the content of the WAS_HOME\config\plugin-cfg.xml file has been updated to include the URIs of servlets contained within the default server.

   Tip: The plug-in regeneration command generates a Server element for the default server that contains a CloneID attribute:

   Server CloneID="stsul7n0"Name="Default Server"> Transport Hostname="itsohost"Port="9080"Protocol="http"/ Server

   
   

   In a non-cloned environment this attribute can be removed, resulting in performance improvements in the Web server plug-in.

Restart Web server processes

The IBM HTTP Server process must be restarted before the Web server plug-in configuration can be tested. Issue the commands:

		
D:\>net stop "IBM HTTP Server"
D:\>net start "IBM HTTP Server"

Verify Web server plug-in configuration

The Web server plug-in configuration can be verified by requesting a servlet through the Web server that has already been successfully requested through the Web container's embedded Web server. Using a Web browser, request a servlet URL, such as http://hostname/servlet/snoop or http://hostname/webapp/examples/showCfg.

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