Level: Introductory Anitha Krishnasamy (kanitha@in.ibm.com), Software Engineer, IBM
02 Aug 2006 With IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Community Edition, it is always easier (and more interesting) to work with the Web console to perform administrative tasks than it is to use command-based administration, especially for novice users. This article walks through the administrative console to help you work with WebSphere Application Server Community Edition effectively and efficiently.
Introduction
IBM WebSphere Application Server Community Edition (hereafter Community Edition) is an open source Java® 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server based on Apache Geronimo. Community Edition is a lightweight application server with a very small footprint and is available free of charge.
Community Edition’s JSR-168-based administrative console is essentially a Web application, deployed in Community Edition, that provides a user friendly Web-based interface for administering many aspects of the local or remote server. Although not all administrative tasks can be performed using the console, this article will describe how many of them can be accomplished using this easy user interface.
The tasks that are described in this article include:
Before you continue: This article was written for WebSphere Application Server Community Edition V1.1, which was the current version at the time the article was published. Some of the information in this article may not be applicable to later versions. To follow along with this article, be sure to use the product version on which this article is based. If you wish, you can download the current version of WebSphere Application Server Community Edition, or you can download an earlier version by visiting the product archive page.
Start the server
Starting the server is one of those tasks that cannot be performed using the admin console. To start the server, you can either:
- Select Start => Programs => IBM WebSphere => Application Server Community Edition => Start the server, or:
- Execute the startup.bat/sh file from
<wasce_home>\bin folder, where <wasce_home> is the Community Edition installation directory.
Figure 1. Start the server
In Figure 1, the server startup message for Geronimo Application Server displays the list of application modules and Web applications that started along with the server. The important lines to notice here are:
Under Started Application Modules:
EAR: geronimo/webconsole-tomcat/1.0/car
Under Web Applications:
http://localhost:8080/console
http://localhost:8080/console-standard
These messages indicate that the console application deployed in Community Edition successfully started. You can access the application using the displayed URL. To access the server in the remote machine, use http://hostname:portnumber/console.
Launch the administrative console
To launch the admin console, go to http://localhost:8080/console in your Web browser, or select Start => Programs => IBM WebSphere => Application Server Community Edition => Administrative Console.
On the login page (Figure 2), enter valid Username and Password values. The default Username is system and the Password is manager.
Figure 2. Login page
Once you have successfully logged in to the console, the welcome page (Figure 3) appears. You can perform all console-oriented administration tasks from this page.
Figure 3. Welcome page
 | | The right top corner of each portlet in the admin console has links to Help and View modes. Brief information about each portlet is available from the Help
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The Console Navigation pane is on the left side of the console page and the Work Area is in the center. Clicking on any topic in the navigation pane will open the corresponding view in the work area. Each view is made up of one or more portlets. In the work area, the Common Console Actions pane links to common server-related tasks, and the Online Resources pane links to the important resources available online.
Review the console navigation pane
The categories in the navigation pane are:
Server
Server tasks are for accessing statistical information, as well as for configuring and administering the different servers. Table 1 describes the available links in the Server section of the navigation pane.
Table 1. Server links
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Links
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Purpose
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Information
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Provides information about the uptime of the server and the resources being used by the JVM.
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JVM
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Displays the values of the system properties available to the server process.
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Server Logs
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Enables you to manage and view the Log Manager, Server Log, Derby log, and Web Access log. You can update the log level, refresh period, and configuration file from this page.
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Shutdown
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Gives you the ability to shutdown the Geronimo server remotely or locally. Clicking on this link will shutdown the server and cause the JVM to exit. To continue using the console after shutdown, you must restart Geronimo.
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Web Server
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Provides information about the Web server and management of connections. You can add a new listener, and update, stop or delete existing connection information like host and ports from this page.
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JMS Server
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Provides information about the JMS server and management of topics andqueues. You can add a new JMS connection, and update, stop, or delete exiting connection information from this page.
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Services
This category enables the administrator to manage services. Table 2 describes the available links in the Services section of the navigation pane.
Table 2. Services links
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Links
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Purpose
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Common Libraries
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Displays the artifacts installed in the server's repository and provides the ability to add new files.
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Database Pools
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Lists all the available database pools. You can create a new database pool, edit the existing pool information, or view the usage information of the pool from this page.
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JMS
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Displays the JMS connections that are configured with the Geronimo server. You can add a new JMS connection factory and can test the new or existing connection from this page.
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Application
From here you can install a new application or administer existing applications. This section provides the features to uninstall or stop/start any application deployed in the server. Table 3 describes the available links in the Application section of the navigation pane.
Table 3. Application links
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Links
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Purpose
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Deploy New
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Enables you to deploy new applications on Community Edition.
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Application EARs
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Manage Enterprise Archive applications.
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Web App WARs
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Manage Web applications.
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EJB JARs
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Manage EJB JARs
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J2EE Connectors
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Manage installed J2EE connections.
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App Clients
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Manage application clients.
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System Modules
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Manage Community Edition system elements that are packaged and installed as applications.
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Security
This section helps you view and manage all security related configurations. Table 4 describes the available links in the Security section of the navigation pane.
Table 4. Security links
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Links
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Purpose
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Console Realm
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Lists the realm created for console. You can create, update, and manage user and groups from this page.
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Security Realm
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Lists all the available security realms. You can create a new realm and edit the existing ones from this page. This portlet also shows the usage of the realm in the deployment descriptor.
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Keystore
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Displays the certificates installed, lets us import trusted certificates, and generate a key pair.
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Miscellaneous
This section helps the administrator view and manage the Cloudscape (Derby) database embedded in Community Edition. Table 5 describes the available links in the Miscellaneous section of the navigation pane.
Table 5. Miscellaneous links
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Links
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Purpose
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DB Info
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Provides information about the internal database, such as the product name, version of the database, supported functions, and the supported SQL commands, among other things.
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DB Manager
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Displays all the available databases and their tables, and displays the contents of the tables. It also enables the user to run SQL commands to manipulate the data in the tables, and create or delete a new database.
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Configure a port
The administrative console application runs on default port 8080 on the Tomcat Web container. To change the port number from the console, go to Common Console Actions portlet and select Web Server Ports. Figure 4 shows the Edit connector portlet.
Figure 4. Configure a port
For this change to go into effect, you need to restart the server. The server startup messages (Figure 1) will display the updated port number.
Add repository file
From the Console Navigation Pane, click Common Libraries under the Services category. In the corresponding view:
- Browse to and select the file that needs to be added to the repository.
- Specify the Group, Artifact, Version and Type values for the file.
- Press Install to install the file.
For file copying convenience, the layout of the repository is the same as that used by Apache Maven. To use an artifact in an application, add a dependency element into its deployment plan. For example, to use Castor XML, add the XML shown in Listing 1 to the plan.
Listing 1. Specify dependency files
<dependency>
<uri>castor/jars/castor-0.9.5.3.jar</uri>
</dependency> |
Work with a Cloudscape database
Cloudscape Version 10.1.X is shipped with Community Edition. From the Console Navigation pane, you can view brief database information using the DB Info link in the Embedded DB section of the Miscellaneous category.
DB Manager
By using the DB Manager link, also in the Embedded DB section, you can create, list, and work with existing databases. The DB Manager view is made up of two portlets: DB Viewer and Run SQL (Figure 5). DB Viewer displays existing databases. To view the tables available in the corresponding database, and the contents of the table, use the View Tables links.
Figure 5. Embedded DB
Suppose you want to create a new database and table from the Run SQL portlet:
- For Create DB, specify the name of the database; for example,
student, then click Create. On successful creation, the message Database created: student will appear under Result.
- For UseDB, select Student from the drop-down list and paste the SQL shown in Listing 2 into the SQL Command field. Click Run SQL.
- On successful transaction, the message
SQL command/s successful display in the result area.
Listing 2. Create Table SQL
create table student(rollno VARCHAR(30), name VARCHAR(50), dob VARCHAR(40)); |
Create database pools
To create a new database pool from the Console Navigation pane, select Database Pools under the Services category.
You will see the corresponding view opened in the right side work area. The portlet displays the number of database pools available in the server. From the links available under Actions, you can edit the pool or view the usage information for the deployment descriptor. To create a new database pool, you can either use the Geronimo database pool wizard, or import the configuration file from JBoss 4/WebLogic 8.1.
Using the Geronimo database pool wizard
Figure 6 shows the database pool creation wizard.
Figure 6. Database pool creation wizard
To create a new database pool:
- Click Geronimo database pool wizard.
- Specify the name of the Database Pool as
studentpool, the same one specified in our sample application.
- Specify the Database type as
Derby Embedded to use the database available in the embedded Derby.
- After you select the database type, the corresponding JDBC driver class will automatically populate the JDBC Driver Class field.
- In the Driver JAR field, enter
org.apache.derby/derby/10.1.2.ibm/jar.
- Provide the Username and Password for the database; these fields are optional.
- In the Database field, enter the Database name; for example,
student.
- The corresponding URL will automatically get generated in the JDBC Connect URL field (format:
jdbc :< database type> :< database name>), and you should receive a message that indicates the driver loaded successfully.
- Leave the remaining fields as-is.
- Click Test Connection to test the connected to the database.
- Click Deploy to deploy this pool to the server.
- Click Usage to see how to specify this pool in the deployment descriptors.
Deploy a sample application
To deploy the new application, go to the Console Navigation pane and select Deploy New under the Applications category (Figure 7).
- Browse and select the sample application StudentWeb (included with this article see the download section).
- Click the Install button.
Figure 7. Install new applications
Upon successful installation, you will receive the message The application was successfully deployed. You can now access this application with http://localhost:8080/StudentWeb/student.jsp, which is basically: http://<hostname>:<portno>/<context root>.
Applications require deployment plans that are either packaged within the file or kept in a separate deployment descriptor file. If the deployment plan is not packaged with the file, you need to specify the plan in the Plan field.
Uninstall an application
To uninstall or view the applications available in the server, go to the Applications category in the Console Navigation pane. All the applications that are available on the server are listed by type.
Click Web App WARs to see if the Web application you just deployed got listed.
To uninstall the application, simply click the uninstall link corresponding to the application, then try stopping and starting the application from the stop and start links.
Create a JMS connection factory
To create a new JMS connection factory (Figure 8):
- Go to the Console Navigation Pane and select JMS under the Services category.
- Click Add New JMS Connection Factory.
- Specify the name of the ActiveMQ connection factory in the Name field; for example,
SampleJMSConnectionFactory).
- Specify the URL of the ActiveMQ server in the Server URL field; for example,
tcp://localhost:61616, which is the default port number.
- Username and Password are optional fields.
- Specify the value for Pool Max Capacity; for example
10.
- Specify the value for Blocking Timeout; for example
0.
- Click Create to create the JMS connection factory. This adds the new factory to the list of JMS connection factories.
- Click Test Connection to test the connection configuration. If successful, it should display as Connected.
- Click Details to see the information of the connection factory you created.
Figure 8. Add a new JMS connection factory
Create a console realm
Community Edition’s console realm includes managing users and managing groups. To create a new realm, go to Console Navigation pane and click Console Realm under the Security category.
Creating new user
To create a new user:
- Under Console Realm Users, select Create New User.
- In the Add User portlet, enter values for the new Username and Password.
- Click the Add button. The new user will appear in the list if it was created successfully.
Adding a user to a group
To add the user you created to an existing group called admin:
- Click admin under Console Realm Groups.
- Select the user(s) to wish to add, then click ADD>>.
- Click the Update button to see this user in the admin group.
Log out from the console, then log in with the new username and password.
Key store
Go to the Console Navigation pane and click Key store under Security. The corresponding view displays the keys available in the server’s default key store.
You can import the trusted certificate and generate a new key pair simply by clicking the available links.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting information is in the log files available in Community Edition. To view the log files, go to the Console Navigation pane and click Server Logs under the Server category.
The Server Logs view is made up of:
- Log manager
- Server Log Viewer
- Derby Log Viewer
- Web Access Log Viewer
From these portlets you can get the logging information from the server, deployment, embedded derby, and Web applications deployed on the local or remote server.
The default Config file is a standard log4j file and defines the location where the Geronimo Server will log Geronimo output. The configuration file also defines the log level, the maximum log file size, and other attributes associated with logging.
Conclusion
This article shows you a way to get a headstart on administering WebSphere Application Server Community Edition by walking you through the administrative console and its basic use. Learn more about Community Edition with the resources below and achieve a deeper understanding of Community Edition by deploying the sample applications available for download.
Download | Name | Size | Download method |
|---|
| StudentWeb.war | 6 KB | FTP|HTTP |
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About the author | 
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Anitha Krishnasamy is a Software Engineer working with WebSphere Application Server Community Edition Business Development team in IBM India Software Labs, Bangalore. Her area of expertise includes business integration and J2EE technologies. She holds a masters degree in Computer Applications from National Institute of Technology, Trichy. She can be reached at kanitha@in.ibm.com. |
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