What is new for administrators

This topic highlights what is new or changed for users who are going to customize, administer, monitor, and tune production server environments. It also addresses users who are going to deploy and operate applications.

• Java virtual machine custom properties

  Use the adminconsole.ssoLogin custom property to be shown the URL to log in to the administrative console if a login error occurs while using an alternative form of login.

• JAX-WS WS-Security custom properties

  Use the com.ibm.ws.wssecurity.dsig.CanonicalizationAlgorithm custom property to configure the canonicalization algorithm for digital signature.

• New warning message for Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI) statistics

  Enabling all statistics for PMI might degrade server performance. In version 8.5.5.24 and later, a warning message displays in the administrative console when you select this option.

• Web container custom properties

  Use the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.maxfilecount custom property to change the maximum number of files allowed in a multipart upload request.

• Monitor PMI URL statistic counter impacts on CPU use

  When Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI) URL statistic counters are enabled for unbounded URLs, you might encounter an issue with high CPU use. Set the com.ibm.ws.pmi.maxUniquePmiMetricCount custom property to define the maximum number of individual URL metrics to be tracked before a warning is output that recommends you to disable specific URL counters.

• Transformation advisor data collections

  Use wsadmin migration commands to create, delete, and get the summary of IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor data collections. These collections help you migrate and modernize your applications.

• Job scheduler custom properties

  Use the job.dispatch.wait.timeout custom property to specify the connect and read timeouts for the HTTP job dispatch request that the job scheduler sends to a batch endpoint server. You can increase this value, specified in milliseconds, if you encounter job dispatch timeouts.

• Registering WebSphere servers with the usage metering service in WebSphere Automation

  Starting in May 2021, with the release of WebSphere Automation, you can register your on-premises or cloud-based WebSphere Application Server servers with the usage metering service in WebSphere Automation. You can then track security vulnerabilities for your servers from a single user interface in WebSphere Automation. The usage metering service requires a minimum level of 8.5.5.15.

• Displaying PMI metrics in Prometheus format with the metrics app

  Set the com.ibm.ws.pmi.prometheus.includeNodeAgents system property to false to exclude the node agent metrics from the Prometheus output.

• Prometheus metrics
  Use the was_scrape_duration_seconds Prometheus metric to indicate the amount of time the server takes to respond to the most recent requests for metrics.
• Endpoint WebSphere variables

  Use the GRID_ENDPOINT_MAX_JOB_LOG_SIZE variable to configure the maximum job log size for the grid endpoint job log.

• Job scheduler custom properties

  Use the PreferLocalDispatch property to force the job scheduler server to attempt at dispatching first to servers on the same node as the Job Scheduler followed by using its usual dispatching process -OR- to let the job scheduler perform its usual dispatching processing based on server weight, number of outstanding jobs, and list of eligible servers available without forcing a sensitivity to first dispatching to servers on the same node as the job scheduler.

• Displaying PMI metrics in Prometheus format with the metrics app

  Use the metrics.ear file to create a Prometheus endpoint for your WebSphere Application Server runtimes to display PMI metrics in Prometheus format. The metrics.ear file performs two operations:

  • Retrieves the PMI data objects by using the JMX Perf MBean
  • Renders the data from the PMI data objects into Prometheus format output.

  Set the com.ibm.ws.pmi.prometheus.includeCellNodeServerLabels system property to true to include the cell, node, and server name labels in the Prometheus output.

• Job scheduler custom properties

  Use the com.ibm.websphere.batch.execution.failed.wsgrid.rc custom property to enable WSGrid to return the execution failed return code (-14) when the job failed and is in execution failed state. By default, WSGrid returns -16 for this status.

• Use the com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.returnzeroendofinputstream custom property to avoid an out of memory condition when a servlet calls the java.io.InputStream.available method.
• Use the following custom properties with the Same Site attribute:
  • Set the CookieSameSite custom property to specify the SameSite attribute value to use for session cookies.
  • Set the HTTP transport channel custom properties of sameSiteLax, sameSiteNone, or sameSiteStrict to provide lists of cookie names or patterns for the values of Lax, None, or Strict that are set on the SameSite attribute.
• HTTP transport channel custom properties

  The new HTTP transport channel custom properties of trustedHeaderOrigin and trustedSensitiveHeaderOrigin control whether inbound private headers from the web server plug-in are trusted.

• Identify changes that are needed to enterprise applications to migrate them to a Liberty server

  Use the WebSphere Application Server administrative console Analyze option or wsadmin Migration commands to generate migration reports that help you modernize enterprise applications. See the Enterprise application collection, Generating migration reports by using the wsadmin migration commands, and Migration command group for the AdminTask object topics.

• Analyzing WebSphere Application Server logs with Elastic Stack

  Run WebSphere Application Server with logging for the JSON format in the console to break down log events into fields and store them in Elasticsearch. Then, use Kibana to monitor multiple WebSphere Application Server pods with dashboards and search, or filter log records with queries.

• LogViewer command-line tool

  Use the -maxFileSize and -maxFiles parameters to enable file rollovers, so that the LogViewer saves only the latest output logs. Use the -resumable and -resume parameters to save the location of already processed log records and to resume processing from the last saved location. Use the -format json option to format output in JSON to enable you to easily feed log content to log analysis tools.

• Java virtual machine custom properties
  New JVM custom properties are available for Version 8.5.5.16 and later.

  ArchiveUtil.allowWtpToUseSystemTemp

  Set this property on the deployment manager to reduce disk space usage in the system temp directory defined by the Java system property, java.io.tmpdir, during deployment manager startup. This setting is only necessary if you do not have enough space allocated for the system temp directory.

  com.ibm.websphere.console.server.restart.delay

  Set this property on the deployment manager to enable a wait period between the issuing of the server stop and the issuing of the server start.

  com.ibm.ws.amm.discriminator.enablePH11818

  Set this property to prevent classes from being scanned for annotations solely because they implement the java.util.EventListener interface.

  org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.commonarchivecore.EnableFilesListIncludeFilter

  Set this property to improve application start time and reduce memory use when an application starts.

• Collecting troubleshooting data with diagnostic plans

  Use diagnostic plans to help diagnose intermittent or long-lasting problems in WebSphere Application Server. With a properly configured diagnostic plan, an application server can respond automatically to an anticipated problem and produce the wanted traces and Java dumps.

• Enabling the pre-login banner for the administrative console

  Add a pre-login banner to the administrative console to display important information or a set of conditions before users log in.

• Troubleshooting long running JDBC transactions

  Use the enableJDBCTiming and disableJDBCTiming MBean operations to investigate long running JDBC transactions. These operations enable and disable the timing of transactions, and the output of trace and debug information.