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 using WebSphere® Application Server traditional. 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 9.0.5.17 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 9.0.0.9.

• WASPreUpgrade command

  Set the -allowSameRelease parameter to true to migrate a WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0 profile from one WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0 installation to another one, including to an installation on a different machine.

• IBM i prerequisites

  WebSphere Application Server V9.0.5.11 and later is supported on the IBM i V7R5 operating system.

• 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.

  Set the com.ibm.ws.pmi.prometheus.includeCellNodeServerLabels system property to false to omit the cell, node, and server name labels from the Prometheus output.

• 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.

• Application server custom properties for z/OS

  Use the servant_region_suppress_hung_thread_abend property to control whether an abend occurs in the servant region main when active threads are found by the servant region atexit routine. If you set this property to 1, the servant region address space does not experience an abend when active threads are found by the servant region atexit routine. The default value is 0.

• Application server custom properties for z/OS

  Use the server_region_racroute_list_fsaccess property to specify whether the FSACCESS class profile information is cached in the servant address space. This property can improve performance when the FSACCESS class profile is enabled.

• 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.
• HTTP transport channel custom properties

  The HTTP transport channel custom properties of trustedHeaderOrigin and trustedSensitiveHeaderOrigin accept hostnames.

• 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.

• WebSphere Application Server transactions BBOC, BBO$, BBO#

  Use the CICS transaction identifier (CTID) for transaction recovery.

• Web container custom properties

  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.

• New custom properties for the SameSite attribute:
  • Set the session management CookieSameSite custom property to specify the SameSite attribute value to use for session cookies.
  • Set the HTTP transport channel sameSiteLax, sameSiteNone, or sameSiteStrict custom properties to provide lists of cookie names or patterns for the values of Lax, None, or Strict that are set on the SameSite attribute.
• Java virtual machine settings

  As of version 9.0.5.0, Java EE application classes are added to the shared class cache.