Over the time one question being asked again and again namely - how can I compare two existing WebSphere Application Server configurations. Although this is a very valid questions - especially for environments with little or no automation - it is quite difficult to answer as most (if not to say all) comparison tools are not of a big help as most WebSphere configuration items are tagged with an ID number making it impossible to compare the configuration file on a text and / or XML basis.
While doing some research on this I stepped over urban{code} and the UrbanCode Deploy again. The urban{code} family of products provides a large number of useful plug-ins to extend the production functionality. For UrbanCode Deploy there was some great plug-in development done in the WebSphere Application Server area since I was in touch with Urban Code the last time two years ago.
To compare the WebSphere Application Server deployments and configurations the following plug-ins are required:
These plug-ins work with WebSphere Applications Server versions v7.0 and above (although the documentation for WebSphere Application Server – Configure states that v6.1 is supported as well) so should be usable with most of the currently installed WebSphere Application Server versions.
To compare WebSphere Application Server configuration you need to:
- Install urban{code} Deploy
- Install the WebSphere Application Server – Deployment plugin
- Install the WebSphere Application Server – Configure plugin
- Install the UrbanCode agents on the WebSphere Application Server systems (Base server or Deployment Manager)
and follow the documenatation to run a discover and a compare of the Application Server Configurations. The following links (although not 100% accurate) proved to be useful for me:
- https://developer.ibm.com/urbancode/plugindoc/ibmucd/ibm-middleware-configuration-websphere/1-2/usage/comparing-websphere-configurations/
- https://developer.ibm.com/urbancode/docs/comparing-configurations-with-live-websphere-application-server-instances/
The following sample screen-shots of two WebSphere Portal installations show how differences are shown in UrbanCode
- A delta in the vHost configuration:
- A changed JVM configuration (-Xms):
- A J2C authentication entry exists in once cell only: