Creating generic servers

A generic server is a server that is managed in the WebSphere® Application Server administrative domain even though the server is not a server that is supplied by WebSphere Application Server. The WebSphere Application Server generic servers function enables you to define a generic server as an application server instance within the WebSphere Application Server administration, and associate it with a non-WebSphere WebSphere Application Server or process.

About this task

There are two basic types of generic application servers:

• Non-Java applications or processes.
• Java™ applications or processes

Therefore, a generic server can be any server or process that is necessary to support the Application Server environment, including:

• A Java server
• A C or C++ server or process
• A CORBA server
• A Remote Method Invocation (RMI) server

You can use the wsadmin tool or the administrative console to create a generic server.

Avoid trouble: For the Base WebSphere Application Server, you cannot use the administrative console to create a generic application server definition or use the administrative console to start, stop or, in any way, control or manage that application server. To create a generic server, use the wsadmin tool. To manage Base generic application servers, you need to use the command prompt environment, such as startServer <genericServerName> or stopServer <genericServerName> or serverStatus <genericServerName>.

• Create a non-Java application as a generic server.
  The following steps describe how to use the administrative console to create a non-Java application as a generic application server.
  1. Select Servers > Generic servers
  2. Click New.
  3. Type in a name for the generic server.

     The name must be unique within the product environment. It is recommended that you use a naming scheme that makes it easy to distinguish your generic application servers from regular WebSphere Application Server servers.

  4. Click Next
  5. Click Finish.
     The generic server now appears as an option on the Generic servers page in the administrative console.
  6. On the Generic servers page, click on the name of the generic server.
  7. Under Additional Properties, click Process Definition.
  8. In the Executable name field, enter the name of the non-java process that is launched when you start this generic server.

     For example, if you are using a perl script as a generic server, enter the path to the perl.exe module in the Executable name field.

     If you have additional arguments, such as the name of the perl script and its parameters, enter them in the Executable arguments field. Multiple arguments must be separated by carriage returns. Use the Enter key on your keyboard to create these carriage returns in the Executable arguments field. The following example illustrates how a perl script application that requires two arguments should appear in this field:

     perl_application.pl
     arg1
     arg2

     Avoid trouble: The Executable target type and Executable target properties are not used for non-Java applications. Executable target type and Executable target properties are only used for Java applications.
  9. Click OK.
• Create a Java application as a generic server:
  The following steps describe how to use the administrative console to create a Java application as a generic application server.
  1. Select Servers > Server Types > Generic servers
  2. Click New.
  3. Type in a name for the generic server.

     The name must be unique within the application server. It is highly recommended that you use a naming scheme that makes it easy to distinguish your generic application servers from regular WebSphere Application Server servers.

  4. Click Next
  5. Click Finish.
     The generic server now appears as an option on the Application servers page in the administrative console.
  6. Click Finish.
     The generic server now appears as an option on the Generic servers page in the administrative console.
  7. On the Generic servers page, click on the name of the generic server.
  8. Under Additional Properties, click Process definition.
  9. In the Executable name field under General Properties, enter the path for the WebSphere Application Server default JVM, ${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java, which is used to run the Java application when you start this generic server.
  10. In the Executable target type field under General Properties, select whether a Java class name, JAVA_CLASS, or the name of an executable JAR file, EXECUTABLE_JAR, is used as the executable target of this Java process. The default value for the product is JAVA_CLASS.
  11. In the Executable target field under General Properties, enter the name of the executable target. Depending on the executable target type, this is either a Java class containing a main() method, or the name of an executable JAR file.) The default value for WebSphere Application Server is com.ibm.ws.runtime.WsServer.
  12. Click OK.
      Note: If the generic server is to run on an application server other than a WebSphere Application Server server, leave the Executable name field set to the default value and specify the Java class containing the main function for your application serve in the Executable target field.