Fast track: Configuring the data collector for WebSphere Applications agent

The WebSphere Applications agent does not need any configuration after agent installation. However, you must configure the data collector, which is a component of the agent, to set up monitoring for your WebSphere environment.

Before you begin

  1. Install the WebSphere Applications agent on the system where the application server to be monitored is installed and running.
  2. Check the user access requirements.
    • On Windows, use the administrator ID that is used to install the application server to configure the data collector. Make sure that this user ID has full write permission the data collector home directory, install_dir\dchome\7.3.0.14.09.
    • On Linux and UNIX, use the user ID that is used to install the application server to configure the data collector. Make sure that this user ID has read and write permissions to the following sub-directories within install_dir/yndchome/7.3.0.14.09:
      • bin
      • data
      • runtime

About this task

A simple configuration utility, simpleconfig, is used in this procedure to provide the basic configuration of data collector.

The simpleconfig utility configures the data collector with default settings. To configure the data collector with more customization options, use the full configuration utility, config, in the same directory. For instructions, see Configuring or reconfiguring the data collector with full configuration utilities.

In most cases, the simpleconfig utility is sufficient. For more complex environment, you can use the config configuration utility to configure the data collector. If the simpleconfig utility fails, use the config utility instead.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the system with the user ID that is used to install the application server.

  2. Change to the bin directory within the data collector home directory.

    • Windows: install_dir\dchome\7.3.0.14.09\bin
    • Linux and UNIX: install_dir/yndchome/7.3.0.14.09/bin

  3. Run the following simple configuration utility:

    • Windows: simpleconfig.bat
    • Linux and UNIX: ./simpleconfig.sh

  4. Follow the prompts to continue with the data collector configuration. You are required to do some or all of the following things, depending on the application server settings:

    • For traditional WebSphere Application Server:
      • Select the auto-discovered WebSphere installation directory or manually specify the installation directory.
      • Select the WebSphere Application Server profile to monitor.
      • Select the security properties profile to use or provide the user name and password of the WebSphere administrative console (if security is enabled for the application server).
    • For WebSphere Application Server Liberty:
      • Specify the full path of the Liberty home directory that contains bin and servers directories. For example, /opt/ibm/wlp.
      • Specify the home directory of the JRE that is used by Liberty.

  5. After the data collector configuration completes, restart the application server.

    1. Go to the bin directory under the home directory for the application server profile. For example, opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/profile_name/bin.

    2. Stop the application server by entering the stopServer command in the command console.

      • Linux and UNIX: ./stopServer.sh server_name
      • Windows: stopServer.bat server_name

    3. When prompted, enter the user ID and password of WebSphere administrative console administrator.

    4. Start the application server again by entering the startServer command in the command console.
      • Linux and UNIX: ./startServer.sh server_name
      • Windows: startServer.bat server_name

Results

The data collector is configured to monitor the application server instance. Now, you can log in to the IBM Cloud Pak console to view monitoring data. Remember that data collection can increase the application server overhead. You can control the data collection with more advanced configuration options for tuning.