Deploying MobileFirst Server on IBM PureApplication System

IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation provides the capability to deploy and manage IBM MobileFirst Platform Server and MobileFirst applications on IBM® PureApplication® System and IBM PureApplication Service on SoftLayer®.

IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation in combination with IBM PureApplication System and IBM PureApplication Service on SoftLayer provides a simple and intuitive environment for developers and administrators, to develop mobile applications, test them, and deploy them to the cloud. This version of IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern provides MobileFirst runtime and artifacts support for the PureApplication Virtual System Pattern technologies that are included in the most recent versions of IBM PureApplication System and IBM PureApplication Service on SoftLayer. Classic Virtual System Pattern was supported in earlier versions of IBM PureApplication System.

Key benefits

IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern provides the following benefits:
  • Predefined templates enable you to build patterns in a simple way for the most typical MobileFirst Server deployment topologies.
    Examples of the topologies are:
    • IBM WebSphere® Application Server Liberty profile single node
    • IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile multiple nodes
    • IBM WebSphere Application Server full profile single node
    • IBM WebSphere Application Server full profile multiple nodes
    • Clusters of WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment servers
    In V8.0.0 MobileFirst Application Center, deployment topologies such as:
    • IBM WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile single node
    • IBM WebSphere Application Server full profile single node
  • Script packages act as building blocks to compose extended deployment topologies such as automating the inclusion of an analytics server in a pattern and flexible DB VM deployment options. WebSphere Application Server and DB2® script packages are available through the inclusion of WebSphere Application Server and DB2 pattern types.
  • Optional JNDI properties in the runtime deployment script package allow fine-grained tuning for the deployment topology. In addition, deployment topologies that are built with IBM WebSphere Application Server full profile now support accessing the WebSphere Application Server Administration Console, which gives you full control over the configuration of the application server.

Important restrictions

Depending on the pattern template you use, do not change some of the component attributes. If you change any of these component attributes, the deployment of patterns that are based on these templates fails.
MobileFirst Platform (Application Center Liberty single node)
Do not change the values for the following attributes in the Liberty profile server:
  • WebSphere product Installation directory
  • Configuration data location
  • Liberty profile server name
  • Under Install an IBM Java SDK, select only Java SDK V7.0 or Java SDK V7.1
  • Select the Install additional features and clear the selection of IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale.
MobileFirst Platform (Application Center WebSphere Application Server single node)
Do not change the values for the following attributes in the Liberty profile server:
  • WebSphere product Installation directory
  • Configuration data location
  • Cell name
  • Node name
  • Profile name
  • Under Install an IBM Java SDK, select only Java SDK V7.0 or Java SDK V7.1
  • Select the Install additional features and clear the selection of IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale.
MobileFirst Platform (Liberty single node)
Do not change the values for the following attributes in the Liberty profile server:
  • WebSphere product Installation directory
  • Configuration data location
  • Liberty profile server name
  • Under Install an IBM Java SDK, select only Java SDK V7.0 or Java SDK V7.1
  • Select the Install additional features and clear the selection of IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale.
MobileFirst Platform (Liberty server farm)
Do not change the values for the following attributes in the Liberty profile server:
  • WebSphere product Installation directory
  • Configuration data location
  • Liberty profile server name
  • Under Install an IBM Java SDK, select only Java SDK V7.0 or Java SDK V7.1
  • Select the Install additional features and clear the selection of IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale.
MobileFirst Platform (WebSphere Application Server single node) template
In the Standalone server component of the MobileFirst Platform Server node, do not unlock or change the values for any of the following attributes:
  • Cell name
  • Node name
  • Profile name
If you change any of these attributes, your pattern deployment fails.
MobileFirst Platform (WebSphere Application Server server farm) template
In the Standalone server component of the MobileFirst Platform Server node, do not unlock or change the values for any of the following attributes:
  • Cell name
  • Node name
  • Profile name
If you change any of these attributes, your pattern deployment fails.
MobileFirst Platform (WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment) template
In the Deployment manager component of the DmgrNode node or the Custom nodes component of the CustomNode node, do not unlock or change the values for any of the following attributes:
  • Cell name
  • Node name
  • Profile name
If you change any of these attributes, your pattern deployment fails.

Limitations

The following limitations apply:
  • Dynamic scaling for WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile server farms and WebSphere Application Server full profile server farms is not supported. The number of server farm nodes can be specified in the pattern by setting the scaling policy but cannot be changed during run time.
  • The IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern Extension for MobileFirst Studio and Ant command-line interface that is supported in versions earlier than V7.0 are not available in this version of IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern.
  • IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern depends on WebSphere Application Server Patterns, which has its own restrictions. For more information, see Restrictions for WebSphere Application Server Patterns.
  • Due to restrictions in the uninstallation of Virtual System Patterns, you must delete the script packages manually after you delete the pattern type. In IBM PureApplication System, go to Catalog > Script Packages to delete the script packages that are listed in the Components section.
  • The MobileFirst Platform (WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment) pattern template does not support token licensing. If you want to use this pattern, you must use perpetual licensing. All other patterns support token licensing.

Composition

IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern is composed of the following patterns:
  • IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Patterns 2.2.0.0.
  • [PureApplication Service] WebSphere 8558 for Mobile IM repository to allow the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Patterns to work. Contact the administrator for IBM PureApplication System to confirm that the WebSphere 8558 IM repository is installed.
  • IBM DB2 with BLU Acceleration® Pattern 1.2.4.0.
  • IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern.

Components

In addition to all components provided by IBM WebSphere Application Server Pattern and IBM DB2 with BLU Acceleration Pattern, IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation System Pattern provides the following Script Packages:

Compatibility between pattern types and artifacts created with different product versions

If you use MobileFirst Studio V6.3.0 or earlier to develop your applications, you can upload the associated runtime, application, and adapter artifacts into patterns associated with IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation V7.0.0 and later.

Pattern types that are associated with IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation V6.3.0 or earlier are not compatible with runtime, application, and adapter artifacts created by using MobileFirst Studio V7.0.0 and later.

For versions V6.0.0 and earlier, only the same versions of server, .war file, application (.wlapp file), and adapters are compatible.

Parent topic: Deploying MobileFirst Server to the cloud