Select installation options settings

Use this page to specify options for the installation of a Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application onto a WebSphere® Application Server deployment target. Default values for the options are used if you do not specify a value. After application installation, you can specify values for many of these options from an enterprise application settings page.

To view this administrative console page, click Applications > New application > New Enterprise Application and then specify values as needed for your application on the Preparing for application installation pages.

The Select installation options page is the same for the application installation and update wizards.

Precompile JavaServer Pages files

Specify whether to precompile JavaServer Pages (JSP) files as a part of installation. The default is not to precompile JSP files.

For this option, install only onto a Version 9.0 deployment target, which has the same or higher Java SDK level than the deployment manager.

If you select Precompile JavaServer Pages files and try installing your application onto an earlier deployment target such as Version 8, the installation is rejected. You can deploy applications to only those deployment targets that have same version as the product. If applications are targeted to servers that have an earlier version than the product, then you cannot deploy to those targets.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Directory to install application

Specifies the directory to which the enterprise archive (EAR) file will be installed.

By default, the EAR file is installed in the profile_root/installedApps/cell_name/application_name.ear directory.

Setting options include the following:

  • Do not specify a value and leave the field empty.

    The default value is ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/cell_name, where the ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT} variable is profile_root/installedApps. A directory having the EAR file name of the application being installed is appended to ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/cell_name. Thus, if you do not specify a directory, the EAR file is installed in the profile_root/installedApps/cell_name/application_name.ear directory.

  • Specify a directory.

    If you specify a directory for Directory to install application, the application is installed in specified_path/application_name.ear directory. A directory having the EAR file name of the application being installed is appended to the path that you specify for Directory to install application. For example, if you are installing Clock.ear and specify C:/myapps on Windows computers, the application is installed in the myapps/Clock.ear directory. The ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT} variable is set to the specified path.

  • Specify ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/${CELL} for the initial installation of the application.

    If you intend to export the application from one cell and later install the exported application on a different cell, specify the ${CELL} variable for the initial installation of the application. For example, specify ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/${CELL} for this setting. Exporting the application creates an enhanced EAR file that has the application and its deployment configuration. The deployment configuration retains the cell name of the initial installation in the destination directory unless you specify the ${CELL} variable. Specifying the ${CELL} variable ensures that the destination directory has the current cell name, and not the original cell name.

    Important: If an installation directory is not specified when an application is installed on a single-server configuration, the application is installed in ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/cell_name. When the server is made a part of a multiple-server configuration (using the addNode utility), the cell name of the new configuration becomes the cell name of the deployment manager node. If the -includeapps option is used for the addNode utility, then the applications that are installed prior to the addNode operation still use the installation directory ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/cell_name. However, an application that is installed after the server is added to the network configuration uses the default installation directory ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/network_cell_name. To move the application to the ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/network_cell_name location upon running the addNode operation, explicitly specify the installation directory as ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/${CELL} during installation. In such a case, the application files can always be found under ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/current_cell_name.
  • If the application has been exported and you are installing the exported EAR file in a different cell or location, specify ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/cell_name/application_name.ear if you did not specify ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/${CELL} for the initial installation.

    The exported EAR file is an enhanced EAR file that has the application and its deployment configuration. The deployment configuration retains the value for Directory to install application that was used for the previous installation of the application. Unless you specify a different value for Directory to install application for this installation, the enhanced EAR file will be installed to the same directory as for the previous installation.

    If you did not specify the ${CELL} variable during the initial installation, the deployment configuration uses the cell name of the initial installation in the destination directory. If you are installing on a different cell, specify ${APP_INSTALL_ROOT}/cell_name/application_name.ear, where cell_name is the name of the cell to which you want to install the enhanced EAR file. If you do not designate the current cell name, cell_name will be the original cell name even though you are installing the enhanced EAR file on a cell that has a different name.

  • Specify an absolute path or a use pathmap variable.

    You can specify an absolute path or use a pathmap variable such as ${MY_APPS}. You can use a pathmap variable in any installation.

    A pathmap variable is particularly needed when installing an application on a cluster with members on heterogeneous nodes because, in such cases, there might not be a single way to specify an absolute path. A WebSphere Application Server variable ${CELL} that denotes the current cell name can also be in the pathmap variable; for example, ${MY_APP}/${CELL}. You can define WebSphere Application Server variables on the WebSphere variables page, accessed by clicking Environment > WebSphere variables.

    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][IBM i]Avoid trouble: In a distributed operating system environment, the scope of the pathmap variable starts from the nodeagent-level scope instead of from a server-level scope. If the variable is not found in the nodeagent-level scope, then the variable is looked up in the node-level scope and finally in the cell-level scope.

This Directory to install application field is the same as the Location (full path) setting on an Application binaries page.

Information Value
Data type String
Units Full path name

Distribute application

Specifies whether the product expands application binaries in the installation location during installation and deletes application binaries during uninstallation. The default is to enable application distribution. Application binaries for installed applications are expanded to the directory specified.

On single-server products, the binaries are deleted when you uninstall and save changes to the configuration.

On multiple-server products, the binaries are deleted when you uninstall and save changes to the configuration and synchronize changes.

If you disable this option, then you must ensure that the application binaries are expanded appropriately in the destination directories of all nodes where the application runs.

Avoid trouble: If you disable this option and you do not copy and expand the application binaries to the nodes, a later saving of the configuration or manual synchronization does not move the application binaries to the nodes for you.

This Distribute application field is the same as the Enable binary distribution, expansion and cleanup post uninstallation setting on an Application binaries page.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default true

Use binary configuration

Specifies whether the application server uses the binding, extensions, and deployment descriptors located with the application deployment document, the deployment.xml file (default), or those located in the enterprise archive (EAR) file. Select this setting for applications installed on Version 6.0 or later deployment targets only.

The default (false) is to use the binding, extensions, and deployment descriptors located in deployment.xml. To use the binding, extensions, and deployment descriptors located in the EAR file, enable this setting (true).

This Use binary configuration field is the same as the Use configuration information in binary setting on an Application binaries page.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Deploy enterprise beans

Specifies whether the EJBDeploy tool runs during application installation.

The tool generates code needed to run Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) files. You must enable this setting in the following situations:
  • The EAR file was assembled using an assembly tool such as Rational® Application Developer and the EJBDeploy tool was not run during assembly.
  • The EAR file was not assembled using an assembly tool such as Rational Application Developer.
  • The EAR file was assembled using versions of the Application Assembly Tool (AAT) previous to Version 5.0.

If an EJB module is packaged in a web archive (WAR), you do not need to enable this setting.

The EJB deployment tool runs during installation of EJB 1.x or 2.x modules. The EJB deployment tool does not run during installation of EJB 3.x modules.

Important: The EJB deployment tool is deprecated.

This option is not available when the application enterprise archive (EAR) or module to be installed or updated contains Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 7 application deployment descriptor, EJB 3.2 module deployment descriptor, or Web 3.1 module deployment descriptor.

For this option, install only onto a Version 9.0 deployment target, which has the same or higher Java SDK level than the deployment manager.

If you select Deploy enterprise beans and try installing your application onto an earlier deployment target such as Version 8, the installation is rejected. You can deploy applications to only those targets that have same WebSphere version as the product. If applications are targeted to servers that have an earlier version than the product, then you cannot deploy to those targets.

Also, if you select Deploy enterprise beans and specify a database type on the Provide options to perform the EJB Deploy page, previously defined backend IDs for all of the EJB modules are overwritten by the chosen database type. To enable backend IDs for individual EJB modules, set the database type to "" (null) on the Provide options to perform the EJB Deploy page.

Enabling this setting might cause the installation program to run for several minutes.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default true (false for EJB 3.0 modules)

Application name

Specifies a logical name for the application. An application name must be unique within a cell and cannot contain an unsupported character.

An application name cannot begin with a period (.), cannot contain leading or trailing spaces, and cannot contain any of the following characters:

Table 1. Characters that you cannot use in a name . The product does not support these characters in a name.
Unsupported characters
  forward slash $   dollar sign '  single quote mark
\  backslash =   equal sign " double quote mark
* asterisk % percent sign |   vertical bar
,  comma +   plus sign <  left angle bracket
:  colon @ at sign >  right angle bracket
;  semi-colon #   hash mark & ampersand (and sign)
? question mark ]]> No specific name exists for this character combination

This Application name field is the same as the Name setting on an Enterprise application settings page.

Information Value
Data type String

Create MBeans for resources

Specifies whether to create MBeans for resources such as servlets or JSP files within an application when the application starts. The default is to create MBeans.

This field is the same as the Create MBeans for resources setting on a Startup behavior page.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default true

Override class reloading settings for web and EJB modules

Specifies whether the product run time detects changes to application classes when the application is running. If this setting is enabled and if application classes are changed, then the application is stopped and restarted to reload updated classes.

The default is not to enable class reloading.

This field is the same as the Override class reloading settings for web and EJB modules setting on a Class loading and update detection page.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Reload interval in seconds

Specifies the number of seconds to scan the application's file system for updated files. The default is the value of the reloading interval attribute in the IBM® extension (META-INF/ibm-application-ext.xmi) file of the EAR file.

The reloading interval attribute takes effect only if class reloading is enabled.

To enable reloading, specify a value greater than zero (for example, 1 to 2147483647). To disable reloading, specify zero (0). The range is from 0 to 2147483647.

This Reload interval in seconds field is the same as the Polling interval for updated files setting on a Class loading and update detection page.

Information Value
Data type Integer
Units Seconds
Default 3
Supported configurations: For IBM extension and binding files, the .xmi or .xml file name extension is different depending on whether you are using a pre-Java EE 5 application or module or a Java EE 5 or later application or module. An IBM extension or binding file is named ibm-*-ext.xmi or ibm-*-bnd.xmi where * is the type of extension or binding file such as app, application, ejb-jar, or web. The following conditions apply:
  • For an application or module that uses a Java EE version prior to version 5, the file extension must be .xmi.
  • For an application or module that uses Java EE 5 or later, the file extension must be .xml. If .xmi files are included with the application or module, the product ignores the .xmi files.

However, a Java EE 5 or later module can exist within an application that includes pre-Java EE 5 files and uses the .xmi file name extension.

The ibm-webservices-ext.xmi, ibm-webservices-bnd.xmi, ibm-webservicesclient-bnd.xmi, ibm-webservicesclient-ext.xmi, and ibm-portlet-ext.xmi files continue to use the .xmi file extensions.

Deploy web services

Specifies whether the web services deploy tool wsdeploy runs during application installation.

The tool generates code needed to run applications using web services. The default is not to run the wsdeploy tool. You must enable this setting if the EAR file contains modules using web services and has not previously had the wsdeploy tool run on it, either from the Deploy menu choice of an assembly tool or from a command line.

For this option, install only onto a Version 9.0 deployment target, which has the same or higher Java SDK level than the deployment manager.

If you select Deploy web services and try installing your application onto an earlier deployment target, the installation is rejected. You can deploy applications to only those targets that have same version as the product. If applications are targeted to servers that have an earlier version than the product, then you cannot deploy to those targets.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Validate input off/warn/fail

Specifies whether the product examines the application references specified during application installation or updating and, if validation is enabled, warns you of incorrect references or fails the operation.

An application typically refers to resources using data sources for container managed persistence (CMP) beans or using resource references or resource environment references defined in deployment descriptors. The validation checks whether the resource referred to by the application is defined in the scope of the deployment target of that application.

Select off for no resource validation, warn for warning messages about incorrect resource references, or fail to stop operations that fail as a result of incorrect resource references.

This Validate input off/warn/fail field is the same as the Application reference validation setting on an enterprise application settings page.

Information Value
Data type String
Default warn

Process embedded configuration

Specifies whether the embedded configuration should be processed. An embedded configuration consists of files such as resource.xml, variables.xml, and deployment.xml. You can collect product-specific deployment information and store it in the application EAR file. Such an EAR file can then be installed into a server configuration using application management interfaces that are described in the Installing an application through programming topic.

One such application EAR file is an enhanced EAR file, which is created when you export an already installed application. The embedded configuration check box identifies such an enhanced EAR file. By default, the check box for process embedded configuration is checked if the application is detected to be an enhanced EAR. The application install options are prepopulated with the information from the embedded configuration whether the check box for process embedded configuration is checked or not. Users can overwrite these values during the deployment process.

If the exported EAR file (enhanced EAR file) contains shared libraries and their configuration information, then the process of installing the application is sensitive to whether you have checked the check box for process embedded configuration or not. If the check box is checked for an application with shared library configuration defined, the application is installed with those shared libraries and are configured based on the information in the embedded configuration. If the check box is NOT checked for an application with shared library configuration defined, the EAR file is still installed without those shared libraries and their configurations.

Note: The embedded configuration is still part of the application whether it is processed or not.

The shared library definition does not remain even if the process embedded configuration option is disabled.

If you exported the application from a cell other than the current cell and did not specify the $(CELL) variable for Directory to install application when first installing the application, deselect this setting (false) to expand the enhanced EAR file in the profile_root/installedApps/current_cell_name directory. Otherwise, if this setting is selected (true), the enhanced EAR file is expanded in the profile_root/installedApps/original_cell_name directory, where original_cell_name is the cell on which the application was first installed. If you specified the $(CELL) variable for Directory to install application when you first installed the application, installation expands the enhanced EAR file in the profile_root/installedApps/current_cell_name directory.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false (deselected)

File permission

Specifies access permissions for application binaries for installed applications that are expanded to the directory specified.

The Distribute application option must be enabled to specify file permissions.

You can specify file permissions in the text field. You can also set some of the commonly used file permissions by selecting them from the multiple-selection list. List selections overwrite file permissions set in the text field.

You can set one or more of the following file permission strings in the list. Selecting multiple options combines the file permission strings.

Table 2. File permission string sets for list options . Select a list option or specify a file permission string in the text field.
Multiple-selection list option File permission string set
Allow all files to be read but not written to .*=755
Allow executables to execute .*\.dll=755#.*\.so=755#.*\.a=755#.*\.sl=755
Allow HTML and image files to be read by everyone .*\.htm=755#.*\.html=755#.*\.gif=755#.*\.jpg=755

Instead of using the multiple-selection list to specify file permissions, you can specify a file permission string in the text field. File permissions use a string that has the following format:

file_name_pattern=permission#file_name_pattern=permission

where file_name_pattern is a regular expression file name filter (for example, .*\\.jsp for all JSP files), permission provides the file access control lists (ACLs), and # is the separator between multiple entries of file_name_pattern and permission. If # is a character in a file_name_pattern string, use \# instead.

If multiple file name patterns and file permissions in the string match a uniform resource identifier (URI) within the application, then the product uses the most stringent applicable file permission for the file. For example, if the file permission string is .*\\.jsp=775#a.*\\.jsp=754, then the abc.jsp file has file permission 754.

Best practice: Using regular expressions for file matching pattern compares an entire string URI against the specified file permission pattern. You must provide more precise matching patterns using regular expressions as defined by Java programming API. For example, suppose the following directory and file URIs are processed during a file permission operation:
Table 3. Example URIs for file permission operations . Results are shown following this table.
Number Example URL
1 /opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war
2 /opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war/MyJsp.jsp
3 /opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
4 /opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war/WEB-INF/classes/MyClass.class
5 /opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war/mydir/MyClass2.class
6 /opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war/META-INF

The file pattern matching results are:

  • MyWarModule.war does not match any of the URIs
  • .*MyWarModule.war.* matches all URIs
  • .*MyWarModule.war$ matches only URI 1
  • .*\\.jsp=755 matches only URI 2
  • .*META-INF.* matches URIs 3 and 6
  • .*MyWarModule.war/.*/.*\.class matches URIs 4 and 5
If you specify a directory name pattern for File permissions, then the directory permission is set based on the value specified. Otherwise, the File permissions value set on the directory is the same as its parent. For example, suppose you have the following file and directory structure:
/opt/WebSphere/profiles/AppSrv01/installedApps/MyCell/MyApp.ear/MyWarModule.war/MyJsp.jsp
and you specify the following file pattern string:
.*MyApp.ear$=755#.*\.jsp=644
The file pattern matching results are:
  • Directory MyApp.ear is set to 755
  • Directory MyWarModule.war is set to 755
  • Directory MyWarModule.war is set to 755
Best practice: Regardless of the operation system, always use a forward slash (/) as a file path separator in file patterns.

[Windows]You cannot unset read permission on a file on Windows operating systems. With POSIX style permission bits, the bit for denoting readable on a file is 4, writable is 2, and executable is 1. Thus, permission of a file on a Windows operating system is either 5 or 7. Also, in POSIX style there are user, group and world permissions. You can only set the user permission for a file on Windows operating systems. The group and world permission bits are ignored.

Access permissions specified here are at the application level. You can also specify access permissions for application binaries in the node-level configuration. The node-level file permissions specify the maximum (most lenient) permissions that can be given to application binaries. Access permissions specified here at application level can only be the same as or more restrictive than those specified at the node level.

This setting is the same as the File permissions field on the Application binaries page.

Information Value
Data type String

Application build identifier

Specifies an uneditable string that identifies the build version of the application.

This Application build identifier field is the same as the Application build level field on the Application binaries page.

Information Value
Data type String

Allow dispatching includes to remote resources

Specifies whether an application can dispatch includes to resources across web modules that are in different Java virtual machines in a managed node environment through the standard request dispatcher mechanism.

This field is the same as the Allow dispatching includes to remote resources field on the Remote request dispatch properties page.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Allow servicing includes from remote resources

Specifies whether an enterprise application can service an include request from an application.

This field is the same as the Allow servicing includes from remote resources field on the Remote request dispatch properties page.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Business-level application name

Specifies whether the product creates a new business-level application with the enterprise application that you are installing or makes the enterprise application a composition unit of an existing business-level application.

The default is to create a new business-level application with a setting value of WebSphere:blaname=Anyasset,blaedition=BASE. When you select to create a new business-level application from the drop-down list, the product creates a business-level application that has the same name as your enterprise application. If a business-level application with the name of your enterprise application exists already, the product does not create a new business-level application; it adds your enterprise application as a composition unit to that existing business-level application.

If you need to use the Shared library relationship and mapping settings page to specify dependency relationships on existing shared libraries in the business-level application, select the business-level application name from the drop-down list. No shared libraries are shown in the page if you choose to create a new business-level application and a business-level application with the default name exists already.

To add your enterprise application to an existing business-level application, select an existing business-level application from the drop-down list. The product makes your enterprise application a composition unit of the existing business-level application.

Information Value
Data type String
Default Create a new business-level application that has the same name as the enterprise application that you are installing.

WebSphere:blaname=Anyasset,blaedition=BASE

Asynchronous request dispatch type

Specifies whether web modules can dispatch requests concurrently on separate threads and, if so, whether the server or client dispatches the requests. Concurrent dispatching can improve servlet response time.

If operations depend on each other, do not enable asynchronous request dispatching. Select Disabled. Concurrent dispatching might result in errors when operations are dependent.

Select Server side to enable the server to dispatch requests concurrently. Select Client side to enable the client to dispatch requests concurrently.

Information Value
Data type String
Default Disabled

Deploy client modules

Specifies whether to deploy client modules.

Select this option (set to true) if the file to deploy has one or more client modules and you want to configure environment entries for the client modules. Also select this option to configure resources such as EJB references, resource references, resource environment references, or message destination references. Selecting this option enables you to view the Map environment entries for client modules page. If you are deploying the client modules to a federated node of a deployment manager (Federated) or to an application server (Server Deployed), select this option and set Client deployment mode to the appropriate value for the deployment target, Federated or Server Deployed.

If you select this option, install the client modules only onto a Version 8.0 or later deployment target.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false

Client deployment mode

Specifies whether to deploy client modules to an isolated deployment target (Isolated), a federated node of a deployment manager (Federated), or an application server (Server Deployed).

The choice of client deployment mode affects how java: lookups are handled. All Java URL name spaces (global, application, module, and component) are local in isolated client processes. The name spaces reside on a server in federated and server deployed client processes. The server or cluster chosen as a target for a client module determines where those name spaces are created. All java: lookups for federated or server deployed client modules are directed to the target server or cluster. The client module does not actually run in the target server or cluster. Multiple instances of the same client module will all share the component name space in the Federated and Server Deployed modes. Choosing the Federated mode is simply a declaration of intent to launch the client module using Java Network Launching Protocol (JNLP), but the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) mechanics of federated and server deployed modes are the same.

Information Value
Data type String
Default Isolated

Validate schema

Specifies whether to validate the deployment descriptors against published Java EE deployment descriptor schemas. When this option is selected, the product analyzes each deployment descriptor to determine the Java EE specification version for the deployment descriptor, selects the appropriate schema, and then checks the deployment descriptor against the Java EE deployment descriptor schema. Validation errors result in error messages.

A Java EE deployment descriptor schema is also known as a DTD.

If you select this option, install your application or module only onto a Version 8.0 or later deployment target.

Information Value
Data type Boolean
Default false