How to Determine if WebSphere® Application Server has Started Successfully on Unix Platforms

Technote (FAQ)
Problem
A brief synopsis of how to determine what WebSphere Application Server Java™ processes are running on a Unix® platform.
Solution
Use the following instructions to confirm that WebSphere Application Server has started successfully on a Unix system.

Overview:

1. Log on to the system to be checked, using any valid userID.

2. At any prompt, enter the command:
% ps -ef | grep java
that returns any active Java processes.

3. Check for the following WebSphere Java processes (started in this order):
    A Nanny process
    An Administrative Server process
    One java process for each Application Server running
    Optionally, one java process for the Administrative Console
Notes:
  • Unix systems require a Nanny, an Administrative Server and at least one Application Server to serve servlets.
  • Application Server processes are started AFTER the "WebSphere Administration server open for e-business"message is written to the tracefile.
  • Nanny process on Windows NT and Windows 2000 is the Windows service "IBM WS AdminServer".


Sample output and explanations:
Color coding is used here to identify important items:
  • Red identifies the first line of the each process in output
  • Green identifies the Nanny process
  • Blue identifies the Administrative server process
  • Yellow identifies any Application server processes
  • Teal indicates any Administrative console process

$ ps -ef | grep java
root 196868 196608 0 12:57:47 pts/10 0:13 /usr/WebSphere/AppServer/java//jre/sh/../bin/java -classpath /home/db2inst//sqllib/java12/db2java.zip:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ibmwebas.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/properties:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/servlet.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/webtlsrn.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/lotusxsl.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/compat.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/xalan.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ns.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ejs.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ujc.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/repository.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/admin.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/console.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/was20cm.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/tasks.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/xml4j.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/vaprt.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/dertrjrt.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/sslight.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ibmjndi.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/deployTool.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/java//lib/tools.jar -DDER_DRIVER_PATH= com.ibm.ejs.sm.util.process.Nanny admin.config

root 197408 196868 29 13:10:06 pts/10 0:27 /usr/WebSphere/AppServer/java/jre/sh/../bin/java -Xmx128m -Xminf0.15 -Xmaxf0.25 -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.Localhost=127.0.0.1 -classpath /usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/test:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ibmwebas.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/properties:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/servlet.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/webtlsrn.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/lotusxsl.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/compat.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/xalan.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ns.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ejs.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ujc.jar:/home/oracle//jdbc/lib/classes12.zip:/home/oracle//jdbc/lib/nls_charset12.zip:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/repository.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/admin.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/swingall.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/console.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/was20cm.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/tasks.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/xml4j.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/vaprt.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/sslight.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ibmjndi.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/deployTool.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/databeans.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/classes:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/java/lib/tools.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/jsp10.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/dertrjrt.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/derdbpw.jar:/usr/WebSphere/AppServer/lib/ivjejb35.jar com.ibm.ejs.sm.server.AdminServer -bootFile admin.config

root 197952 -------- 0 16:23:35 pts/0 4:54 /usr/IBMWebAS/java/jre/sh/../bin/java -Xminf0.15 -Xmaxf0.25 -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.ConfigURL=file:/usr/IBMWebAS/properties/sas.client.props -Dcom.ibm.CORBA.principalName=yoa-aix2/AdminClient -Dserver.root=/usr/IBMWebAS com.ibm.ejs.sm.client.ui.EJSConsole -qualifyHomeName
root 198001 197408 0 16:17:54 - 2:21 /usr/IBMWebAS/java/jre/sh/../bin/java -classpath /home/db2inst1/sqllib/java12/db2java.zip:/home/mattd/ARCHClass.jar:/home/mattd/log.jar:/home/mattd/EDisLILClass.jar:/home/mattd/EDisLILClient.jar:/home/mattd/EDisLILEJB.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/ibmwebas.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/properties:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/servlet.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/webtlsrn.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/lotusxsl.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/compat.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/xalan.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/ns.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/ejs.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/ujc.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/odbc/lib/classesibm.zip:/home/db2inst1/sqllib/java12/db2java.zip:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/repository.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/admin.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/swingall.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/console.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/was20cm.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/tasks.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/xml4j.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/vaprt.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/sslight.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/ibmjndi.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/deployTool.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/databeans.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/classes:/usr/IBMWebAS/java/lib/tools.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/bsf.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/dertrjrt.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/derdbpw.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/ivjejb35.jar:/usr/IBMWebAS/lib/js.jar -Dserver.root=/usr/IBMWebAS -Dcom.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.qualifyHomeName=true -Dcom.ibm.ejs.sm.adminServer.primaryNode=yoa-aix2 com.ibm.ejs.sm.server.ManagedServer -name /ActiveNode:yoa-aix2:47:3/ActiveEJBServerProcess:Default Server:132:3/ -nodeAgent IOR:0000000000000035524d493a636f6d2e69626d2e656a732e736d2e6167656e742e41646d696e4167656e743a3030303030303030303030303030303000000000000000010000000000000094000101000000000c392e33372e37332e3130360023280000000000534a4d42490000001233c5f0dd31303030303030303030303030303030000000240000002f49454a5001000d5f5f61646d696e5365727665720c41646d696e4167656e744f410000000a41646d696e4167656e7400000000010000000100000018000000000001000100000001000100200001010000000000 -tranLog-IOR:0000000000000039524d493a636f6d2e69626d2e656a732e6a74732e7472616e4c6f672e7472616
e4c6f67576972653a303030303030303030303030303030300000000
weblev2 32252 30906 3 14:01:24 pts/6 0:00 grep java

On some systems, the length of the line is limited to either the screen size or 80 bytes.
Alternative syntax:
AIX: ps -elf
Solaris: /usr/ucb/ps -auxww

Processes are identified by the Java application started:
  • Nanny: com.ibm.ejs.sm.util.process.Nanny admin.config
  • Administrative Server: com.ibm.ejs.sm.server.AdminServer
  • Administrative Console: com.ibm.ejs.sm.client.ui.EJSConsole
  • EACH Application Server: com.ibm.ejs.sm.server.ManagedServer
Note: Each process description includes an Interoperable Object Reference(IOR) (a very long alphanumeric string).

Query to identify each process:
  • ps -ef | grep Nanny
  • ps -ef | grep AdminServer
  • ps -ef | grep EJSConsole
  • ps -ef | grep ManagedServer

Once each of these processes has started and the administrative server is running, you can be relatively sure that WebSphere Application Server is started.











Document Information

Product categories: Software, Application Servers, Distributed Application & Web Servers, WebSphere Application Server, Servlet Engine/Web Container
Operating system(s): AIX, HPUX, Solaris
Software version: 3.0.2.x, 3.5
Software edition: Standard, Advanced
Reference #: 1007096
IBM Group: Software Group
Modified date: 2003-12-15