InfoCenter Home >
6: Administer applications >
6.2: Preparing to host applications >
6.2.1: The default resources and configurations

6.2.1: The default resources and configurations

IBM WebSphere Application Server provides default configurations, allowing administrators to get started quickly and easily:

  • Default administrative resources

    The product provides the option to install default versions of some resources that are necessary for getting started, such as application servers.

    Without the default resources, more steps are required to set up a new administrative environment.

  • Default values for resource types

    Each resource has default values for some or all of its settings. The product provides original default values that are appropriate in many situations.

    The administrator can change the original default values to customized default values, which will serve as a template each time the administrator configures a new resource.

  • The default and examples Web applications

    A default application (default_app) is provided for quickly migrating Web applications to Version 3.5 from Version 2.0x. Please note, the quick path is not the optimal path.

    A second Web application named examples is provided to show the optimal way to configure Web applications and their components, and place Web application files in WebSphere directories, based on the Version 3.5 (and 3.0x) model.

The default administrative resources

The IBM WebSphere Application Server installation program provides an option to populate the administrative domain with some basic administrative resources, such as a default application server.

To support the first application in the WebSphere Application Server environment, the administrator must configure a few new resources. For example, an application containing servlets requires a Web application, servlet engine and application server for support.

With default administrative resources, the administrator does not need to configure the basic resources for supporting an application. Default resources even include a default application for reference.

Verifying that the default administrative resources exist

To verify whether the default resources are installed:

  1. Start the WebSphere Administrative Console, the Java client. (The administrative server must also be running, prior to starting the client).

  2. Display the Topology tree.

  3. Locate resources in the tree, such as:
    • Default application server (Default Server)
    • Default servlet engine
    • Default application (Default App)
    Note, the default virtual host exists in the Topology tree whether or not the default resources are installed.

Obtaining the default administrative resources

  The following actions cannot be reversed automatically. To get rid of the default resources, you must delete each default resource from the administrative domain. (Setting install.initial.config back to false will not remove the resources).

During installation:

To obtain the default resources while installing the product, take the Custom installation route. When offered various components to install, be sure to select the check box for installing a default configuration.

With product already installed:

If the product is already installed, edit the file installation_root/bin/admin.config. Set:

install.initial.config=true.

  For Advanced Edition environments involving application servers on multiple machines, install the default resources on only one machine in the cluster. You can clone the default resources to other machines in the cluster.

Default properties for resource types

The administrator should be aware that properties can have default values, custom default values and custom values:

  • Each resource begins with the default values for its resource type
  • The administrator can customize the default values of a resource type so that all new resources of that type begin with the "customized default" values
  • The administrator can customize the values of an individual resource

The "default" and "examples" Web applications

The default Web application is designed to facilitate servlet and Web application migration from a Version 2 installation. The migration steps are described in the Related information below.

Things to note about the default_app include:

  • The application Web path is /
  • The application classpaths are:
    installation_root\hosts\default_host\default_app\servlets
    and
    installation_root\servlets
  • The application document root is the Web server document root.
  • Because the application Web path for the default_app is /, you can put the HTML resources for that application in the Web server document root.

  • Servlets, such as SnoopServlet, have been added to the application. The servlet URIs (Web resources) are:
    /servlet/servlet_name
    where servlet_name is a user-defined name for the servlet.

    For example, SnoopServlet has two servlet URIs:

    • /servlet/snoop
    • /servlet/snoop2
  • The following WebSphere internal servlets (see Related information below) have been configured for the default_app:
    • InvokerServlet
    • PageCompileServlet
    • DefaultErrorReporter
Go to previous article: Preparing to host applications Go to next article: Installing applications and setting classpaths

 

 
Go to previous article: Preparing to host applications Go to next article: Installing applications and setting classpaths