Setting up a multinode environment

A multinode environment places WebSphere Application Server processes on separate physical machines, under the central management of the deployment manager process, which groups application servers into its managed cell.

Before you begin

You must have the Network Deployment product to create a cell of managed application server processes. The number of application server nodes that you can create and add to the deployment manager cell is limited only by the hardware on which the nodes run.

The physical requirements of nodes on a single machine are cumulative. See the Supported hardware and software Web site for a description of machine requirements.

A good practice is to create an initial number of application server nodes on one machine and add the nodes to the deployment manager that is running on a separate machine. Stress test the performance of the application server nodes on a particular machine by using the applications that are installed on each application server. If performance is good, you can add more nodes on the machine. If performance is poor, remove nodes from the machine.

Why and when to perform this task

The following procedure shows how to create a topology that has a tier of application servers within the cell in addition to traditional tiers that can contain the Web server, databases, enterprise information systems, and other types of persistent storage.

Clustered application servers help maximize resource use on a machine. You can have as many cluster members on a machine as the machine can support. Cluster members provide process redundancy and use memory more efficiently than in similar topologies that host only single instances of application servers. Additional application server resources on a machine improve application throughput and performance.

Firewalls can improve security for entity beans and application data.

The deployment manager manages the configuration of cluster members and other application server processes that are installed on other machines and added to the cell topology. The deployment manager coordinates all application server processes through node agent processes, one of which runs as the nodeagent server on each node.

can run within a cell topology.

Installing installs administrative extensions on the deployment manager node, adding options to the deployment manager administrative console for managing application server nodes that have programming extensions. Installing on application server nodes installs programming extensions on the application server nodes. For example, one machine might have the Business Rules Beans feature of .

Setting up cell environments involves performing several steps on each computer that comprises part of the deployment manager cell.

Steps for this task

  1. Install the Network Deployment product on one machine to create the deployment manager node. Use the product CD-ROM labeled Deployment Manager from the product package.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install.sh command on Linux for S/390 systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install command on other Linux systems or on UNIX systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the Install.exe command on Windows platforms.

    The command is in the platform root directory on the CD-ROM.

    Machine A is the system for the deployment manager server (dmgr), which provides a centralized administrative console for the entire group, or cell, of application servers that it controls. Installing the Network Deployment product does not install the base application servers. The Network Deployment installation installs only the deployment manager process and its associated administrative programs. Install the Network Deployment product on only one computer system from the set that is to make up your administrative cell.

  2. Install the base WebSphere Application Server product on other machines to create application server nodes. Use the product CD-ROM labeled Application Server, IBM HTTP Server from the product package.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install.sh command on Linux for S/390 systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install command on other Linux systems or on UNIX systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the Install.exe command on Windows platforms.

    The command is in the platform root directory on the CD-ROM.

    Aside from the one computer where you install the deployment manager node, install the base WebSphere Application Server product on all other computers that you intend to include in the cell. The installation process is the same for an application server (server1) that you federate into a cell as it is for a stand-alone application server.

  3. [5.0 only]Install Enterprise on the deployment manager node, as described in Installing the product. Use the product disc labeled Enterprise Application Server from the product package.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install.sh command on Linux for S/390 systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install command on other Linux systems or on UNIX systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the Install.exe command on Windows platforms.

    The command is in the platform root directory on the CD-ROM.

    If you plan to use Enterprise extensions on any application server node in the cell, install the Enterprise product on the Network Deployment node and on the application server node.

  4. [5.0 only]Install the Enterprise product on application server nodes, as described in Installing the product. Install Enterprise extensions on each base node using the product CD-ROM labeled Enterprise from the product package.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install.sh command on Linux for S/390 systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the ./install command on other Linux systems or on UNIX systems.

    [5.0 only]Issue the Install.exe command on Windows platforms.

    The command is in the platform root directory on the CD-ROM.

    If you have not already installed the base WebSphere Application Server product on other computers that are to comprise the cell, you can use the Enterprise disc from the product package to install the base WebSphere Application Server product. Install a limited version of the base product in an umbrella installation by responding affirmatively to the prompt to install the base product, or locate the WAS base product directory on the disc and perform a full installation of the base product.

  5. Start the deployment manager process.

    The startManager command-line tool is one way.

  6. Run the addNode command-line tool on every node that you intend to incorporate into the cell, such as Machine C and Machine D.
  7. [5.0 only]Upgrade an existing Version 5 production cell to Enterprise.

    If you upgrade your Version 5 production cell to Enterprise, you must upgrade the deployment manager. To avoid having to stop all nodes in your cell during the upgrade, use this procedure for installing Enterprise onto an existing WebSphere Application Server cell.

    1. Stop the deployment manager and install Enterprise.
    2. Restart the deployment manager.
    3. Perform the following procedure on a base product node to add the Enterprise extensions.
      1. Install Enterprise on a base product node.
      2. Stop and restart the base node and its servers in one operation (using the restart operation on the deployment manager administrative console).

    This upgrade scenario requires each production node to be down for only a short time. You can also upgrade nodes independently.

    Installing Enterprise on a federated base product node does not install the Enterprise administrative console extensions on the base node. Use the administrative console on the Network Deployment node.

    To remove a base node from a cell and still use Enterprise on the stand-alone base node, uninstall and reinstall Enterprise on the base node. Reinstalling Enterprise on the stand-alone node also installs the Enterprise administrative console extensions on the base node.

What to do next

Use the administrative console, as described in Using the administrative console, or other administrative tools, as described in Welcome to System Administration, to observe and control the federated nodes and the resources on those nodes. The console provides a central location for configuring, monitoring, and controlling all application servers on all nodes within the cell.

Go to Planning to install an e-business network to continue.


Related concepts
Vertical scaling topology
Multimachine topology concepts
Horizontal scaling topology
Load Balancer
Web server separation
Multiple deployment manager cells
Multiple Application Servers within a node



Searchable topic ID:   tins_mutier
Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 8:07:48 PM CDT    WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation, Version 5.0.2
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