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.
Setting up cell environments involves performing several steps on each computer that comprises part of the deployment manager cell.
Steps for this task
Issue
the ./install.sh command on Linux for S/390 systems.
Issue the ./install command on other Linux systems
or on UNIX systems.
Issue the Install.exe command
on Windows platforms.
The command is in the platform root directory on the CD-ROM.
The deployment manager server (dmgr) provides a centralized administrative console for the entire group of application servers that it controls. Installing the Network Deployment product does not install the base application servers. The Network Deployment installation installs the deployment manager process only and associated administrative programs. Install the Network Deployment product on only one computer system from the set that is to make up your administrative cell.
Issue
the ./install.sh command on Linux for S/390 systems.
Issue the ./install command on other Linux systems
or on UNIX systems.
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.
The startManager command-line tool is one way.
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.