This topic describes installing a Web server plug-in that WebSphere Application Server provides to communicate with a particular brand of Web server. This procedure describes installing the Web server and its Web server plug-in for WebSphere Application Server on one machine and configuring the application server in the default profile on another machine to communicate with the Web server.
Before you begin
When multiple profiles exist, the plug-ins installer configures only the default profile. See Configuration behavior of the Plug-ins installation wizard for a description of the flow of logic that determines how the installer selects the profile to configure.
If the WebSphere Application Server product family supports a particular brand of Web server, such as IBM HTTP Server or Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), then your WebSphere Application Server product provides a binary plug-in for the Web server that you must install.
If the WebSphere Application Server product family does not provide a binary plug-in for a particular brand of Web server, then the Web server is not supported. The purpose of the binary plug-in is to provide the communication protocol between the Web server and the application server.
Suppose that you create a new profile. Suppose also that you want to use a Web server. You must install a new Web server for the new profile and use the Plug-ins installation wizard to install the binary plug-in module and to configure both the Web server and the application server.
If the Web server is not already installed, you can still install the plug-ins for future use. If the WebSphere Application Server product is not installed, you can still install the plug-ins. However, it is recommended that you install the Web server and the WebSphere Application Server product before installing the plug-ins for the supported Web server.
Why and when to perform this task
The Plug-ins installation wizard installs the plug-in module, configures the Web server for communicating with the application server, and creates a Web server configuration definition in the application server, if possible.
This procedure configures the application server profile that is the default profile on the machine. A one-to-one relationship exists between a Web server and the application server.
This topic describes how to create the following topology:
This topic describes the installation of a Web server on one machine and the application server on a separate machine. In this situation, the Plug-ins installation wizard on one machine cannot create the Web server definition in the application server configuration on the other machine.
In such a case, the Plug-ins installation wizard creates a script on the Web server machine that you can copy to the application server machine. Run the script on the application server machine to create the Web server configuration definition within the application server configuration.
Perform the following procedure to install the plug-in and configure both the Web server and the application server.
Steps for this task
umaskTo set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command:
umask 022
For example, on some Windows systems, click Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > User Rights Assignments to see the advanced options. See your Windows documentation for more information.
The installation wizard grants your Windows user ID the
advanced user rights, if the user ID belongs to the administrator group. The
silent installation does not grant these rights. If you create a new user
ID on a Windows platform to perform a silent installation, you must restart
the system to activate the proper authorizations for the user ID before you
can perform a successful silent installation.
When
installing the WebSphere Application Server as a Windows service, do not use
a user ID that contains spaces. A user ID with spaces cannot be validated.
Such a user ID is not allowed to continue the installation. To work around
this problem, install with a user ID that does not contain spaces, or do not
choose to install Windows services.
See Installing IBM HTTP Server or refer to the product documentation for your Web server for more information.
Select the Plug-ins installation wizard from the launchpad or change directories to the plugin directory on the product disc or in the downloaded installation image and issue the install command.
If you are unsure of which installation scenario to follow, display the roadmap instead. Print and keep the roadmap as a handy overview of the installation steps.
Press Ctrl-P to print the roadmap if the Web browser navigation controls and the menu bar are not present on the browser window that displays the Plug-ins roadmap. Press Ctrl-W to close the browser window if the navigation controls and the menu bar do not display. Or close the browser window with the window control in the title bar.
See Troubleshooting installation for more information about log files.
The Plug-ins installation wizard panel prompts you to identify the Web servers to configure. Actually you can select only one Web server each time you run the Plug-ins installation wizard.
Stop any Web server while you are configuring it. A step later in the procedure directs you to start the Web server as you begin the snoop servlet test.
If you select the Web server identification option labeled None, the Web server installs the binary plug-ins but does not configure the Web server. A known problem in the wizard panel causes the English word None to appear in translated versions of the wizard. However, the selectable option is functional in every locale in spite of the missing translation.
You can type another new directory or click Browse to select an empty directory. The fully qualified path identifies the plug-ins installation root directory.
A possibility exists that the Web server might run on a platform that WebSphere Application Server does not support.
Select the file and not just the directory of the file. Some Web servers have two configuration files and require you to browse for each file.
The wizard prompts for the notes.jar file. The actual name is Notes.jar.
The Plug-ins installation wizard verifies that the files exist but the wizard does not validate either file.
The wizard displays a naming panel for the nickname of the Web server definition.
The wizard uses the value to name configuration folders in the plug-ins installation root directory. The wizard also uses the name in the configuration script for the application server to name the Web server definition.
$AdminTask deleteServer { -serverName webserver1 -nodeName webserver1_node } $AdminTask removeUnmanagedNode { -nodeName webserver1_node } $AdminConfig save
You can type a change to the value or click Browse to select a file in another location. If you do accept the default location, the plugin-cfg.xml file must exist.
The panel notifies you that you have manual steps to perform to complete the installation and configuration. The type of Web server, the nickname of the Web server, and the location of the plugin-cfg.xml file displays on the panel.
The Plug-ins installation wizard creates the configureWeb_server_name script in the plug-ins_install_root/bin/ directory on Machine B.
The Plug-ins installation wizard also creates the plugin-cfg.xml file in the plug-ins_install_root/config/Web_server_name directory.
The Web server reads the plugin-cfg.xml file to determine the applications that the application server on Machine A can serve to the Web server on Machine B. Whenever the configuration changes, the application server regenerates the file. When regeneration occurs, propagate, or copy the actual plugin-cfg.xml file from the application server machine to the Web server machine. You can automatically propagate the file to the IBM HTTP Server product.
The panel specifies the plug-ins installation root directory, the Web server plug-ins feature, and the disk size of the code that installs when you click Next.
The Plug-ins installation wizard installs the binary plug-in module. On a Linux system, for example, the installation creates the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins directory. The /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/config/Web_server_name directory contains the plugin-cfg.xml file.
The wizard displays the name and location of the configuration script and the plugin-cfg.xml file. The wizard also displays the type of Web server that is configured and the nickname of the Web server.
If a problem occurs and the installation is unsuccessful, examine the logs in the plug-ins_install_root/logs directory. Correct any problems and reinstall.
Log files from the installation are in the plug-ins_install_root/logs/install directory.
For example, on a Linux system with an IBM HTTP Server named webserver1 in the default location, copy /opt/IBM/WebServer/Plugins/bin/configurewebserver1.sh from Machine B to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin directory on Machine A.
The content of the configureWeb_server_name.bat script or the configureWeb_server_name.sh script can be corrupt if the default file encoding of the two machines differs. This scenario is possible when one machine is set up for a double-byte character set (DBCS) locale and the other machine is not.
CHCP
locale
Procedures for compensating for encoding differences
Suppose that the Web server is running on a Linux machine and Network Deployment is running on a Windows machine.
Web server running on a Linux or UNIX system
iconv -f web_server_machine_encoding \ -t application_server_machine_encoding \ configureWeb_server_name.batOmit the Linux and UNIX continuation characters (\) if you enter the command on one line.
Suppose that the Web server is running on a Windows machine and Network Deployment is running on a Linux or UNIX machine.
Web server running on a Windows machine
iconv -f web_server_machine_encoding \ -t application_server_machine_encoding \ configureWeb_server_name.shOmit the Linux and UNIX continuation characters (\) if you enter the command on one line.
If the conversion mapping is not supported by the iconv command on your system, copy the contents of the Web server configuration script to a clip board and paste it onto the machine where the application server is running.
Open a command window to run the script that you copied to Machine A.
As soon as the Web server definition is created, the application server creates a plugin-cfg.xml file for the Web server. For example, the file on a Linux system might have this file path: /opt / IBM / WebSphere / AppServer / profiles / default / config / cells / cellname / nodes / webserver1_node / servers / webserver1 / plugin-cfg.xml.
To configure Domino, you must
set the WAS_PLUGIN_CONFIG_FILE environment variable. On Linux and UNIX-based
platforms, sourcing a script to the parent shell allows child processes to
inherit the exported variables. On Windows systems, run the script as you
would run any other command. Sourcing is automatic on Windows systems.
The script is also in the lotus_install_root/notesdata directory on Linux and UNIX systems.
Issue the appropriate command for the script before starting the Domino Web Server.
Test your environment by starting your Application Server, your Web server, and using the snoop servlet with an IP address.
Use a command window to change the directory to the IBM HTTP Server installed image, or to the installed image of your Web server. Issue the appropriate command to start the Web server, such as these commands for IBM HTTP Server:
To start the IBM HTTP Server from the command line:
The HTTP Transport port is 9080 by default and must be unique for every profile. The port is associated with a virtual host named default_host, which is configured to host the installed DefaultApplication and any installed Samples. The snoop servlet is part of the DefaultApplication. Change the port to match your actual HTTP Transport port.
Either Web address should display the Snoop Servlet - Request/Client Information page.
"Could not connect to IHS Administration server error"
During the installation of the plug-ins, the default plugin-cfg.xml file is installed on Machine B in the plugins_install_root/config/web_server_name directory. The Web server plug-in configuration service regenerates the plugin-cfg.xml file automatically. To use the current plugin-cfg.xml file from the application server, propagate the plugin-cfg.xml file as described in the next step.
This step shows you how to regenerate the plugin-cfg.xml file. WebSphere Application Server products are configured to automatically regenerate the file each time a significant event occurs. Such events include installing applications on the application server and the Web server, for example. Creating a new virtual host is another such event.
The Web server plug-in configuration service propagates the plugin-cfg.xml file automatically for IBM HTTP Server 6.0 only. For all other Web servers, propagate the plug-in configuration file by manually copying the plugin-cfg.xml file from the profiles_install_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name/servers/web_server_name directory on Machine A to the plugins_install_root/config/web_server_name directory on Machine B.
Result
This procedure results in the installation of the Web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server on a Web server machine. The Plug-ins installation wizard also configures the Web server to support an application server on a separate machine.
What to do next
See Selecting a Web server topology diagram and roadmap for an overview of the installation procedure.
See Web server configuration for more information about the files involved in configuring a Web server.
See Configuration behavior of the Plug-ins installation wizard for information about the location of the plug-in configuration file.
See Editing Web server configuration files for information about how the Plug-ins installation wizard configures supported Web servers.
Related tasks
Installing Web server plug-ins