A configuration archive (CAR) file captures the configuration of a stand-alone application server profile for later restoration. The CAR can help clone the original profile to another machine or system.
Configuration archive import support is provided in CIPs that achieve a WebSphere Application Server maintenance level of 6.0.2.5 or higher.
The Installation Factory allows for a previously exported configuration archive of an existing stand-alone application server profile to be bundled with an installation image, maintenance packages, user files, and scripts. The resulting bundle is a customized installation package, or CIP.
A configuration archive file is an exported configuration file from an existing stand-alone application server profile. Use the AdminTask command scripting interface to create the configuration archive. The configuration archive contains all of the configuration data for a stand-alone application server, including security settings, resources, and defined ports. Configuration archives allow one to restore a pre-configured, working, and tested stand-alone application server configuration from a source machine to one or more target machines.
A CIP which includes a configuration archive can be used to install an exact replica of a model application serving environment with installed maintenance packages, configured profiles, and deployed applications. For this reason, the configuration archive support is one of the key customizations that make CIPs so powerful when creating large scale topologies.
If you are restoring a customized profile that uses messaging, you must also include a script to configure the service integration bus (SIB). The original SIB configuration is not portable and, therefore, is not included in the CIP.
Configuration archives are available for use in a CIP only when WebSphere Application Server is at a maintenance level of Version 6.0.2.5 or higher. As you might expect, the configuration archive file must export from a system that is also at a maintenance level of Version 6.0.2.5 or higher.