Performing identical installations on multiple machines

If you are installing WebSphere Application Server on multiple machines, and want them to have identical configurations, you can use XML export/import facility and silent installation functionality to do so. Installing WebSphere Application Server in this manner will result in identical, but separate installations of WebSphere. In other words, the application servers will not recognize each other.

Note: Performing identical installations of WebSphere Application Server on multiple machines does not prepare your system for purposes such as configuring a server group, which requires that all machines in the group be part of the same administrative domain. See the article Using server groups and clones for more information about configuring server groups.

Perform the following steps to install identical configurations of WebSphere Application Server on multiple machines:

  1. Perform a silent installation on the first machine by customizing the default response file and executing the install.sh script at the command-line, supplying the response file as a command-line parameter. See the article Selecting steps for silent installation, which directs you to specific instructions for performing a silent installation on your platform.

    The customized response file will be used to install WebSphere Application Server from the command-line on the other machines you want to configure.

  2. Start the WebSphere Application Server, open the Administrative Console, and configure your system.
  3. Export an XML file that details the WebSphere Application Server configuration existing on the first machine. You can export the XML file by doing one of the following:

    The XML file will be imported and used to configure WebSphere Application Server on the other machines you want to configure.

  4. Copy your custom response file to the root directory on the machine you want to configure next.
  5. Copy the exported XML file to the machine you want to configure next.
  6. Edit the exported XML file to include variable substitutes. This enables each server to specify a particular variable unique to that machine, such as the node name. See the article XMLConfig - Using the tool programmatically for more information.
  7. Install WebSphere Application Server by performing a silent installation.
  8. Import the configuration stored in the XML file to the new application server.