WebSphere Extended Deployment, Version 6.0.x
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Dynamic operations

WebSphere Extended Deployment contains functionality to monitor the application server environment and make optimizations or recommendations that are based on the data observed. This capability is referred to as dynamic operations.

Increasingly, businesses are rigidly tied to the availability and speed of applications that deliver essential services to customers. Loss of availability translates into lost business, which means lost opportunity and lost revenue. Dynamic operations is a fluid and dynamic environment, supporting the continuous availability of applications through the virtualization of resources, the dynamic placement of applications, prioritization and flow control of work to the applications, and integrating with overall dynamic operations infrastructure management.

In a typical WebSphere Application Server environment, there are sometimes static islands of dedicated resources to particular applications. This static structure leads to an inefficient use of resources. Some servers are not used to their full capability, and other servers are overloaded.

A typical WebSphere Application Server environment

WebSphere Extended Deployment supports a far more flexible environment using its dynamic operations features. Dynamic operations consists of autonomic managers that maximize utilization using defined business goals. These autonomic managers monitor performance metrics, analyze the monitored data, offer a plan for running actions, and can start these actions in response to the flow of work.

A WebSphere Extended Deployment environment

WebSphere Extended Deployment offers the following autonomic managers as part of the dynamic operation functionality:
Autonomic request flow manager
Controls the order of requests into the application server tier and the rate of request flows. Using classification and the defined service goals, the autonomic request flow manager (ARFM) decides how and when to dispatch HTTP requests to the next tier. The ARFM also decides when Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) and Java Message Service (JMS) requests are run at the application server tier, even though these requests are not routed through the ODR. For IIOP requests, only standalone Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) clients are supported.
Dynamic workload manager (DWLM)
Performs load balancing across available application servers. In particular, for a given request flow, DWLM balances requests across the available nodes to regulate response times. DWLM dynamically updates the application status as the application placement controller modifies a running application infrastructure.
Application placement controller
Creates and removes application instances to manage HTTP requests. The application placement controller can dynamically address periods of intense workflow that otherwise require the manual intervention of a system administrator. For IIOP and JMS requests, the application placement controller can add and remove application server instances. For IIOP requests, only standalone EJB clients are supported.
Health management
Maintains a robust application server environment using a health policy to identify the criteria that require action. When the criteria is met, action is taken to ensure that the environment remains healthy.
Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator
Provides support to integrate with Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator. Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator is used to add and remove machines from the pool of resources that are managed by WebSphere Extended Deployment. Integration with Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator enables WebSphere Extended Deployment to be a participant in a larger managed environment and enables Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator to assist WebSphere Extended Deployment in times when goals cannot be met with the resources allocated.

Autonomic managers with the on demand router (ODR) are the primary functional parts of dynamic operations. An ODR can be defined and started before any service policies are defined, but operational policies can be defined before the appearance of the work to which they apply. However, if policies are not defined, the early work is handled by the default policies. When work enters the ODR, an optimization effort achieves a balance of performance results. As the work flows, the dynamic workload manager balances the load. As work variations change and the balance of work in the nodes is upset, the application placement controller, autonomic request flow manager, and the dynamic workload manager rebalance running applications to ensure efficient work flows. Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator provides node control as an extension to the application placement controller.

The combination of these autonomic managers provides a seamless, end-to-end dynamic runtime ability.




Related concepts
Overview of dynamic operations
Components of dynamic operations
Dynamic operations environment
Dynamic application placement
Related information
WebSphere Extended Deployment overview
Concept topic    

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Last updated: Nov 30, 2007 3:56:25 PM EST
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