Configuration documents

WebSphere® Application Server stores configuration data in several documents in a cascading hierarchy of directories. Most configuration documents have XML content.

The configuration documents describe your server, its configuration, and its contents.

Hierarchy of directories of documents

Changes made to the configuration documents are stored in the cell repository.

At the top of the hierarchy is the cells directory. It holds a subdirectory for the cell. The name of the cell subdirectory matches the name of the cell. For example, a cell named cell1 has its configuration documents in the subdirectory cell1.

The subdirectories under the cell contain the entire set of documents for the node and server in the cell.

Each cell subdirectory has the following files and subdirectories:

An example file structure is as follows:

cells
  cell1
     cell.xml resources.xml virtualhosts.xml variables.xml security.xml
     nodes
        nodeX
           node.xml variables.xml resources.xml serverindex.xml
           serverA
              server.xml variables.xml        
     applications
        sampleApp1
           deployment.xml
           META-INF
              application.xml ibm-application-ext.xml ibm-application-bnd.xml
        sampleApp2
           deployment.xml
           META-INF
              application.xml ibm-application-ext.xml ibm-application-bnd.xml

Changing configuration documents

You can use one of the administrative tools (console, wsadmin, Java APIs) to modify configuration documents or edit them directly. It is preferable to use the administrative console because it validates changes made to configurations. "Configuration document descriptions" states whether you can edit a document using the administrative tools or must edit it directly.

Transformation of configuration files

The WebSphere Application Server master configuration repository stores configuration files for all the nodes in the cell. When you upgrade the deployment manager from one release of WebSphere Application Server to another, the configuration files that are stored in the master repository for the nodes on the old release are converted into the format of the new release.

With this conversion, the deployment manager can process the configuration files uniformly. However, nodes on an old release cannot readily use configuration files that are in the format of the new release. WebSphere Application Server addresses the problem when it synchronizes the configuration files from the master repository to a node on an old release. The configuration files are first transformed into the old release format before they ship to the node. WebSphere Application Server performs the following transformations on configuration documents:
  • Changes the XML name space from the format of the new release to the format of the old release
  • Strips out attributes of cell-level documents that are applicable to the new release only
  • Strips out new resource definitions that are not understood by old release nodes



Related tasks
Working with server configuration files
Related reference
Configuration document descriptions
Concept topic Concept topic    

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Last updatedLast updated: Sep 19, 2011 4:16:02 PM CDT
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