Before you begin the process of migrating to WebSphere® Application Server Version 8.0, there are some considerations
of which you need to be aware.
Supported configurations: This
topic is about configuration migration, such as migrating deployment
managers and federated nodes in a network deployment environment.
The Application Migration Toolkit for WebSphere Application Server
provides support for migrating applications from previous versions
of WebSphere Application Server to the latest product version. For
information about migrating applications, read more about the Application
Migration Toolkit.
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Considerations for AIX, HP-UX,
IBM i, Linux, and Solaris operating systems
Consider the following
information before you migrate Application Server:
- Before you perform the migration, evaluate the items deprecated
in WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0.
For more information,
read the "Deprecated and removed features" article in the information
center.
- Before you migrate to Java Standard
Edition (SE) Development Kit (JDK) 6 from JDK 5 or JDK 1.4 , review
your applications for necessary changes based on the Sun Microsystems Java specification.
Read Migrating API and specifications for more information.
- Unconfigure any IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM)
for WebSphere Data Collectors that you have configured for WebSphere
Application Server. See the ITCAM documentation for the Unconfigure
procedure. Once the migration is complete, check the ITCAM or WebSphere
Application Server information server for supported versions of ITCAM,
then upgrade ITCAM to the corresponding release and re-configure ITCAM
on the migrated nodes. See the ITCAM documentation for the re-configuring
procedure.
- The migration articles in this information center assume that WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 is being installed
in an environment where it must coexist with prior levels of WebSphere Application Server.
Consider the
following items when planning to enable coexistence:
Read Running multiple application server versions for
more information.
- WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 migration converts
HTTP transports to channel-framework web container transport chains.
For
more information on
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 transport support,
read the following articles in the information center:
- Configuring transport chains
- HTTP transport channel settings
- Transport chains
- If you create a profile that does not meet the migration requirements
such as naming requirements, you can remove the previous profile and
create a new one rather than uninstalling and reinstalling the WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 product.
- The migration tools create a migration backup directory containing
a backup copy of the configuration from the previous version. The
following guidelines might help you to determine the amount of file-system
space that this directory might require:
- If you are migrating from Version 6.x, the space available for
this directory must be at least the size of the configuration directory
and applications from the previous profile.
- If you use the migration tools to create more than one Version
8.0 target profile on the same host or installation instance and you
use the default port settings, there is a chance that the target profiles
will share the same ports for some of the new Version 8.0 port definitions.
This will cause startup problems if both of the migrated profiles
are used.
If you are migrating two or more profiles that reside
on the same host or installation instance, perform the following actions
for each additional target profile:
- Before using the migration tools, use the Profile Management tool
or manageprofiles command to create the target
profile and make sure that you select unique ports rather than using
the default ports.
- When you use the migration tools, select the target profile rather
than letting the tools create it.
- The amount of storage that your system requires during migration
to Version 8.0 depends on
your environment as well as on the migration tool that you are using.
- WASPreUpgrade storage requirements
- Location: Backup directory specified as a parameter of
the WASPreUpgrade command
- Amount: For an estimate of your storage requirements when
using this command, add the following amounts.
- Size of the following items for the previous
profile or instance that you are migrating:
- profile_root/installableApps directory
- profile_root/installedApps directory
- profile_root/config directory
- profile_root/properties directory
- Shared libraries referenced in the libraries.xml configuration
files
- Resource adapter archive (RAR) files referenced in the resources.xml configuration
files
- If trace is enabled, which is the default, up to 200 MB (depending
on the size and complexity of your configuration)
For more information about this command, read WASPreUpgrade command.
- WASPostUpgrade storage requirements
- For an estimate of your storage requirements when using this command,
add the following amounts.
For more information about this command, read WASPostUpgrade command.
- If you use isolated data repositories—specifically, nonshared
data repositories such as transaction logs for SIB and IBM Cloudscape
or Apache Derby databases—and you migrate from a previous release,
your existing databases and transaction logs are saved when the WASPreUpgrade
tool is run. Any database changes that you make after the WASPreUpgrade
tool is run will not be reflected in the migrated environment.
- If you have mission-critical information that is stored in these
local data repositories, you should safely shut down all servers that
interact with those repositories before attempting migration. Those
servers should remain offline until the migration has been successfully
completed or rolled back.
- If you make multiple attempts at migration, either because of
unexpected rollback or to apply fixes, rerun the WASPreUpgrade tool
so that any changes to your isolated data repositories are reflected
in the migrated environment.
After the migration is complete or you have rolled back to the
previous version, you can restart the servers that interact with these
isolated data repositories.
- Before you migrate an Apache Derby database, ensure that any application
servers hosting applications that are using the Apache Derby database
are closed. Otherwise, the Apache Derby migration fails.
- Modifications to the java.security file are lost during migration.
If you've updated your java.security file in the previous version
of WebSphere Application Server, the new version will not have your
updates. For example, if you modified your provider list to use FIPS
or Hardware crypto, your migrated cell will not use these providers,
and therefore will not use FIPS or Hardware Crypto. To migrate your
modified java.security file, use the following steps:
- Before migrating, copy the java.security file from the old WAS_HOME/java/jre/lib/security to
a temporary directory.
- Migrate WebSphere Application Server to Version 8.0.
- Compare the old java.security file with the new Version 8.0 java.security
file that is located in V8WAS_HOME/java/jre/lib/security/java.security.
- Update V8WAS_HOME/java/jre/lib/security/java.security with
changes to the provider list from the old java.security file.
- Repeat this procedure for each installation of WebSphere Application
Server.
- During migration, some of your application metadata might be reset
to the default and cause the application to function differently from
what you expect.
If you installed an application in your old environment
with Use Metadata From Binaries set to true and during that
installation or a future update of the application you made a change
to the application's metadata (such as JNDI resource references or
database entries for example), the change might be lost when you migrate.
When Use
Metadata From Binaries is set to true, the administrative code
only updates the metadata in the binary EAR file. This option is not
supported in a mixed cell; therefore, it is automatically turned to
false as part of migration. When this happens, the expanded metadata
in the configuration directories take precedence over the values in
the binary EAR file. This causes the values from the original EAR
file installation to take precedence over any updates that you might
have made.
Perform one of the following actions to resolve this
issue:
- Before migrating, update your applications in the old environment
and set Use Metadata From Binaries to false. Ensure that the
applications are functioning correctly with this new setting, and
then run the migration.
- After migrating, update your applications and correct the metadata
as required to allow the applications to function appropriately.
- After you use the migration tools to migrate to WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, you might need to
perform some actions that are not done automatically by the migration
tools.
- Examine
any Lightweight Third-Party Authentication (LTPA) security settings
that you might have used in WebSphere Application Server Version 6.x, and
verify that Version 8.0 security
is set appropriately.
Read the "Lightweight Third Party Authentication"
article in the information center for more information.
- Check the WASPostUpgrade.log file in the logs directory
for details about any JavaServer Pages (JSP) objects that the migration
tools did not migrate.
If Version 8.0 does not support
a level for which JSP objects are configured, the migration tools
recognize the objects in the output and log them.
- Verify the results of the automatic Apache Derby database migration,
and manually migrate any Apache Derby databases that are not automatically
migrated by the tools.
Read Migrating IBM Cloudscape or Apache Derby databases for
more information.
- WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 does not include
the WebSphere Connect JDBC driver for SQL Server.
The WebSphereConnectJDBCDriverConversion tool is provided to convert
data sources from the WebSphere Connect JDBC driver
to the DataDirect Connect JDBC driver or the Microsoft® SQL
Server JDBC driver.
Read Migrating from the WebSphere Connect JDBC driver for
more information.