Before you begin
When
multiple profiles exist, you can select the profile that the Web Server
Plug-ins Configuration Tool configures. See Plug-ins configuration for a description
of the flow of logic that determines how to select the profile to
configure.
If the WebSphere Application Server product family
supports a particular brand of web server, such as IBM® HTTP Server or Microsoft® Internet Information Services
(IIS), your WebSphere Application
Server product provides a binary plug-in for the web server that you
must install.
If the WebSphere Application Server product family
does not provide a binary plug-in for a particular brand of web server,
then the web server is not supported. The purpose of the binary plug-in
is to provide the communication protocol between the web server and
the application server.
Suppose
that you create a new profile and you also want to use a web server.
You must install a new web server for the new profile, install the
Web Server Plug-ins, and use the Web Server Plug-ins Configuration
Tool to configure both the web server and the application server.
If the web server is not already installed, you can still
install the Web Server Plug-ins for future use.
About this task
Installing the Web Server Plug-ins installs the plug-in
module. The Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool configures the
web server for communicating with the application server and creates
a web server configuration definition in the application server, if
possible.
This procedure
configures the application server profile that is the default profile
on the machine. A one-to-one relationship exists between a web server
and the application server.
This article describes how to create the following topology:
This article describes the installation
of a web server on one machine and the application server on a separate
machine. In this situation, the Web Server Plug-ins Configuration
Tool on one machine cannot create the web server definition in the
application server configuration on the other machine.
In such a case, the Web Server Plug-ins
Configuration Tool creates a script on the web server machine that
you can copy to the application server machine. Run the script on
the application server machine to create the web server configuration
definition within the application server configuration.
Perform the following procedure to install the plug-in
and configure both the web server and the application server.
- Install Installation Manager on Machine A and Machine B.
- Use Installation Manager to install WebSphere Application Server - Express® on Machine A.
- Create a standalone application server on Machine A.
- Optional: Create a new host alias
for the default virtual host.
If you configured the
web server to use a port other than port 80, then you must add a new
host alias for that port for the default host. For example, when running
as nonroot, IBM HTTP Server
is configured with a default port value of 8080.
- Use Installation Manager to install the following on Machine
B.
- Web Server Plug-ins for WebSphere Application
Server
- Websphere Customization Toolbox
- Use Installation Manager to install the IBM HTTP Server on Machine B, or
install another supported web server on Machine B.
- Open the WebSphere Customization Toolbox, and launch
the Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool on the machine with the
web server.
- Select a web server plug-in runtime location.
If
the location of a previously installed web server that you want to
use is not in the list, perform the following actions to add the location
to your working set:
- Click Add.
- Enter a name for the web server plug-in location.
- Perform one of the following actions:
- Enter the location.
- Click Browse, find the location, and click OK.
- Click Create.
- Select the type of web server that you are configuring,
and click Next.
- Select the architecture of your installed target web server
(64 bit or 32 bit) and click Next if you are
asked.
- Click Browse to select the configuration
file or files for your web server, verify that the web server port
is correct, and then click Next when you are
finished.
Select the file and not just the directory
of the file. Some web servers have two configuration files and require
you to browse for each file.
The following list shows configuration
files for supported web servers:
- Apache HTTP Server
- apache_root/config/httpd.conf
- Domino® Web Server
- names.nsf and Notes.jar
The
wizard prompts for the notes.jar file. The actual
name is Notes.jar.
The Web
Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool verifies that the files exist but
the tool does not validate either file.
- IBM HTTP Server
- IHS_root/conf/httpd.conf
- Microsoft Internet
Information Services (IIS)
- The Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool can determine the correct
files to edit.
- Sun Java System Web Server
(formerly Sun ONE Web Server and iPlanet Web Server) Version 6.0 and
later
- obj.conf and magnus.conf
- If you are configuring an IBM HTTP web server plug-in, perform
the following actions.
- Optionally, set up the administration server configuration to
administer the web server.
- Select Setup IBM HTTP
Server Administration Server.
- Specify a port number on which the IBM HTTP
administration server will communicate.
- Optionally, select Create a user ID for IBM Server Administration Server authentication and
enter a user ID and password to authenticate to the IBM HTTP Server administrative server from the
administrative console.
- Click Next.
Specify the system user ID
and group to have write permission to IBM HTTP
Server, the IBM HTTP Server
administrative server, and the web server plug-in configuration files.Select Create
a new unique system user ID and group using the credentials if
necessary.
Optionally, set up the IBM HTTP Server Administration Server to run
as a Window service.
- Select Run IBM HTTP Server
Administration Server as a Windows® Service.
- Perform one of the following actions:
- Select Log on as a local system account.
- Select Log on as a specified user account, and enter the
user ID and password for that account.
The user ID requires the
following advanced user rights:
- Act as part of the operating system
- Log on as a service
- Choose whether your startup type will be automatic or manual.
- Click Next.
- Specify a unique name for the web server definition, and
click Next.
- Select the configuration scenario.
- Choose the remote scenario.
- Identify the host name or IP address of Machine A, which is the
application server machine.
- Click Next.
- Select the profile to configure with the current web server
plug-in, and click Next.
This panel does not
display if you selected the remote scenario in the previous step.
- Examine the summary panel, and click Configure to
begin configuring.
The panel notifies you that you
have manual steps to perform to complete the installation and configuration.
The Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool creates
the configureweb_server_name script
in the plugins_root/bin/ directory
on Machine B (the machine with the web server).
The
Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool also creates the plugin-cfg.xml file
in the plugins_root/config/web_server_name directory.
The
web server reads the plugin-cfg.xml file to determine
the applications that the application server on Machine A can serve
to the web server on Machine B. Whenever the configuration changes,
the application server regenerates the file. When regeneration occurs,
propagate, or copy the actual plugin-cfg.xml file
from the application server machine to the web server machine. You
can automatically propagate the file to the IBM HTTP Server product.
- Verify the success of the installation on the summary panel,
and click Finish.
If a problem
occurs and the installation is unsuccessful, examine the logs in the plugins_root/logs directory.
Correct any problems and re-configure.
- Copy the configureweb_server_name script
from Machine B (the machine with the web server) to the app_server_root /bin directory
on Machine A (the application server machine).
web_server_name is
the nickname of the web server that you specified. web_server_name is
not a vendor name, such as IIS or Apache.
On
an operating system such as AIX® or Linux®, the file is configureweb_server_name.sh.
On a Windows system, the
file is configureweb_server_name.bat.
For example, on a Linux system
with an IBM HTTP Server named
web_server_1 in the default location, copy plugins_root/bin/configureweb_server_1.sh from
Machine B (the machine with the web server) to the app_server_root/bin directory
on Machine A (the application server machine).
- Compensate for file encoding differences
to prevent script failure.
The content
of the configureweb_server_name.bat script
or the configureweb_server_name.sh script
can be corrupt if the default file encoding of the two machines differs.
This scenario is possible when one machine is set up for a double-byte
character set (DBCS) locale and the other machine is not.
Determine
the file encoding and use one of the following procedures to circumvent
the failure. To determine the default file encoding, run the appropriate
command.
- Run the locale charmap command on a system
such as AIX or Linux.
- Run the CHCP command on a Windows machine.
Use the result of the command on each machine as the value for
the web_server_machine_encoding variable and the application_server_machine_encoding variable
in one of the following procedures.Procedures for compensating
for encoding differences
Omit the continuation characters (\) if you enter the command
on one line.
If the conversion mapping is not supported by the iconv command
on your system, copy the contents of the web server configuration
script to a clip board and paste it onto the machine where the application
server is running.
Note: If you copy over a .sh file
onto a UNIX-based operating system after remote configuration on a
Windows operating system, you must perform chmod 755.
- Start the application server on Machine A.
- Open a command window and change to the profile
directory where the web server should be assigned. Run the script
that you copied to Machine A (the application server machine).
You need the following parameters:
- Profile Name
- (Optional) Admin user ID
- (Optional) Admin user password
For example, you could enter the following:configurewebserver1.sh AppSrv01 my_user_ID my_Password
The
web server will be configured via wsadmin.The contents of the configurewebserver1.sh
script will be similar to this:
wsadmin.bat -profileName AppSrv01 -user my_user_ID -password my_Password
-f "%WAS_HOME%\bin\configureWebserverDefinition.jacl" webserver1 IHS..
- Domino Web Server only: Set
the WAS_PLUGIN_CONFIG_FILE environment variable.
On platforms such as AIX or Linux, sourcing a script to the
parent shell allows child processes to inherit the exported variables.
On Windows systems, run
the script as you would run any other command. Sourcing is automatic
on Windows systems.
- Open a command window.
- Change directories to the plug-ins installation root
directory.
- Issue the appropriate command for the plugins_root/bin/setupPluginCfg.sh script:
. plugins_root/bin/setupPluginCfg.sh (Notice
the space between the period and the installation root directory.)
source plugins_root/bin/setupPluginCfg.sh
The script is also in the lotus_root/notesdata directory
on operating systems such as AIX or Linux.
Issue the appropriate
command for the script before starting the Domino Web Server.
- Regenerate the plugin-cfg.xml file
on Machine A (the application server machine) using the administrative
console. Click Servers > Server Types > Web servers.
Select the web server, then click Generate Plug-in.
During the installation of the plug-ins, the default plugin-cfg.xml file
is installed on Machine B (the machine with the web server) in the plugins_root/config/web_server_name directory.
The web server plug-in configuration service regenerates the plugin-cfg.xml file
automatically. To use the current plugin-cfg.xml
file from the application server, propagate the plugin-cfg.xml
file as described in the next step.
This step shows you how
to regenerate the plugin-cfg.xml file. WebSphere Application Server
products are configured to automatically regenerate the file each
time a significant event occurs. Such events include installing applications
on the application server and the web server, for example. Creating
a new virtual host is another such event.
- Propagate the plugin-cfg.xml file
from the application server to the web server using the administrative
console. Click Servers > Web server. Select
the web server, then click Propagate Plug-in.
Web servers other than IBM HTTP
Server require manual propagation.
The web server plug-in
configuration service propagates the plugin-cfg.xml file
automatically for IBM HTTP Server
8.0 only. For all other web servers, propagate the plug-in configuration
file by manually copying the plugin-cfg.xml file
from the profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name/servers/web_server_name directory
on Machine A (the application server machine) to the plugins_root/config/web_server_name directory
on Machine B (the machine with the web server).
- Start the Snoop servlet to verify the ability
of the web server to retrieve an application from the application
server.
Test your environment by starting your application
server, your web server, and using the Snoop servlet with an IP address.
- Start the application server.
- Start the IBM HTTP
Server or the web server that you are using.
Use a command window to change the directory to the IBM HTTP Server installed image,
or to the installed image of your web server. Issue the appropriate
command to start the web server, such as these commands for IBM HTTP Server:
To
start the IBM HTTP Server from
the command line:
Access the
apache and
apachectl commands
in the
IBMHttpServer/bin directory.
- Point your browser to http://localhost:9080/snoop to
test the internal HTTP transport provided by the application server.
Point your browser to http://Host_name_of_Web_server_machine/snoop to
test the web server plug-in.
The HTTP Transport port
is 9080 by default and must be unique for every profile. The port
is associated with a virtual host named default_host, which is configured
to host the installed DefaultApplication. The Snoop servlet is part
of the DefaultApplication. Change the port to match your actual HTTP
Transport port.
- Verify that Snoop is running.
Either Web
address should display the Snoop Servlet - Request/Client Information
page.
- Remote IBM HTTP
Server only:
Verify that the automatic
propagation function can work on a remote IBM HTTP Server by using the following steps.
This procedure is not necessary for local web servers.
- Create a user=adminUser, password=adminPassword in the IHS_root /conf/admin.passwd file.
For example: c:\ws\ihs80\bin\htpasswd -cb c:\ws\ihs80\conf\admin.passwd
adminUser adminPassword
- Use the administrative console of the application server to enter the User ID and password
information that you created for the administrative user of IBM HTTP Server. Go to Servers
> Web server > web_server_definition > Remote Web
server administration. Set the following values: admin
Port=8008, User Id=adminUser, Password=adminPassword.
- Set the correct read/write permissions for the httpd.conf file
and the plugin-cfg.xml file. See the IHS_root /logs/admin_ERROR.
LOG file for more information.
Automatic propagation of the plug-in configuration file
requires the IBM HTTP administrative
server to be up and running. If you are managing an IBM HTTP Server using the WebSphere Application Server administrative
console, the following error might display:
"Could not connect to IHS Administration server error"
Perform
the following procedure to correct the error:
- Verify that the IBM HTTP
Server administration server is running.
- Verify that the web server host name and the port that is defined
in the WebSphere Application
Server administrative console matches the IBM HTTP Server administration host name and
port.
- Verify that the fire wall is not preventing you from accessing
the IBM HTTP Server administration
server from the WebSphere Application
Server administrative console.
- Verify that the user ID and password that is specified in the WebSphere Application Server
administrative console under remote managed, is created in the admin.passwd file,
using the htpasswd command.
- If you are trying to connect securely, verify that you export
the IBM HTTP Server administration
server keydb personal certificate into the WebSphere Application Server key database
as a signer certificate. This key database is specified by the com.ibm.ssl.trustStore
directive in the sas.client.props file in the
profile where your administrative console is running. This consideration
is primarily for self-signed certificates.
- If you still have problems, check the IBM HTTP Server admin_ERROR. LOG
file and the WebSphere Application
Server logs (trace.log file) to determine the
cause of the problem.
Results
This procedure results in the installation of the Web Server
Plug-ins for WebSphere Application
Server on a web server machine. The Web Server Plug-ins Configuration
Tool also configures the web server to support an application server
on a separate machine.
The installation of the Web Server Plug-ins
results in the creation of the
Plugins directory
and several subdirectories. The following directories are among those
created on a Linux system,
for example:
- plugins_root/bin contains
the binary plug-ins for all supported web servers
- plugins_root/logs contains
log files
- plugins_root/properties contains
version information