When you upgrade the application server to a newer version, be aware of the following settings that you might want to change.
The Use read/write timeout setting on the administrative console corresponds to the ServerIOTimeout attribute in the plugin-cfg.xml file. The default value for this setting is different from the default value in previous versions of the product.
In the WebSphere® Application Server Version 7 Feature Pack for OSGi Applications and Java Persistence API 2.0, bundle changes to the asset are applied by restarting the business-level application. In Version 8, these changes are applied by updating the composition unit. The new approach in Version 8 means that many bundle changes can be applied in place, without restarting the running business-level application. To enable this new approach, the UpdateAppContentVersionsStep parameter has been replaced with the UpdateAppContentVersions parameter, and instead of restarting the business-level application you run the editCompUnit command with the CompUnitStatusStep parameter.
In WebSphere Application Server Version 7 and earlier, the service log is enabled by default. In WebSphere Application Server Version 8 and later, however, the service log is disabled by default. Configure your servers to use HPEL log and trace mode and use the HPEL API if you need to be able to merge log file content from multiple servers. Use the HPEL log and trace mode and use the HPEL LogViewer command if you need to be able to render log content in Common Base Event XML format.
In WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 and later, the security model was enhanced to a domain-centric security model instead of a server-based security model. The configuration of the default global security (cell) level and default server level bindings has also changed in this version of the product. In the WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1 Feature Pack for Web Services, you can configure one set of default bindings for the cell and optionally configure one set of default bindings for each server. In Version 7.0 and later, you can configure one or more general service provider bindings and one or more general service client bindings. After you have configured general bindings, you can specify which of these bindings is the global default binding. You can also optionally specify general binding that are used as the default for an application server or a security domain.
The enableEndToEndMonitoringFeature custom property is deprecated in the WebSphere Application Server V7.0.0.1 environment, because PEEI feature is enabled by default. PEEI can be controlled by the disableEndToEndClientMonitoringFeature custom property, which has a default of false. If you use the enableEndToEndMonitoringFeature custom property, Application Server will issue an OBSOLETE_PROPERTY_SPECIFIED warning.
Starting with WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 and later, Java EE 5 application modules (web application modules version 2.5 or above, or EJB modules version 3.0 or above) are scanned for annotations to identify JAX-WS services and clients. However, pre-Java EE 5 application modules (web application modules version 2.4 or before, or EJB modules version 2.1 or before) are not scanned for JAX-WS annotations, by default, for performance considerations. In the Version 6.1 Feature Pack for Web Services, the default behavior is to scan pre-Java EE 5 web application modules to identify JAX-WS services and to scan pre-Java EE 5 web application modules and EJB modules for service clients during application installation. Because the default behavior for WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 and later is to not scan pre-Java EE 5 modules for annotations during application installation or server startup, to preserve backward compatability with the feature pack from previous releases, you must configure either the UseWSFEP61ScanPolicy property in the META-INF/MANIFEST.MF of a web application archive (WAR) file or EJB module or define the Java virtual machine custom property, com.ibm.websphere.webservices.UseWSFEP61ScanPolicy, on servers to request scanning during application installation and server startup. To learn more about annotations scanning, see the JAX-WS annotations information.
In WebSphere Application Server Version 7 and earlier, you use the Plug-ins installation wizard to install the plug-in module, configure the web server for communicating with the application server, and create a web server configuration definition in the application server if possible. In WebSphere Application Server Version 8 and later, you must first install the Web Server Plug-ins, the web server, and the WebSphere Customization Toolbox; then, you run the Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool that is contained in the toolbox to configure the web server to communicate with the application server and, if possible, create a web server configuration definition in the application server. If you know how to set up your initial web server and plug-in configuration manually, you can do so in Version 7 and Version 8.
The default JavaServer Faces implementation is now MyFaces 2.0, which provides full compliance with the updated JSF 2.0 specification.
Most properties that are defined in a JSP property group apply to an entire translation unit, for example, the requested JSP file that is matched by its URL pattern and all the files it includes using the include directive. The exceptions are the page-encoding and is-xml properties, which apply separately to each JSP file that is matched by its URL pattern. To revert the behavior to a setting before WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, set the custom property to true to apply the two property values to the entire translation unit.
By setting this property to true, local exceptions create an empty message. The relevant JAX-WS application handlers handleMessage methods are called with the empty message, then a WebServiceException is thrown back through the JAX-WS client's invoked method. This was the behavior in previous releases.
The default value for this property is false.
The default value for this property is true, which causes faults to be unified. If your applications require fault details, then you can set this property to false to disable fault unification, allowing detailed information to be returned in faults. Note that regardless of the property setting, checked exceptions defined in the WSDL and thrown by a service provider method implementation are not unified. Additionally, detailed information regarding the cause of the fault are logged if trace is enabled, regardless of the setting of this property.
This property and the associated behavior is new in Version 8 of the product.
Version 7.0 and previous versions use the optthruput garbage collection algorithm. In Version 8.0, the default is set to the generational garbage collector. This garbage collection algorithm can increase performance. The following JVM option is added to the WebSphere Application Server startup command: -Xgcpolicy:gencon. If you prefer to use the optthruput garbage collection alogorithm, you can remove -Xgcpolicy:gencon and the default optthruput garbage collection algorithm is used.
When an application attempts a connection to a paused data source, the connection manager raises an SQLException with an error code of com.ibm.websphere.rsadapter.WSDataSource.ERROR_CONNECTION_POOL_IS_PAUSED.
In Version 8, the Tivoli® Performance Viewer graph uses Dojo Technology for plotting the performance activity rather than the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. The Dojo format provides a better user experience and is more processor and memory efficient for the application server. The SVG format is still supported but is deprecated in Version 8 of this product. To use the SVG format and image format, set the JVM property to false; for example: com.ibm.websphere.tpv.DojoGraph=false. If the property is set to false, Dojo is disabled and Tivoli Performance Viewer displays interactive graphics using the SVG format or non-interactive graphics using the JPG format. By default, this property is set to a value of true to use the Dojo format.
The application and system/trust values for the -attachmentType parameter are deprecated. Specify the provider value in place of the application value. For system policy set attachments, specify the provider value for the attachmentType parameter. For a trust client attachment, or a WSNClient attachment, specify the client value for the attachmentType parameter.
To ensure the most successful migration, the return type of the StoredResponse getHeaderNames method was changed to com.ibm.websphere.servlet.response.CollectionEnumerationHybrid<String>. This type implements both Collection<String> and Enumeration.
The default for the com.ibm.CORBA.ConnectTimeout property for Version 8 is 10. Before Version 8, the default is 0.
In WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0.0.7 and later, to use the SAML default policy sets, sample SAML general bindings, and JAAS login configuration settings for SAML, you were required to set up the SAML configuration, which is stored in a profile. In WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, the SAML feature is available in all profiles by default.
The JSR 289 API requires that for any SIP URI that contains address parameters, you must enclose the SIP URI in angle brackets. The default behavior of the sip.jsr289.parse.address property is compliant with JSR 289 and correctly parses the address parameter as if it belongs to the SIP address. For example, when the property is set to false, the SIP address, sip:fred@acme.com;param1=1, is converted to <sip:fred@acme.com;param1=1>. When the property is set to true, the SIP address sip:fred@acme.com;param1=1, is converted to <sip:fred@acme.com;>param1=1.
Starting in WebSphere Application Server Version 8, the SOAPMessage.getSOAPHeader and getSOAPBody methods now throw a SOAPException if there is no corresponding element in the message. A System property is provided to revert the behavior to return null rather than throw an exception. The property is defined in com.ibm.websphere.webservices.soap.IBMSOAPMessage.ENABLE_LEGACY_GETSOAP_BEHAVIOR as a String value of com.ibm.websphere.webservices.soap.enable.legacy.get.behavior. The default value of the property is null which is interpreted as false. To revert the behavior to returning a null, set the property to the String value true. The previous behavior of returning null is not compliant with the specification.
While each policy provides unique benefits, for WebSphere Application Server V8, gencon is the default garbage collection policy. Previous versions of the application server specify that optthruput is the default garbage collection policy.
If you are using the Oracle JDK, set the com.ibm.websphere.thinclient JVM property to true.
The Accept content for all requests setting on the administrative console corresponds to the AcceptAllContent attribute in the plugin-cfg.xml file. For Version 8, the default for the setting is checked and for the attribute is true. Before Version 8, the default for the setting is not checked and for the attribute is false.
Existing JAX-RPC applications wanting to use JAX-WS features must be rewritten using the JAX-WS programming model.
The work request queue is a buffer that holds scheduled work objects and can be a value of 1 or greater. The thread pool pulls work from this queue. If you do not specify a value or the value is 0, the queue size is managed automatically. When the queue size is managed automatically, it is computed as the larger of (maximum_number_of_threads) or 20. Large values can consume significant system resources.