WebSphere® Application Server for z/OS® product code resides in partitioned datasets on MVS and Unix System Services file systems.
All WebSphere Application Server for z/OS product files reside in the product directory and its subdirectories. Throughout the product and documentation, install_root is used to represent the fully qualified path name of the WebSphere Application Server for z/OS product directory. In the examples in the documentation, the path /usr/lpp/zWebSphere/V8R5 normally is used as the location of the product file system.
Locate the product directory and all of its subdirectories in the same hierarchical file system (HFS) or zSeries® file system (ZFS) dataset. This dataset can be the same as the z/OS root or version dataset, which is not recommended, or a separate dataset that is used just for WebSphere Application Server for z/OS. The installation jobs and program directory assume that such a separate dataset is allocated. This dataset is referred to as was_hlq.SBBOHFS, where was_hlq represents the product dataset name high-level qualifiers. This directory gets created during the installation process.
Refer to the Program Directory on the WebSphere Application Server library web page for more details.
The DMZ Secure Proxy Server for WebSphere Application Server files reside in the DMZ Secure Proxy Server product directory and its subdirectories. In the examples in this documentation, the path /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_SPS/V8R5 normally is used as the location of the DMZ Secure Proxy Server product file system.
The Web Server Plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server files reside in the Web Server Plug-ins product directory and its subdirectories. In the examples in this documentation, the path /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_Plugins/V8R5 normally is used as the location of the Web Server Plug-ins product file system.
On z/OS, plug-ins are provided for the IBM HTTP Server (IHS/390) that is provided with the z/OS operating system and for the IBM HTTP Server (based on Apache) that is provided with either WebSphere Application Server for z/OS or with the IBM Ported Tools for z/OS.
Each WebSphere Application Server for z/OS application serving environment (standalone application server node or Network Deployment cell) has configuration files in one or more WebSphere configuration directories. These configuration directories are created through the configuration process and contain symbolic links to files in the WebSphere Application Server product directory.
DMZ secure proxy servers and secure proxy administrative agents have symbolic links to files in the DMZ Secure Proxy Server product directory.
Instead of pointing directly to these product directories, application serving environments can point to an intermediate symbolic link, which in turn points to a particular product directory. This level of indirection allows you to switch to a new server level of WebSphere Application Server for z/OS or the DMZ Secure Proxy server by stopping the servers that use that intermediate symbolic link, changing the link to point to the new product directory, and restarting the affected servers.
The customization process allows for automatic creation of these intermediate symbolic links.