Managing EAR or module files in the automatic installation project

You can place J2EE compliant applications (EAR files) or application modules such as WAR files, EJB JAR files, or standalone RAR files in an automatic application installation project and let rapid deployment tools deploy that application on to a target server.

Before you begin

From a J2EE development perspective, the automatic application installation project supports a single J2EE application and at most one of each of the application modules (WAR, EJB jars, or stand-alone RAR file).
Restriction: You can use the rapid deployment tools for packaging applications at J2EE 1.3 or 1.4 specification-levels. However, the rapid deployment tools do not support Java EE 5.0 (or later) nor J2EE 1.2 specification-level. For tools support of deploying Java EE 5 and later modules, you can use the monitored directory starting in WebSphere Application Server V8.0 release. For more details about the monitored directory, see Ways to install enterprise applications or modules and Installing enterprise application files by adding them to a monitored directory topics.

Procedure

Use your file management system to place your EAR or module files properly in the automatic installation project. The directory name of the automatic installation project has the same string value you provided for the -project parameter used in the wrd-config command.

Results

The following actions are supported when using the automatic installation projects:
Dropping EAR files
You can place EAR files in the automatic application installation project. The EAR file is automatically deployed to the server by expanding into the installedApps folder of the local WebSphere Application Server.
Restriction: If you did not generate deployment code for the enterprise beans contained in the enterprise application, the rapid deployment tool generates the deployment code with the default backend option set to DB2UDB_V95 during the installation of your application on the server. If you want to set a different backend option, run the EJB deployment tools (ejbdeploy.bat) on the EAR file before dropping it into the automatic installation project.
Deleting EAR files
When you delete EAR files from the automatic installation project, the application is uninstalled from the server.
Modifying EAR files
You can place a modified version of the same EAR file in the automatic installation project and the application is reinstalled.
Dropping module files
You can place WAR or EJB jar files in the automatic installation project. A supporting EAR wrapper is generated in the gen subdirectory, and then that EAR file is deployed to the server by expanding into the installedApps folder of the local WebSphere Application Server. For RAR files, a wrapper is not created. The standalone RAR files are published to the server.
Restriction: If you did not generate deployment code for the enterprise beans, the rapid deployment tool will generate the deployment code with the default backend option set to DB2UDB_V95. If you want to set a different backend option, run the EJB deployment tools (ejbdeploy.bat) on the EAR file before dropping it into the automatic installation project.
Deleting module files
When you delete module files from the automatic application installation project, the application is uninstalled from the server. In addition, any supporting EAR wrapper that was generated in the gen subdirectory is removed.
Modifying module files
You can place a modified version of the same module file in an automatic application installation project, then the application is reinstalled. In addition, any supporting EAR wrapper that was generated in the gen subdirectory is modified.

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