WebSphere V5.0 Administration Tools
There are two types of administration tools available in version V5.0
they are the Web Console and wsadmin scripting tool.
WebSphere V5.0 is designed so that multiple users can perform different
task at same time. We support concurrent access of the administrative
tools with the same or different level of Administrative Roles.
Concurrent access by multiple users with the same or different level of
Administrative Roles may cause save conflicts. WebSphere handles this by
issuing a warning statement such as "Another user has already modified
this option, do you want to save or ignore your changes?". If the second
administrator user says yes to save they can overwrite the changes made by
the first administrator role user. Updates to the configuration is managed
in an orderly fashion. Multiple clients can potentially update the
configuration at the same time. The Web Console and wsadmin scripting
process can make use of a common facility to control access to
configuration information.
We recommend for best administrative practice to allow one Administrative
Role user to be actively updating the master configuration at a time.
By this we mean instead of having two users logged in as Administrator, it
is a best practice to have one user logged in as Administrator and the
second user logged in as Configurator. This will allow your WebSphere
environment (master configuration files) to be in a cleaner and healthier
state.
Web Console:
"Console Users" and "Console Groups" can be created with following four
types of administrative roles .
Administrator
The administrator role has operator
permissions, configurator permissions, and the permission required to
access sensitive data including server password, LTPA password and keys,
and so on.
Configurator
The configurator role has monitor
permissions and the ability to change the WebSphere Application Server
configuration.
Operator
The operator role has monitor permissions
and the ability to change the run-time state. For example, the operator
can start or stop services.
Monitor
The monitor role has the least permissions.
This role primarily confines the user to viewing the WebSphere Application
Server configuration and current state.
Additional Information:
NOTE:
Console Users and Console Groups information are stored in admin-authz.xml
file located at <Install_root>\config\cells\<cellname>\
directory.
WebSphere V5.0 design only allows this file to be modified only from Web
Console and can not be modified using any other administrative tools
(wsadmin or Java APIs).
Administrative tools (wsadmin or Java APIs) limitations:
The following links to the InfoCenter discuss the known limitiations to
the following areas:
wsadmin:
If there are multiple clients (scripts or web console) updating the
configuration at the same time, it is possible that the changes requested
by a script cannot be saved. If this happens, the scripting process throws
an exception back to the user, who can choose to try the updates again.
WebSphere 5.0.x is designed in an 'all or nothing' save methodology. If
the save fails, none of the updates are saved in the configuration.
If the save succeeds, all updates are saved.
Any updates made by a scripting client are kept in a private area or
"workspace" and are only copied over to the master configuration when the
script successfully executes the "AdminConfig save" command.
If a scripting process ends and no "AdminConfig save" has been performed,
any configuration changes made since the last save are discarded. In the
interactive mode, the user is prompted that unsaved changes are about to
be lost.
NOTE: An exception to this is made if wsadmin is invoked with the -c
option. In this case, a save is automatically performed if configuration
changes are made.
The best administrative practice is to have the script invoke a "save"
after every configuration update. This will insure that at most one
command needs to be re-run. This approach is also the most expensive. The
strategy used by the script writer will depend on variables such as the
installation's policy of allowing multiple access, the likelihood of
failure, and the critical nature of the updates.
WebSphere V3.5 and V4.0 Administration Tools
There are three types of administration tools available in version 3.5 and
4.0 this document will discuss the Admin Console and wscp scripting tools
only.
Performing administrative functions like start, stop, or update with
multiple clients (Opening more than one console/wscp at any given time) is
not recommended. This is due to the repository stability as lockups/hangs
often occur. Examples of this are when multiple clients are accessing the
same admin server which can cause an overload the CPU, or accessing EJBs
that are single threaded can create performance degradation.
Multiple consoles using different admin servers in the same domain will
still see bottlenecks occuring at the shared repository level. Bottlenecks
can also occur when using wscp session(s) and admin console(s) at a same
time.
Although wscp offers many of the same administration tasks as the
WebSphere Advanced Administrative Console, the following differences
apply:
1. New configurations or changes to existing
configurations made with wscp are not immediately reflected in the
console. You must actively poll the administrative server repository to
see the changes by selecting all or a portion of the topology view in the
console and then using the Refresh button.
2. Similarly, if a resource is created or deleted in the console, the
change will not be immediately reflected in wscp. You must explicitly
refresh all object references in the repository cache by issuing a wscp
list operation for the instance's object type. Alternatively, exiting and
reinvoking wscp also refreshes the cache.
To avoid problems due to inconsistent cached information, it is best to
avoid issuing concurrent operations on the same object from within wscp
and the console.
All administrative tasks that can be done with the console can be done
with wscp, with the exception of higher-level aggregate tasks such as
those in the wizards.
Example:
Creating an application can not be done directly by wscp. Instead, wscp
scripts can be written to provide the same functionality as provided by
the wizards. The WebSphere support team does not write these scripts, if
assistance is needed you may contact AIM Services or the Consult
Line.
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