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Modifying web server plug-in properties from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console

Question & Answer


Question

How can I modify the web server's plug-in (plugin-cfg.xml) properties from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console?

Cause

You are unable to determine where to make web server plug-in changes from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console.

Answer

IBM recommends that modifications to the web server plug-in properties be made from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console so any changes are persisted when a new plugin-cfg.xml file is generated and propagated to the web server.

The following information is provided as a guide to assist you in determining where to make specific plug-in property changes from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console.



Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (Plug-in properties):

<Config ASDisableNagle="false" AcceptAllContent="false" AppServerPortPreference="HostHeader" ChunkedResponse="false" FIPSEnable="false" IISDisableNagle="false" IISPluginPriority="High" IgnoreDNSFailures="false" RefreshInterval="60" ResponseChunkSize="64" VHostMatchingCompat="false">
<Log LogLevel="Error" Name="c:/Program
Files/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/logs/webserver/http_plugin.log"/>
...
<Transport Hostname="webspherehostname" Port="9443" Protocol="https">
<Property Name="keyring" Value="c:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/etc/plugin-key.kdb"/>
<Property Name="stashfile" Value="c:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/etc/plugin-key.sth"/>
</Transport>

The following plug-in properties have been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. IgnoreDNSFailures
  2. RefreshInterval
  3. KeyRing
  4. Log Name
  5. Log Level

These plug-in properties can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Web Servers > web_server_name > Plug-in properties):




Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (Request and response):

<Config ASDisableNagle="false" AcceptAllContent="false" AppServerPortPreference="HostHeader" ChunkedResponse="false" FIPSEnable="false" IISDisableNagle="false" IISPluginPriority="High" IgnoreDNSFailures="false" RefreshInterval="60" ResponseChunkSize="64" VHostMatchingCompat="false">


The following plug-in properties have been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. ResponseChunkSize
  2. ASDisableNagle
  3. IISDisableNagle*
  4. ChunkedResponse
  5. AcceptAllContent
  6. VhostMatchingCompat
  7. AppServerPortPreference
  8. IISPluginPriority*

*Only available for IIS defined web servers.

These plug-in properties can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Web Servers > web_server_name > Plug-in properties > Request and response):




Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (Caching):

<Property Name="ESIEnable" Value="true"/>
<Property Name="ESIMaxCacheSize" Value="1024"/>
<Property Name="ESIInvalidationMonitor" Value="false"/>


The following plug-in properties have been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. ESIEnable
  2. ESIInvalidationMonitor
  3. ESIMaxCacheSize

These plug-in properties can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Web Servers > web_server_name > Plug-in properties > Caching):





Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (Request routing):

<ServerCluster CloneSeparatorChange="false" GetDWLMTable="false" LoadBalance="Round Robin" Name="wp_cluster" PostBufferSize="64" PostSizeLimit="-1" RemoveSpecialHeaders="true" RetryInterval="60">


The following plug-in properties have been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. LoadBalance option
  2. RetryInterval
  3. PostSizeLimit
  4. PostBufferSize
  5. RemoveSpecialHeaders
  6. CloneSeparatorChange

These plug-in properties can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Web Servers > web_server_name > Plug-in properties > Request routing):




Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (cluster_member_name > Web server plug-in properties)

<Server CloneID="137mtvpi5" ConnectTimeout="0" ExtendedHandshake="false" LoadBalanceWeight="2" MaxConnections="-1" Name="Cluster_Mem_1" ServerIOTimeout="0" WaitForContinue="false">
...
<PrimaryServers>
         <Server Name="Cluster_Mem_2"/>
</PrimaryServers>
<BackupServers>
         <Server Name="Cluster_Mem_1"/>
</BackupServers>


The following plug-in properties have been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. Primary or Backup Server Designation
  2. ConnectTimeOut
  3. ServerIOTimeout*
  4. MaxConnections
  5. ExtendedHandshake
  6. WaitForContinue

These plug-in properties can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Application Servers > cluster_member_name > Web server plug-in properties):



*This is from a version 6.1 administrative console. Version 6.0 requires ServerIOTimeout to be set as a Webserver > Plug-in Properties > Custom Properties.



Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (cluster_name > Cluster members):

<Server CloneID="137mtvpi5" ConnectTimeout="0" ExtendedHandshake="false" LoadBalanceWeight="0" MaxConnections="-1" Name="Cluster_Mem_1" ServerIOTimeout="0" WaitForContinue="false">
...
<Server CloneID="138mtvpi6" ConnectTimeout="0" ExtendedHandshake="false" LoadBalanceWeight="2" MaxConnections="-1" Name="Cluster_Mem_2" ServerIOTimeout="0" WaitForContinue="false">


The following plug-in property has been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. LoadBalanceWeight

This plug-in property can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Server clusters > cluster_name > Cluster members):




Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (cluster_member_name > Session management):

<UriGroup Name="default_host_wp_cluster_URIs">
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/PlantsByWebSphere/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/PlantsByWebSphere/docs/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wsrp/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*.jsp"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*.jsv"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*.jsw"/>
</UriGroup>
<Route ServerCluster="wp_cluster" UriGroup="default_host_wp_cluster_URIs" VirtualHostGroup="default_host"/>


The following plug-in property has been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. Set a custom Cookie ID for a server

This plug-in property can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Application Servers > cluster_member_name > Session management):




Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file (application_name > Session management):

<UriGroup Name="default_host_wp_cluster_URIs">
<Uri AffinityCookie="Deployment_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/PlantsByWebSphere/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Deployment_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/PlantsByWebSphere/docs/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wsrp/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*.jsp"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*.jsv"/>
<Uri AffinityCookie="Server_ID" AffinityURLIdentifier="jsessionid" Name="/wps/config/*.jsw"/>
</UriGroup>
<Route ServerCluster="wp_cluster" UriGroup="default_host_wp_cluster_URIs" VirtualHostGroup="default_host"/>


The following plug-in property has been highlighted in the preceding excerpt:
  1. Set a custom Cookie ID for an application

This plug-in property can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Enterprise Applications > application_name > Session management):




Web server plug-in custom properties
In addition to the preceding plug-in properties, there are also plug-in "custom properties" that can be added from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console if desired, depending on web server plug-in version level.
  • Web server plug-in versions 6.1 and later:

    ESIEnableToPassCookies
    IgnoreAffinityRequests

  • Web server plug-in versions 6.0.2.23, 6.1.0.13 and 7.0.0.0 - APAR PK48101:

    GetDWLMTable

  • Web server plug-in versions 6.1.0.21 and 7.0.0.3 - APAR PK73752:

    HTTPMaxHeaders

  • Web Server plug-in versions 6.1.0.23 and 7.0.0.3 - APAR PK78546:

    CertLabel
    SSLConsolidate
    SSLPKCSDriver
    SSLPKCSPassword

  • Web Server plug-in versions 6.1.0.23 and 7.0.0.3 - APAR PK78451:

    TrustedProxyEnable
    TrustedProxyList

  • Web Server plug-in versions 6.1.0.33 and 7.0.0.13 - APAR PM12112:

    FailoverToNext

Note: After Plug-in APAR PM12112, the new DEFAULT behavior is FailoverToNext="false", which means that when the Plug-in marks an appserver down, it will distribute all of the "pending" requests RANDOMLY to the other available appservers in the same cluster.

  • Web Server plug-in versions 6.1.0.45, 7.0.0.25, 8.0.0.5, and 8.5.0.1 - APAR PM67658:

    KillWebServerStartUpOnParseErr

Excerpt from plugin-cfg.xml file:

<Config ASDisableNagle="false" AcceptAllContent="false" AppServerPortPreference="HostHeader" ChunkedResponse="false" FIPSEnable="false" HTTPMaxHeaders="500" FailoverToNext="false" KillWebServerStartUpOnParseErr="true" IISDisableNagle="false" IISPluginPriority="High" IgnoreDNSFailures="false" RefreshInterval="60" ResponseChunkSize="64" SSLConsolidate="true" SSLPKCSDriver="/usr/lib/pkcs11/PKCS11_API.so" SSLPKCSPassword="/usr/lib/pkcs11/password.sth" TrustedProxyEnable="true" VHostMatchingCompat="false">
   <Log LogLevel="Debug" Name="/usr/IBM/HTTPServer/Plugins/logs/webserver1/http_plugin.log"/>
   <Property Name="ESIEnable" Value="true"/>
   <Property Name="ESIMaxCacheSize" Value="1024"/>
   <Property Name="ESIInvalidationMonitor" Value="false"/>
   <Property Name="ESIEnableToPassCookies" Value="true"/>
...
<TrustedProxyGroup>
 <TrustedProxy Name="myProxyServer1.myDomain.com"/>
 <TrustedProxy Name="myProxyServer2.com"/>
 <TrustedProxy Name="192.168.0.1"/>
</TrustedProxyGroup>
...
<ServerCluster CloneSeparatorChange="false" GetDWLMTable="true" IgnoreAffinityRequests="false" LoadBalance="Round Robin" Name="wp_cluster" PostBufferSize="64" PostSizeLimit="-1" RemoveSpecialHeaders="true" RetryInterval="60">
...
<Transport Hostname="webspherehostname" Port="9443" Protocol="https">
<Property Name="keyring" Value="c:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/etc/plugin-key.kdb"/>
<Property Name="stashfile" Value="c:/Program Files/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/etc/plugin-key.sth"/>
<Property Name="certLabel" Value="sslcert"/>
</Transport>


These plug-in properties can be found and modified in the WebSphere Application Server administrative console (Servers > Web Servers > web_server_name > Plug-in properties > Custom Properties):



For more information:

Additional resources:
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0

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Document Information

Modified date:
15 June 2018

UID

swg21460889