Installing and configuring the plug-in for IBM HTTP Server for z/OS

The IBM® HTTP Server for WebSphere® Application Server plug-in is part of the web server plug-in component of WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5. The plug-in enables an IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server to communicate with a WebSphere Application Server. To use this plug-in, you must have an IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server, which is powered by Apache, and runs on z/OS®.

1. Install web server plug-ins.
   Use IBM Installation Manager to install the web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 8.5, and mount the product file system on your target z/OS system. By default, the plug-ins are located in the /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_Plugins/V8R5 directory.
2. Log on to the OMVS shell using the server ID for the Web server instance.
   The install_plugin and ConfigureIHSPlugin scripts must be run under this user ID so that all files are owned by the same group as the web server instance.
3. Create an installation directory for the plug-in.
   The directory for the plug-in will contain configuration information to be used by the plug-in when running under this web server instance. The recommended location for this directory is subdirectory Plugins in the web server instance install directory.

   To create the runtime install image, run the command plugin_smp_location/bin/install_plugin.sh:

   ./install_plugin.sh 
      -pluginInstallLocation product_directory_of_plugin_code
      -pluginRuntimeLocation install_directory_of_Web_server_plugin
      -wasInstallLocation    product_directory_of_WebSphere_Application_Server

   The following example is a sample invocation of this command:

   cd /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_OM/V8R5/HTTP/Plugins/bin
   ./install_plugin.sh   
      -pluginInstallLocation /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_OM/V8R5/HTTP/Plugins
      -pluginRuntimeLocation /etc/websrv1/Plugins
      -wasInstallLocation    /usr/lpp/zWebSphere/V8R5
   

4. Configure the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS instance to use the web server plug-in.
   Run the command plugin_runtime_location/bin/ConfigureIHSPlugin.sh to configure IBM HTTP Server to use the web server plug-in:

   ./ConfigureIHSPlugin.sh
      -plugin.home        install_directory_of_Webserver_plugin
      -plugin.config.xml  location_of_plugin-cfg.xml_file
      -ihs.conf.file      location_of_httpd.conf_file
      -operating.system   ZOS
      -WAS.webserver.name Webserver_name_defined_to_WebSphere_Application_Server
      -WAS.host.name      hostname_or_IP_address_of_WebSphere_Application_Server

   The following example is a sample invocation of this command:

   cd /etc/websrv1/Plugins/bin
   ./ConfigureIHSPlugin.sh 
      -plugin.home /etc/websrv1/Plugins 
      -plugin.config.xml /etc/websrv1/Plugins/config/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml
      -ihs.conf.file /etc/websrv1/conf/httpd.conf 
      -operating.system ZOS
      -WAS.webserver.name webserver1 
      -WAS.host.name appsrv1.mycorp.com
   

5. Create a web server definition in WebSphere Application Server for the local or remote z/OS Web server.
   • To add a web server definition during profile creation, use either the Profile Management Tool or the zpmt command.
   • To add a web server to an existing WebSphere Application Server profile use the administrative console, createWebServerDefinition.jacl script, or the wsadmin createWebServer command.

   When defining the web server to WebSphere Application Server:

   • For the web server name, use the value specified for WAS.webserver.name
   • For the web server plug-in install directory, use the value specified for PluginRuntimeLocation
6. Configure the plug-in.
   Use either the administrative console or issue the GenPluginCfg command to create your plugin-cfg.xml file.

   Avoid trouble: You must delete the plugin-cfg.xml file in the profile_root/config/cells directory before you complete this task. Otherwise, configuration changes do not persist to the plugin-cfg.xml file.

   Note: Both methods create the plug-in configuration file, plugin-cfg.xml, in ASCII format.

   1. If you need to edit this file, issue the following command to convert the file to EBCDIC format:

      iconv  -f ISO8859-1 -t IBM-1047 plugin-cfg.xml.ASCII > plugin-cfg.xml.EBCDIC

   2. Edit the file, and then issue the following command to convert it back to ASCII format:

      iconv  -f IBM-1047 -t ISO8859-1  plugin-cfg.xml.EBCDIC > plugin-cfg.xml.ASCII

   To use the administrative console:

   1. Select Servers > Web Servers > webserver > plug-in properties.
   2. Select Automatically generate plug-in configuration file or click on one or more of the following topics to manually configure the plugin-cfg.xml file:
      • Caching
      • Request and response
      • Request routing
      • Service
   3. Click OK.
   4. You might need to stop the application server and then start the application server again to enable the web server to locate the plugin-cfg.xml file.

   You might need to manually copy the plugin-cfg.xml file to the correct location in the web server plug-in install directory.

7. Make sure the virtual host is configured with an alias for the port number used by the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS. If you manually configured the plugin-cfg.xml file, go to the Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > Plug-in properties > Request routing page in the administrative console and make sure that Physically using the port specified in request is selected for Virtual host matching.
8. If you want to enable the web server plug-in to use private headers, define an SSL configuration repertoire that defines a trust file. Then in the administrative console, click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere application servers > server_name, and then in the Container Settings section, click Web Container Settings > Web Container Transport Chains >transport_chain > SSL Inbound Channel (SSL_2), and specify this repertoire for that transport chain.
   Avoid trouble: The trust file provides the same functionality for the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS, powered by Apache, as the TrustedProxy custom property provided for the Version 5.3 HTTP Server for z/OS in earlier versions of the product.

   If you try to use private headers without setting up an SSL configuration repertoire that does not include a trust file definition, the private headers will be ignored. If the private headers are ignored, the application server might not locate the requested application.

   After you enable the use of private headers, the transport chain's SSL inbound channel trusts all private headers it receives. Therefore, you must ensure that all paths to the transport chain's SSL inbound channel are trusted.

9. If you want to enable the web server plug-in to use a System Authorization Facility (SAF) keyring instead of a kdb file with a stashfile property, you must create the following two custom plug-in properties from the administrative console.
   • KeyringLocation, which is set to the directory location of the SAF keyring
   • StashfileLocation, which is set to "" (null)

   See the information about web server plug-in configuration properties for instructions on how to create KeyringLocation and StashfileLocation from the administrative console in order to use a SAF keyring in your SSL configuration. See also the information in plugin-cfg.xml file.

10. The configuration is complete.
    To activate the configuration, stop and restart both the application server and IBM HTTP Server.

PLUGIN: Plugins loaded.
PLUGIN: --------------------System Information-----------------------
PLUGIN: Bld version: 8.5.5
PLUGIN: Bld date: Jun 13 2013, 09:55:09
PLUGIN: Webserver: IHS 390 Webserver: Http Plug-in Build Info: build level 8.5.5.03 (cf031208.05) release WAS85.ZNATV date 06/13/13 09:54:07
PLUGIN: Hostname = ZWASAXXX
PLUGIN: NOFILES = hard: 64000, soft: 64000
PLUGIN: MAX COREFILE SZ = hard: 4194304, soft: 4194304
PLUGIN: DATA = hard: INFINITE, soft: INFINITE
PLUGIN: --------------------------------------------------------------