Remote files services for file transfer and file synchronization

Configuration documents describe the available application servers, their configurations, and their contents. Two file services manage configuration documents: the file transfer service and the file synchronization service.

The following information describes what the file services do:

File transfer service

The file transfer service enables the moving of files between the deployment manager and the nodes as well as between the wsadmin scripting process and either the deployment manager or the application server. It uses the HTTP protocol to transfer files. When you enable security in the WebSphere® Application Server product, the file transfer service uses certificate-based mutual authentication. You can use the default key files in a test environment. Ensure that you change the default key file to secure your system.

The ports used for file transfer are the HTTP_Transport port, the HTTPS transport port, the administrative console port, and the administrative console secure port. For more information, see the topic on port number settings in WebSphere Application Server versions. For more information, see the topic on default port assignments.

File synchronization service

The file synchronization service ensures that a file set on each node matches that on the deployment manager node. This service promotes consistent configuration data across a cell. You can adjust several configuration settings to control file synchronization on individual nodes and throughout a system.

This service runs in the deployment manager and node agents, and ensures that configuration changes made to the cell repository are propagated to the appropriate node repositories. The cell repository is the master repository, and configuration changes made to node repositories are not propagated up to the cell. During a synchronization operation a node agent checks with the deployment manager to see if any configuration documents that apply to the node have been updated. New or updated documents are copied to the node repository, and deleted documents are removed from the node repository.

The default behavior, which is enabled, is for each node agent to periodically run a synchronization operation. You can configure the interval between operations or disable the periodic behavior. You can also configure the synchronization service to synchronize a node repository before starting a server on the node.

Avoid trouble:

• You must use either the administrative console or wsadmin scripting to synchronization a node. Of these two options, using the administrative console is the best way to perform this operation. The Nodes panel in the administrative console includes the Synchronize operation.

  If you need to use wsadmin scripting to synchronize a node, use the NodeSync MBean sync() command.

• Do not restart the node agent as part of the synchronize node process. Administration operations, such as node synchronization for application deployment, or updates that take place while the node agent is starting, that are initiated through the node agent, and affect the application servers, fail until the node agent has a chance to discover the application servers.