Configuring enterprise application files

You can change the configuration of a Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application or module deployed on a server.

Before you begin

You can change the contents and deployment descriptors of an application or module before deployment, such as in an assembly tool. However, it is assumed that the module is already deployed on a server.

About this task

Changing an application or module configuration consists of one or more of the following:

  • Changing the settings of the application or module.
  • Removing a file from an application or module.
  • Updating the application or its modules.
Attention: If an application is running, changing an application setting causes the application to restart. On stand-alone servers, the application restarts after you save the change. On multiple-server products, the application restarts after you save the change and files synchronize on the node where the application is installed. To control when synchronization occurs on multiple-server products, deselect Synchronize changes with nodes on the Console preferences page.
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.

Complete the following procedure to change the settings of an application or module using the administrative console.

Procedure

  • View current settings of the application or module.

    Click Applications > Application Types > WebSphere enterprise applications > application_name to access the enterprise application settings page.

    Many application or module settings are available on other console pages that you can access by clicking links on the settings page for the enterprise application. For detailed information on the settings and allowed values, examine the online help for the console pages. When you installed the application or module, you specified most of the settings values.

  • Map each module of your application to a target server.

    Specify the application servers, clusters of application servers, or web servers onto which to install modules of your application.

  • Change how quickly your application starts compared to other applications or to the server.
  • Configure the use of binary files.
  • Change how your application or web modules use class loaders.
  • Map a virtual host for each web module of your application.
  • Change application bindings or other settings of the application or module.
    1. Click Applications > Application Types > WebSphere enterprise applications > application_name > property_or_item_name.
      From the enterprise application settings page, you can access console pages for further configuring of the application or module.
    2. Change the values for settings as needed, and click OK.
  • Optional: Configure the application so it does not start automatically when the server starts.
    By default, an installed application starts when the server on which the application resides starts. You can configure the target mapping for the application so the application does not start automatically when the server starts. To start the application, you must then start it manually.
  • If the installed application or module uses a resource adapter archive (RAR file), ensure that the Classpath setting for the RAR file enables the RAR file to find the classes and resources that it needs. Examine the Classpath setting on the console Resource adapter settings page.

Results

The application or module configuration is changed. The application or standalone web module is restarted so the changes take effect.

If you updated module metadata while the application was running, restarting the application might not be sufficient for the changes to take effect. For example, if you changed descriptors in running Java EE 6 applications that use annotations, you must reinstall the application. If you changed classes that introduce, remove, or alter class hierarchies within an application, and those changes impact annotated classes, you also must reinstall the application.

What to do next

If the application or module is deployed on a cluster and you have no more configuration changes to make, click Rollout Update on the Enterprise applications page to propagate the changed configuration on all cluster members of the cluster on which the application or module is deployed. Rollout Update sequentially updates the configuration on the nodes that contain cluster members.

Save changes to your administrative configuration.

On multiple-server products, the application binaries are transferred to nodes when the configuration changes on the deployment manager synchronize with configurations for individual nodes on which the application will run.