Automating business-level application configurations using wsadmin scripting

The scripting library provides Jython script procedures to assist in automating your environment. Use the application management scripts to install, uninstall, export, start, stop, and manage business-level applications in your environment.

About this task

The scripting library provides a set of procedures to automate the most common application server administration functions. There are three ways to use the Jython script library.

Run scripts from the Jython script library in interactive mode with the wsadmin tool. You can launch the wsadmin tool, and run individual scripts that are included in the script library using the following syntax:
```
wsadmin>AdminServerManagement.createApplicationServer("myNode", "myServer", "default")
```

Use a text editor to combine several scripts from the Jython script library, as the following sample displays:

#
# My Custom Jython Script - file.py
#
AdminServerManagement.createApplicationServer("myNode", "Server1", "default")
AdminServerManagement.createApplicationServer("myNode", "Server2", "default")

# Use one of them as the first member of a cluster
AdminClusterManagement.createClusterWithFirstMember("myCluster", "APPLICATION_SERVER",
    "myNode", "Server1")

# Add a second member to the cluster
AdminClusterManagement.createClusterMember("myCluster", "myNode", "Server3")

# Install an application
AdminApplication.installAppWithClusterOption("DefaultApplication",
    "..\installableApps\DefaultApplication.ear", "myCluster") 

# Start all servers and applications on the node
AdminServerManagement.startAllServers("myNode")

Save the custom script and run it from the command line, as the following syntax demonstrates:

bin>wsadmin -language jython -f path/to/your/jython/file.py

Use the Jython scripting library code as sample syntax to write custom scripts. Each script example in the script library demonstrates best practices for writing wsadmin scripts. The script library code is located in the app_server_root/scriptLibraries directory. Within this directory, the scripts are organized into subdirectories according to functionality. For example, the app_server_root/scriptLibraries/application/V70 subdirectory contains procedures that perform application management tasks that are applicable to Version 7.0 and later of the product. The subdirectory V70 in the script library paths does not mean the scripts in that subdirectory are Version 7.0 scripts.

The business-level application procedures in scripting library are located in the app_server_root/scriptLibraries/application/V70 subdirectory. Each script from the directory automatically loads when you launch the wsadmin tool. To automatically load your own Jython scripts (*.py) when the wsadmin tool starts, create a new subdirectory and save existing automation scripts under the app_server_root/scriptLibraries directory.

Best practice: To create custom scripts using the scripting library procedures, save the modified scripts to a new subdirectory to avoid overwriting the library. Do not edit the script procedures in the scripting library.

You can use the AdminBLA.py scripts to perform multiple combinations of administration functions. See the business-level application configuration scripts documentation to view argument descriptions and syntax examples.

Use following steps and the scripting library to create an empty business-level application, add assets as composition units, and start the business-level application.

Procedure

Launch the wsadmin tool.
Use this step to launch the wsadmin tool and connect to a server, or run the tool in local mode. If you launch the wsadmin tool, use the interactive mode examples to run scripts.
- Enter the following command from the bin directory to launch the wsadmin tool and connect to a server:
```
bin>wsadmin -lang jython
```
- Enter the following command from the bin directory to launch the wsadmin tool in local mode and using the Jython scripting language:
```
bin>wsadmin -conntype none -lang jython
```
When the wsadmin tool launches, the system loads all scripts from the scripting library.
Import assets to your configuration.
Assets represent application binaries that contain business logic that runs on the target run time environment and serves client requests. An asset can contain a file, an archive of files such as a ZIP or Java™ archive (JAR) file, or an archive of archive files such as a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) EAR file. Other examples of assets include Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) JAR files, EAR files, Service Component Architecture (SCA) composite JAR files, OSGi bundles, mediation JAR files, shared library JAR files, and non-Java EE contents such as PHP applications.
Run the importAsset script from the AdminBLA script library to import assets to the application server configuration repository, as the following example demonstrates:
```
bin>wsadmin -lang jython -c "AdminBLA.importAsset("asset.zip", "true", "true")"
```
You can also use interactive mode to run the script procedure, as the following example demonstrates:
```
wsadmin>AdminBLA.importAsset("asset.zip", "true", "true")
```
Create an empty business-level application.
Run the createEmptyBLA script from the AdminBLA script library to create a new business-level application, as the following example demonstrates:
```
bin>wsadmin -lang jython -c "AdminBLA.createEmptyBLA("myBLA", "bla to control transactions")"
```
You can also use interactive mode to run the script procedure, as the following example demonstrates:
```
wsadmin>AdminBLA.createEmptyBLA("myBLA", "bla to control transactions")
```
Add the assets, as composition units, to the business-level application.
Composition units can represent deployed assets, other business-level applications, or external artifacts that are deployed on non-WebSphere Application Server runtime environments without backing assets. Business-level applications contain zero or more composition units. You cannot add the same composition unit to more than one business-level application, but you can use one asset to create more than one composition unit.
Run the addCompUnit script from the AdminBLA script library to add asset.zip to myBLA as a composition unit, as the following example demonstrates:
```
bin>wsadmin -lang jython -c "AdminBLA.addCompUnit("myBLA", "asset.zip", "default",
 "myCompositionUnit", "cu description", "1", "server1", "specname=actplan1")"
```
You can also use interactive mode to run the script procedure, as the following example demonstrates:
```
wsadmin>AdminBLA.addCompUnit("myBLA", "asset.zip", "default", "myCompositionUnit",
 "cu description", "1", "server1", "specname=actplan1")
```
Save the configuration changes.
Use the following command example to save your configuration changes:
```
AdminConfig.save()
```
Synchronize the node.
Use the syncActiveNodes script in the AdminNodeManagement script library to synchronize each active node in your environment, as the following example demonstrates:
```
wsadmin>AdminNodeManagement.syncActiveNodes()
```
Start the business-level application.
Use the startBLA script from the AdminBLA script library to start each composition unit of the business-level application on the deployment targets for which the composition units are configured, as the following example demonstrates:
```
wsadmin>AdminBLA.startBLA("myBLA")
```

Results

The business-level application is configured and started on the deployment target of interest.

The wsadmin script libraries return the same output as the associated wsadmin commands. For example, the AdminServerManagement.listServers() script returns a list of available servers. The AdminClusterManagement.checkIfClusterExists() script returns a value of true if the cluster exists, or false if the cluster does not exist. If the command does not return the expected output, the script libraries return a 1 value when the script successfully runs. If the script fails, the script libraries return a -1 value and an error message with the exception.

By default, the system disables failonerror option. To enable this option, specify true as the last argument for the script procedure, as the following example displays:

wsadmin>AdminApplication.startApplicationOnCluster("myApplication","myCluster","true")

What to do next

Use the business-level application configuration scripts to create custom scripts to automate your environment. Save custom scripts to a new subdirectory of the app_server_root/scriptLibraries directory.