Configuring port settings

When you configure WebSphere® Application Server resources or assign port numbers to other applications, you must avoid conflicts with other assigned ports. In addition, you must explicitly enable access to particular port numbers when you configure a firewall.

Before you begin

[IBM i]For more information about port numbers that your IBM i system currently uses, enter the NETSTAT *CNN command on the command line. Press F14 to view assigned port numbers.

[IBM i]You can also use the port validator tool to find port conflicts between different WebSphere Application Server profiles, products, and servers. See Port validator tool for more information.

Tips:
  • Port conflicts might occur if you assign a custom port value within the recommended default dynamic port range. Because port values are assigned dynamically, WebSphere Application Server cannot predetermine the port values that will be assigned to your servers. A way to avoid the possibility of a port conflict among servers is to either accept the default server port values assigned by the Profile Management Tool, or assign custom port values that do not fall within the default dynamic port range. The default dynamic port ranges for pre-2008 operating system is 1025 to 5000 , and the dynamic port ranges for newer operating systems is 49152 to 65535. Because these default ranges are recommended by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), they are common across all operating systems.
  • Port conflicts might occur if you install WebSphere Application Server on multiple systems with deployment managers managing servers or clusters on different systems. The configuration-service port-resolution mechanism does not support cross profiles on different host machines.
    • Example 1:
      1. On system A, create a cell profile that includes Dmgr and AppSrv01 (Node1).
      2. On system B, create AppSrv01 and federate AppSrv01 (Node2) to Dmgr on system A.
      3. Create server1 on Node1 and server2 on Node2.
      4. The server1 server and server2 server might contain duplicate server endpoint ports in the serverindex.xml file because Node1 and Node2 are located on different host systems.
    • Example 2:
      1. On system A, create a cell profile that includes Dmgr and AppSrv01 (Node1).
      2. On system B, create AppSrv01 and federate AppSrv01 (Node2) to Dmgr on system A.
      3. On system B, create JobManager.
      4. Create a cluster and add two servers, server1 on Node1 and server2 on Node2.
      5. The server2 server and the JobManager server might contain duplicate server endpoint ports in the serverindex.xml file because server2 and JobManager are in cross profiles. The server2 server is under Dmgr, JobManager is under the JobManager profile. and the Dmgr and JobManager profiles are located on different machines.

Procedure

  1. Review the port number settings, especially when you are planning to coexist.

    [IBM i]You can use the dspwasinst command-line tool to display the port information for a profile. See dspwasinst command for more information.

  2. Optional: Change the port number settings.
    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][IBM i]You can set port numbers when configuring the product after installation.
    • During profile creation using the manageprofiles command, you can accept the default port values or you can specify your port settings. If you want to specify ports, you can do so in any of the following ways:
      • Specify the use of a port file that contains the port values.
      • Specify the use of a starting port value.
      • Specify the use of the default port values.

      See manageprofiles command for more information.

    • [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows]During profile creation using the Profile Management tool, you can accept the port settings recommended by the tool or you can specify your port settings.

      See Managing profiles using the graphical user interface for more information.

    • [IBM i]You can use the chgwassvr command to change the ports for an application server within a profile.

      See chgwassvr command for more information.

    [z/OS]You can set port numbers when configuring the product after installation. Start to think about port numbers during the planning phase described in Planning for product configuration.

    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows]You can perform one of the following actions to change port settings after installation:
    • Use the updatePorts ant script to change port settings.

      See Updating ports in existing profiles and Port number settings for more information.

    • Edit the profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name/serverindex.xml file to change the port settings, or use scripting to change the values.
  3. Optional: Set port numbers in a different port range so that they cannot conflict.

    WebSphere Application Server cannot always detect port conflicts when multiple installations are present on multiple hosts. To set port numbers in this situation so that you avoid port conflicts, adjust the starting port numbers of each installation to be in a different range from the other installations.

    For example, in a system with two installations, you can configure one installation to use the default port number settings, and manually assign a different port range in the second installation.

    1. Create the deployment manager of the second installation by using the manageprofiles command. On the -startingPort option, set a starting port number that is out of range of any ports that other installations use. 
      bin/manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName Dmgr03 -profilePath
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer_2/profiles/Dmgr03 -templatePath
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer_2/profileTemplates/management -startingPort 15000
    2. Create the application server or custom profiles on each target machine.
    3. Federate the profiles to the deployment manager by running the addNode command.
    4. Create clusters and cluster members from the deployment manager.

      New servers that you create inherit the higher starting port number from the deployment manager.

      Note: Node agents do not inherit the starting port number from the deployment manager. If needed, manually change the port number settings.
    Tip: You can use the Profile Port Checker tool to check for conflicts without needing to start the servers. Note that the tool checks only for conflicts on the machine where it runs. For information about using the Profile Port Checker, see Using the Profile Port Checker.