Configuration documents

WebSphere® Application Server stores configuration data in several documents in a cascading hierarchy of directories. Most configuration documents have XML content.

The configuration documents describe your server, its configuration, and its contents.

Hierarchy of directories of documents

Changes made to the configuration documents are stored in the cell repository.

At the top-level of the hierarchy is the cells directory. It holds a subdirectory for the cell. The name of the cell subdirectory matches the name of the cell. For example, a cell named cell1 has its configuration documents in the subdirectory cell1.

The subdirectories under the cell contain the entire set of documents for the node and server in the cell.

Each cell subdirectory has the following files and subdirectories:

  • The cell.xml file, which provides configuration data for the cell.

  • Files such as security.xml, virtualhosts.xml, resources.xml, and variables.xml, which provide configuration data that applies to the node in the cell.

  • The nodes subdirectory, which holds a subdirectory for the node in the cell. The names of the nodes subdirectory matches the name of the node.

    The node subdirectory holds files such as variables.xml and resources.xml, which provide configuration data that applies across the node. Note that these files have the same name as those in the containing cell's directory. The configurations specified in these node documents override the configurations specified in cell documents having the same name. For example, if a particular variable is in both cell- and node-level variables.xml files, the server on the node uses the variable definition in the node document and ignores the definition in the cell document.

    The node subdirectory holds a subdirectory for the server defined on the node. The name of the subdirectory matches the name of the server. The server subdirectory holds a server.xml file, which provides configuration data specific to the server. Server subdirectories might hold files such as security.xml, resources.xml and variables.xml, which provide configuration data that applies only to the server. The configurations specified in these server documents override the configurations specified in containing cell and node documents having the same name.

  • The applications subdirectory, which holds a subdirectory for each application deployed in the cell. The names of the applications subdirectories match the names of the deployed applications.

    Each deployed application subdirectory holds a deployment.xml file that contains configuration data on the application deployment. Each subdirectory also holds a META-INF subdirectory that holds a Java™ 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application deployment descriptor file as well as IBM® deployment extensions files and bindings files. Deployed application subdirectories also hold subdirectories for all .war and entity bean .jar files in the application. Binary files such as .jar files are also part of the configuration structure.

An example file structure is as follows:

cells
  cell1
     cell.xml resources.xml virtualhosts.xml variables.xml security.xml
     nodes
        nodeX
           node.xml variables.xml resources.xml serverindex.xml
           serverA
              server.xml variables.xml        
     applications
        sampleApp1
           deployment.xml
           META-INF
              application.xml ibm-application-ext.xml ibm-application-bnd.xml
        sampleApp2
           deployment.xml
           META-INF
              application.xml ibm-application-ext.xml ibm-application-bnd.xml

Changing configuration documents

You can use one of the administrative tools (console, wsadmin, Java APIs) to modify configuration documents or edit them directly. It is preferable to use the administrative console because it validates changes made to configurations. "Configuration document descriptions" states whether you can edit a document using the administrative tools or must edit it directly.

Transformation of configuration files

The WebSphere Application Server master configuration repository stores configuration files for all the nodes in the cell. When you upgrade the deployment manager from one release of WebSphere Application Server to another, the configuration files that are stored in the master repository for the nodes on the old release are converted into the format of the new release.

With this conversion, the deployment manager can process the configuration files uniformly. However, nodes on an old release cannot readily use configuration files that are in the format of the new release. WebSphere Application Server addresses the problem when it synchronizes the configuration files from the master repository to a node on an old release. The configuration files are first transformed into the old release format before they ship to the node. WebSphere Application Server performs the following transformations on configuration documents:
  • Changes the XML name space from the format of the new release to the format of the old release
  • Strips out attributes of cell-level documents that are applicable to the new release only
  • Strips out new resource definitions that are not understood by old release nodes