Packaging a Liberty server from the command line

From the command line, you can create a compressed file that contains a Liberty runtime environment, the files in the shared resources directory, a specific server, and the applications that are embedded in the server. You can also choose to exclude the runtime binary files from the compressed file.

About this task

The Liberty server is lightweight, so you can easily package a server installation in a compressed file. You can then store this package, distribute it to colleagues, and then use it to deploy the installation to a different location or to another machine, or even embed the installation in a product distribution.

The server installation that you want to package cannot already be joined to a collective. You can package only a stand-alone server.

Note: The resulting file is created by using UTF-8 encoding for entry names, so the tool that you use to open the file must be able to use UTF-8 encoding for entry names. The jar command in a Java™ SDK uses this format.

Avoid trouble: When you run the server package command with a loose application my_app.war.xml file that uses server variable substitution, those parts of the loose application having variable substitution are not packaged. The server is not started at the time of packaging and has no way to access the needed variable information. Variable substitution does not take place when you use the server package command .

Procedure

Open a command line, then change directory to the wlp/bin directory.
Stop the server.
Run the package command to create a package.
You can package Liberty server or the runtime.
- Package the Liberty server.
  The default archive format is .zip on all platforms apart from z/OS® where it is .pax. You can also generate a .jar.
  
  If you do not specify a server name, defaultServer is used. If you do not specify the --archive parameter, the value of server_name is used for package_file_name, and the compressed file is created in the ${server.output.dir} directory.
  
  Choose the correct command for your environment.
  - Use this command to generate a .zip archive.
```
server package server_name --archive=package_file_name.zip --include=all
```
    where package_file_name.zip is a file name that you choose. This file name can include a full path name. If the full path is omitted, a compressed file called package_file_name.zip is created in the ${server.output.dir} directory.
  - Use this command to generate a .jar archive. The advantage of a .jar archive is that the scripts in the bin directory keep their permissions, so they are executable when the package is installed.
```
server package server_name --archive=package_file_name.jar --include=all
```
    where package_file_name.jar is a file name that you choose.
    For more information about extraction options with this archive file, see Java archive file extraction options.
  You can also use the --include option with this command. For example, the --include=all option packages the runtime binary files and the relevant files in the ${WLP_USER_DIR} directory; the --include=usr option packages only relevant files in the ${WLP_USER_DIR} directory, effectively excluding the runtime binary files from the compressed file.
  
  You can also use the --server-root option with this command to specify the root folder which is created within the file that is specified by the --archive option. By default, the root folder is /wlp. For example, --server-root=MyRoot would create the root folder structure as /MyRoot inside the archive. If the --server-root command is used with the --include=usr option, the root folder would be /MyRoot/servers instead of the default value of/wlp/usr/servers.
  
  The --include=usr option is not valid with an archive format of .jar.
  
  If you use the --include=minify option, the server command packages only those parts of the runtime environment, and files in the ${WLP_USER_DIR} directory, that are required to run the server. This option significantly reduces the size of the resulting archive.
  
  The parts of the runtime environment that are retained by the minify operation depend on the features that are configured in the server that you are packaging. Only those features that are required to run the server are retained, and the remaining features are removed. Therefore, you cannot later enable a feature that has been removed. For example, if only the servlet-3.0 feature is retained, you cannot later enable the jpa-2.0 feature.
  
  You can repeat the minify operation to further reduce the size of the archive if the configuration is changed. There is, however, no reverse operation for the minify operation, so if you later require one or more features that have been removed, you must begin again with a complete Liberty server.
  
  While the minify operation is running, the server is temporarily started, and you see the associated messages. For this reason, you cannot use the --include=minify option with a server that is not able to be started, but you can package it with the --include=all or --include=usr options.
  
  You can specify the operating systems that you want the packaged server to support by using the --os option with the --include=minify option.
  For example, to package a server with z/OS support removed, use the following command:
```
server package --archive="nozos.zip" --include=minify --os=-z/OS
```
  To package a server with OS/400® support retained, but z/OS support removed, use the following command:
```
server package --archive="small.zip" --include=minify --os=OS/400,-z/OS
```
  To package a server that supports only Linux®, use the following command:
```
server package --archive="linux.zip" --include=minify --os=Linux
```
- Package the Liberty runtime.
  Create a runtime archive that contains the wlp directory, but does not contain the usr directory. The naming convention for a server package is package_name.zip, such as in the following example: CustomerPortalApp.zip. To create a runtime archive, run the package command without a server name and with the --include=wlp option.
```
server package --include=wlp
```
  To specify a package file name and target location, add the --archive=package_path_name option, as shown in the following example.
```
server package --include=wlp --archive=c:\temp\myPackage.zip
```
  If you do not specify a valid package name or target location with the --archive option, then the command creates the wlp.zip runtime archive in the $WLP_OUTPUT_DIR location, which is the ${wlp.install.dir}/usr/servers directory by default. The target location must exist before running the command. Thus, if the target location is c:\temp, the C:\temp directory must exist and have write permission for the command to write the archive to the C:\temp directory.