(Cluster environment) Changing ownership of the web server directory and plugin-cfg.xml

If a front-end web server is running on a managed node of the cluster, you must ensure that plugin-cfg.xml and the directory that contains it are owned by the non-root user.

Before you begin

These steps apply to cluster environments only, using IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Network Deployment, where a front-end web server is running on a managed node of the cluster.
These steps are only required for the initial configuration of WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment for non-root support. It is not necessary to perform these steps after an append install or uninstall.
If you have multiple web servers on managed nodes, you must perform these steps for each web server. If your web servers are not on managed nodes, these steps are not necessary.

About this task

Whenever plugin-cfg.xml is updated, such as when an application is updated or a new application is deployed, the node agent on the managed node of the cluster propagates the plugin to the web servers configured on the cluster. If the web server is installed on a managed node, the node agent attempts to copy plugin-cfg.xml to the HTTPServer_installation_directory/conf/plugins directory. Therefore, the node agent must have write access to the HTTPServer_installation_directory/conf/plugins directory. When WebSphere Application Server is configured to run as a non-root user, the node agent also runs as the non-root user. Therefore, the HTTPServer_installation_directory/conf/plugins directory must be owned by the non-root user.
If the web server is remote or not on a managed node, the plugin is transferred using the web server administration process.
The non-root user name, wasadmin, is an example that is used throughout the documentation. If you have a different non-root user name, make sure to use that one instead and replace every instance of wasadmin in the commands that you run.

Procedure

Determine the location of plugin-cfg.xml and its containing folder by examining the value of the of the WebSpherePluginConfig property in the httpd.conf configuration file.
1. Open the httpd.conf configuration file. The file is in the configuration directory: HTTPServer_installation_directory/conf/httpd.conf.
2. Examine the value of the WebSpherePluginConfig property.
  In the following example, the web server directory is in /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/Plugins/config. (The ⇒ character indicates a line continuation.)
```
WebSpherePluginConfig /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/Plugins/config/Clust⇒
er01WebServer01/plugin-cfg.xml
```
Run the following command to change ownership of your web server directory and plugin-cfg.xml to the non-root user.
In the example above, you would set non-root ownership of the Cluster01WebServer01 directory and the plugin-cfg.xml file.
```
cd plugin_directory
chown wasadmin web_server_directory/plugin-cfg.xml
```
For example:
```
cd /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/Plugins/config
chown wasadmin Cluster01WebServer01
chown wasadmin Cluster01WebServer01/plugin-cfg.xml
```