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IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0

IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0 Base Server Installation and Configuration

The following installation and post-installation instructions will help you produce a working server configuration using SAS Web applications and the IBM WebSphere Application Server, Version 6.0. The procedure assumes that you are installing a single WebSphere Application Server Base server.


This document discusses the following tasks:

 

Acquiring the WebSphere Application Server

To acquire the server, go to IBM WebSphere Software. On the left side of that page, click on "How To Buy" and call the phone number to order WebSphere version 6.0. You will need the version for one of the following three platforms:

SAS solutions customers who have purchased a WebSphere license through SAS will receive the WebSphere 6.0 CD with their SAS software product.

For each supported platform there are two CDs containing various WebSphere components as follows:

Note: The  WebSphere 6.0 CD does not contain the post-installation Fix Packs.  Download those Fix Packs from the IBM website. See "Performing Post-installation Tasks."

 


Installing the WebSphere Application Server

A Note about Profiles

If you are familiar with previous versions of the IBM WebSphere Application Server, you will notice that with version 6.0, IBM has introduced a new concept—the profile. Use of profiles enables WebSphere to separate runtime files, which might change, from core product files, which do not often change. A profile defines a single WebSphere Application Server runtime environment. You can configure multiple profiles on a single machine, without having to perform complete installations each time. This not only saves disk space; it also simplifies the process of adding new servers and of updating the core files, when required.

Installation

Note: For UNIX installs, you need perform the installation as root.

  1. To install the WebSphere Application Server, you have two options: (1) you can run launchpad in the main directory; to do so, you must have a browser configured, or (2) you can run the install executable in the “WAS” directory. The following procedure assumes you are running launchpad.

    Invoke launchpad.bat on Windows or launchpad.sh on UNIX.  (For UNIX platforms, if you do not have the current directory (“.”) in your PATH, then you will need to enter “./launchpad.sh”.) The IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment page appears.

  2. Click Launch the installation wizard for WebSphere Application Server. The initial Welcome to IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment V6 page appears. 

  3. Click Next. The Software License Agreement appears.

  4. To continue, accept the agreement and click Next. The System Prerequisites Check page appears and your system is automatically checked. The prerequisite results are displayed. The prerequisite problems most commonly found are back-level OS, not enough space, and problems with UNIX kernel settings. If problems are found, stop the wizard, correct the problems, and start the wizard again.

  5. Once the prerequisites check runs without finding problems, click Next.

  6. Enter the directory into which you want to install the WebSphere Application Server. Usually, you can accept the default. Click Next. A page displaying the features requested is displayed. Three features are checked. 

  7. Leave the Core product files checked; you can uncheck Application Server Samples and Javadocs unless you want them.  Click Next A summary of the features to be installed is displayed for you to review. 

  8. Click Next. The installation begins. A progress bar is displayed. Be patient; the installation will take awhile. After the installation has been completed, the Installation is Complete page is displayed.

  9. Leave Launch the Profile Creation wizard selected and click Next. The Welcome to Profile Creation Wizard page is displayed. 

  10. Click Next. The Profile Type Selection page is displayed.

  11. The default setting on the Profile Type Selection screen is Create an Application Server profile. If you are installing a single base application server, leave this selected for now.  (Later, if you decide to run in a WAS ND environment, you can re-run the profile wizard and choose Create a deployment manager profile.)  Click Next. You are prompted for the profile name.

  12. Click Next to accept the default—AppSrv01. You are prompted for the profile directory. The default is your install directory followed by “\profiles\AppSrv01.” For example, in Windows the default might be “C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01”.

  13. Click Next to accept the default. The node and host name are displayed.

  14. The default host is your machine DNS name and the node is machine name plus “Node01.”  Click Next to accept the default. The Port Value Assignments are displayed. 

  15. If this is the only WebSphere Application Server installed on this machine, you need not be concerned about any conflicts.  If another WAS is found, the ports should be set correctly to avoid conflicts.  If only one WAS will be used at a time, you can also use the same ports.  Click Next.

  16. On Windows systems only: the Windows service definition page is displayed.  You can select to install WAS as a Windows service.  If so, you will then need to choose whether to logon as a local system account or as a specified user account, for which you will need to enter a userid and password. Finally, you need to select whether to logon automatically or manually or to disable logon. After making your selections, click Next. The Profile Summary page is displayed.

  17. Review the summary and click Next. The Profile Creation wizard begins creating the profile.  This process will take awhile; be patient. After the wizard has completed, the Profile Creation complete page is displayed, with Launch the First steps console selected. 

  18. Leave Launch the First steps console checked and click Finish. The First Steps page is displayed. 

  19. Click Installation Verification. The Installation Verification page is displayed, with messages showing the progress of the verification procedure. 

  20. The server is started, some tests are run, and the results of the tests are displayed.  Be sure to scroll down to see the last of the messages. If everything is successful, the last message you should see is “Installation Verification is complete.” If so, the application server is now running.

  21. Back on the First Steps page, click on Administrative console.  You are prompted for your user ID.

  22. Because no type of security is running, you can simply click Log in. The WebSphere Application Server administrative console appears. 

  23. If you go to Applications->Enterprise Applications, three applications should be listed:

    • DefaultApplication - default sample snoop servlet application
    • ivtApp - default initial verification test application
    • query - dynamic query PME features

    If other applications are listed, it probably means you installed the WebSphere Application Server samples.  When you are finished exploring the administrative console, you can log out.

  24. At the First Steps page, click Stop the server. Messages showing the progress of the server shutting down are displayed.

  25. Now exit the First Steps page and close the IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment page.


Performing Post-installation Tasks

Apply Fixes


Setting Tuning Values for SAS Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI)


By running benchmark and endurance tests with our Enterprise Business Intelligence (EBI) applications, we have determined the tuning recommendations listed below. The JVM arguments are platform specific, while the Web container properties and thread pool settings apply to the WebSphere configuration regardless of the platform. For users running on AIX, there are additional AIX OS tuning steps.

JVM Arguments for More Users

  1. From the administrative console, go to Servers > Application servers > servername > Java and Process Management > Process Definition > Java Virtual Machine.

  2. Set the Generic JVM Arguments as shown below. (Note: These recommended JVM tuning parameters apply only to the 32-bit versions of the JVM. They have not been tested nor are they necessarily applicable to the 64-bit versions of the JVMs.)

Windows:
-Xms640m -Xmx1472m -Xss128k -Xoss128k -Xpartialcompactgc -Xgcpolicy:optthruput -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=3600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=3600000 -Djava.awt.headless=true -Xk15000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.ackTimeout=1 -Dcom.ibm.websphere.threadpool.clearThreadLocal=TRUE

AIX:
-Xms640m -Xmx1840m -Xss256k -Xoss256k -Xpartialcompactgc -Xgcpolicy:optthruput -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=3600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=3600000 -Djava.awt.headless=true -Xk15000 -Xloratio0.2 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.ackTimeout=1 -Dcom.ibm.websphere.threadpool.clearThreadLocal=TRUE

Solaris:
-Xms640m -Xmx1840m -Xss256k -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:NewSize=256m -XX:MaxNewSize=512m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=3600000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=3600000 -Djava.awt.headless=true -Dsun.rmi.dgc.ackTimeout=1 -Dcom.ibm.websphere.threadpool.clearThreadLocal=TRUE

 

Setting Web Container Properties

See the last paragraph under "Required WebSphere 6.0 Fixes" above.


Setting Thread-Pool Properties

  1. From the administrative console, go to Servers > Application servers > servername > Additional Properties > Thread Pools > WebContainer.

  2. Change min from 10 to 35 and max from 50 to 35.

  3. Click OK and save the changes.


AIX-Specific OS Tuning

(The following information is from http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.base.doc/info/aes/ae/tprf_tuneaix.html. These steps may need some additional refinement.)

  1. As root, run the following commands to reserve 4 GB of large page:

    1. vmo -r -o lgpg_regions=256 -o lgpg_size=16777216
    2. bosboot -ad /dev/ipldevice
    3. reboot -q

  2. After rebooting, do the following to enable large page support on AIX:

    1. vmo -p -o v_pinshm=1

  3. As root user, add the following command. This command sets the capabilities for the account under which WebSphere runs:

    1. chuser capabilities=CAP_BYPASS_RAC_VMM,CAP_PROPAGATE <WebSphereUserID>

  4. Add the -Xlp Java option to the WebSphere generic JVM options. Perform these steps:

    1. In the WebSphere administrative console, select Servers Application servers -> <serverName>. In this menu sequence, <serverName> corresponds to the name of the WebSphere server that you are configuring.

    2. Select Java and Process Management -> Process Definition -> Java Virtual Machine.

    3. In the Generic JVM Argument field, add -Xlp. -Xlp enables large-page upport in Java.
  5. Set the following commands:

    1. ulimit -f unlimited

    2. ulimit -m unlimited

      The -f option in the ulimit command sets the maximum size of the files that are created. The -m option sets the maximum resident set size.

    Deploying SAS EBI Web Applications

    Before deploying SAS Web applications for use with the WebSphere Application Server, the SAS Intelligence Platform must be installed and configured. See SAS 9.1.3 Intelligence Platform: Administration Documentation. Each application has its own deployment procedure. Below are some steps that are common to the SAS applications.
    1. Update WebSphere's JAAS configuration file (by default, wsjaas.conf) to include the authentication information that is used by SAS Web Infrastructure Kit applications. To do this, copy the contents (except the comments) of the login.config file (which is located in a folder similar to C:\Program Files\SAS\SASWebReportStudio\9.1\live\) and append them to wsjaas.conf (which is located in a folder similar to C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\properties\).

      Note: Be sure to remove the comment lines from the login.config file. Comments are no longer allowed in the wsjaas.conf file.

    2. Create a staging directory for your Web application archive files (for example, C:\apps\WebSphere\webapps).

    3. Copy the appropriate WAR file(s) from the SAS configuration directory (for example, C:\SAS\EntBIServer\Lev1\web\webapps) into the directory you just created. For example, for SAS Web Report Studio, you would copy SASWebReportStudio.war.

    4. The next several steps involve setting Java 2 Security for all applications. Start the WebSphere Application Server, if it is not already started. Point your browser to the WebSphere Administrative Console: http://localhost:9060/admin.

    5. In the left side of the console, select Security -> Global Security.

    6. Select the check box: Enforce Java 2 Security. Click OK.

    7. Select Save link in the Message(s) box. Select Save in the Save to Master Configuration dialog box.

    8. In the left side of the console, select Applications > Install New Application.

    9. On the first screen, set the Local path (or Server path for a network deployment) by using the Browse button to navigate to the webapps directory and selecting the appropriate Web application.

    10. Set the Context Root to the name of the Web application (the filename without the .war extension), and then select Next.

    11. In general, through the next series of screens you should accept the defaults until, when prompted on the last screen, you select Finish to deploy the Web application.

    12. On the Installing screen, select Save to Master Configuration. On the Save screen, select Save to save the changes to the master configuration.

    13. Depending upon the application you are deploying, you might need to change one or more of the default settings within that application's configuration file. To display the configuration for an application, double-click on the application's name in the list of deployed applications on the right of the Console. In general, the following settings apply for each SAS application deployed under WebSphere:

      For each application server

      • Leave Application class loader policy set to Multiple, the default.

      For each enterprise application

      • Set the WAR class loader policy to Module.
      • Set the Class loader mode to Parent Last.


      See Additional Information for guides to specific applications.

    14. Update the was.policy file, located, to use the Windows example, in the C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\config\cells\hostNode\applications\<filename>.ear\deployments\<filename>\META-INF folder. Policy files control the permissions granted to the Web applications. Two policy file fragments are in the \Lev1\web\Deployments folder in the configuration directory. Based on your administrative guidelines, append the appropriate fragment to the end of the was.policy file:
      • sas.allpermissions.websphere.policy allows the Web applications to run without security restrictions. Use this file during your initial installation.
      • sas.websphere.policy defines more restrictive security settings. Use this file in a production environment.

    15. Stop the WebSphere Application Server and start it again.


    Additional Information

    For additional information regarding the deployment of SAS applications, see the documents accompanying those applications. Some of those documents, along with their typical Windows locations, are listed below.

    • Installation Instructions: SAS Web Infrastructure Kit (C:\Program Files\SAS\Web\Portal2.0.1\wik_readme.html) - contains notes on additional configuration and deployment options.

    • SAS Web Report Studio Deployment Notes (C:\Program Files\SAS\SASWebReportStudio\9.1\deployment.html) - contains notes on additional configuration and deployment options.

    • SAS Web Report Viewer Deployment Notes (C:\Program Files\SAS\SASWebReportViewer\9.1\deployment.html) - contains notes on additional configuration and deployment options.

    • WAS 6.0 Infocenter. Especially see the specific installation section is at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/ws60help/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.nd.doc/info/ae/ae/tins_epinst.html