[z/OS]

Installing and configuring the plug-in for IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server on z/OS

The IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server plug-in is provided with the WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Optional Materials. The plug-in allows an IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server to communicate with a WebSphere Application Server. To use this plug-in, you must have an IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server, which is powered by Apache, and runs on z/OS .

Before you begin

Prior to installing the plug-in, install the IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server software on your z/OS system, and configure an IBM HTTP Server instance. Refer to the product documentation for installing IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server on z/OS.

About this task

As part of the Web server configuration process, you will create an installation directory for the Web server instance. In the examples that follow, a value of /etc/websrv1 is used for the Web Server install directory. The recommended location for plug-in configuration files is the subdirectory Plugins in the Web server install directory. The Plugins directory will contain a subdirectory conf/WAS_webserver_name, and the plug-in configuration file plugin-cfg.xml will usually reside in this directory.

This procedure outlines how to install and configure the plug-in for IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server on z/OS.

Procedure

  1. Use SMP/E to install and load the IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server plug-in PTF. By default the plug-in is placed in the following location: /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_OM/V6R1/HTTP/Plugins/
  2. Log on to the OMVS shell using the server ID for the Web server instance. The install_plugin and ConfigureIHSPlugin scripts must be run under this user ID so that all files are owned by the same group as the Web server instance.
  3. Create an installation directory for the plug-in. The directory for the plug-in will contain configuration information to be used by the plug-in when running under this Web server instance. The recommended location for this directory is subdirectory Plugins in the Web server instance install directory.
    To create the runtime install image, run the command plugin_smp_location/bin/install_plugin.sh:
    ./install_plugin.sh 
       -pluginInstallLocation product_directory_of_plugin_code
       -pluginRuntimeLocation install_directory_of_Web_server_plugin
       -wasInstallLocation    product_directory_of_WebSphere_Application_Server
    The following example is a sample invocation of this command:
    cd /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_OM/V6R1/HTTP/Plugins/bin
    ./install_plugin.sh   
       -pluginInstallLocation /usr/lpp/zWebSphere_OM/V6R1/HTTP/Plugins
       -pluginRuntimeLocation /etc/websrv1/Plugins
       -wasInstallLocation    /usr/lpp/zWebSphere/V6R1
    
  4. Configure the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS instance to use the Web server plug-in.
    Run the command plugin_runtime_location/bin/ConfigureIHSPlugin.sh to configure IBM HTTP Server to use the Web server plug-in:
    ./ConfigureIHSPlugin.sh
       -plugin.home        install_directory_of_Webserver_plugin
       -plugin.config.xml  location_of_plugin-cfg.xml_file
       -ihs.conf.file      location_of_httpd.conf_file
       -operating.system   ZOS
       -WAS.webserver.name Webserver_name_defined_to_WebSphere_Application_Server
       -WAS.host.name      hostname_or_IP_address_of_WebSphere_Application_Server
    The following example is a sample invocation of this command:
    cd /etc/websrv1/Plugins/bin
    ./ConfigureIHSPlugin.sh 
       -plugin.home /etc/websrv1/Plugins 
       -plugin.config.xml /etc/websrv1/Plugins/config/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml
       -ihs.conf.file /etc/websrv1/conf/httpd.conf 
       -operating.system ZOS
       -WAS.webserver.name webserver1 
       -WAS.host.name appsrv1.mycorp.com
    
  5. Create a Web server definition in WebSphere Application Server for the local or remote z/OS Web server.
    • To add a Web server definition during profile creation, use the ISPF Customization Dialog or z/OS PMT.
      Important: The following manual steps are involved in order to add a Web server during profile creation:

      Because IBM HTTP Server for z/OS is provided by a PTF for Version 6.1 WebSphere Application Server, in order to create the Web server plug-in, a manual response file update must be made to allow the profile creation to correctly process the new Web server type.

      If you are using the ISPF Customization Dialog to generate your customization jobs, perform the following steps after generating the jobs. If you are using the z/OS Profile Management Tool (PMT), perform the following steps after uploading your jobs to your target z/OS system.

      For a stand-alone application server profile, using the ISPF Customization Dialog or z/OS PMT:
      1. Open the BBOWRESP member for editing. This is located in the .DATA dataset.
      2. Modify the following response file values as specified:
        webServerCheck=true
        webServerType=IHS
        webServerOS=os390
        webServerName=name_used_in_defining_the_Webserver_to_Application_Server
        webServerHostname=IPname_or_address_of_Webserver
        webServerPort=HTTP_port_on_which_Webserver_listens
        webServerInstallPath=directory_name_where_Webserver_is_installed
        webServerPluginPath=directory_name_where_Webserver_plugins_are_installed
      3. Submit your customization jobs.
      For a cell profile, using the z/OS Profile Management Tool only:
      1. Open the BBOWRECN member for editing. This is located in the .DATA dataset.
      2. Modify the following response file values as specified:
        webServerCheck=true
        webServerType=IHS
        webServerOS=os390
        webServerName=name_used_in_defining_the_Webserver_to_Application_Server
        webServerHostname=IPname_or_address_of_Webserver
        webServerPort=HTTP_port_on_which_Webserver_listens
        webServerInstallPath=directory_name_where_Webserver_is_installed
        webServerPluginPath=directory_name_where_Webserver_plugins_are_installed
      3. Submit your customization jobs.
      This manual update is required because the validation on the related z/OS PMT and ISPF Customization dialog panel will not allow you to enter the combination of webServerType=IHS and webServerOS=os390.
    • To add a Web server to an existing WebSphere Application Server profile use the administrative console, createWebServerDefinition.jacl script, or the wsadmin createWebServer command.
    When defining the Web server to WebSphere Application Server:
    • For the Web server name, use the value specified for WAS.webserver.name
    • For the Web server plug-in install directory, use the value specified for PluginRuntimeLocation
  6. Configure the plug-in. Use either the administrative console or issue the GenPluginCfg command to create your plugin-cfg.xml file.
    Avoid trouble Avoid trouble: You must delete the plugin-cfg.xml file in the profile_root/config/cells directory before you complete this task. Otherwise, configuration changes do not persist to the plugin-cfg.xml file.gotcha
    Note: Both methods create the plug-in configuration file, plugin-cfg.xml, in ASCII format.
    1. If you need to edit this file, issue the following command to convert the file to EBCDIC format:
      iconv  -f ISO8859-1 -t IBM-1047 plugin-cfg.xml.ASCII > plugin-cfg.xml.EBCDIC
    2. Edit the file, and then issue the following command to convert it back to ASCII format:
      iconv  -f IBM-1047 -t ISO8859-1  plugin-cfg.xml.EBCDIC > plugin-cfg.xml.ASCII
    To use the administrative console:
    1. Select Servers > Web Servers > webserver > plug-in properties.
    2. Select Automatically generate plug-in configuration file or click on one or more of the following topics to manually configure the plugin-cfg.xml file:
    3. Click OK.
    4. You might need to stop the application server and then start the application server again to enable the Web server to locate the plugin-cfg.xml file.

    You might need to manually copy the plugin-cfg.xml file to the correct location in the Web server plug-in install directory.

  7. Make sure the virtual host is configured with an alias for the port number used by the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS. If you manually configured the plugin-cfg.xml file, go to the Servers > Application Servers > plug-in properties > Request routing page in the administrative console and make sure that Physically using the port specified in request is selected for Virtual host matching.
  8. If you want to enable the Web server plug-in to use private headers, define an SSL configuration repertoire that defines a trust file. Then in the administrative console, select Application servers > server1 > Web Container Settings > Web Container Transport Chains > transport_chain > SSL Inbound Channel (SSL_2) and specify this repertoire for that transport chain.
    Avoid trouble Avoid trouble: The trust file provides the same functionality for the IBM HTTP Server for z/OS, powered by Apache, as the TrustedProxy custom property provided for the Version 5.3 HTTP Server for z/OS in earlier versions of the product.gotcha

    If you try to use private headers without setting up an SSL configuration repertoire that does not include a trust file definition, the private headers will be ignored. If the private headers are ignored, the application server might not locate the requested application.

    After you enable the use of private headers, the transport chain's SSL inbound channel trusts all private headers it receives. Therefore, you must ensure that all paths to the transport chain's SSL inbound channel are trusted.

  9. If you want to enable the Web server plug-in to use a System Authorization Facility (SAF) keyring instead of a kdb file with a stashfile property, you must create the following two custom plug-in properties from the administrative console.
    • KeyringLocation, which is set to the directory location of the SAF keyring
    • StashfileLocation, which is set to "" (null)

    See Web server plug-in configuration properties for instructions on how to create KeyringLocation and StashfileLocation from the administrative console in order to use a SAF keyring in your SSL configuration. See also plugin-cfg.xml file.

  10. The configuration is complete. To activate the configuration, stop and restart both the application server and IBM HTTP Server.

Results

If the IBM HTTP Server plug-in for z/OS comes up successfully when IBM HTTP Server starts again, a message is added to the plug-in log file, /plugin_runtime_dir/log/webserver_name/http_plugin.log. The message that appears in http_plugin.log is similar to the following sample output:

PLUGIN: Plugins loaded.
PLUGIN: --------------------System Information-----------------------
PLUGIN: Bld version: 6.1.0
PLUGIN: Bld date: Jul 13 2006, 09:55:09
PLUGIN: Webserver: IBM_HTTP_Server/6.1 Apache/2.0.47 (Unix)
PLUGIN: Hostname = ZWASAXXX
PLUGIN: NOFILES = hard: 3000, soft: 3000
PLUGIN: MAX COREFILE SZ = hard: 4194304, soft: 4194304
PLUGIN: DATA = hard: INFINITE, soft: INFINITE
PLUGIN: --------------------------------------------------------------

What to do next

After the application server, the IBM HTTP Server, and the plug-in are properly configured:
  • WebSphere Application Server for the z/OS platform can use this plug-in to perform regular plug-in functions.
  • Requests can be routed from a browser, through the IBM HTTP Server and plug-in, to an application server on which the requested application is deployed. A new request is sent to a randomly selected application server on which the application is deployed. After a session is established, subsequent requests are routed to the application server assigned to the original request.
  • Use Private headers as a mechanism for forwarding proxy information from the Web server plug-in to an application server on a z/OS system. (This information is not otherwise included with HTTP requests.)



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Last updatedLast updated: Aug 31, 2013 2:56:59 AM CDT
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