The term middleware server refers to a server on
any middleware platform. Middleware servers include the following
types: WebSphere® Application
Server or WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise, Apache Tomcat servers,
JBoss servers, BEA WebLogic servers, PHP servers, and so on.
Version 6.0.x support
With WebSphere Extended
Deployment Version 6.0.x, application
servers of other middleware platform types were supported by using
the mixed server environment offering. To support these middleware
platform types, the remote agent was installed on the nodes, and generic
server clusters were created, adding the application servers as generic
endpoints. Because this configuration gave Extended Deployment limited
knowledge of the middleware application servers, only traffic shaping
and prioritization of requests to the generic endpoints were supported.
Version 6.1
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise Version 6.1 introduces
enhanced support for environments outside of the product domain. Application
servers that run on other middleware platforms are represented more
thoroughly in the product administrative domain because the middleware
agent is installed on these machines. The application placement controller
is capable of managing dynamic clusters that are made up of these
server types. Some health management is also supported for the other
middleware platform servers.
Middleware agent
The middleware agent is a
light weight agent that you can install on the nodes that you want
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise to manage. The middleware
agent can run on any node. Nodes that run the middleware agent do
not need
WebSphere Application
Server or
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise installations on the
node. The middleware agent replaces the remote agent.
Important: Middleware agents are not supported
on z/OS systems. You cannot federate middleware agents from distributed
platforms into a z/OS deployment manager.
Middleware server types
- Complete life-cycle management servers
Complete life-cycle
management servers include servers that
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise can both create and
manage to support application server virtualization. A managed node
contains an application server process that runs within the deployment
manager cell. The following managed middleware server types are supported:
- WebSphere Application
Server related servers,
including application servers, on demand routers (ODR), proxy servers,
and so on
- PHP servers
- WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition 2.0
(all releases)
All servers that are administered by complete life-cycle support
must be administered from the
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative
console.
For example, do not administer complete
life-cycle WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition servers
from the WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition console.
Create complete life-cycle WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition servers from previously
unused installations of WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition Version
2.0 or Version 2.0.0.1.
- Assisted life-cycle management servers
Assisted
life-cycle management servers include servers that
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise can manage, but are
created outside of the
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative
domain, usually specific to the system with which the server is associated.
Install the middleware agent on these hosts and associate them with
the
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative
domain. On configured hosts,
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise can
then start and stop the servers, route traffic to the servers, prioritize
requests to the servers, and so on.
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise supplies templates for
the following assisted life-cycle middleware server types:
- Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3, Version 2.0, and Version 2.2
- Apache Tomcat Version 4.1.x, Version 5.0.x, Version 5.5.x, and Version 6.0
- Apache Geronimo Version 1.0 and Version 1.1
- JBoss Version 4.0.x
- BEA WebLogic Server Version 8.x and Version 9.x
- WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition
- External WebSphere application servers, Version
5.1 and later. External WebSphere application servers are application servers that run outside of your WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise cell.
- Custom HTTP servers
For any other server types, you can develop your own templates.
Administer
assisted life-cycle servers from their respective administrative consoles.
For example, assisted life-cycle WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition servers are administered
from the WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition console.
Any representational revisions must be entered into theWebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative console.
- Discovered servers
Discovered servers
are servers that are found by middleware discovery. Middleware discovery
can find existing installations of WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition and create representations
of these servers in the WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative
console. These servers are represented as assisted life-cycle servers.
You can group these servers together into a dynamic cluster, but the
dynamic clusters must have manual membership. You cannot create expression-based
dynamic clusters of discovered servers. Middleware discovery can also
find the applications that are deployed to these servers and represent
them in the WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative
console as unmanaged applications.
Like assisted life-cycle
servers, administer discovered servers from their respective administrative
consoles. For example, administer WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition servers from the WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition console. Make any representational
revisions in theWebSphere Virtual
Enterprise administrative
console.
Definition
The support that
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise offers differs between
complete
, discovered, and assisted life-cycle
servers.
- For complete life-cycle management middleware servers, define
the servers in the administrative console. Management of these servers
is the same as in previous releases.
- For assisted life-cycle middleware servers, use
the following approach to register the servers with the WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise configuration:
Install
the middleware agent on the server and manually define the server
in the administrative console. Use
server templates to define
the middleware servers. Server templates include the following information:
- Default ports for routing traffic to the server
- Commands for starting and stopping the server
- Default list of core configuration files that make up the external
server for the external configuration editing service
- Default list of directories where log files exist for the external
log viewing service
WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise is delivered
with a set of default server templates for the different middleware
server types.
- For discovered servers, after you install
the middleware agent, middleware discovery locates existing installations
of WebSphere Application
Server
Community Edition and their installed
applications, and creates a representation of these servers and applications
in the WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise cell. These
servers and applications are represented as assisted life-cycle servers
and unmanaged applications.
Management
You can manage
certain aspects of assisted life-cycle and
discovered middleware servers with the administrative console.
- With server operations, you can run a Java or non-Java
executable file on your middleware server from the administrative
console.
- With the log viewer, you can view the log files for your
middleware servers from the administrative console.
- With external configuration, you can configure the administrative
console so that you can view and edit configuration documents for
your middleware servers.
Other WebSphere Virtual
Enterprise management
features, such as dynamic clusters, health policies, service policies,
runtime tasks, reporting, and so on, offer varied support for assisted
life-cycle and discovered middleware
servers.