You can install WebSphere® Extended Deployment, including all three separate products, in various ways to enhance your application server environment. Depending on your existing environment and which product you install, the installation process includes certain features that might not be available in other installation scenarios.
This topic provides common installation scenarios for the product. The installation scenarios include descriptions to help you determine what components to install for a given topology. For optimal quality of service and extended manageability, review the scenarios to determine which topology best fits your needs.
WebSphere Virtual Enterprise does not change any Programming Interfaces (APIs) or binary files of WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment. Therefore, if an application works correctly with WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment, it will also work correctly with WebSphere Virtual Enterprise. You might be limited in the use of some WebSphere Virtual Enterprise features, however, but any limitations depend on the design, performance, and quality of service requirements for the application. Most limitations can be overcome by tuning your topology or reconfiguring your applications.
For example, assume that you cannot stop an application safely without disrupting service, and you cannot tolerate a disruption of service during peak hours. Although WebSphere Virtual Enterprise quiesces your application servers before stopping them, sessions can still be lost if the application does not have sessions that can be serialized and if sessions remain after the maximum quiesce period has timed out. In this case, you can work around this issue by not using dynamic clusters in automatic mode or by tuning the dynamic clusters appropriately.
You can install WebSphere Virtual Enterprise in an environment that contains WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment and either Compute Grid, eXtreme Scale, or both. During installation, the product automatically identifies the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment installation and extends the functionality to embrace the themes and added function of the product. The installation of the Virtual Enterprise controller applies to any WebSphere Application Server node that contains either an on demand router or a deployment manager that is augmented with Virtual Enterprise. The installation of the Virtual Enterprise node applies to Virtual Enterprise installed on any other WebSphere Application Server node or other middleware server node with the Virtual Enterprise middleware agent. The middleware agent is a server process that is used to manage other middleware servers, such as Tomcat or PHP.
When you install Virtual Enterprise in environments in which other middleware servers are running, the installation wizard does not present the option to add the product to the centralized installation manager repository. However, you can add the product later by using the centralized installation manager tool. See Populating the centralized installation manager repository for more information.
When you integrate eXtreme Scale with an existing installation of WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment and Virtual Enterprise, you can install both the eXtreme Scale client and server, or you can install the client only. See the WebSphere eXtreme Scale Information Center for more information.