Create or updating a global Web server plug-in configuration file

Operating Systems: i5/OS
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Create or updating a global Web server plug-in configuration file

If all of the application servers in a cell use the same Web server to route requests for dynamic content, such as servlets, from Web applications to application servers, you can create a global Web server plug-in configuration file for that cell. The resulting plugin-cfg.xml file is located in the %was_profile_home%/config/cells directory.

Overview

You must update the global Web server plug-in configuration file whenever you:

Change the configuration settings for an application server, cluster, virtual host or Web container transport that is part of that cell.
Add a new application server, cluster, virtual host or Web container transport to that cell.

To update the configuration settings for a global Web server plug-in, you can either use the Update global Web server plug-in configuration page in the administrative console, or...

%was_profile_home%/config/cells/GenPluginCfg.sh|bat

Both methods for regenerating the global Web server plug-in configuration create a plugin-cfg.xml file in ASCII format.

To use the Update global Web server plug-in configuration page in the administrative console:

Procedure

Click Environment > Update global Web server plug-in configuration.
Click OK to update the plugin-cfg.xml file.
Click View or download the current Web server plug-in configuration file if you want to view or download the current version of this file. You can select this option if you want to:
- View the current version of the file before you update it.
- View the file after it is updated.
- Download a copy of this file to a remote machine.

Results

Regenerating the configuration might take a while to complete. After it finishes, all objects in the administrative cell use their newest settings, which the Web server can access. Whether triggered manually or occurring automatically, plug-in regeneration requires about 30 to 60 seconds to complete when the Application Server is on the same physical machine (node) as the Web server. In other cases, it takes more time.

The delay is important because it determines how soon the new plug-in configuration takes effect. Suppose you add a new served path for a servlet, then regenerate the plug-in configurations. The regeneration requires 40 seconds, after which a user should be able to access the servlet by the new served path.

For an HTTP plug-in, the length of the delay is determined by the Refresh Interval attribute of the Config element in the plugin-cfg.xml file. The plug-in polls the disk, or file system, at this interval to see whether the configuration has changed. The default interval is 60 seconds. To regenerate the plug-in configuration requires twice the refresh interval.

In a development environment in which you are frequently changing settings in the administrative console, IBM recommends that you set the refresh interval to 3 to 5 seconds.

In a production environment, set a longer refresh interval, perhaps as long as 30 minutes, depending on the frequency of changes.

What to do next

You might need to stop the application servers in the cell and then start the application servers again before the changes to the plug-in configuration go into effect.

If the Web server is running on a remote machine, click View or download the current Web server plug-in configuration file to download a copy of the plugin-cfg.xml file to a that machine.

When the deployment manager is installed on a machine that is remote from the base WebSphere Application Server installation, one of the following solutions must be implemented in order for the plugin-cfg.xml file to retain the application server directory structures, and not assume those of the deployment manager after the plug-in is regenerated and a full synchronization occurs. The plugin-cfg.xml file is located in the application server /config/cells directory.

Command line:At a command prompt, enter the following command to change the DeploymentManager/bin directory and type on the machine where the deployment manager is installed. This command creates or updates the plugin-cfg.xml file, and changes all of the directories in the plugin-cfg.xml file to app_server_root directories.
```
GenPluginCfg -destination.root <app_server_root>
```
For example, issue the following command from the DeploymentManager/bin directory.
```
GenPluginCfg -destination.root "E:\WebSphere\AppServer"
```
plugin-cfg.xml file:
Edit the plugin-cfg.xml file, located in the app_server_root/DeploymentManager/config/cells directory, to point to the correct directory structure for the log file, keyring, and stashfile.
Perform a full synchronization so the plugin-cfg.xml file is replicated in all the WebSphere Application Server nodes. You can use scripting or the administrative console to synchronize the nodes in the cell.
The deployment manager plugin-cfg.xml file can point to the application server directories without any conflict.

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Update the global Web server plug-in configuration setting