Tools for trouble shooting WAS

Contains informative links for trouble shooting issues with WAS.

Some helpful tools for trouble shooting WAS issues:

ThreadAnalyzer: IBM Thread and Monitor Dump (javacore) Analyzer for Java Technology
HeapAnalyzer: views heapdumps(out of memory or memory leak conditions)
VerboseGC Viewer: IBM Pattern Modeling and Analysis Tool for Java Garbage Collector


From this link you can download the latest versions of each tool: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/jca


The WAS InfoCenter for WAS 5.1 ND is here:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v5r1/index.jsp


In case ThreadAnalyzer is no longer available, IBM has a new set of tools called IBM Support Assistant (http://www.ibm.com/software/support/isa), into which you can add ThreadAnalyzer.
Info on the new ThreadAnalyzer is available here -> http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21259758

Also, the other tools mentioned below are available as follows (use the Tabs on top to see the OverView):

HeapAnalyzer: -> http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/heapanalyzer/download

VerboseGC Viewer: IBM Pattern Modeling and Analysis Tool for Java Garbage Collector: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/pmat/download

Install JBoss Application Server

Install JBoss Application Server

1. Copy jboss-4.2.2.GA.zip from google.com to local desktop
2. Unzip zip into c:\ (when you unzip files will be copied under c:\jboss-4.2.2.GA)
3. Open command prompt and execute:
C:\jboss-4.2.2.GA\bin\run.bat --configuration=default -b localhost

4. Verify you are able to view webpage for http://127.0.0.1:8080

How to apply fix pack for websphere 6.1(demo_video)

How to apply fix pack for websphere 6.1(demo_video)

http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/dw/lotus/IEA/Viewlets/Install_WAS_6.1_FP/install_was_61_fp_viewlet_swf.html

Run Websphere on other user than root

For his installation Websphere need to use root account. The installation's script don't propose the creation or utilisation of an other user account. This is disturbing because all the objets created by Webphere belong to root.
But it's easy to correct this problem.

Modifications to do
-------------------
I take in account that you have created the user and the group that you wanted. After that you just have to connect yourself to the Websphere's administration console to change some parametres in this page : Execution process parameters.
You can go to this page thanks to the menu Servers > Applications server > name_of_your_server and (in the options of this page) Server Infrastructure > Gestion des processus and Java > Processus Execution.




So you can change the user and group wich is going to run the principal process of Websphere ( java ). With that, all objects created by websphere (images, files, ...) are accessible even to other user than root.

Warning : after this you must change the owner of all files and directorys read by Websphere ( $WAS_HOME/ and your WebApp and all other required files)

ref: http://www.berthou.com/us/category/websphere/

.nifregistry and vpd.properties files

.nifregistry and vpd.properties files

The installer program for WebSphere Process Server uses the InstallShield MultiPlatform (ISMP) program to install code. The .nifregistry and vpd.properties files list program components that are currently installed. The file helps ISMP and the installer programs of WebSphere Process Server recognize previous installations of WebSphere Process Server and control options for new installations.
Location of the .nifregistry file
The location of the .nifregistry file varies per operating platform:

* Icon indicating AIX platforms On AIX® platforms: The root directory /usr/.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry or the non-root directory /.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry
* Icon indicating HP-UX platforms On HP-UX platforms: The root directory /opt/.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry or the non-root directory /.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry
* Icon indicating i5/OS platform only On i5/OS® platforms: The root directory /QIBM/WAS/.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry
* Icon indicating Linux platforms On Linux® platforms: The root directory /opt/.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry
* Icon indicating Solaris platforms On Solaris platforms: The root directory /opt/.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry or the non-root directory /.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry
* Icon indicating Windows platforms On Windows® platforms: The root directory C:\Windows\.nifregistry

For example:

NON-ROOT user: fvttest
NON-ROOT-HOME: /home/fvttest .nifregistry dir: /home/fvttest/.ibm/.nif/.nifregistry

Examples of the .nifregistry file

For a particular product the .nifregistry file contains one entry (line) each for every PAK that gets installed and one entry (line) for the product offering (e.g. WebSphere® Business Integration, Enterprise Service Bus, and so on).
The following line shows an example of a PAK entry in the .nifregistry file:

paklocationuri="zip:///C:/IBM/WebSphere/ProcServer/properties/version/nif/backup/
wbi.primary.pak" productid="WBI"/
productid=""/>

The following line shows an example of a product offering entry in the .nifregistry file:

lastvisited="2007-10-29 00:07:43-0500" productid="WBI" version="6.1.0.0"/>
productid="" version="6.1.0.0"/>

Cleaning up the .nifregistry file after a failed uninstallation
For these steps to clean the .nifregistry file after a failed uninstallation:

1. Backup the .nifregistry file.
2. Open the .nifregistry file in a text editor (ensure that line wrapping is turned off).
3. Search and delete all lines that have the and in them where is the install location where you have a failed uninstallation and is the product offering ID of the product that you are trying to uninstall.
4. Save the .nifregistry file and close the text editor.

Icon indicating HP-UX platforms Icon indicating Solaris platforms Operating system exceptions for using the vpd.properties file

* ISMP uses the vpd.properties file to track WebSphere products that it installs on all platforms but Solaris and HP-UX.
* ISMP uses native operating system registration on these platforms when installing as root, and does not create a vpd.properties file.

When installing as a non-root installer, the installer programs create a vpd.properties file on all platforms, including Solaris and HP-UX.

Situations that require you to edit the vpd.properties file

Certain situations require you to edit the vpd.properties file before reinstalling WebSphere Process Server. The uninstaller programs for WebSphere Process Server edit the vpd.properties while uninstalling a product, to remove entries for the product and any of its features that might have entries in the file.
Some situations that occur require you to manually remove product entries from the vpd.properties file before you can reinstall a product. These situations include:

* Bypassing the uninstaller program to uninstall a product manually
* Uninstalling a product manually when the uninstaller program is not present or is not working

If the vpd.properties file has entries for a product that you uninstalled, you must edit the file and remove the entries. If you do not edit the vpd.properties file to remove entries for a product or features of a product, you cannot reinstall the product into the same directory structure. If product entries in the vpd.properties file are present, the installer program reads the vpd.properties file, determines that the product is already installed, and displays the panel that prompts you to install additional features into the existing product or to install the binaries a second time. Unfortunately, the existing binaries might not be valid at that point. The installer program does not verify the products that it finds listed in the vpd.properties file.
Location of the vpd.properties file
The location of the vpd.properties file varies per operating platform:

* Icon indicating AIX platforms On AIX platforms: The root directory or the usr/lib/objrepos directory
* Icon indicating i5/OS platform only On i5/OS platforms: /InstallShield/VitalProductData/vpd.properties
* Icon indicating Linux platforms On Linux platforms: The root directory
* Icon indicating Windows platforms On Windows platforms: Installation directory of the operating system, such as the C:\WINNT directory or the C:\windows directory

Example of the vpd.properties file

The following example shows the entry for the vpd.properties file for Version 6.1.0.0 of the WebSphere product on a Windows platform. The example shows entire lines but wraps each line for formatting purposes.

WSEAA61|6|1|0|0|6.1.0.0|1=IBM WebSphere Process Server|IBM WebSphere Process Server|
IBM WebSphere Process Server V6.1.0.0|IBM|http://www.ibm.com|6.1.0.0|C:\Program Files\
IBM\WebSphere\ESB1|0|0|1|WSEAA61|6|1|0|0|6.1.0.0|1|0|false|"_uninst" "uninstall.jar" "
uninstall.dat" ""|true|3|WSEAA61|6|1|0|0|6.1.0.0|1

Identifying entries in the vpd.properties file

Use the following table to help identify product entries.
Table 1. Identifer in the vpd.properties file for WebSphere productsIdentifier Product
WSE...61 All version 6.1 products use this identifier to identify the core product files:

* WebSphere Process Server, Version 6.1
* WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, Version 6.1


href:http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/dmndhelp/v6r1mx/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.wps.610.doc/doc/rins_vpd.html

configuration archive file(CAR File)

A configuration archive (CAR) file captures the configuration of a standalone application server profile for later restoration on another application server node. The CAR can help clone the original profile to another machine or system.

A configuration archive file is an exported configuration file from an existing standalone application server profile and contains all application server configuration data including security settings, resources, defined ports, and so on. The advantage of using a CAR is that all of this configuration, including any enterprise archive (EAR) files, can be reliably restored to many application server nodes. Importing a configuration archive also offers some performance advantages over creating a standalone application server in the normal way.


The WebSphere Configuration Archive is new features in WebSphere Application Server v6.0.
This feature allows a set of complete or subset of WebSphere configuration archive. WebSphere
Application Server V6 provides a mechanism that allows you to export certain profiles, or server
objects from a profile, to an archive. The archive can be distributed and imported to other
installations. An exported archive is a zip file of the config directory with host-specific information
removed. The recommended extension of the zip file is .car. The exported archive can be the
complete configuration or a subset. Importing the archive creates the configurations defined in the
archive. The target configuration of an archive export / import can be a specific server or an entire
profile.
To use an archive you would:
1. Export a WebSphere configuration. This creates a zip file with the configuration.
2. Unzip the files for browsing or update for use on other systems. For example, you might need
to update resource references.
3. Send the configuration to the new system. An import can work with the zip file or with the
expanded format.
4. Import the archive. The import process requires that you identify the object in the configuration
you want to import and the target object in the existing configuration. The target can be the
same object type as the archive or its parent:
– If you import a server archive to a server configuration the configurations are merged.
– If you import a server archive to a node, the server is added to the node.
A tutorial on creating and using archives can be found in the Information Center. See
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/eod/was/6.0/SystemManagement/WASv6_SM_Configuration_
Archives/playershell.swf
Prof ile archives
The following command can be used to create an archive of a profile:
$AdminTask expor tWasprof ile {-archive }
You can only create an archive of an unfederated profile (standalone application server).
$AdminTask impor tWasprof ile {-archive }
exportWasprofile:
Use the exportWasprofile command to export the entire cell configuration to a configuration
archive. (myArchive.car)
• Using Jacl:
22 5/15/2006
$AdminTask exportWasprofile {-archive c:\myCell.ear}
• Using Jython string:
AdminTask.exportWasprofile('[-archive c:\myCell.ear]')
Interactive mode example usage:
• Using Jacl:
$AdminTask exportWasprofile {-interactive}
• Using Jython string:
AdminTask.exportWasprofile ('[-interactive]')
importWasprofile:
Use the importWasprofile command to import a cell configuration in the configuration archive to
the system. Only a base single server configuration is supported for this command.
• Using Jacl:
$AdminTask importWasprofile {-archive c:\myCell.ear}
• Using Jython string:
AdminTask.importWasprofile('[-archive c:\myCell.ear]')
Interactive mode example usage:
• Using Jacl:
$AdminTask importWasprofile {-interactive}
• Using Jython string:
AdminTask.importWasprofile ('[-interactive]')

ref: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.express.doc/info/exp/ae/cins_if_config_archive.html

WebSphere Password Decoder

WebSphere Password Decoder

This utility can decode WebSphere encoded passwords.
If you have lost your password(s), use this utility to recover them.

url: http://www.sysman.nl/wasdecoder/