Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Quick Start Guide

Starting the Server

This topic, the first of three basic topics, provides the following sections

Starting the Domain Administration Server

To start the Domain Administration Server, start the default domain, domain 1, using the following procedures.


Note –

Because this guide instructs you to set an environment variable AS_ADMIN_USER for administrative user name, it does not instruct you to supply a user name argument when the asadmin command is used. Without the environment variable, you supply this argument when you type the command. The general syntax is:

asadmin command_verb --user username command_arguments

For example, if your user name is admin, the syntax for asadmin start-domain is: asadmin start-domain --user admin domain1


ProcedureTo Start the Domain on Solaris and Linux

  1. Add the install-dir/bin/ directory to the PATH environment variable.

  2. Set the AS_ADMIN_USER environment variable so that you do not need to type it for every command.

    Set the value of AS_ADMIN_USER to the admin user you specified when you installed the Application Server. For example, setenv AS_ADMIN_USER admin

  3. Start the server by entering this command from the install-dir:

    asadmin start-domain domain1

    When you are prompted for the admin password and the master password, enter the passwords that you provided during installation.

  4. A message appears telling you that the Domain Administration Server is starting:

    Starting Domain domain1, please wait. Log redirected to domain_dir/domain1/logs/server.log...

  5. When the startup process has completed, an additional message appears:

    Domain domain1 started

ProcedureTo Start the Domain on Windows

  1. From the Explorer window or desktop, right click My Computer.

  2. Choose Properties to display the System Properties dialog.

  3. Click the Advanced tab.

  4. Click Environment Variables.

  5. In the User variables section:

    • If a PATH variable exists, verify that install-dir\bin exists in the path: install-dir\bin;other_entries.

    • If a PATH variable is not present, click New. In Variable Name, type PATH. In Variable Value, type the path to the server’s bin directory: install-dir\bin. Click OK to commit the change.

  6. Add a new environment variable AS_ADMIN_USER and set it to the Administrative User Name that you assigned during installation.

  7. Click OK to commit the change and close the remaining open windows.

  8. Start the Application Server

    • For Java Enterprise System installations, from the Start menu, choose Programs ⇒ Sun Microsystems ⇒ Application Server⇒ Start Admin Server.

    • For stand-alone installations, from the Start menu, choose Programs ⇒ Sun Microsystems ⇒ Application Server EE ⇒ Start Admin Server.

  9. When a command prompt window opens to prompt you for the admin password and the master password, enter the passwords that you provided during installation.

    A window appears with a message telling that you the server is starting:

    Starting Domain domain1, please wait. Log redirected to domain_dir\domain1\logs\server.log...

    When the startup process has completed, you see an additional message:

    Domain domain1 started.Press any key to continue ...

  10. Press a key to close the message window.

Logging in to the Admin Console

The Admin Console is a browser interface that simplifies a variety of administration and configuration tasks. It is commonly used to:

For further information about using the Admin Console, consult the online help or the Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Administration Guide.

ProcedureTo Log In to the Admin Console

  1. Type this URL in your browser:

    https:// localhost:4849/asadmin

    Because the Admin Console is a secure web application, you must use https instead of http.

    Replace the localhost variable with the name of the system that the Domain Admin Server is running on.

    4849 is the Admin Console’s default port number. If you changed the port number during the installation, use that number instead.


    Note –

    If a popup window appears with a message such as Website Certified by an Unknown Authority, click OK.

    This message appears because your browser does not recognize the self-signed certificate that the Domain Administration Server uses to service the Admin Console over the secure transmission protocol.


  2. When the log in window appears, enter the admin user name and password.

  3. Click Log In.

    When the Admin Console appears, it looks like this:

    Admin Console has banner pane across the page, left pane
with common tasks tree, and right pane with Welcome and links for Common Tasks
and docs.

    In the left pane, select what you want to manage from the tree provided. In the right pane, various administrative tasks are listed under the “Common Tasks” heading.


    Tip –

    Click the Registration tab to register your software if you have not already done so.


Examining the Log File

Application Server instances and the Domain Administration Server produce annotated logs on the file system. By default, all errors, warnings or useful informative messages are logged.

ProcedureTo View the Domain Administration Server Log File

  1. From the Common Tasks list in the right pane, click Search Log Files to launch a new browser window for Log Viewer.

    The Log Viewer provides view, search, and filter options.
  2. In the Log Viewer window, select “server” from the Instance Name drop–down list and click Search.

    The Domain Administration Server’s recent log file entries are displayed.

  3. Scan the messages and look for any WARNING or SEVERE messages indicating that problems were encountered during server start-up.

    You can close Log Viewer at any time. After you create clusters and deploy applications, examine log files if any of the operations failed. Use Log Viewer to view the log files of any running Application Server instance in the domain.

    For more information about the log file, see Chapter 15, Configuring Logging, in Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q2 Administration Guide.

Next Steps

In this section you started the Domain Administration Server and confirmed that it is running. You also logged in to the Admin Console and used the Log Viewer. You can stop the Quick Start trail here if you do not wish to continue, or you can go on to the next section.