| Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition Installation Guide |
Chapter 1
Preparing to InstallThis chapter explains the Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition software components, the scope and limitations of your installation choices, and the system requirements for the Application Server environment.
The following topics are addressed here:
Read the Sun ONE Application Server Release Notes for any late-breaking installation information.
For more information about configuring the Sun ONE Application Server software after installation, refer to the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide.
The following location contains helpful information, including Technical Notes, Forum discussions, tools and utilities, and product downloads:
http://wwws.sun.com/software/products/appsrvr/home_appsrvr.html
Installation RoadmapImplementing the functionality of the Enterprise Edition of Sun ONE Application Server 7 is not a simple process. The complexities of the high-availability database (HADB), clustering, failover, and load balancing are different for each possible scenario and for each installation.
The roadmap in Table 1-1describes the high-level tasks that are required to fully implement the Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition software. The right column provides the location of instructions for the task.
Table 1-1 Installation Roadmap
Step
Description of Task
Location of Instructions
1
Decide on your high-availability configuration and set up your systems.
System Deployment Guide
2
Verify that Enterprise Edition requirements are met.
"Installation Requirements"
Platform Summary3
Install the software components.
4
Set up shared memory for the HADB hosts.
5
Set up communication for the HADB management client using SSH or RSH.
6
Set the environment variables for the HADB management client.
7
Set up a basic cluster.
8
Start the application server instances.
9
Install the load balancer plug-in.
10
Set up the loadbalancer.xml file.
Administrator’s Guide, Configuring Load Balancing
11
Tailor your high-availability setup.
Administrator’s Guide, HADB Configuration
Administrator’s Guide, Session Persistence12
Administer the installed cluster.
Administrator’s Guide, Cluster Management
In addition to this high-level roadmap, the summarized installation steps are presented in a checklist format in Appendix A, "Installation Cheatsheet."
Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition documentation is located on the documentation CD that accompanies the product.
Installation ComponentsThe Sun ONE Application Server Version 7, Enterprise Edition product is made up of the following software components that work together to create the Application Server platform:
Application Server
This component includes the core components of the Sun ONE Application Server software and is dependent on the J2SE component. Refer to What’s New and the Product Overview documents for a more in-depth explanation of the features of Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition.
Administration
The Administration interface and the command-line interface are automatically installed when you install the Application Server component. When the Administration interface has been started, the initial page of the Application Server graphical interface is displayed.
- Admin Server—Provides administration facilities (one Admin Server per domain).
- Administration interface—Graphical interface used for performing server administration tasks. Also called the Admin Console.
- Command-line interface—Performs the same tasks as the Administration interface. A number of high-availability commands are available with this release. Refer to the Application Server Administrator’s Guide for instructions on using these commands.
- Multiple administrative domains—This mechanism allows different administrators to create and manage their own sets of application server instances.
Both the graphical and command-line administration clients allow you to manage and configure your servers and the applications hosted on them, as well as help you deploy your applications.
Full instructions for using the administration tools are contained in the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide, the Administration interface online help, and the asadmin and hadbm man pages.
Administration Client
The administration client is the separate command-line component of the Application Server. It is installed automatically when the Sun ONE Application Server component is installed and is dependent on the J2SE component.
You can choose to install the command-line version of this client separately on a machine where the Application Server is not installed. Do this by selecting the Sun ONE Administration Client component instead of the Sun ONE Application Server component during installation.
Java 2 Software Development Kit (J2SE)
The Sun ONE Application Server product requires the J2SE 1.4.1_03 and leverages the performance and feature improvements that are part of the 1.4 platform.
During an installation, you can choose to reuse a J2SE component that is already installed on your system as long as the J2SE version is correct.
The J2SE is installed here by default: /usr/j2se
Sun ONE Message Queue
The Sun ONE Message Queue, Platform Edition software is a production implementation of the Java Messaging Service (JMS) 1.0.2 specification. It is automatically installed when you install the Application Server software.
The Platform Edition of Sun ONE Message Queue differs from the Enterprise Edition in that Platform Edition does not have the following Message Queue features:
For further information, the Sun ONE Message Queue has its own documentation set that can be found at the following location:
http://docs.sun.com/db?p=prod/s1.s1msgqu
Sample Applications
The Sun ONE Application Server Version 7, Enterprise Edition product includes over sixty sample applications that are available when you install the Application Server software. This component is dependent on the Application Server component.
All samples come with the source, schema, Ant build scripts, and EAR files. These sample applications are categorized as follows:
- Technology samples—Introduce you to various technical aspects of the Java™ 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE™) specification as well as the value added features of the Sun ONE platform. High-availability samples are included.
- Interoperability samples—Provide more detailed views on how these technologies come together on the Application Server platform.
The sample applications are installed here:
More information about the samples can be found here:
Always-On Technology Components
The Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition includes the Always-On Technology, which supports multi-tiered, multi-machine, clustered application server deployments. In Enterprise Edition, the web tier supports load balancing and application traffic partitioning using a web server plug-in.
Various topologies for the Always On Technology are discussed in the Sun ONE Application Server System Deployment Guide. For instructions on configuring and administering high availability for the Application Server, refer to the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide.
The following installation components provide the basis for the Always-On Technology:
High-Availability Database (HADB)
The Application Server provides a transactional, highly-available and highly-scalable session state persistence infrastructure. Application Server uses the HADB to store session information.
For additional information on this component, refer to the HADB Configuration chapter in the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide.
HADB Management Client
The HADB management client is the command-line interface for the HADB. A full set of utilities is available for performing HADB configuration, runtime management, and monitoring.
Instructions for using the utilities are contained in the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide, the hadbm man pages, and the asadmin session persistence man pages.
Load Balancer Plug-in
The load balancer is responsible for taking incoming HTTP requests and distributing them across the instances in the cluster. The load balancer also makes it possible for sessions to fail over to new instances when an instance becomes unavailable, and for a user to quiesce an instance prior to taking it offline.
The Application Server high-availability load balancer plug-in is an enhanced version of the HTTP reverse proxy plug-in. In addition, third-party load balancers can be used. This component is dependent on a pre-installed web server. Supported web servers are listed in the Sun ONE Application Server Platform Summary.
For additional information on this component, refer to "Installing the Load Balancer Plug-in" and the Configuring Load Balancingin the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide.
Installation MethodologyThe Sun ONE Application Server can be installed or uninstalled using the command-line interface or the graphical interface. You can install interactively using either the graphical or command-line interfaces, or you can use silent mode to replicate an installation scenario on one or multiple machines.
Partial and incremental (subsequent) installations are supported. Using either of the interactive methods, you can do a partial installation which can be followed by any number of incremental installations. For silent mode, you can do a partial initial installation, but any subsequent installations must be done using an interactive method.
The installation program or uninstallation program checks for component dependencies and does not allow you to install or uninstall components without their dependent components.
The following sections explain the various installation methods:
Graphical Interface Method
If you choose to use the graphical interface for installation, you are provided with a set of interactive graphical dialogs.
To invoke the installation program using the graphical (default) method:
To invoke the uninstallation program using the graphical (default) method:
Command-Line Interface Method
If you choose to the use the command-line interface, the installation steps are the same as for the graphical-interface installation, but a graphics-capable display is not provided.
To invoke the installation program using the command-line method:
To invoke the uninstallation program using the command-line method:
If you are using Telnet to access a remote server, you can use the command-line interface to install the product in an interactive fashion.
Note
For a hardened Solaris operating environment, you must use the command-line method. To start the installation program in a hardened environment, you will need to perform the steps in "Hardened Solaris Operating Environment Requirement".
Silent Mode
You can use silent mode to perform a scripted installation based on the presence of a parameter file that was created during an interactive installation. In silent mode, the Application Server software is installed or uninstalled without any interaction with you. By referring to the installation configuration file, the components that were installed or uninstalled in the interactive model are automatically installed or uninstalled on one or multiple servers.
Instructions for using silent mode are contained in "Installing in Silent Mode (Non-Interactive)" and "Uninstalling in Silent Mode (non-interactive)".
Distribution of the ProductThe Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition software is available on a CD-ROM. The Enterprise Edition license is automatically installed with the product and doesn’t expire. No other licenses can be transitioned to the Enterprise Edition license.
The package-based model installs the components as packages. By default, the installation locations are spread across three directory roots:
- /opt/SUNWappserver7 contains the static portion of the installation image. All utilities, executables and libraries of the Application Server software reside in this location.
- /etc/opt/SUNWappserver7 contains installation-wide configuration information such as licenses and the master list of administrative domains configured for this installation.
- /var/opt/SUNWappserver7/domains is the default area under which administrative domains are created.
Installation RequirementsThis section lists the requirements that must be met before installing the Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition product.
Platform Requirements
Table 1-2 through Table 1-4 summarize the Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition requirements for the various high-availability configurations.
Configuration 1
Table 1-2 describes a three-machine type of configuration:
- * Machine 1—Web Server
- ** Machine 2—Application Server instance 1, HADB Node 1
- *** Machine 3—Application Server instance 2, HADB Node 2
Configuration 2
Table 1-3 describes a two-machine type of configuration:
- * Machine 1—Web Server/Application Server (1 Admin Server instance, 1 Application Server instance)
- ** Machine 2—Application Server instance 2 (1 Admin Server instance, 1 Application Server instance), 2 HADB Nodes
Configuration 3
Table 1-4 describes a single-machine type of configuration:
You can check your operating system version using the uname or showrev command. Disk space can be checked using the df -k command. RAM can be checked using the prtconf or top commands.
For the latest information about supported directory servers, web servers, web browsers, and so on, refer to the Sun ONE Application Server Platform Summary.
Solaris Requirements
The following Solaris-specific requirements must be met:
Solaris 8 Patch Requirements
For Solaris 8 systems, the following Solaris patches must be installed:
These patches are available individually from the patch finder page here:
http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/patch-access
Shared Message Queue Broker Requirement
If your machine has an active installation of the Solaris 9 bundled version of the Application Server software, and you install the unbundled version of the server, the Message Queue broker for these application server installations will be shared.
Therefore, if you fail to uniquely name your domains and instances, you may receive the following errors when starting up the second instance with the same domain or instance name:
To avoid these errors, see JMS Supportin the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide.
Hardened Solaris Operating Environment Requirement
Hardening means customizing existing services or functions so as to improve the overall security of the platform. The hardening process generally includes tasks such as disabling unnecessary services, strengthening ownership and permissions on objects, and enabling miscellaneous security functions such as non-default logging and auditing. A hardened operating system usually doesn't allow GUI-based applications to be run in the environment.
The following two libraries are required to install and use Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition in a hardened Solaris operating environment:
These libraries can be obtained by installing the SUNWlibC (Sun Workshop Compilers Bundled libC) package which is part of the Solaris distribution in the end-user package cluster (not in the core).
General Requirements
The following additional requirements should be met before installing the Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition product:
- Removing previously-installed Sun ONE Application Server 7 software—If there is previously-installed Sun ONE Application Server 7 software on the target machine, you must remove it using the uninstallation program before starting installation.
- Available ports
- You’ll assign one for the Admin Server and another for the HTTP server default instance during installation.
- The installation program will detect used ports and assign two others for you: Sun ONE Message Queue (by default, 7676), and IIOP (by default, 3700). If either of these default port numbers are in use, the installation program will assign the next available port (for example, 7677 or 7678, and so on).
- Additional ports will be needed for the HADB servers. Refer to the HADB configuration chapter in the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide for guidelines.
- Root privileges—You must have root privileges on your target machine.
- Single installation—You can have only one installation per machine, however, you can have multiple instances running within the same installation.
High-Availability Requirements
The following requirements are key to setting up your high-availability environment:
Topology Planning
Before you install the Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition software, you will need to decide on product topology, that is, which component will be hosted on which available system. The Sun ONE Application Server and the HADB server can generally be hosted in two ways:
In both cases, at least two systems per component are needed to achieve high availability.
The installation program enforces explicit component dependencies, but will not otherwise limit combinations of product components that can be installed on a particular machine. As a result, the number of possible product topologies is quite large.
Details on the various topologies that can be implemented for the Always On Technology are discussed in the Enterprise Edition of the Sun ONE Application Server Operational Deployment Guide.
Space Considerations
Data devices should not be filled beyond 50% of capacity because additional space is needed to refragment the HADB. If refragmentation fails, it might be because devices are too full and there is not enough space. If devices are running at 80% or 90% of capacity and refragmentation fails, the HADB will need to be cleared, meaning that all data removed from the database and the session schema.
It is important to monitor the space on the devices using the hadbm deviceinfo command. When device capacity exceeds 50%, additional nodes should be added. Refer to the Sun ONE Application Server Administrator’s Guide and the Sun ONE Performance Tuning Guide for information and instructions.
Web Server Installation
Before you start the installation process, your web server must be installed on any machine where you are going to install the load balancer plug-in.
Currently-supported versions include the following:
For installing the Sun ONE Web Server, refer to the iPlanet WebServer Installation Guide at this location:
http://docs.sun.com/db/prod/s1websrv
Instructions for installing the plug-in are contained in "Installing the Load Balancer Plug-in".
Shared Memory Setup
You will need to configure shared memory on the HADB hosts before you can set up the HADB. This can be done before or after installing the high-availability components. Refer to "Configuring Shared Memory and Semaphores" for instructions.
Remote Access Setup
Before you can set up the HADB, you will need to configure remote access on the HADB hosts to enable the high-availability management client to communicate among HADB nodes. This can be done before or after installing the high-availability components. Refer to "Setting Up Host Communication" for instructions on configuring OpenSSH/SSH or RSH.
Accessing the DocumentationThe Sun ONE Application Server documentation is provided in a number of ways:
- Manuals—The Sun ONE Application Server 7, Enterprise Edition manuals and release notes, in HTML and in printable PDF, are available on the documentation CD-ROM that comes with the product.
- Online help—Click the Help button in the graphical interface to launch a context-sensitive help window.
- Man pages—To view man pages at the command line, you must first add install_dir/man to your MANPATH environment variable (Solaris) and add the HADB /bin directory to PATH. After setting the variable, you can access man pages for the Sun ONE Application Server commands by typing man command_name on the command line. For example:
