About the Configuration Files

The following configuration files are associated with Enterprise Server administration:

• asadminenv.conf

• domain.xml

• logging.properties

• resources.xml

• server.policy

The bulk of the configuration information on Enterprise Server is stored in the domain.xml file. This file is the central repository for a given administrative domain and contains an XML representation of the Enterprise Server domain model. For details on the domain.xml file, see Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Prelude Administration Reference.

If you want to make configuration changes, you can use either the Administration Console or the asadmin utility. Either method is preferable to editing the configuration files directly, because direct editing is very prone to error and can have unintended results.

Configuration changes often require that you restart Enterprise Server for the changes to take effect. In other cases, changes are applied dynamically without restarting Enterprise Server.

Configuration Changes That Require Server Restart

When making any of the following configuration changes, you must restart the server for the changes to take effect:

• Creating or deleting a resource or entity

• Adding or deleting a component

• Changing JVM options

• Changing port numbers

• Changing log handler elements

• Configuring certificates

• Managing HTTP services

• Managing thread pools

• Modifying the following JDBC connection pool properties:

  • datasource-classname

  • associate-with-thread

  • lazy-connection-association

  • lazy-connection-enlistment

  • JDBC driver vendor-specific properties

• Modifying the following connector connection pool properties:

  • resource-adapter-name

  • connection-definition-name

  • transaction-support

  • associate-with-thread

  • lazy-connection-association

  • lazy-connection-enlistment

  • Vendor-specific properties

Dynamic Configuration Changes

With dynamic configuration, changes take effect while the server is running. To make the following configuration changes, you do not need to restart the server:

• Adding or removing JDBC, JMS, and connector resources and pools

• Adding file realm users

• Changing logging levels

• Changing monitoring levels

• Enabling and disabling resources and applications

• Deploying, undeploying, and redeploying applications