Tools for Administration

Various different tools and APIs are available to administer the Sun Java System Application Server:

• Administration Console

• Command-line Interface (asadmin utility)

• JConsole

• Application Server Management Extension (AMX)

Administration Console

The Administration Console is a browser-based tool that features an easy-to-navigate interface and online help. The administration server (also called the Domain Administration Server or DAS) must be running to use the Administration Console. You need the administration server hostname and port number to launch the Administration Console. The default administration server port number for the default administration server is 4849. You also need the administration username and password to login to the Administration Console. Consult the section for more detailed information.

To start the Administration Console, in a web browser type:

https://hostname:port

For example:

https://kindness.sun.com:4849

If the Administration Console is running on the machine on which the administration server is running, you can specify localhost for the host name.

On Windows, start the Application Server Administration Console from the Start menu.

Command-line Interface (asadmin utility)

The asadmin utility is a command-line interface for the Sun Java System Application Server. You can perform the same set of administrative tasks offered by the Administration Console. The asadmin utility can be invoked from a command prompt in the shell, or called from other scripts or programs. The asadmin utility is installed in install-dir/bin directory. The default Sun Java System Application Server installation root directory on Solaris is /opt/SUNWappserver.

To start the asadmin utility, go to the install-dir/bin directory and enter:

$ asadmin

To list the commands available within asadmin:

asadmin> help

It is also possible to issue an asadmin command at the shell’s command prompt:

$ asadmin help

To view a command’s syntax and examples, type help followed by the command name. For example:

asadmin> help create-jdbc-resource

The asadmin help information for a given command displays the UNIX man page of the command. These man pages are also available in HTML on the Web at Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 Reference Manual.

JConsole

In the Java 2, Platform Standard Edition 5.0, the Java Monitoring and Management Console (JConsole) was introduced. JConsole is used to monitor the Sun Java System Application Server. You can use either the JConsole remote tab, or the advanced tab to connect to the Application Server.

• Remote Tab: identify the username, password, administration server host, and JMS port number (8686 by default), and select Connect.

• Advanced Tab: identify the JMXServiceURL as service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://host:jms-port/jmxrmi and select Connect. The JMXServerURL is printed in the server.log file as well as output in the command window of the domain creation command.

Application Server Management Extension (AMX)

The Application Server Management eXtension is an API that exposes all of the Application Server configuration and monitoring JMX managed beans as easy-to-use client-side dynamic proxies implementing the AMX interfaces.

For more information on using the Application Server Management Extension, see Chapter 16, Using the Java Management Extensions (JMX) API, in Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 Developer’s Guide .