Getting Started with ALDSP Administration

With ALDSP 3.0 release, you need to create and configure WebLogic Server 9.2.x unlike the previous ALDSP releases, which used WebLogic Server 8.1. Before you start working with ALDSP development environment, you need to deploy your dataspace project on a WebLogic domain enabled for ALDSP. Using WebLogic Server 9.2.x, you can create users and groups for ALDSP and manage their permissions.

Most of the other administrations tasks for ALDSP 3.0, can be performed through the ALDSP Administration Console and therefore you may not need to launch the WLS Administration console frequently. Table 2-1 lists the tasks that you can perform using ALDSP Administration Console and the ones that you need to perform using WebLogic Server Administration console.

Table 2-1 Administration Tasks for ALDSP Administration Console and WLS Administration Console
Task	Administered Through
ALDSP Users and Groups: Securing ALDSP Resources Also refer to WebLogic Server user and groups.	WebLogic Server Administration Console
Deployment: Deploying Dataspaces	ALDSP Administration Console
Security: Securing ALDSP Resources	ALDSP Administration Console
Caching: Configuring Query Results Cache	ALDSP Administration Console
Auditing: Working With Audit and Log Information	ALDSP Administration Console

This chapter describes the tasks that you can perform using ALDSP Console and also provides steps to start and stop the WebLogic Server. It contains the following sections:

Updating the ALDSP License

ALDSP requires a valid product license to run. The ALDSP license is included as a component in the WebLogic Server license file, license.bea. To apply or update an ALDSP license file, use the BEA UpdateLicense utility to update the license.bea file.

Starting and Stopping WebLogic Server

To start working with the ALDSP development environment and to administer the WLS enabled for ALDSP, you must first start WebLogic Server. Although you may not need to stop WebLogic Server frequently, it may be required in certain situations. This section describes how to start and stop WebLogic Server (WLS) in a standalone WebLogic domain, after you have configured your WebLogic Server 9.2.x.

Starting the Server

At the command prompt, navigate to the domain directory.

The domain directory is BEA_HOME/user_projects/domain_name. An example could be c:\bea\user_projects\domains\mydomain.

Run the server startup script: startWebLogic.cmd (Windows) or startWebLogic.sh (UNIX).

The startup script displays a series of messages, finally displaying a message similar to the following:

<Dec 8, 2004 3:50:42 PM PDT> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <000360> <Server started in RUNNING mode>

You can also start WebLogic Server through the eclipse-based IDE for ALDSP. To start the server:

Stopping the Server

To stop the WebLogic Server using the eclipse-based IDE, right-click the server listed in the Servers tab, as shown in Figure 2-1 and select Stop.

Alternatively, you can stop a WebLogic Server instance that is running a dataspace project from the WebLogic Administration Console.

Start the WebLogic Server Administration Console.
Acquire the lock by clicking Lock & Edit.
In the left pane, click to expand Environment and select Servers.
Select the server instance you need to stop.
Click the Control tab. The Start/Stop tab is displayed, as illustrated in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2 Graceful Shutdown of a Server

Graceful Shutdown of a Server

Specify the graceful shutdown timeout limit incase you need to do a force shutdown after some time.
From Server Status table, click the Shutdown list.
Select the When work completes option.
Select Yes to confirm shutdown. This shuts down the selected server after all the pending tasks are completed.

Launching ALDSP Administration Console

The AquaLogic Data Services Platform Administration Console is a web-based interface that enables you to administer and manage dataspace projects, access metadata, and configure security and caching policies.

Before you launch the ALDSP Administration Console, make sure that the WebLogic Server is started. For more information about starting WebLogic Server, see Starting the Server on page 2-3. To launch ALDSP Administration Console:

Open the following URL:

http://hostname:port/dspconsole

Where:

hostname is the machine name or IP address of the host server
port is the address of the port on which the host server is listening for requests (7001 by default)

For example, to start the ALDSP Administration Console on a local instance of WebLogic Server (running on your computer), navigate to the following URL:


http://localhost:7001/dspconsole/

When the login page appears, enter the appropriate user name and password.

The default user name and password is weblogic/weblogic, respectively.

In case you need to launch the WLS Administration console, click the WLS Console link on the top-right corner of ALDSP Administration Console, as shown in Figure 2-3.

Exploring ALDSP Administration Console

This section provides details about using different components of the ALDSP administration console. It includes the following topics:

Using the Navigation Pane

You can use the navigation pane to view the navigation tree and all the data services, functions, and web services. The change center allows you lock and edit the configuration settings within the console and then save or discard changes depending on your requirement. Using the category-based tabs from the category list, you can view and manage the artifacts related to each tab, including the system administration tasks such as deployment of data services, importing and exporting data service JAR files, and auditing.You can also view metadata, manage caching, and configure security settings using the category-list.

This section describes the functions of some of the components of the navigation pane in detail.

Change Center and Configuration Locking

The change center feature in ALDSP Administration console is similar to the WLS Administration console. It enables you to acquire a global lock over the console configuration, make one or more changes to the configuration, if required, and then activate or discard the changes. The configuration settings are edited in a transactional manner, therefore, only one user can acquire the lock to the console.

Click Lock & Edit option from the change center. This enables you to make changes to the workspace.
Save the changes in the Workspace Content Area by clicking Save. The message “Settings updated successfully” is displayed in the workspace content area.
From the change center area, click Activate Changes or Undo All Changes, as shown in Figure 2-5, to activate or discard the changes. If you click Activate Changes, then the message “Changes activated successfully“ is displayed in the workspace content area and if you select Undo All Changes, then the “Changes discarded successfully” message is displayed.

Figure 2-5 Activating/Deactivating Configuration Changes

Activating/Deactivating Configuration Changes

The change center feature is available only to the domain and admin entitlements for a resource configured for security in ALDSP. Other ALDSP entitlements cannot use the change center. For more information about user entitlements, refer to the Administrative Access Control section in Securing ALDSP Resources.

You do not need to acquire a lock to edit the configuration within the administration console in the following cases:

To create and delete dataspaces, you do not need to explicitly acquire a lock because the system acquires the lock by default. For more information about creating and deleting dataspaces, refer to Deploying Dataspaces.
Security policies, in both runtime security and administrative access control categories, do not require the change center lock. The policies are stored in a separate repository, in WLS configuration, and therefore do not take part in the ALDSP configuration session. For more information, refer to Securing ALDSP Resources.

Based on the operations performed using the change center, the change center behavior may differ. Table 2-2 lists and describes the change center behavior in different situations:

Table 2-2 Change Center Behavior
Condition	Behavior
User does not have domain or admin entitlements for any of the ALDSP resources such as a dataspace or data service.	User is denied access and the change center is disabled.
Lock has not been acquired by any one and can be acquired by the logged in user.	The user can acquire the lock to the change center and perform configuration changes.
Lock has been acquired by the logged in user and changes are made.	The change center provides the option to activate or discard changes. So, the Activate Changes and Undo All Changes options appear in the change center area.
Lock has been acquired by some other user but the logged in user being a domain user is allowed to forcibly acquire the lock.	The change center displays the Take Lock && Edit option if the user has domain entitlements for the dataspace.

For more information about using the change center, you can also refer to: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13222_01/wls/docs92/intro/console.html#wp1122447

Pending Changelist

The pending change list displays the difference between the current session values and the core values. The dataspace artifacts that are created, updated, or deleted are displayed in the pending changelist. Pending changes are shown in the tree view, as shown in Figure 2-6, whereas the configuration changes are shown in the leaf node.

Navigation Tree and Category List

There are six categories in the ALDSP administration console. The artifacts displayed in the workspace content area for a data service, function, or web service depend on the category-based tab that you select from the category list.

System Administration: This is the default tab that is displayed when you log into ALDSP console. It provides functionality to set the state and the target server for deployment, importing and exporting of project JAR files, checking the administrative properties, and auditing.
Service Explorer: The service explorer provides metadata artifacts for the deployed dataspace project, function, and web services including native web services. For more information, refer to Viewing Metadata Using the Service Explorer.
Physical Sources: This tab provides details about the different physical data sources that are deployed on the server. The physical data sources can include delimited files, java functions, relational databases, web services, and XML files.
Operations: This tab allows you monitor the active queries, data cache size, and active updates for a dataspace.
Security Configuration: This tab allows you set runtime security policies for securable resources such as dataspaces, data services, functions, and web services. For more information, refer to Understanding Runtime Security Policies section in Securing ALDSP Resources.
Administrative Access Control: This tab enables you set the administrative access control policies for different users who need to access ALDSP Administration Console. For more information, refer to the Working with Administrative Access Control Policies section in Securing ALDSP Resources.:

Using the Workspace Content Area

The workspace content area displays artifacts based on the tab selected in the category list and the node selected from the navigation tree. It consists of various options that enable you to view, search, configure, and audit ALDSP resources. Figure 2-7 displays the workspace content area that is displayed when you log in to the console.

As illustrated in this figure, the workspace content area constitutes the following:

Banner Toolbar: It shows the user name and the server that you are logged into. The links on the right, allow you to log into the WLS Console, logout of ALDSP Administration Console, along with help options.
Breadcrumb Trail: It displays the current category and the resource that you select from the navigation tree. You can access the category or resource using the trail links also.
Search: This field is you to search metadata. When you click Search, the system starts a search across all artifacts on the server and displays the results in a search result page. If you click Search without entering any value in the field, the Advanced Search page is displayed. For more information, refer to Searching Metadata on page 7-16.
Page Title: This displays the current artifact that you access on the ALDSP Administration Console.
Inline Help: This help is available on each page of the console and provides guidance about using the options on the console.
Workspace Content: This area displays information about the resource depending on the category you select from the category-list.

Administration Guide