FAQs: Administration and Configuration

• How do I bypass the prompt for username and password when I start a server?

• Can I start a Managed Server if the Administration Server is unavailable?

• How can I start a server with a clean (default) configuration?

• What is the easiest way to set the classpath?

• What are safeguards for modifying the config.xml file?

• How do I edit the config.xml file?

Q. How do I bypass the prompt for username and password when I start a server?

A. You can create and use a boot identify file, which contains your username and password in an encrypted format.

If a server's root directory contains a valid boot identity file named boot.properties, it uses this file by default. If you want to specify a different file (or if you do not want to store boot identity files in a server's root directory), you can specify a file name in the server's startup command. If a server is unable to access its boot identity file, it displays the standard username and password prompt in its command shell and writes a message to the log file.

For more information, refer to Bypassing the Interactive Prompt in the WebLogic Server Administration Guide.

Q. Can I start a Managed Server if the Administration Server is unavailable?

A. By default, if a Managed Server is unable to connect to the specified Administration Server during startup, it can retrieve its configuration by reading a configuration file and other files directly. You cannot change the server's configuration until the Administration Server is available. A Managed Server that starts in this way is running in Managed Server Independence mode. For more information, refer to Starting a Managed Server When the Administration Server Is Not Accessible in the Managing and Monitoring WebLogic Server Domains guide.

Q. How can I start a server with a clean (default) configuration?

A. If you run into problems in your environments and want to boot a server with a clean (default) configuration, you can start a WebLogic Server in such a way that it generates a new config.xml file. This new config.xml file contains only the default settings, unless you use command-line arguments to override the defaults. For more information, refer to Using the Default Configuration to Start a Server in the WebLogic Server Administration Guide.

Q. What is the easiest way to set the classpath?

WebLogic Server installs the following script that you can use to set the classpath that a server requires:
WL_HOME\server\bin\setWLSEnv.cmd (on Windows)
WL_HOME/server/bin/setWLSEnv.sh (on UNIX)

where WL_HOME is the directory in which you installed WebLogic Server. For more information, refer to Setting the Classpath in the WebLogic Server Administration Guide.

Q. What are safeguards for modifying the config.xml file?

A. BEA recommends that you use the WebLogic Server Administration Console to edit the config.xml file. If you need to edit the config.xml file directly, we recommend that:

• You always save a copy of your config.xml file before editing it. If your edits cause errors that prevent you from booting, you can at least revert to your saved version.

• You manually edit the config.xml file for a domain when a domain is not active. If you edit the configuration file while the domain is active, any changes you make manually will likely be overwritten by the system. Furthermore, all changes you make by hand while the domain is active are ignored by the system at run time.

• Because there is no validation or value checking when you edit config.xml manually, type-checking occurs when you load the configuration file for the first time, that is, when you restart the Administration Server. At that point, any invalid XML or attribute value is detected and the domain fails to boot.

For more information on modifying the config.xml file and a reference of Mbeans and attributes used config.xml, see the BEA WebLogic Server Configuration Reference.

Q. How do I edit the config.xml file?

A. The persistent configuration for a domain of WebLogic Servers and clusters is stored in an XML configuration file (config.xml). You can modify this file in the following ways:

• The recommended way for users to modify or monitor a domain's configuration is to use the Administration Console.

• WebLogic Server includes a configuration Application Programming Interface (API), which programs can use to modify configuration attributes of resources in the domain.

• You can access the attributes of a domain with the WebLogic Server command-line utility. This utility is provided for people who want to create scripts to automate domain management. See Commands for Managing a WebLogic Domain in the Administration Guide.

• If you intend to edit the config.xml file directly, (not recommended) see the BEA WebLogic Server Configuration Reference.