Configuring for Interoperation

The goal of the installation and configuration process is a system of interoperating component instances. Since you install components and perform basic configuration on one computer at a time, you must determine in advance the configuration values that will result in successful interoperation with components on other computers.

The configuration values that result in interoperation include such values as the URLs or port numbers that one component instance uses to communicate with another component instance. For example, if your solution uses Access Manager, you must first install and configure an LDAP repository, such as a Directory Server instance. Then, when you install and configure an Access Manager instance, you must provide values that configure the Access Manager to interoperate with the LDAP directory you have already installed and configured.

The Java ES installer does not know what components are installed on the other computers used in the solution. For example, when you install Access Manager, the installer does not know where the appropriate LDAP directory is located. To ensure the success of your installation and configuration process, you must determine in advance which installation and configuration values will lead to successful interoperation between your Access Manager instance and your Directory Server instance. You include these values in your installation plan. Then, when you are installing and configuring components, you type the values in your plan, and you successfully configure your components to interoperate with each other.

You might perform a sequence of installation and configuration tasks similar to the one illustrated in Figure 3–2.

Figure 3–2 Configuring Components to Interoperate

Whatever the architecture of your solution, you must develop an installation plan that includes all the configuration values needed to configure the components and achieve an interoperating, distributed solution.