Component Dependencies

Some Java ES components cannot be installed and configured unless other components are installed and configured first. Dependencies occur for several reasons:

• Some components cannot function unless certain other components are installed and configured. For example, for Access Manager to operate properly, it must have access to information about users and services that is provided by an LDAP directory. The installation and configuration procedure for Access Manager requires you to input URLs that enable Access Manager to interoperate with an already functioning directory service. Because of this dependency, you must install and configure Directory Server before you install and configure Access Manager.

• Some components modify the configuration of an existing component. For example, installing and configuring Access Manager modifies the LDAP directory schema. If your solution uses Access Manager, your installation plan must specify that an LDAP directory is installed and configured before Access Manager is installed.

• A number of Java ES components are web applications. These components must be deployed into web containers to function. You must plan to install a web container and start it up before you install and configure your web application components. You can use Web Server, Application Server, or some third-party web containers, but you must plan to have a web container on the computer when you install the web application component.

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  Tip –

  If the solution uses Web Server or Application Server, the Java ES installer can install the web container and the web application component at the same time and automatically deploy the web application component to the web container.

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• Your architecture may call for components to be installed in a high-availability cluster provided by Sun Cluster software. The Sun Cluster software must be installed and running before the other components are installed and configured. Additionally, the Sun Cluster Agents for the other components must be installed and configured.

Notice that some of these dependencies are solution-wide and some are local. You consider solution-wide dependencies and local dependencies differently when you develop your installation plan. The difference is described in the following example:

The dependency of Access Manager on Directory Server is a solution-wide dependency. When you install Access Manager, you supply a URL for a directory service provided by one or more instances of Directory Server. Once Directory Server is installed and configured, it provides a directory service that is available to all of the components in the solution. This type of dependency determines the solution-wide sequence for installing and configuring component instances-you must install and configure Directory Server before Access Manager. In your installation plan, solution-wide dependencies determine the overall sequence of installation and configuration steps. You can plan to install Directory Server first and then add components such as Access Manager that depend on the directory service.

The dependency of Access Manager on a web container is a local dependency. To satisfy this dependency, a web container must be installed on the computer that runs Access Manager. This web container, however, does not provide web container services for the entire solution. If your distributed architecture specifies that you install Portal Server on a different computer than Access Manager, you must plan to install a web container on both computers. Each web container supports a different component locally. Therefore, in a distributed solution there is no single location for a web container to provide services for the entire solution, and you must plan to install web containers several times during your overall installation sequence.

To develop an installation plan for your solution, you analyze the deployment architecture that describes the solution and identify dependencies among the components. Your plan must install and configure components in a sequence that satisfies all of the dependencies. In general, you develop the overall installation sequence from the solution-wide dependencies. Then you consider the local dependencies that might exist on each computer.

The component dependencies are listed in Table 3–1. For more information about working with these dependencies, see the descriptions of the individual components in Developing Your Installation Plan.