Chapter 1   Getting Started


This chapter provides the information to correlate your usage goals for the iPlanet Application Server with the installation option that best suits those goals. In addition, it contains an overview of the iPlanet Application Server components.

This chapter includes the following topics:

• iPlanet Application Server Features

• Overview of Server Components

• About the Installation Options

• Uninstalling iPlanet Application Server

Read this chapter before installing iPlanet Application Server. Check the release notes for the latest updates to these instructions at:

http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/ias/60/sp2/releasenotes.htm

iPlanet Application Server Features

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This section discusses the features you should consider when planning to integrate iPlanet Application Server into your environment. The configurations which you use to achieve your goals may affect where you install iPlanet Application Server and how you configure it after installation. Although some configuration is done during installation by inputting settings (especially while using the Custom Installation), you should plan on doing most of the configuration after installation is complete, by using the iPlanet Application Server Administration Tool.

High Scalability

When a system can incrementally increase the capacity, capability, throughput and workload as the number of users increase, it is known as a highly scalable system. There are two categories of scalability available within iPlanet Application Server:

• Vertical scaling - focuses on loading up a single powerful machine to take full advantage of its resources.

• Horizontal scaling - adds several less powerful machines to increase benefits

iPlanet Application Server scalable architecture allows applications to be built to meet the needs of initial deployment and later to be scaled to meet heavier demands as business needs grow. iPlanet Application Server applications can scale dynamically to support massive number of users. The Distributed Data Synchronization (DSync) mechanism in iPlanet Application Server allows the ability to dynamically add servers and new instances of application components.

High Performance

iPlanet Application Server can support a high volume of concurrent users without affecting the throughput. The factors which contribute to a high performance are:

• Muti-threaded capabilities - Supports the multi-threading capabilities of the host operating system.

  An application can optimize performance by processing requests on multiple threads, which maximizes CPU resource utilization.

• Dynamic load balancing - Distributes requests among instances of application servers to avoid any one or more of the servers being underutilized or overutilized while others are available.

  iPlanet Application Server offers several load balancing methods, including server load, response time, round robin and weighted round robin mechanisms. For more information see, "Balancing User-Request Loads" in the the iPlanet Application Server Administration Guide.

• Application partitioning - Allows components to be distributed across servers to accommodate heavier loads.

  The iPlanet Application Server architecture supports application partitioning, which allows logic to be distributed across servers as an application scales to accommodate heavier loads. Using iPlanet Application Server Administration Tool, system administrators can partition an application into functional areas.

• Resource pooling and caching - Avoids unnecessary time spent on creating and closing connections as well as on retrieving frequently accessed results by:
  • Connection caching and pooling - To improve performance, the iPlanet Application Server caches database connections so that commonly used, existing connections are re-used rather than re-established each time. Connection caching avoids the overhead involved in creating a new database connection for each request.

  • Results Caching - iPlanet Application Server improves application performance by caching the results of application logic execution. Developers can optionally enable this feature in their applications.

  • JSP Caching - iPlanet Application Server provides this new feature, which aids in development of compositional JSPs. This provides functionality to cache JSPs within the Java engine, thereby making it possible to have a master JSP which includes multiple JSPs (similar to a portal page), each of which can be cached using different cache criteria. The JSP caching feature is in addition to result caching.

• Data Streaming - Moves data more quickly, providing results sooner.

  iPlanet Application Server provides data streaming that allows users to begin viewing results of requests sooner, rather than waiting until the complete operation has been processed. Application developers can explicitly control what data is streamed, or allow the system to provide automatic streaming.

• Optimized Web Server communication - Speeds application performance through tighter integration with web servers.

  Web Server integration occurs using Web Connector plug-ins and corresponding listeners. iPlanet Application Server supports NSAPI, ISAPI, and optimized CGI for iPlanet, Microsoft, and CGI-compatible Web servers, respectively.

Other factors affecting application performance include network topology, network and server hardware, database architecture, and application programming. For more information see the iPlanet Application Server Performance News Group at:

news://secnews.netscape.com/iplanet.ias.perf

High Availability

A system that can support operation 24 hours per day, seven days per week (24 by 7) has high availability. The main factor to consider in configuring a highly available iPlanet Application Server installation is:

• Failover - Continuing system services with little or no interruption in the event that a server or service fails.

iPlanet Application Server provides a highly available and reliable solution through the use of load balancing and dynamic failover (also called failure recovery). iPlanet Application Server can distribute all or part of an application across multiple servers. As a result, if one server goes down, the other servers can continue to handle requests. iPlanet Application Server minimizes downtime by providing automatic application distributed user-session information and distributed application-state information. Information is maintained as long as at least one iPlanet Application Server installation is still running in a cluster with the server that crashed.

iPlanet Application Server features a set of failover capabilities that promote application availability, including:

• Stateful Session Bean failover - If there are unexpected fatal problems with the server, the bean fails over to another server. Supporting failover for stateful session beans is an iPlanet Application Server value-added feature. J2EE applications do not need any modification to support this iPlanet Application Server failover feature.

• Rich Client failover - The Rich Client CORBA Executive Service (CXS) acts as a bridge between Rich Clients that use the Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) and the EJBs on iPlanet Application Server's Java engine(s). If the CXS server within iPlanet Application Server crashes, the state of the bridge objects for all EJBs are restored to that before the crash. By eliminating single points of failure, iPlanet Application Server offers maximum application availability.

Security

In preventing unauthorized access to business logic, resources, and data, the main factor to consider are the authentication and authorization mechanisms. These mechanisms can be role-based, certificate-based, or form-based authentication.

iPlanet Application Server supports all J2EE security requirements, including role-based authentication, certificate authentication, and form-based authentication. iPlanet Application Server supports the EJB v1.1 security model and the Java Servlet v2.2 security model.

iPlanet Application Server also provides secure web server communication and supports SSL, HTTPS, and HTTP challenge-response authentication to clients. To bridge the security gap between browsers and data sources, iPlanet Application Server supports user authentication, cookies, and database access controls for the secure handling of transactional operations. Event logging and tracking enables detection of, and protection against, unauthorized access.

iPlanet Application Server features a set of security features that include:

• Single sign on across all applications on iPlanet Application Server

• Security for Rich Clients

• XML-based role mapping information; you use the iPlanet Application Server GUI-based deployment tool to build the XML files that contain security information

• LDAP-based authentication

Enterprise System and Database Connectivity

iPlanet Application Server has the ability to interface with external databases and enterprise information systems. iPlanet Application Server provides developers with native database drivers, JDBC support, and the Unified Integration Framework API, which provide heterogeneous transactions - spanning multiple vendor databases.

iPlanet Application Server provide support for all JDBC database drivers conforming to the Java Software JDBC API. iPlanet Application Server certifies JDBC drivers for:

• Oracle

• DB2

• Informix

• Sybase

• SQL Server (on NT only)

iPlanet Application Server provides JDBC connectivity through an iPlanet Application Server implementation of JDBC. This implementation supports both heterogeneous and global transactions. Local transactions are native to a database and are restricted within a single process. Global transactions are managed and coordinated by the Transaction Manager build into iPlanet Application Server.

Enterprise-wide Manageability

By using the iPlanet Application Server Administration Tool, you can change the system configuration without interrupting the operation of the system or disrupting service to clients. The Java-based iPlanet Application Server Administrator Tool enables local and remote monitoring and management of multiple Application Servers and distributed applications. The following features enable this:

• Remote administration - remotely configuring the server and its applications.

• Automatic detection and restart of failed servers and processes

• Real-time monitoring of system events and performance

• Event notification system that you can configure to run a script and send email about critical situations

• Application management and partitioning

• Fine tuning of applications for optimal performance

• Setup security roles and access control lists

• Transaction Management features for local or global transactions

Cross-platform Portability

Ability to develop and deploy on different hardware platforms.

iPlanet Application Server is available on a variety of hardware platforms. These include:

• Microsoft Windows NT SP5 or SP6

• SUN Solaris 2.6 and 8

• Hewlett Packard HP-UX 11.0

• IBM AIX 4.3.3

Overview of Server Components

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iPlanet Application Server includes the iPlanet Console, the Administration Server, the (optional) Web Connector plugin, the Directory Server and the iPlanet Application Server Deployment Tool and the Administration Tool. Their relationship to the three tier and J2EE computing model is shown in .

Figure 1-1    iPlanet Application Server is at the core of the three tier computing model.

iPlanet Console

The iPlanet Console (previously known as the Netscape Console) performs common server administration functions such as stopping and starting servers, installing new server instances, and managing user and group information through the LDAP services of the Directory Server. The console can be installed with iPlanet Application Server or by itself. When installed as a standalone application, you can use it to manage remote servers from any machine on your network.

Administration Servers

When you install iPlanet Application Server, you install its Administration Server also. The iPlanet Application Server's Administration Server is used internally by the Administration Tool and Deployment Tool but is not used directly by system administrators.

In addition, when you install the iPlanet Console, its Administration Server is installed. Like the iPlanet Application Server's Administration Server, this server is used internally by the iPlanet Console.

Web Connector Plug-In

The Web Connector plug-in enables communication between iPlanet Application Server and a Web server. When you install iPlanet Application Server, your Web server is automatically configured for the Web Connector plug-in. This means that all necessary directories and settings on the Web server are updated.

If you have problems with the connection between iPlanet Application Server and the Web Connector plug-in, see the iPlanet Application Server Administrator's Guide for more information.

Directory Server

Your iPlanet Application Server and other directory-enabled applications use the Directory Server as a common, network-accessible location for storing shared data such as user and group identification, server identification, and access control information. The most well known of the Directory Server service is the Distinguished Name Service (DNS).

The iPlanet Directory Server provides global directory services, meaning it provides information to a wide variety of applications. A global directory service is a single, centralized repository of directory information that any application can access through network-based communication between the applications and the directory. iPlanet Directory Server uses LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) to give applications access to its global directory service. This LDAP protocol enables the Directory Server to scale to millions of entries for a modest investment in hardware and network infrastructure.

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Note	The Directory Server runs as the slapd service on an NT machine and ns-slapd on Solaris.

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By default, the Directory Server is configured to store two types of information, configuration information and authentication information. As you install iPlanet Application Server, you set up the Directory Server Data Information Tree (DIT), which has branches for this information. For more information see the iPlanet Directory Server Installation Guide at: http://docs.iplanet.com

About the Installation Options

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The software installation options are as follows:

• ezsetup

• Express

• Typical

• Custom

The first three options require very little user input and thus enable you to get the application server up and running in a matter of minutes. The installer sets up the application server with default values for port numbers, passwords, and so on. These settings are sufficient for running many of the iPlanet sample applications and for providing a platform for you to use in deploying your own sample applications.

The Custom Installation option allows you to configure the application server and its associated components during the installation. To do this requires much more user input and therefore, more of you time. However, the installation for the clustering samples, require this option.

Table 1-1 describes each of the installation options. Consult it to identify your best path through this document.

Table 1-1    Installation Options Road Map

Installation	Description	Documentation Path
ezsetup	Requires very little user input. Yields a simple installation that has preset port values and administrator names and passwords.	See the "iPlanet Application Server Features" for evaluation criteria and "Overview of Server Components". Then go to: "Using ezsetup on NT" or "Using the Easy Installation Options for Solaris".
Express	Requires a few more input steps than ezsetup. Yields a simple installation that has preset port values and administrator names and passwords. After installation, you can use the database set up tools to configure iPlanet Application Server for database configuration.	See the "iPlanet Application Server Features" and "Overview of Server Components". Then go to: "Using Express Installation".
Typical	Provides a slightly longer installation of the application server that allows you to set administrative usernames and passwords. After installation, you can use the database set up tools to configure iPlanet Application Server for database configuration.	See "iPlanet Application Server Features" and "Overview of Server Components". Then go to: "Using the Typical Installation Option".
Custom	Allows you the flexibility to install and configure the Application Server and Directory Server. You can set port values, set up a cluster configuration of the Directory Server, install database drivers, set up a transaction manager and so forth.	See "Uninstalling iPlanet Application Server" and "Overview of Server Components", then go to: Chapter 3 "Advanced Installations for Solaris" or Chapter 4 "Advanced Installations for Windows NT."

About Cluster Configuration

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One of the most common ways to set up iPlanet Application Server is in a cluster configuration. The clustering samples on the iPlanet Developer's Web site demonstrate how to leverage iPlanet Application Server's load balancing and session replication features to enhance the performance and availability of Web applications.

The sample is designed, for simplicity's sake, around a two machine cluster with Web Servers and Application Servers on each machine and a single Directory Server on one of the machines.

The Directory Server houses configuration data for both iPlanet Application Server and the business rules. The Web Server connectors and the iPlanet Application Server instances consult the Directory Server for the shared configuration data that describes location of application components as well as the processing characteristics (for example, load-balancing algorithms, sticky or non-sticky, and so forth) of both the application server and applications.

This simplistic cluster configuration demonstrates the behavior of the application server. However, it is not representative of a true production configuration. A production configuration would likely have the Web Servers on separate machines and a second Directory Server that is configured to act as a backup for the first.

See the iPlanet Application Server Samples for complete instructions on installing and configuring this simple cluster on a Windows NT or Solaris machine at:

• http://developer.iplanet.com/appserver/samples/cluster/docs/nt-cluster.html

• http://developer.iplanet.com/appserver/samples/cluster/docs/unix-cluster.html

Uninstalling iPlanet Application Server

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This procedure is for uninstalling iPlanet Application Server and its subcomponents. Do not uninstall iPlanet Application Server by deleting directories or modifying parameters in the registry.

By default, all components are selected for uninstall. Confirm that no other servers are using the Directory Server; if that is not the case, deselect it and do not uninstall the Directory Server.

Before running the iPlanet Application Server uninstall program, make sure that Directory Server is running.

During the uninstall process, you are prompted to provide a user name and password with administrator access to the configuration directory. Enter the user name and password given during installation. Another user name and password can be entered, if that user name has administrator privileges to the configuration Directory Server.

The following directories remain after you uninstall iPlanet Application Server:

• iPlanet Application Server root directory

• custom directories you created under the iPlanet Application Server directory

• installDir/APPS directory

After uninstalling iPlanet Application Server, decide if you want to remove these directories, particularly the custom and APPS directories, which may contain files you wish to keep and applications you've developed.

To Uninstall on NT

1. Click the Uninstall icon in the iPlanet Application Server 6.0 program group.

2. Choose the components and subcomponents you wish to uninstall.

3. When prompted, enter a user name and password with administrator access to the configuration Directory Server. If you do not know, or do not want to use the user name and password given during installation, enter another user name and password having administrator privileges on the configuration Directory Server.

4. Enter the configuration Directory Server information.

To Uninstall on Solaris

1. From the iPlanet installation directory (the default is /usr/iPlanet/iAS6), type uninstall and press Enter.

2. Specify the components and subcomponents you want to uninstall.

3. Enter a user ID and password that has administrator privileges on the configuration Directory Server.

   You receive the message "Uninstallation completed" when the software finishes removing all the files.

System Requirements

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Your system must meet the following requirements before you can install iPlanet Application Server.

Table 1-2    System Requirements for iPlanet Application Server

Component	Products Supported
Operating System	Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 with Service Pack (SP) 5 or SP 6 with JDK1.2.2 Solaris version 2.6 or 8.0 with JDK1.2.2_07 HP-UX version 11.0 with JDK 1.2.2 AIX version 4.3.2/4.3.3 with JDK 1.2.2
Memory	Per CPU: 256 MB minimum; 512 MB recommended
Available disk space	Total NT disk space: 250 MB NT (NTFS) Total Solaris disk space: 400 MB CD-ROM drive
Pre-installed software	One of the following Web servers: iPlanet Web Server 4.1 Enterprise Edition or later Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 (NT only) One of the following web browsers: Netscape Communicator 4.5 or higher Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 (NT only) or higher For supported database connectivity software see "Database Support" in the next section.

Database Support

Support for third party JDBC drivers was added as a new feature in iPlanet Application Server SP1. This feature augments the previous database support for the iPlanet Application Server native Type 2 JDBC database drivers.

iPlanet Application Server will continue to support iPlanet Application Server native Type 2 JDBC database drivers until the next major version of iPlanet Application Server is released. At that time, they are planned for deprecation. Future iPlanet Application Server applications must function with JDBC database drivers.

iPlanet Application Server version 6.0 SP2 is certified against the JDBC database drivers in Table 1-3. In addition, though not yet certified, other third party JDBC database drivers should work with iPlanet Application Server version 6.0 SP2.

Table 1-3    Third party JDBC database drivers certified in SP2

Database Vendor	JDBC Driver
Oracle	Oracle8i 8.1.6.0.1: Type 4 and Type 2
Merant SequeLink	DataDirect Java 5.0 (all databases supported by DDJ5)
Sybase	jConnect for JDBC 5.2 Type 4
IBM DB2	IBM DB2 7.1 JDBC Client
Informix	Informix JDBC v1.22, Informix JDBC v2.1 (Type 4 driver)

iPlanet Application Server 6.0 SP2 continues to support the database clients and servers for the iPlanet Application Server Type 2 JDBC Database Drivers listed in Table 1-4.

Table 1-4    Native database clients and servers supported in SP2

Database Client	Database Server
Oracle 8.1.6	Oracle 8.05, 8i, 7.3.4
Sybase 11.1.1, 12.0	Sybase 11.9.2, 12
DB2 6.1	DB2 6.1, 71
ODBC 3.51	Microsoft SQL Server 7
Informix 2.4	Informix Server 7.3, 9.1.4

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