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Chapter 3 Administration and Deployment Tools
This chapter describes the tools you can use to deploy applications and administer iPlanet Application Server.iPlanet Application Server eases application management by providing integrated management facilities. These facilities include the following:
iPlanet Application Server Administration
iPlanet Application Server Administration
iPlanet Application Server (iPanet Application Server) Administration Tool is a Java application with a graphical user interface. iPanet Application Server Administrator enables the following capabilities:
Remote management of multiple servers and distributed applications
Management and tuning involves tasks such as adjusting database connection threads, adjusting load-balancing parameters, configuring web servers, and managing role based security.Dynamic deployment and scaling of applications
Performance tuning and optimization of the server environment
For more information on the iPlanet Application Server Tool, see the iPlanet Application Server Administration Guide.
Basic Administrative Tasks
This section describes how to access and use the iASAT tool to start and stop the iPlanet Application Server.
On Windows go to Start>Programs>iPlanet Application Server 6.0 > iAS Administration Tool
Select the server from the list of registered servers.
- Similarly, to stop the server, select the particular server and click Stop Server.
Command Line Tools
iPlanet Application Server comes with various command-line tools and executables, that can be run from the command-line prompt (Windows) and the Shell prompt (Solaris).Using command-line tools, you can perform a variety of tasks, right from basic configuration to deploying an application.
For a complete list of all the command-line tools that you can use to administer iPlanet Application Server, see iPlanet Application Server Administrator's Guide.
To get a complete description of any command-line tool, type the command at the prompt, insert a space and type -help. For example, to get a complete list of all the options that you can try with the iascontrol command, type iascontrol-help at the command line prompt.
Using Command-Line Tools
The usage of iPlanet Application Server's command-line tools is different for Windows and Solaris platforms. Most of the command-line tools have been integrated with the GUI-based iPlanet Application Server Administration Tool and iPlanet Application Server Deployment Tool.On Solaris, even though the iPlanet Application Server Administration Tool and the iPlanet Application Server Deployment Tools are available, the usage of command-line tools is quite extensive. As you can have multiple instances of iPlanet Application Server on Solaris, it becomes necessary at times to execute command-line tools from the installation directory of a specific instance of iPlanet Application Server, to modify the attributes of only that instance.
On Windows, command-line tools are in the form of executable (.exe) files.
Command-line tools are located in the <iASInstallDir>/ias/bin path, on both Solaris and Windows systems.
On Windows, go to Start>Run and type iascontrol
The command to start a server is: iascontrol startOn Solaris, go to iASInstallDir/ias/bin and type: ./iascontrol
The command to stop a server is: iascontrol stop
For more information on the various options you can use with iascontrol, see the online help (iascontrol -help), and the iPlanet Application Server Administration Guide.
Deploying Applications
Use the following tools to deploy applications on iPlanet Application Server.
On Windows, go to Start>Programs> iPlanet Application Server 6.0 >iAS Deployment Tool.
On Solaris, go to iASInstallDir/ias/bin and type: ./deploytool
To access the command line Deployment Tool
On Windows, go to Start>Run and type-in iasdeploy.
On Solaris, go to iASInstallDir/ias/bin and type: ./iasdeploy
Logging Application Messages
Message logging is useful for tracking and debugging application errors. By using the log( ) method, you can send messages to the same log destination that the server administrator configures for iPlanet Application Server services.Logs pertaining to administration and deployment are stored in the Administration Server, known as KAS. The other servers that store message and event logs are KJS (Java Server), KCS (C++ Server) KXS (Executive Server). KAS starts the other three servers and monitors their activities.
For example, if an application encounters a problem in a segment of code, you can log the associated error message. Informational messages about the application's status, rather than error messages, are also useful.
How Log Messages Are Formatted
Every log message has the following four components:
date and time the message was created
When a log message is sent to the text-based destination logs, it is formatted as follows:message type, such as information, warning, or error
[Date and time of message] Message type: Service ID: Message text
For example, the following messages sent to an ASCII text file illustrate message format:
[01/18/00 11:11:12:0] info (1): GMS-017: server shutdown (host 0xc0a801ae, port 10818, group 'iAS') - updated host database
[01/18/00 11:11:18:2] warning (1): GMS-019: duplicate server (host 0xc0a8017f, port 10818) recognized, please contact iPlanet Communications for additional licenses
Determining the Logging Destination
You can configure the logging service to record server and application messages in any or all of the destinations:When you enable logging, the logging service automatically sends messages to the process consoles on Windows and Solaris platforms, as long as those consoles are open and console logging is enabled. On Windows, the logging service also sends messages to the application log. Logging to a process console does not record the messages. You cannot retrieve the messages once they scroll off the screen.
For more information on how to enable logging to a particular destination, see the iPlanet Application Server Administrator's Guide.
iPlanet Directory Server Administration
iPlanet Directory Server, which is packaged with iPanet Application Server, is iPlanet's implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). iPanet Application Server uses iPlanet Directory Server not only to store iPanet Application Server configuration data but also as a central repository for user and group information. A single iPlanet Directory Server can support multiple instances of iPanet Application Server—up to five clusters, in fact. This means that administrative data for all iPanet Application Server installations can be centralized in one place.The iPanet Application Server Administrator acts as an LDAP client and can access information about users and groups. As a result of this integration with LDAP, iPanet Application Server provides unified management of users, groups, and roles across the enterprise.
Support for Third-Party Management Tools
iPanet Application Server provides the ability to be monitored and managed via SNMP agents such as HP Openview. SNMP is a protocol used to exchange data about network activity.iPanet Application Server stores variables pertaining to network management in a tree-like hierarchy known as the server's management information base (MIB). Through this MIB, iPanet Application Server exposes key management information to third-party tools that run SNMP. As a result, iPanet Application Server can integrate with an enterprise's server management tools, thereby allowing other solutions for remote administration.
For more information, see the iPlanet Application Server Administrator's Guide.
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Copyright © 2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Some preexisting portions Copyright © 2001 Netscape Communications Corp. All rights reserved.
Last Updated November 09, 2001