A configuration group provides a mechanism for ensuring consistent configuration among Oracle ATG Web Commerce server instances. At startup, instances that are members of a configuration group download group configuration properties from the group’s master server. At runtime, group members can periodically download updates that pertain to their group.

Note: Like other configuration changes, group configuration changes generally take effect only on instance startup; they have no effect on a running Nucleus component.

In order to join a group, an Oracle ATG Web Commerce instance must define itself as a group client or server by setting a ConfigurationClient or a ConfigurationServer component:

One ConfigurationServer is designated as the default group master. Changes to group settings must be set on the master ConfigurationServer; it then distributes those changes to other ConfigurationServers and ConfigurationClients in the group.

A group can have one or more ConfigurationServers. If the primary master fails, another ConfigurationServer assumes the role of group master until the primary master resumes operation. The order of succession is established by the primary master and distributed to other ConfigurationServers.

Note: An Oracle ATG Web Commerce instance that serves as a configuration server can also act as a configuration client, and typically does so.

Requirements

To use group configuration, the following requirements apply to each Oracle ATG Web Commerce server instance in the group:

Group Identifiers and Node Types

A configuration group is identified by its group name, where each ConfigurationClient and ConfigurationServer in the group is configured with the same Configuration.groupName property. Settings that are specific to a group are known only to the member Oracle ATG Web Commerce instances. An Oracle ATG Web Commerce instance can belong to only one group at a time.

Note: A configuration group can overlap multiple Oracle ATG Web Commerce server clusters — for example, publishing and production clusters.

Within a group, Oracle ATG Web Commerce server types are differentiated through their node types. For example, a configuration group might contain these servers:

In order to differentiate settings among server types, each server’s configuration client sets its Configuration.nodeType property to a value that corresponds to its server type. Given the previous server types, you might set their respective Configuration.nodeType properties as follows:

Dynamo Server Admin Administrator Authentication

Enter the Dynamo Server Admin administrator account and password in the properties of the HttpConfigurationServerAccess component.

Set the following property in the <ATG11dir>/home/servers/server-name/atg/dynamo/service/groupconfig/HttpConfigurationServerAccess.properties file.

adminPassword=myadminusername

WebLogic Application Server Administrator Authentication

If the servers in your configuration group run on the Oracle WebLogic application server, enter the WebLogic server administrator account and password in the properties of the HttpConfigurationServerAccess component.

Set the following two properties in the <ATG11dir>/home/servers/server-name/atg/dynamo/service/groupconfig/HttpConfigurationServerAccess.properties file.

weblogicAdminUsername=myadminusername
weblogicAdminPassword=myadminpassword

If your WebLogic server does not require authentication, set the sendWeblogicAuth property to false.

sendWebLogicAuth=false