5 Oracle WebLogic Server Configuration for Advanced Management Console

The WebLogic Server instance provides web services to communicate with the agents and the data source to access the database. It also provides a user interface (UI) to configure the Advanced Management Console and the Java Usage Tracker parser as Advanced Management Console server components.

The Oracle WebLogic Server Configuration for Advanced Management Console topic contains the following sections that describe software requirements for installing and configuring Oracle WebLogic Server for Advanced Management Console:

• Software Requirements for Oracle WebLogic Server

• Installing WebLogic Server

• Configuring WebLogic Server with Databases

• Deploying JAX-RS 2.0 to WebLogic Server Deployment Libraries

• Setting Up WebLogic Server JTA

• Setting Up Java Heap Size and Proxy Servers

• Trusted HTTPS Certificate

• Setting Up WebLogic Server Mail Notification

• Securing WebLogic Server Configuration

Software Requirements for Oracle WebLogic Server

The Advanced Management Console requires Oracle WebLogic Server and Java SE Development Kit 8 Downloads.

If you’re using Oracle WebLogic Server for only the Advanced Management Console, then in Oracle WebLogic Server Installers for Development, go to Oracle WebLogic Server 12c R2, and then select Zip distribution for macOS, Windows, and Linux option. If you have a license for Oracle WebLogic Server, then you can download Oracle WebLogic Server 12c R2 from the Oracle Software Delivery.

Installing WebLogic Server

There are different ways of installing Oracle WebLogic Server. Oracle WebLogic Server Installation Example provides an example of installing, creating a domain, creating an Administration Server, and creating a Managed Server for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Configuring WebLogic Server with Databases

This topic contains the following sections that describe how to configure Oracle WebLogic Server with databases and deploy the JDBC server:

• Configuring WebLogic Server with MySQL Database

• Configuring WebLogic Server with the Oracle Database

Configuring WebLogic Server with MySQL Database

You can configure Oracle WebLogic Server with MySQL database to provide services to access and modify user data. The database is accessed using JDBC.

To configure WebLogic Server with the database:

1. Open the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console in a browser.
   • If the SSL listen port is configured in the WebLogic Server instance, then go to https://wls-hostname:port/console. For example:

     https://localhost:7001/console

   • If the SSL listen port is not configured in WebLogic Server, then go to http://wls-hostname:port/console. For example:

     http://localhost:7001/console

2. From the Domain Structure block in the left panel, select Domain, Services and then select Data Sources.
3. Create a new Generic Data Source. Set the data source name (for example, amc2 mysql).
4. Set the JNDI Name to amc2/db/mysql. This is the critical value for the Advanced Management Console to locate the data source object.
5. Select the database type as MySQL.
6. Select the database driver as MySQL's Driver (Type 4) Versions:using com.mysql.jdbc.Driver.
7. In the Transaction Options section, ensure that the Supports Global Transactions check box is not selected. Advanced Management Console doesn’t support global transactions.
8. Set the database name to your MySQL database name you created when performing procedures in MySQL Database Installation and Configuration for Advanced Management Console.
9. Set the database host-name and port to:
   • The host name where Oracle Database resides.
   • Leave port as the default or change it to the database port if it is different.
10. Set the database user name and password for your MySQL database (for example, user name as amc2 and a strong password). The MySQL database user name and password are the values you configured when performing procedures in MySQL Database Installation and Configuration for Advanced Management Console.
11. In the Properties text box, add the following lines to enable Unicode for this JDBC connection:

    useUnicode=yes

    characterEncoding=UTF-8

12. On the Select Targets page, select the check box for AdminServer or the server where you want to deploy the Advanced Management Console server.
13. Click Finish to save the changes.
14. In Data Sources, click the data source that you just created.
15. Click the Connection Pool tab.
16. Set Maximum Capacity to 50.
17. Click Save to save the changes.

The Advanced Management Console doesn’t need to know your database user credentials. MySQL database user credentials are only required to configure the data source connection in the application server; therefore, the JNDI Name mentioned in step 4 is critical for the setup.

When the WebLogic Server is configured with the database, deploy the JDBC data source for the database to connect to WebLogic Server.

Configuring WebLogic Server with the Oracle Database

You can configure Oracle WebLogic Server with the Oracle database to provide services to access and modify user data. The database is accessed by using JDBC.

To configure WebLogic Server with the Oracle Database:

1. Open the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console in a browser.
   • If the SSL listen port is configured in the WebLogic Server instance, then go to https://wls-hostname:port/console. For example:

     https://localhost:7001/console

   • If the SSL listen port is not configured in WebLogic Server, then go to http://wls-hostname:port/console. For example:

     http://localhost:7001/console

2. From the Domain Structure block in the left panel, select Domain Services, and then select Data Sources.
3. Create a new Generic Data Source. Set the data source name. For example, amc2 oracle.
4. Set the JNDI Name to amc2/db/oracle if the database is Oracle 12c. If the database is Oracle 11g, then set the JNDI Name to amc2/db/oracle11.
   This is the critical value for Advanced Management Console to locate the Data Source object.
5. Select the database type as Oracle.
6. Select the database driver as Oracle's Driver (Thin) for Instance Connections, and Versions as Any.
7. In the Transaction Options section, ensure that the Supports Global Transactions check box is not selected. Advanced Management Console doesn’t support global transactions.
8. Set the database name to the Oracle Database name created when performing the procedures in Oracle Database Installation and Configuration for Advanced Management Console.
9. Set the database host-name and port to:
   • The host name where Oracle Database resides.
   • Leave port as the default or change it to the database port if it is different.
10. Set the database user name and password for your Oracle Database.
    The Oracle database user name and password are the values that you configured when performing the procedures in Oracle Database Installation and Configuration for Advanced Management Console. For example, a user name of amc2 with a strong password.
11. Change the URL so that it contains a backslash (/) instead of a colon (:) after port.
    For example:

     jdbc:oracle:thin:@oracledb-hostname:port/amc2

12. In the Properties text box, add the following lines to enable Unicode for this JDBC connection:

    user=amc2

    useUnicode=yes

    characterEncoding=UTF-8

13. Click Next.
14. On the Select Targets page, select the check box for AdminServer or the server where you want to deploy the Advanced Management Console server.
15. Click Finish to save the changes.
16. In Data Sources, click the data source that you just created.
17. Click the Connection Pool tab.
18. Set Maximum Capacity to 50.
19. Click Save to save the changes.

The Advanced Management Console doesn’t need to know your Oracle Database user credentials. The Oracle Database user credentials are only required to configure the Data Source connection in the application server. The JNDI Name mentioned in step 4 is critical for the setup.

After WebLogic Server is configured with the database, deploy the JDBC data source for the database to connect to WebLogic Server.

Deploying JAX-RS 2.0 to WebLogic Server Deployment Libraries

If the Advanced Management Console needs to use JAX-RS 2.0 RESTful Management API for Web Services, then you must deploy the jax-rs-2.0.war file to WebLogic Server deployment libraries.

To deploy the file from the WebLogic Server Administration Console:

1. Log in to the WebLogic Server Administration console.
2. From the Domain Structure block in the left panel, select Deployments.
3. Click the Install button.
4. For a Windows operating system, enter the path %MW_HOME%\wlserver\common\deployable-libraries.

   For a Linux operating system, enter the path $MW_HOME/wlserver/common/deployable-libraries.

5. Select jax-rs-2.0.war.
6. Accept the default values for all the rest of the settings and then click Next, Next, Next, and Finish.
7. Check in the Deployments section for a new entry Name=jax-rs(2.0) and Type=Library.
8. From the Deployments list, click jax-rs(2.X.X), then click the Targets tab, and select the box next to your Administrative Server or the server where you want to deploy the Advanced Management Console , and click Save.

Setting Up WebLogic Server JTA

Errors in WebLogic Server may occur if the Java transaction timeout interval is not set to a long enough value for the database access. You need WebLogic Server administrator credentials to define the timeout interval using the Java Transaction API (JTA).

To define the Java Transaction API (JTA) configuration for the WebLogic Server domain time out to 300 seconds:

1. Log in to the WebLogic Server Admin console.
2. From the Domain Structure block in the left panel, go to Services and select JTA from services.
3. Click the Configurations tab and then click the subtab JTA.
4. On the Java Transaction API (JTA) page, enter the Timeout Seconds value as 300.

Setting Up Java Heap Size and Proxy Servers

If direct access to the Internet from the server is not available, then you should set up the proxy server for the WebLogic Server. The Advanced Management Console requires access to Java Security Baselines. Internet access is also required to introspect JNLP files if they’re outside of the corporate network. For example, when you launch a JNLP application from Oracle Tutorials, in order to display the information correctly, the Advanced Management Console needs to download the JNLP file as well as the referenced jars.

To set up the Java Heap Size and proxy servers:

1. Log in to the WebLogic Server Administration Console.
2. From the Administration Console, go to Environment, select Servers, and then select the Managed Server.
3. Click the Configuration tab, and then click the Server Start sub tab.
4. Add the following VM options to the Arguments text field, which includes heap size and proxy settings (both HTTPS and HTTP proxy settings).

   -Xmx4G
   -Dhttps.proxyHost=host_name -Dhttps.proxyPort=proxy_port
   -Dhttp.proxyHost=host_name -Dhttp.proxyPort=proxy_port
   -Dhttp.nonProxyHosts=server_hostname|server_IP

   Note:

   You need to adjust the Java Heap Size as recommended. Oracle recommends 4 GB heap size or higher. The -Xmx4G option changes the maximum heap size to 4 GB. A 32-bit JVM cannot be started with 4GB heap size, therefore it is recommended to use a 64-bit JVM. If the Advanced Management Console detects low Java heap size, then the corresponding warning message is displayed in the login screen.

Trusted HTTPS Certificate

The Advanced Management Console uses HTTPS only for communication between the Advanced Management Console server and clients (agent, web UI, Deployment Rule Set tool, and Java installer configuration). The HTTPS setup for Advanced Management Console requires a valid HTTPS certificate, trusted by the client-side Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

Ensure that a valid HTTP certificate is available and that the Oracle WebLogic Server Identity Keystore is set up with it. See Configuring Keystores in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administering Security for Oracle WebLogic Server 12c guide.

Note:

You can use self-signed certificates only for demonstrations and not in production systems.

Setting Up WebLogic Server Mail Notification

The Advanced Management Console server optionally sends an email notification to managed desktop users who register agents with their credentials. The Advanced Management Console server uses JavaMail APIs built into the Oracle WebLogic Server to act as a medium between the Advanced Management Console and the actual SMTP mail server. The WebLogic Server must be configured to use a specific mail server.

To configure WebLogic Server for mail notification setup in the WebLogic Server console:

1. Log in to the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

2. From the domain structure block, select Services and Mail Sessions.

3. Click New and complete the form.

Complete the form with the following details:

1. Name: Provide an arbitrary name.
2. JNDI Name: Provide the JNDI name as amc2/mail. This is a critical value for the mail server setup.
3. Provide your session user name and password.
4. Set up the JavaMail properties.

   mail.transport.protocol=smtp

   mail.smtp.ssl.enable=true

   mail.smtp.auth=true

   mail.smtp.host=<your email host name>

5. To trace SMTP sessions, set mail.debug=true.
6. Click Next and then select the server that Advanced Management Console is deployed on.
7. Click Finish.
8. Restart the server.

In the Advanced Management Console user interface, the Settings sub tab of the Configuration tab has a check box to enable or disable WebLogic Server mail notifications. If no JNDI name is found, then this check box is disabled and you cannot enable WebLogic Server mail notifications.

Securing WebLogic Server Configuration

You can use the Java Security Manager in WebLogic Server to provide protection for resources running in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and to improve the Advanced Management Console security.