Websphere configuration files

As we have just learnt, the application server configuration files are stored in a directory tree starting at the config directory under your Profile Root.

At the top of the hierarchy is the cells directory, which contains a subdirectory for each cell. Each cell contains a cell.xml file, which provides configuration data for the cell and files (such as security.xml, virtualhosts.xml, resources.xml, and variables.xml) which provide configuration data that applies across every node in the cell. Below the cells directory you can find the following directory structure:

• The clusters subdirectory, which holds a subdirectory for each cluster defined in the cell. Each cluster subdirectory holds a cluster.xml file, which provides configuration data specifically for that cluster.
• The nodes subdirectory, which holds a subdirectory for each node in the cell. Each node contains a configuration file specific for that node named node.xml and also security.xml, resources.xml and variables.xml files, which provide configuration data that applies only to the node and overrides the configurations specified in the containing cell level.
• The servers directory which always contains a server.xml file that provides configuration data specific to that server.
• The applications subdirectory, which holds a subdirectory for each application deployed in the cell. Under the application subdirectory is a deployments directory that contains a deployment.xml file with contains the relevant information about the application deployment.

The following is an example configuration file tree structure:

cells

  cell1

     cell.xml resources.xml virtualhosts.xml variables.xml security.xml

     nodes

        nodeX

           node.xml variables.xml resources.xml serverindex.xml

           servers  

           serverA

              server.xml variables.xml

           nodeAgent

              server.xml variables.xml

     applications

        sampleApp1

           deployment.xml

           META-INF

              application.xml ibm-application-ext.xml ibm-application-bnd.xml

Most of the time you could be interested to keep an eye on the server.xml configuration file, which contain information about:

• Services
• Components
• Process Definitions

As you can see from the above example, this file can be located in the following path:

${PROFILE_ROOT}/config/cells/${CELL}/nodes/${NODE}/servers/${SERVER}/server.xml

For example, in the profile we have earlier created it’s located at:

C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\config\cells\Node01Cell\nodes\Node01\servers\server1\server.xml