Configuring the Application Server Domain

WebLogic Server defines the domain as the basic administration unit. A domain contains one or more servers that are managed from a single administration server that hosts the Administration Console. The domain defines configurable attributes that are viewed and modified with the Administration Console and stored in the file BEA_WebLogic_Root\user_projects\domain_name\config.xml. The configuration properties for the domain are organized on five tabs:

• General

• JTA

• SNMP

• Logging

• Applications

Whether you have one system running a single instance of WebLogic Server or a cluster of machines running many servers, it is controlled by a common domain. The scale of your system affects the choices made for domain configuration. The default values work well for the majority of installations, but following the tuning tips from the online documentation to match your application needs will greatly enhance performance.

In addition to the configuration properties, the console page for the domain enables you to monitor the servers and control the run state of the servers in the domain. Figure 35.8 shows the display when monitoring servers is selected. The Customize This View link enables you to control which columns are displayed in the table for each server.

The Control tab on the domain console page enables you to set the state for all servers in the domain or to control servers individually. Figure 35.9 shows the WebLogic Server domain console page for the Control tab.

The following sections provide a description of the five tabs under Domain Configuration.

General Configuration for the Domain

Clicking on the domain name opens the console page for the domain. Figure 35.10 shows the console page for the general configuration attributes of the domain. This is the same console page that was shown previously in Figure 35.3. Now it is being shown with the advanced options and without help text. Displaying help text is a console option that was introduced earlier in this chapter.

The BEA WebLogic Server home page contains a link for Common Administration Task Descriptions. One of the common system administration tasks performed with the Administration Console is to enable the domainwide administration port. By default, the administration port is disabled for the domain. The administration port enables you to start servers in the STANDBY state, and to separate administration traffic from application traffic. Being a domainwide configuration option, it is used by all servers in the domain. The administration port uses SSL; therefore, SSL must be configured before enabling the administration port. The configuration page for each server contains a Keystores and SSL tab for configuring SSL on that server. Refer to the "Configuring a Server" section later in this chapter for more information about configuring the Secure Socket Layer on WebLogic Server.

JTA Configuration for the Domain

The Java Transaction API (JTA) provides Java applications and J2EE Entity Beans with transaction management over database updates. Doing so guarantees that transactional database changes are completed as a group or not at all to achieve the ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) properties of a high-performance transaction. The WebLogic Server domain configuration for JTA enables you to set specifications for error detection during the transaction. The criteria for JTA error detection include timeouts and maximum limits for iteration cycles and number of simultaneous transactions. The domainwide JTA configuration is used by the transaction managers on each server in the domain. In addition, each server individually defines monitoring and logging configuration parameters for JTA. Refer to the "Configuring a Server" section later in this chapter for more information about the logging and monitoring attributes for a server.

SNMP Configuration for the Domain

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is the dominant standard for network management. SNMP provides a framework to define information and a protocol to exchange that information between SNMP agents on the network. A WebLogic administration server has the capability to respond to requests from SNMP managers and to send SNMP trap notifications to SNMP managers using the WebLogic SNMP service. The WebLogic domain configuration for SNMP defines whether the SNMP service is enabled on the administration server. If the SNMP service is enabled, the remainder of the SNMP configuration attributes specify the configuration of the SNMP service.

Logging Configuration for the Domain

The WebLogic logging service collects messages from the multiple WebLogic Server instances running in the domain into a single domainwide message log. Each WebLogic Server instance defines a configuration for its domain log filter. See the "Configuring Domain Log Filters" section later in this chapter for more information. The domainwide message provides the system administrator with a single reference point to monitor all messages forwarded from the WebLogic Server instances in the domain. This is a very convenient feature of the WebLogic Server domain. The configuration for domainwide logging specifies the domain filename and criteria for controlling the amount of disk space used by the log files.

Applications Configuration for the Domain

The Application Manager is responsible for deploying and managing applications in the WebLogic Server domain. The Auto Update Interval attribute on this console page is used by the Application Manager for performing auto-deployments.