Who’s On Phirst

Here are a few helpful hints our developers have come up with while working with WebSphere.

Need to Make a Cell Name Change in WebSphere 6.0/6.1 Without Re-Installing WebSphere?
IBM provides a collection of sample Jacl & Jython scripts for less common administrative tasks. The scripts can be downloaded from IBM DeveloperWorks.

 

Stuck with an Annoying Cluster Name?
With Phurnace Deliver™, simply take a snapshot and globally replace the old name with the new one in the Configuration XML file. Then, use Phurnace Deliver™ to create a new Cluster with the correct name. All of your settings will be transferred to the new Cluster.

 

Comparing Raw WAS configurations
Trying to compare the raw configuration files of two different WebSphere environments? Make sure to check at the cell, node, and server scope for configuration objects. Since configurations are inherited from cells to nodes to servers, configurations can be applied to a server but the configuration XML will be missing from the server directory.

 

SIBus Startup Problems
If you encounter Service Integration Bus (SIBus) startup problems in WebSphere after restoring a configuration, you may have a GUID conflict in your SIBus database. Stop the server and delete the folder /path/to/profile/filestore/com.ibm.ws.sib. The problem is a GUID mismatch between the restored configuration and the database. Deleting this directory will make WebSphere recreate the database with the correct GUID.

 

WSADMIN Slowness
Each discrete call to WSADMIN instantiates a new JVM, which explains part of its slowness. In addition, each call is committed prior to continuing with the next step – which can cause problems if an error occurs mid-way through a script. A work around is to wrap the whole process in a transaction and roll-back in case of error.

 

WebSphere Profiles and Hostnames
When creating WebSphere profiles with the intention of federating them to a Cell, pay close attention the hostname you use. Verify that you can resolve all hostnames from all servers--both from the Node(s) to be federated and from the Deployment Manager. Setting the hostname to localhost will only work for standalone instances.