Running the WebLogic Console
- Starting the Console
- Command-line options for starting the Console
- How the Console is arranged
- Parts of the display
- The left panel display
- The top toolbar
- The right panel display
- Other right panel display options
- The Console hypergraph
- Displaying logfiles
- Stopping the Console
- Change history
- Using the WebLogic Console with Exceed
The WebLogic Console,
introduced in WebLogic Release 3.0, is a pure-Java GUI management
console that gives you detailed information about every aspect of
WebLogic. With it you can monitor all of the current connections to the
server, the memory being used, the clients connected, and a variety of
other aspects of the WebLogic environment.
Starting the Console
To start the Console:
- Start the WebLogic Server. We provide startup scripts for UNIX and
Windows in the distribution. If you installed the Windows InstallShield version
(.exe), start the Server by selecting "WebLogic Server" from
the "WebLogic" folder in the Start menu.
- Then start the WebLogic Console. We provide startup scripts for UNIX and
Windows in the distribution. (There is on Windows
a "WebLogic Console" menu item in the "WebLogic" folder for starting
the Console.)
You can start the Console from the command line by changing your
current directory to the directory of the weblogic distribution and
entering the following command, as shown in this example for Windows
(to be entered on one line): $ java -mx32m -classpath java\lib\classes.zip;
weblogic\classes;c:weblogic\lib\weblogicaux.jar;
weblogic.Console
Where weblogic is the directory where you installed WebLogic Server and java is the directory of your JDK.
If you are using Java 2 (JDK 1.2.x), omit java\lib\classes.zip from the -classpath option.
A login dialog will appear. It contains information necessary to
connect to a WebLogic Server with the Console, and some information is
supplied by default. You will need to supply the system
password, and you may need to adjust some of the default
information at the login screen. For example, if you are running WebLogic
on a host other than the default "localhost," or if you are running
WebLogic on a port other than the default 7001, you will need to change
this information in the login screen.
The Console login window
- Click the OK button to login.
If any of the login information is incorrect, a dialog box will be
displayed with the error message. Most often this happens when you
fail to enter your password, or enter it incorrectly. Additionally,
if you are using a custom realm (other than the weblogic default),
be sure to set your weblogic.properties
file as shown in the DefaultRealmExtender example.
Command-line options for starting the Console
You can start the Console with additional options on the command
line. You can use such options to supply information for the login
dialog box so that you can just hit Enter when the dialog appears; or
you can supply the same information in the login dialog box.
The command and its arguments follow a set format that is illustrated
by this example from Windows, which supplies the password as a command-line option
(to be entered on one line):
-
$ java -mx32m -classpath java\lib\classes.zip
weblogic\classes;c:weblogic\lib\weblogicaux.jar;
weblogic.Console -password systemPassword
Where weblogic is the directory where you installed WebLogic Server and java is the directory of your JDK.
If you are using Java 2 (JDK 1.2.x), omit java\lib\classes.zip from the -classpath option.
Arguments shown here are qualified by "Required", "Recommended" or "Optional," and
the default value for optional arguments. "Required" means that the
value must be supplied to start up the Console; it may be supplied
either on the command line or in the login dialog.
- -mx32m (Recommended)
- The Console should be started with a maximum Java heap size of at least 32meg.
- -classpath
(Required)
- The classpath passed to start the Console
must include the directories shown.
- -password (Required for access to a WebLogic Server)
- The WebLogic system password (administrator password).
- -url (Optional)
- URL of the WebLogic Server. The default for this option
is t3://localhost:7001.
Supply this option to attach the Console to a WebLogic Server
running on a different host or port.
- -verbose (Optional)
- Prints out any unexpected errors in the window from which the
Console was started. The default is non-verbose mode.
How the Console is arranged
Details about WebLogic's services are displayed as "managed objects" in
the Console. When an object is "managed" -- that is, when it
implements a particular interface -- information about the object
shows up in various displays in the Console. A ManagedObject may be
events, memory usages, connections, or a variety of other processes.
The Console display is divided into two panels and a top
toolbar:
- The left panel is an outline representation of all of the
ManagedObjects in the system.
- The right panel displays details (its properties) about the
object selected in the left panel.
- The top toolbar has icons for configuration and the About Box.
You can resize the Console window, and you can move the border between
the left and right panels.
When you start up the Console, the right panel displays information
about the Console subsystem itself on a tab labeled "Console
subsystem." The Console subsystem tab shows information about
the Console, its memory usage, and the JVM under which it is running.
The Console subsystem ManagedObject in the left panel,
with its detail displayed in the right panel
When you connect to a WebLogic Server, details about the WebLogic Server
will appear on a new tab in the right panel, as shown here. A WebLogic
Server's tab, like the "myserver" display shown in the illustration,
shows information about the server, its memory usage, and the JVM it
is using.
The WebLogic Server ManagedObject in the left panel,
with its detail displayed on a new tab in the right panel
After Release 3.0, WebLogic will make its ManagedObject API public so
that you can view the ManagedObjects in your own application with the
Console.
Parts of the display
The left panel display
On the left side of the display is an outline of all of the objects currently
being monitored by the Console. You can expand or collapse this list.
The left panel display
The circular reference icon -- two arrows going in a circle
-- shows up in the outline if the same object exists elsewhere in the
outline in the left panel. Clicking on the circular reference icon
shows the details for the object. An example of a circular reference
is the "RMI registry" entry for the WebLogic Server itself, which appears here
under the "Distributed objects" folder and also at the top of the left
panel, as shown in the previous illustration.
The circular reference icon in the left panel display (circled in red)
Left panel actions
The icons or folders in the left panel represent
ManagedObjects, the objects that the Console monitors. If a
ManagedObject disappears from the WebLogic Server -- such as when a user
disconnects -- the corresponding icon and label will disappear from
the left panel, and any display showing that object will disappear. If
a new ManagedObject appears on the WebLogic Server (such as an event
registration), it will be added dynamically to the left panel.
- Click on a plus sign (+) next to an icon or folder to expand the
subobjects in the outline below the icon or folder.
- Click on the minus sign (-) next to an icon or folder to collapse
the outline below the icon or folder.
- Click on the folder or icon itself to display general information
about that collection of ManagedObjects in the right
panel. Labels of the items in the left panel that have been
clicked on and are currently displayed in a tab or frame are highlighted in
blue.
The top toolbar
The top toolbar has twelve icons:
-
Save current Console configuration
-
Restore a saved Console configuration
-
Print Console contents to a text file
-
Start a new WebLogic Server
-
Attach to a WebLogic Server, Console or object
-
Control the placement mode of details in the right panel
-
Pops up the Console about dialog
-
Triggers context sensitive help
The top toolbar
Top toolbar actions
Configuration
-
Save current Console configuration
-
Save allows you to save the current configuration of the Console
to a file.
You can later restore that configuration from the file,
and the Console will display the same set of objects as nearly as possible.
If a displayed item is not obtainable when you restore the configuration
-- such as the display of a particular user session -- the object is skipped.
Save will pop up a dialog box prompting you for the name
of the configuration file to use.
-
Restore a saved Console configuration
-
Restore allows you to restore a previously saved Console configuration.
You will be prompted for the password for each server when it is restored.
If an item is not obtainable when you restore the configuration
-- such as the display of a particular user session -- the object is skipped.
Restore will pop up a dialog box prompting you for the name
of the configuration file to use for the restoration.
-
Print Console contents to a text file
-
Print will write the contents of the currently displayed objects
to a text file. This is useful when working with WebLogic
support staff.
Print will pop up a dialog box prompting you for the name
of the text file to use.
Servers
-
Start a new WebLogic Server
-
Start allows you to start a WebLogic Server from the Console.
You will be asked via a dialog box for the name of the server, the
WebLogic system password for that server, the root directory for the
WebLogic distribution, and the Java heap
size to use.
The root directory is the directory that contains
the individual server directories.
When the Console attempts to start the server, it displays the
contents of the server startup process in the Console subsystem
messages tab. If successful, it also connects to the server and
displays the top level server object.
-
Attach to a WebLogic Server, Console or object
-
Attach to server allows you to connect to an existing WebLogic Server
and control its operation.
You may connect to more than one server at a time.
You will be asked via a dialog box for the DNS name of the server,
the port number, protocol,
and the WebLogic system password.
If the server was started using the default values,
you only need to enter the system password.
Placement mode
These next four buttons act as a set to indicate the current placement mode:
- Place new selection in a new tab
-
The first of the four placement icons is selected by default, which sets the display so
that each time you select a ManagedObject in the left panel, its
detail appears on a new tab in the right panel. You can
continue to add tabs to the right panel display, and you can switch
between detail views by clicking each tab.
- Replace current tab with new selection
-
Select the second placement icon to set the display so
that each time you select a ManagedObject in the left panel, its
detail replaces the contents of the current tab.
- Add new selection to current tab
-
Select the third placement icon to set the display so
that each time you select a ManagedObject in the left panel, its
detail is added to the current tab, below the existing
detail. Use the scroll bar in the right panel to view new content at
the bottom.
- Place new selection in a new window
-
Select the fourth placement icon to set the display
so that each time you select a ManagedObject in the left panel,
its detail appears in a new window on your desktop. You
can continue to add windows, which you can move around and arrange
as you wish.
Identification and help
-
About dialog
-
Click the WebLogic "W" icon to pop up the about dialog, which identifies the version of the Console that
you are running.
-
Context-sensitive help
-
Clicking on the help icon changes the cursor into a pointing hand.
You can then click on an object in the Console
(or the Console itself) and the help window will appear with information
about the object ("What is this?") and what you can do with it ("How do I use this?").
The right panel display
The right panel displays details -- properties -- for the
ManagedObject selected in the left panel. Your display will depend
upon the placement mode you have selected in the
top toolbar.
The right panel display
Right panel actions
The right panel display can be configured in several ways with the
icons on the top toolbar. In general, every tab
in the right panel will have at least two icons in the upper right
corner: Tear-off and Close. If the detail you are viewing in the right
panel can be manually updated, the tab may also have an Update Now
icon.
The Update now, Tear-off and Close icons
(circled in red) in a right panel display
- If you tear off a tab, the detail about that ManagedObject will
appear in a new frame with at least two icons, a
Reattach icon and a Close icon.
Click the Reattach icon to return the frame to its
former position in the right panel.
Click the Close icon to close the frame.
The Reattach icon in a torn-off panel
- If there are alternate ways to show a property, a right mouse-click
on the property name will display a popup menu with options for that
property. For example, the strip chart for the Console "Used heap space" display can be
displayed as either a strip chart or a number.
The popup menu with property display options
Other right panel display options
The Console hypergraph
The Console includes a hypergraph display for displaying an entire
tree of objects -- for example, all of the active threads or events.
The objects and their properties are shown projected on the
surface of a hemisphere, with objects in the center appearing larger
than objects on the periphery. A large amount of information can be
displayed in this manner.
Hypergraph display of Events topic tree
Hypergraph actions
- To move objects of interest to the center of the hypergraph, use
the left mouse button to click and drag the object to the center of
the display. To rotate an object, use the right mouse button to click
and drag it. As objects become bigger, their labels will appear (if
there is enough space), as they become smaller, the labels will
disappear. The label of the object the cursor is currently over always
appears in the upper-left corner of the hypergraph, outside of the
large circle.
- To see the labels of objects in the hypergraph that are not
currently visible, either move the object to the center of the
hypergraph or position the cursor over the object. The label for
the object will appear on the object (unless it is too small) and
in the upper left corner of the hypergraph panel.
- Click on an object in the hypergraph to open a detail for that
object. Depending on the placement mode you have
selected in the top toolbar, this will create a new detail with tab,
or add it to the current detail, or create a frame. If there is a
subtree for the object, a new hypergraph will appear showing the
subtree, with the selected object as the root of the new tree.
Displaying logfiles
There are log file displays for the Server log, the JDBC log, and the
HTTP log, each of which logs WebLogic Server activity. Once the log
display is opened on the Console, any messages that get written to the
corresponding log on the server are also shown on log display on the
Console.
Stopping the WebLogic Console
To stop the Console, click the Console's window manager close
button (the "X" in the upper-right corner of the window for the
Console) or type Ctrl-C in the window from which you started the
Console.
Change history
- Release 3.1
-
Added commands to the Console for managing WebLogic Servers,
including Start, Shutdown, Lock, Unlock, Cancel shutdown.
- Added a default -ms and -mx heap sizes for automated WebLogic
Server start from within the Console. The default is set to 16M
and may be changed in the login dialog .
-
The Server startup output and shutdown log messages are
now redirected to the Console managedobject log.
-
Upgraded version of swing to 1.0.1.
- Release 3.0.4
- Made a modification to accommodate a bug in
java.awt.GridBagLayout that was causing memory problems in the
Console.
- Fixed a timing problem that was preventing garbage
collection for displays with strip charts.
- Release 3.0.1 -- 3/10/98
- Added support for displaying JDBC log messages.
- Fixed the following display problems:
- Cyclic references would display new instead of changing
focus to existing object.
- In replace mode that caused an exception after
all tabs were deleted, when another object was added.
- When property values changed from long strings to shorter strings.
- With the JDBC connection pool count.
- Exception when Console subsystem object was deleted and re-added.
- Exception when last tab in the tab folder was deleted.
- Conflation of fully-qualified classnames and object
instances names in display headers.
- Replace mode deadlock.
- Popup menu on property values on Solaris.
- Release 3.0 -- 1/29/98
- First release.
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Click the Update now icon, which appears only on frames or tabs
that have ManagedObjects that can be manually updated, to force an
immediate update of the property. If the Update now icon is not
present, the ManagedObject automatically updates periodically. Manual
updating is provided for certain specialized display that are
time-consuming to refresh, such as an event 
Click the purple arrow -- the Tear-off icon -- to remove the tab from
the right panel and display the tab in a new, separate frame.