IBM WebSphere Application Server Plug-in Overview and Prerequisites

1 IBM WebSphere Application Server Plug-in Overview and Prerequisites

This chapter describes the system monitoring plug-in for IBM WebSphere Application Server and provides a list of available features. Review the summary of prerequisites required before configuring IBM WebSphere Application Server for monitoring by Oracle Enterprise Manager.

IBM WebSphere Application Server Plug-in Overview and Feature Summary

IBM WebSphere Plug-in Overview and Feature Summary

The system monitoring plug-in for IBM WebSphere Application Server extends Oracle Enterprise Manager to add support for managing WebSphere Application Server instances. By deploying the plug-in within your environment, you gain the following management features:

Monitor IBM WebSphere Application Server instances.
Gather configuration data and track configuration changes for IBM WebSphere Application Server instances.
Raise alerts and violations based on thresholds set on monitored metrics and configuration data.
Provide rich out-of-box reports through Enterprise Manager's Information Publisher reports feature based on the gathered data.
Support monitoring by a local or remote Agent. Local Agent is an agent that is running on the same host as the IBM WebSphere Application Server server. Remote Agent is an agent running on a host that is different from the host where IBM WebSphere Application Server is running.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Jobs that allow for the following management of IBM WebSphere Application Server:

Restart AppServer
Start Application
Stop Application

Supported Versions

This plug-in supports the following versions of products:

This plug-in is certified for the latest release of Oracle Enterprise Manager 24.1
IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.5.x and 9.0.5.x

For supported versions, see the Enterprise Manager certification matrix on My Oracle Support:

To access the Enterprise Manager certification matrix, follow these steps:

Sign in to My Oracle Support:
```
http://support.oracle.com
```
Click the Certifications tab.
In the Certification Search, from the Product list, select one of the following:
- Enterprise Manager Base Platform - OMS, to view the certification for OMS.
- Enterprise Manager Base Platform - Agent, to view the certification for Management Agent.
From the Release list, select release version, and then click Search.

IBM WebSphere Application Server Plug-in Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be met before you can deploy the plug-in. Patches are available from My Oracle Support (https://support.oracle.com):

Enterprise Manager (Oracle Management Server and Oracle Management Agent) must be installed.
Ensure JMX metrics are able to be collected on WebSphere Application Server. To do this, go to Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI) in your WebSphere Application Server console and ensure your currently monitored statistic set is set to ‘All’.
Set these environment variables. If you are working on a remote agent, these files will need to be copied over to your remote system:
1. STWS_JAVA_BIN – This should be the path to the IBM Java bin folder.
2. STWS_JMX_CP – This environment variable needs to have the path to a number of dependencies including: tools.jar, com.ibm.ws.admin.client_9.0.jar, com.ibm.ws.ejb.thinclient_9.0.jar, com.ibm.ws.orb_9.0.jar, was_public.jar and management.jar. Most of these will be found nested in the AppSever folder.
3. STWS_SAS_PROPS – Path to your sas.client.props file
4. STWS_SSL_PROPS – Path to your ssl.client.props file

Example paths for STWS_JMX_CP:

%WebSphere_Home%\AppServer\java\8.0\lib\tools.jar

%WebSphere_Home%\AppServer\runtimes\com.ibm.ws.admin.client_9.0.jar

%WebSphere_Home%\AppServer\runtimes\com.ibm.ws.ejb.thinclient_9.0.jar

%WebSphere_Home%\AppServer\runtimes\com.ibm.ws.orb_9.0.jar

%WebSphere_Home%\AppServer\dev\was_public.jar

%WebSphere_Home%\AppServer\lib\webadmin\management.jar

Downloading the Plug-in

Download the JBoss EAP Plug-in

You can download plug-ins in online or offline mode. Online mode refers to an environment where you have Internet connectivity, and can download the plug-in directly through Enterprise Manager from My Oracle Support. Offline mode refers to an environment where you do not have Internet connectivity, or where the plug-in is not available from My Oracle Support.

See the Managing Plug-ins chapter in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide for details on downloading the plug-in in either mode.

Deploying the Plug-in

Deploying the JBoss EAP Plug-in

You can deploy the plug-in to an Oracle Management Service instance using the Enterprise Manager console, or using the EM Command Line Interface (EMCLI). While the console enables you to deploy one plug-in at a time, the command line interface mode enables you to deploy multiple plug-ins at a time, that can save plug-in deployment time and downtime.

See the Managing Plug-ins chapter in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide for instructions on deploying the plug-in.

Upgrading the Plug-in

How to upgrade the IBM WebSphere Application Server plug-in for Enterprise Manager.

The Self Update feature allows you to expand Enterprise Manager's capabilities by updating Enterprise Manager components whenever new or updated features become available. Updated plug-ins are made available via the Enterprise Manager Store, an external site that is periodically checked by Enterprise Manager to obtain information about updates ready for download. See the Updating chapter in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide for steps to update the plug-in.

Undeploying the Plug-in

How to undeploy the JBoss EAP Enterprise Manager Plug-in.

See the Managing Plug-ins chapter in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide for steps to undeploy the plug-in.