Weblogic on Windows with TR 8.98.3.0

[klwong]

Has anybody tried this combination yet? I've noticed something odd, and I don't know if it's me, or if it's something with this Tools Release on Weblogic ...

Due to old habits, I take a "standardized" JAS.INI and JDBJ.INI and manually edit the files under JDE_HOME, cutting and pasting my pre-tuned lines to replace existing ones, instead of going through Server Manager to pick and choose all the parameters on the various configuration pages.

This time, after making my edits and starting the JAS instance, I got errors in the logs that it couldn't find the security server on port 6080. These would have been the default settings in the JAS.INI before I did my edits. I certainly saved my changes, and confirmed that they were still there in the files under JDE_HOME.

It turns out that there was a copy of the 2 INI files under the old pre-Server Manager location under WEB-INF\classes. Once I copied my changed files there, the error went away.

So the big question is: is there a problem with how Weblogic is configured? Am I now supposed to do all my changes in Server Manager, and will it pay attention to those changes? Has anyone else seen this?

 

[klwong]

Oh, by the way, Tools Release 8.98.3.1 is available for download today, so anybody having trouble with the grid loading slowness problem should grab it.

 

[DSauve]

Or anyone with grid jumpiness, databrowser problems with large records, package builds...

But on the plus side, I am (and our users are) really looking forward to dynamic grid column movement and resizing.

 

[brother_of_karamazov]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anybody tried this combination yet? I've noticed something odd, and I don't know if it's me, or if it's something with this Tools Release on Weblogic ...

Due to old habits, I take a "standardized" JAS.INI and JDBJ.INI and manually edit the files under JDE_HOME, cutting and pasting my pre-tuned lines to replace existing ones, instead of going through Server Manager to pick and choose all the parameters on the various configuration pages.

This time, after making my edits and starting the JAS instance, I got errors in the logs that it couldn't find the security server on port 6080. These would have been the default settings in the JAS.INI before I did my edits. I certainly saved my changes, and confirmed that they were still there in the files under JDE_HOME.

It turns out that there was a copy of the 2 INI files under the old pre-Server Manager location under WEB-INF\classes. Once I copied my changed files there, the error went away.

So the big question is: is there a problem with how Weblogic is configured? Am I now supposed to do all my changes in Server Manager, and will it pay attention to those changes? Has anyone else seen this?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been told that ini changes outside of Server Manager are a no-no. They would not say it wouldn't work but only that there may be "unexpected results." I do all my edits in SM and only open the files to examine the settings.

 

[klwong]

Interesting ... especially since I don't believe the changes are saved in a database anywhere, other than those INI files.

It also makes it hard to do some of the older optimizations, such as commenting out JDBC drivers that you aren't using. There's just no way to do that in Server Manager ...

 

[brother_of_karamazov]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting ... especially since I don't believe the changes are saved in a database anywhere, other than those INI files.

It also makes it hard to do some of the older optimizations, such as commenting out JDBC drivers that you aren't using. There's just no way to do that in Server Manager ...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep.

I would really like to see Denver get ini files and the settings in them under control. Some of those settings are extraordinarily obsolete and there is absolutely no reason to have line for an Oracle database in a SQL system or iSeries settings in a Windows jde.ini file. Heck, I bet you could remove over half the lines in those files with no ill effects.

Anyway, didn't mean to threadjack but the issues with ini files were never addressed and the presence of Server Manager has exacerbated the problem.

 

[brother_of_karamazov]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anybody tried this combination yet? I've noticed something odd, and I don't know if it's me, or if it's something with this Tools Release on Weblogic ...

Due to old habits, I take a "standardized" JAS.INI and JDBJ.INI and manually edit the files under JDE_HOME, cutting and pasting my pre-tuned lines to replace existing ones, instead of going through Server Manager to pick and choose all the parameters on the various configuration pages.

This time, after making my edits and starting the JAS instance, I got errors in the logs that it couldn't find the security server on port 6080. These would have been the default settings in the JAS.INI before I did my edits. I certainly saved my changes, and confirmed that they were still there in the files under JDE_HOME.

It turns out that there was a copy of the 2 INI files under the old pre-Server Manager location under WEB-INF\classes. Once I copied my changed files there, the error went away.

So the big question is: is there a problem with how Weblogic is configured? Am I now supposed to do all my changes in Server Manager, and will it pay attention to those changes? Has anyone else seen this?

[/ QUOTE ]

If WLS is anything like WAS, particularly WAS Network Deployment, there are about 5 different locations those files go though to get to their final location. It is possible that you edited the ones in the final location and those were overwritten by the others further up the chain when you either restarted the SM agent or the instance.

 

[klwong]

Yeah, that's what I don't know yet. We all agree that in the Server Manager era, the JAS.INI and JDBJ.INI that the JAS instance uses are under JDE_HOME\targets\<instance name>\config, right?

In the pre-Server Manager era, the INI files were in a long pathway like (using WebSphere as an example): WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\<profile name>\installedApps\<node name>\<instance name>.ear\webclient.war\WEB-INF\classes.

Under Server Manager, there have been no INI files in that WEB-INF\classes folder.

When I edited the INI files, I modified the ones under JDE_HOME, just like I always have in TR 8.97 and later. I stopped and restarted the JAS instance, and got the error. Since the error referred to "unknown Security Server" and "port 6080", my first thought was "did I forget to save my changes?" But all my edits were there and intact, under JDE_HOME.

I then searched for other copies of the INI files, and found another set under WEB-INF\classes. (I don't have the server in front of me, so I can't give you the full Weblogic path.) These files looked just like a set of out-of-the-box, just-deployed, default INI files. I copied my edited versions and overwrote these files, stopped and restarted the JAS instance, and everything worked fine.

My next test will have to be making a change through Server Manager, and seeing which set of INI files gets changed.

 

[ondeh]

Hi,

I have been trying using this WLS (10.3.2) using Tools 8.98.3 (downloading from edelivery), it was working well. Supprisingly I did not do any enhancements in Directory of the folder of HTML (like WS or OAS). It was instantly done, synchronized and click and go. Just be careful 10.3.1 I could not match with 8.98.3 (any help appreciated). My 10.3.1 I did it with 8.98.2. My spec was CentOS for ES and Windows in the VMware (1.5 GB RAM). Little bit slow but after I run a lot of applications the system start to be stable and better (no e-gen yet).

Regards.

 

[jacksmccu]

Hi Ken,

I had the same problem as you but I only made my changes in Server Manager (I didn't manually change the JAS.INI or JDBJ.INI). I checked the changes made in SM a few times, and they were correct the interesting thing I saw for the first time (unless I missed it before) was SM came up with a Synchronization issue and gave me the option of synchronizing. My guess here is that SM was comparing the INI files on the server (which I had not touched) with the changes I had made to them in SM. SM must store these changes somewhere other than in the INI files themselves. What I did in the end was manually stop the HTML server in SM and then did the synchronize, this then worked and also started the HTML server back up again.

I am not sure if this a "feature" or just something to do with 8.98.3 but it certainly is not intuitive.

Cheers,

Jack.

 

[klwong]

OK, I got back to the Weblogic server today, and did my experiments:

- Changed JAS.INI through Server Manager.
- Noted that the copy under D:\JDE_HOME\targets\<instance name>\config was the one that was modified.
- The copy under D:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\domains\<domain name>\servers\<server name>\stage\<instance name>\app\webclient.war\WEB-INF\classes was not modified.
- Starting the JAS instance now shows that it is not using the newly modified INI files.
- Copying the modified INI files from their JDE_HOME location to the WEB-INF\classes location, then starting the JAS instance shows that the new settings are working.

Conclusion: Weblogic is different from OAS or WebSphere in that it looks at the older location for its INI files.

HOWEVER, before anybody starts adopting this as a new procedure for dealing with Weblogic, there is something new that I ran into by accident, which I don't believe is documented anywhere yet, and justifies Oracle saying to do all changes through Server Manager.

- After changing my experimental settings back to the original values, I ran back to the instance's management page (really an accident, I had been using the Weblogic Admin console to stop and start the JAS server), and saw a new button "Synchronize Configuration." (see attached file)
- This button is responsible for copying the INI files from under JDE_HOME to WEB-INF\classes.

Conclusions: 1) Oracle did provide for Weblogic's configuration quirk. 2) Since the button doesn't show up after doing a manual edit of the INI files, Server Manager IS keeping track of changes somewhere.

That file turned out to be D:\JDE_HOME\targets\<instance name>\scf-history.xml. As you edit files in Server Manager, there is a greenish icon to the right of the field. This is the "history" of all the values that were in that field, and is stored in the mentioned file.

The only document I know of that deals with Weblogic issues under Server Manager was a manual written for Tools Release 8.98.2.0, when Weblogic support was first allowed under Linux. It was written in October 2009, and is titled "Working with Oracle Weblogic Server using Server Manager". This manual does not contain any mention of the "Synchronize Configuration" button, though I imagine the issue would have been similar under Linux, and it was probably there.

So how about it? Has anybody dealt with Weblogic yet? Was this an issue with Weblogic back in TR 8.98.2.0? Or do we just need to open a call with Oracle and get them to correct their manual?

 

[gregglarkin]

[ QUOTE ]
Or do we just need to open a call with Oracle and get them to correct their manual?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good luck with that. let us know how that works out for ya.....

 

[brother_of_karamazov]

[ QUOTE ]
OK, I got back to the Weblogic server today, and did my experiments:

- Changed JAS.INI through Server Manager.
- Noted that the copy under D:\JDE_HOME\targets\<instance name>\config was the one that was modified.
- The copy under D:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\domains\<domain name>\servers\<server name>\stage\<instance name>\app\webclient.war\WEB-INF\classes was not modified.
- Starting the JAS instance now shows that it is not using the newly modified INI files.
- Copying the modified INI files from their JDE_HOME location to the WEB-INF\classes location, then starting the JAS instance shows that the new settings are working.

Conclusion: Weblogic is different from OAS or WebSphere in that it looks at the older location for its INI files.

HOWEVER, before anybody starts adopting this as a new procedure for dealing with Weblogic, there is something new that I ran into by accident, which I don't believe is documented anywhere yet, and justifies Oracle saying to do all changes through Server Manager.

- After changing my experimental settings back to the original values, I ran back to the instance's management page (really an accident, I had been using the Weblogic Admin console to stop and start the JAS server), and saw a new button "Synchronize Configuration." (see attached file)
- This button is responsible for copying the INI files from under JDE_HOME to WEB-INF\classes.

Conclusions: 1) Oracle did provide for Weblogic's configuration quirk. 2) Since the button doesn't show up after doing a manual edit of the INI files, Server Manager IS keeping track of changes somewhere.

That file turned out to be D:\JDE_HOME\targets\<instance name>\scf-history.xml. As you edit files in Server Manager, there is a greenish icon to the right of the field. This is the "history" of all the values that were in that field, and is stored in the mentioned file.

The only document I know of that deals with Weblogic issues under Server Manager was a manual written for Tools Release 8.98.2.0, when Weblogic support was first allowed under Linux. It was written in October 2009, and is titled "Working with Oracle Weblogic Server using Server Manager". This manual does not contain any mention of the "Synchronize Configuration" button, though I imagine the issue would have been similar under Linux, and it was probably there.

So how about it? Has anybody dealt with Weblogic yet? Was this an issue with Weblogic back in TR 8.98.2.0? Or do we just need to open a call with Oracle and get them to correct their manual?

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you saying that you have never seen the "Synchronize Configuration" button?

I assumed that you were using this. It is a dangerous button and as of right now, selecting the Synchronize Configuration button will expire all users sessions for that JAS instance without warning from Server Manager.

Was it not present in WebLogic instances before?

 

[klwong]

Before today, working with Weblogic and 8.98.3.0, I had never seen that button before at all. Whenever I made changes to INI files in previous Tools Releases, I never got it. I have used OAS 10g R2, OAS 10g R3, WebSphere 3.5 - 6.1, and all Tools Releases with web components since SP20, except for SP2 and 8.92.

As for previous Weblogic instances, I had not worked with it on Linux in 8.98.2.x, nor when it was supported previously several years ago, pre-Server Manager.

I suppose that's what I get for being stuck in my old school ways of editing the INI files manually, and waiting until I can restart the JAS instance ...

 

[cdawes]

Ken,

If you've been using WAS ND then you MUST have seen this before.

You won't see it with base though. This is consistent across all platforms.

Basically WLS and WAS are the same - the behaviour that you describe is pretty much the saem as on WAS ND - yep just a mirror image of WLS.


Colin

 

[klwong]

Yeah, the last time I used clustering with WebSphere ND was pre-Server Manager ...

 

[Adrian_Chimirel]

In 8.98.1.1 you HAVE to synchronize the JAS & JDBC ini files in both locations JDE_HOME and WebSphere, WITHOUT touching them in Server Manager.
PS A couple of weeks ago we learned that Denver has no standard procedure in place to modify these ini files. I suggested I make sure the files are identical, and they said OK.