WebLogic/Oracle HTTP Server and Server Alias

[markdcci]

Hello List,

Unfortunately we are a casualty of Oracle's move away from Blue Stack. We have had WebSphere running on Windows for many years, tied in with WebSphere vertical cloning and an external load balancer for horizontal cloning. However, we now have to look at moving to WebLogic.

With the help of numerous Oracle white papers and posts on here, I am close to completing a new install of WebLogic 10.3.5 on Windows 2008 R2 with E1 9.0, TR 8.98.4.11. A little on the old side with versions etc, but just trying to get this running before we evaluate an upgrade.

I have everything up and running, and I am able to configure simplified URLs, such that I put in http://<ip address> and everything resolves to pull up the log in screen of a specific E1 HTML instance configured on that port.

However, with WebSphere and our load balancer, we put in a farm name, the load balancer takes the request, finds an open HTML server via IP address and feeds it through. It works up to this point, but Oracle HTTP server and/or WebLogic is not recognizing the farm name in the URL. The document root directive appears to be working, since the URL changes from http://<farm name> to http://<farm name>/jde/E1Menu.maf, but a 404 error is returned.

I have put the farm name in as a server alias and HTTP Server as well as a virtual host name in the WebLogic admin console in a screen eerily similar to the WebSphere admin console. Again, this all works without a hitch in WebSphere.

Any ideas out there on this one? I found several old posts, with this one being the closest

http://www.jdelist.com/vb4/showthread.php/41544-Configuring-E1-amp-WLS-with-Simplified-URLs

However, the post ends with a question unanswered that is basically my question:

To quote that last, unanswered post:

"What I am looking for using Virtual Hosts is:
Changing URL:
http://abc:7777/jde
TO URL:
http://jdepd"


Thanks all.

 

[jdel6654]

What version of WLS are you running? Enterprise or standard.

 

[Larry_Jones]

Mark,

when we first went to WLS years ago (from OAS) Load Balancing was one of the big holes for us.
We couldn't get a load balancer working for it. Oracle wanted us to keep setting up more servers and more complicated pieces of crapware to address the issue.
We ended up with a temporary patch solution that we replaced a year ago with ESI's Single Sign On Solution (SSO) that also includes a weighted round robin load balancer.
It works fine for us and the SSO is a great bonus.
Simple, easy, cheap.

Regards,

 

[markdcci]

What version of WLS are you running? Enterprise or standard.

We converted/are converting from Blue Stack tech foundation to WebLogic-based tech foundation, so what I'm being told is that it's standard - No clustering included, unfortunately.

 

[markdcci]

Mark,

when we first went to WLS years ago (from OAS) Load Balancing was one of the big holes for us.
We couldn't get a load balancer working for it. Oracle wanted us to keep setting up more servers and more complicated pieces of crapware to address the issue.
We ended up with a temporary patch solution that we replaced a year ago with ESI's Single Sign On Solution (SSO) that also includes a weighted round robin load balancer.
It works fine for us and the SSO is a great bonus.
Simple, easy, cheap.

Regards,

Larry,
Thanks for the feedback. Sounds as if you went down the same road. We may have to consider that product - Or, staying with WebSphere and licensing directly from IBM. The frustrating aspect is that we seem close.

 

[brother_of_karamazov]

With WebSphere the way this works is:

• An HTTP URL is entered in the browser, which prompts a DNS lookup to be performed. The matching DNS entry points to the IP address of a server.
• Since the server is running an HTTP server, it accepts the HTTP request on the default port 80.
• The WAS Plugin intercepts the HTTP request and evaluates it for matching routes.
• If the URI requested does not match any existing route, the WAS Plugin allows the HTTP request to continue to the HTTP server (figure 1). (e.g., http://erp8dv/jde/owhtml/index.html)
• The HTTP server then parses the httpd.conf file searching for a ServerName or ServerAlias in a VirtualHosts section that matches the server name specified in the URL and serves the requested document
• If the URI requested matches an existing route in WAS, the Plugin routes the request to the appropriate WAS Virtual Host based on the matching WebSphere Host Alias

Both scenarios require the presence of a
• DNS entry
• httpd.conf Virtual Host
• WAS Host Alias


You can find more information here (with links to White Papers):

http://jeffstevenson.karamazovgroup.com/2009/01/simple-e1-url.html

I would assume that WebLogic works on the same basic principle of Browser->DNS->Plugin->WAS or HTTPD

Hello List,

Unfortunately we are a casualty of Oracle's move away from Blue Stack. We have had WebSphere running on Windows for many years, tied in with WebSphere vertical cloning and an external load balancer for horizontal cloning. However, we now have to look at moving to WebLogic.

With the help of numerous Oracle white papers and posts on here, I am close to completing a new install of WebLogic 10.3.5 on Windows 2008 R2 with E1 9.0, TR 8.98.4.11. A little on the old side with versions etc, but just trying to get this running before we evaluate an upgrade.

I have everything up and running, and I am able to configure simplified URLs, such that I put in http://<ip address> and everything resolves to pull up the log in screen of a specific E1 HTML instance configured on that port.

However, with WebSphere and our load balancer, we put in a farm name, the load balancer takes the request, finds an open HTML server via IP address and feeds it through. It works up to this point, but Oracle HTTP server and/or WebLogic is not recognizing the farm name in the URL. The document root directive appears to be working, since the URL changes from http://<farm name> to http://<farm name>/jde/E1Menu.maf, but a 404 error is returned.

I have put the farm name in as a server alias and HTTP Server as well as a virtual host name in the WebLogic admin console in a screen eerily similar to the WebSphere admin console. Again, this all works without a hitch in WebSphere.

Any ideas out there on this one? I found several old posts, with this one being the closest

http://www.jdelist.com/vb4/showthread.php/41544-Configuring-E1-amp-WLS-with-Simplified-URLs

However, the post ends with a question unanswered that is basically my question:

To quote that last, unanswered post:

"What I am looking for using Virtual Hosts is:
Changing URL:
http://abc:7777/jde
TO URL:
http://jdepd"


Thanks all.

 

[markdcci]

Brother Jeff,

We have had WebSphere running as you describe for a while - I think I may have used some of your info to set it up - but the same set up didn't quite work for WebLogic. Oracle/JDE was able to get back to us. We had set up a virtual host in the WebLogic console, analogous to how it's done in WebSphere. However, that was actually preventing it from working in WebLogic. When I removed that WebLogic virtual host, leaving only the DNS and HTTPD set up, it worked.

Thanks.

 

[brother_of_karamazov]

So WLS works only when one *doesn't* define a VH in the WSL config?

Interesting.

Brother Jeff,

We have had WebSphere running as you describe for a while - I think I may have used some of your info to set it up - but the same set up didn't quite work for WebLogic. Oracle/JDE was able to get back to us. We had set up a virtual host in the WebLogic console, analogous to how it's done in WebSphere. However, that was actually preventing it from working in WebLogic. When I removed that WebLogic virtual host, leaving only the DNS and HTTPD set up, it worked.

Thanks.

 

[jdel6654]

Weblogic makes use of a couple other constructs in addition to the virtual host. I think these are vestiges of the pre-Fusion days. There is a way to set up a WLS virtual host with standard HTTP using with what is known as a network channel (listener address + port). If you don't set up the network channel, the Weblogic virtual host will not work. I think this is comparable to Transports in WebSphere.

 

[markdcci]

So WLS works only when one *doesn't* define a VH in the WSL config?

Interesting.

Yes, so said Oracle and so it functions in our test environment. I now have multiple instances load balanced via an external load balancer and all seems to be working. Of course, it's not in prod yet. Certainly doesn't follow what someone working with WebSphere is used to.

 

[jdel6654]

That's interesting. I am guessing that you were talking with the JDE side of support and not WLS.

Here's a link on how to set this up with a WebLogic virtual host.

http://weblogic-wonders.com/weblogic/2010/11/19/virtual-hosts-configuration-with-weblogic-server/

 

[markdcci]

That's interesting. I am guessing that you were talking with the JDE side of support and not WLS.

Here's a link on how to set this up with a WebLogic virtual host.

http://weblogic-wonders.com/weblogic/2010/11/19/virtual-hosts-configuration-with-weblogic-server/

The link looks familiar, but thanks for posting that. All seems to be working now but I may end up needing it once we approach our prod move.

I started with the JDE resources, but I think they eventually brought in a WebLogic guy who was the one who told me to get rid of the WebLogic virtual host. In general I don't think Oracle Support is very familiar with using external load balancers exclusively since everything is geared towards Oracle/WebLogic clustering. But we were sticking with the base Oracle tech foundation, which includes standard edition WebLogic and is therefore lacking the license for the inherent clustering tools.