Alternative to the Service Matrix: Domains Installed on the Administration Server

Intended for use with WebLogic Feature Pack V2.3.

Cassatt Active Response stores your BEA WebLogic software image in the image matrix. Meanwhile, WebLogic Feature Pack stores your WebLogic domains separately: in the service matrix. Storing domains apart from the software allows you to add or remove domains from WebLogic Feature Pack control at any time without making changes to your base WebLogic image.

In some cases, however, site policies may require you to install or mount your WebLogic domains directly on the WebLogic Administration Server. If you need to install or mount domains directly, use the information in this document in conjunction with the WebLogic Feature Pack: Setup and WebLogic Feature Pack: Image and Service Management.

You can combine the alternative to the service matrix described here with the alternative to NFS described in Alternative to NFS: Images and Services on Local Disk with WebLogic Feature Pack.

Read this sidebar to understand the differences between the two approaches and to understand what happens when you combine these two alternatives.

WebLogic domain installation

After you have activated your WebLogic image in a tier you can install your domain as follows:

• You can manually install the domain into an instance-specific directory on the WebLogic Administration Server.
• You can mount the domain on the Administration Server from a separate shared file system. Add the mount point to /etc/fstab on the Administration Server so the file system mounts automatically when the server is rebooted or replaced.

Alternatively, you can install the domains prior to capturing the WebLogic image. If you do that, be aware that the base image will contain all domains, and that you won't be able to add or remove domains without either recapturing or versioning the image.

WebLogic domain configuration

Set all parameters as listed in the domain configuration section of WebLogic Feature Pack: Setup. Make sure you set listen addresses to match your tiers; WebLogic Feature Pack does not allow you to use the update option during service configuration when you choose to install domains directly.

Service capture, configuration, and activation

Follow these additional guidelines in each area of the "Prepare your WebLogic Feature Pack services" section of WebLogic Feature Pack: Setup:

• Run the ccservicecapture command as normal. WebLogic Feature Pack captures the domain as a service image from the location you specify. WebLogic Feature Pack uses this copy only as a placeholder, and never validates or deploys its contents.
• Make sure your WebLogic Administration Server is running before beginning service configuration. Use these instructions when you run the ccserviceconfigure command:
  • Type the domain location on your WebLogic Administration Server at the prompt "Enter the absolute path to the WebLogic domain location on the admin tier." WebLogic Feature Pack does not immediately validate whether the directory exists, so enter the path carefully.
  • Type "y" at this prompt: "Would you like to use a pre-existing domain?"
  • Make sure you set ports to match your WebLogic domain; WebLogic Feature Pack does not allow you to use the update option during service configuration.

  When the ccserviceconfigure interview is complete, WebLogic Feature Pack copies the service image as a service instance—again, just as a placeholder and for validation.
  
  WebLogic Feature Pack also connects to the domain location on the WebLogic Administration Server and copies the domain's config.xml file. This copy is used for validation in case the file changed after the service image was captured. The WebLogic Administration Server must be online for this copy to take place.
  
  Last, WebLogic Feature Pack performs the usual validation on the copied config.xml file and the domain in the service instance. Note that, for path validation, if a path does not exist within the domain in the service instance, WebLogic Feature Pack next tries the path within the image instance, and last within the base image.

• Activate the service as normal.

When deploying domain instances after service activation, WebLogic Feature Pack uses the domain at the specified location on the WebLogic Administration Server instead of the copy stored during service configuration.

Updating a WebLogic domain

Read "Updating a WebLogic domain" in WebLogic Feature Pack: Image and Service Management to understand the general implications and guidelines for domain updates.

In this alternative, you must manually update the domain on the Administration Server or the shared file system, not the domain in the service matrix. When you do that, both the service image and the WebLogic Feature Pack service configuration will contain out-of-date domains, as shown in the next illustration.

Removing WebLogic Feature Pack services

Read "Removing WebLogic Feature Pack Services " in WebLogic Feature Pack: Image and Service Management to understand the procedures for service removal. Note that the ccserviceremove command does not remove the contents of a domain installed on the WebLogic Administration Server.

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