Understanding the WebLogic Feature Pack

Intended for use with WebLogic Feature Pack V2.3.

The WebLogic Feature Pack (formerly, the Web Automation Manager, or WAM) increases server utilization and efficiency beyond the benefits of base Cassatt Active Response. WebLogic Feature Pack focuses on a key challenge for IT departments: reducing the costs and time delays in managing service levels for applications that run in J2EE application servers, such as BEA WebLogic.

Supported application servers.

What is WebLogic Feature Pack?

WebLogic Feature Pack is an optional Cassatt Active Response software layer that automates service-level compliance for J2EE applications.

WebLogic Feature Pack includes:

• A utility for capturing your application into the Cassatt Active Response service matrix
• A utility for configuring service-level agreements that define availability and efficiency requirements for your application
• J2EE-specific monitoring collectors that detect when an application is out of compliance with your service-level agreements
• A dynamic deployment engine that responds to service-level breaches by starting or stopping application instances

How does it work?

WebLogic Feature Pack encapsulates your J2EE applications and their configuration information (a WebLogic domain, for example) into "WebLogic Feature Pack services."

A WebLogic Feature Pack service uses user-specified policies to dynamically raise or lower capacity based on load. For each WebLogic Feature Pack service, you can specify:

• The Cassatt Active Response tiers that host your application server software
• Node requirements for starting a WebLogic Feature Pack service instance, such as available memory
• Dependencies on other WebLogic Feature Pack services
• Minimum and maximum number of WebLogic Feature Pack service instances to be deployed
• Service monitored values as they are used in expressions with associated periods, frequencies, and thresholds that indicate a need for more or fewer WebLogic Feature Pack service instances to run

WebLogic Feature Pack's dynamic deployment engine uses these specifications to determine when to start additional WebLogic Feature Pack service instances and where to start them, as well as when to stop service instances.

If sufficient application nodes are not available for a new WebLogic Feature Pack service instance, WebLogic Feature Pack employs native Cassatt Active Response functionality to allocate additional nodes. Likewise, WebLogic Feature Pack uses native Cassatt Active Response to deallocate excess nodes when removing instances leaves nodes idle, making the nodes available for other uses.

Getting started

Ready to go? Go to WebLogic Feature Pack: Setup.

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