After you have installed the WAS 8 product, the IBM IM will present the following screen.
A profile defines the runtime environment. The profile includes all the files that the server processes in the runtime environment and that you can change.
You can create a runtime environment either through the manageprofiles command or the Profile Management Tool graphical user interface. You can use the Profile Management Tool to enter most of the parameters that are described in this topic. Some parameters, however, require you to use the manageprofiles command. You must use the manageprofiles command to delete a profile, for instance, because the Profile Management Tool does not provide a deletion function.
Select Profile Management Tool to create a profile. This will present the PMT GUI which will allow you to choose the type of WAS profile.
When you click Finish the PMT will load.
Click the Create button to begin the profile Creation Wizard. To create a customized Application Server profile eg a stand alone WAS profile, select Application Server from the Environments list. In this example WebSphere Application Server 8 for Developers was installed using a trial downloaded from IBM.
Click Next.
Choose “Advanced profile creation“. The reason for this is we wish to be able to customize the naming conventions and location for the new profile.
If you use Typical profile creation then the wizard will use default naming conventions, default mutual SSL certificates for the KeyStore and TrustStore. It will also the default location for the profile. Do not use this option if you wish to control the profile creation.
Click Next
On the “Optional Application Deployment” screen, you can opt to Deploy the Default Application or not. I usually add this application for testing my installation. It is not required. The Administrative console is required.
For a standalone Application Server you need the administrative console. However since WAS 7 you can create a management profile as we saw in a previous screen, which allows you to manage multiple WAS installations on the same physical machine. You must use WebSphere ND if you want to manage a Cell containing many Application Server nodes.
Click Next
On the “Profile Name and Location” screen you can enter the name of the profile and the location of where you want the profile located. You can see below that I have chosen to use lowercase for my profile name and location path. This is because I often use Linux as well and keeps my WAS environments consistent for case-sensitivity for cross platform Jython scripting
Profile naming guidelines: Double-byte characters are supported. The profile name can be any unique name with the following restrictions. Do not use any of the following characters when naming your profile:
- Spaces
- Special characters that are not supported within the name of a directory on your operating system, such as *&?
- Slashes (/) or (\)
I have also selected the Development server run time performance tuning setting. This makes the Application Server start up quicker.
You can create a application server using configuration settings that are optimized for a development environment by checking Create the server using the development template on the Profile name and location panel of the Advanced profile creation path. The development template reduces start up time and allows the server to run on less powerful hardware.
Specify a name for the profile and the directory path for the profile directory, or accept the default values. Then, click Next.
Specify a Node name, a server name and hostname. I have elected to use localhost, you can use any method here you wish. I recommend that you do not rely on DNS. Instead use a hostname that is locally resolvable in your hosts file. Do not use an ip-address.
In this example I have opted to turn on Global Security. It is now called Administrative security it used to be called Global security. Anyway, this can be done later, but it is wise to secure a console immediately. The settings can be changed later in the admin console by re-configuring the federated repositories (WAS security/user/group registries)
Click Next
On the Security Certificate (Part 1) screen you can leave the defaults. This means the installation wizard will generate self-signed certificates using a private CA root certificate. Unless you have already created CSRs and had them certified, and you understand this configuration, it is best to deal with this later. All the SSL configuration is now able to be configured in the admin console from Version 7, without the need of using the ikeyman utility as was required before version 7.
Click Next to be able to decide on the naming convention of your self-signed SSL certificates.
In this example I let the SL certs as defined by the wizard. I will have other documents on this blog which will detail the SSL configurations for WAS.
Click Next
Review the ports and change if required. The PMT will detect other version of WAS if installed, and will change the ports to stop any conflict. You can override each of these ports as you require. If this server is going to be behind a F/W then think about the port ranges you may need to use.
Click Next
I personally do not like to run a local version of WAS on my laptop using a Windows Service. But if this is a Windows server you are installing on then it is recommended. Depends on whether you want auto start up when your machine reboots or not?
Click Next.
You will now be offered the chance to create a Web Server definition. At this stage we do not have HIS installed and we have not installed the WebSphere Plugin. You can consult my blog for docs on how to do this. I am going to skip this step.
Click Next
Review and Click Create to create the profile.
Once finished the First Steps Console option will be optionally presented and you can start the server using the FSC or you can start WAS using the command line for example
<profile_root>/bin/startServer.bat server01
If you run the FSC and then star the server, you can then close the FSC and you will see the PMT now has a registration of the new profile.
Once the server is started, Open a browser to http://<hostname>:9060/ibm/console
Note: to change port if you changed the default console port during the profile creation.
Login using wasadmin/wasadmin or whatever username password you defined.
Done J
PS. To stop/start Server from command line in Windows you can save time by creating a shortcut to the COMSPEC to get quick access to DOC command window.
