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Administration Guide

# Deploying Data Services Platform Applications

This chapter describes how to deploy AquaLogic Data Services Platform (DSP) applications to an Administration Server, Managed Server, or to a cluster. The chapter also describes how to deploy AquaLogic Data Services Platform applications from development to production mode.

The chapter contains the following sections:

- Introduction
- Deploying Data Services Platform Applications to an Administration Server
- Deploying Data Services Platform Applications to a Managed Server
- Deploying Data Services Platform Applications to a Cluster
- Deploying Data Services Platform Applications from Development to Production Mode
- Checking the Data Services Platform Version Number

# Introduction

During development, you can deploy applications to a WebLogic Server directly from Workshop (or from other IDEs such as Eclipse with a WebLogic plug-in). Following development, however, applications are more typically deployed to production WebLogic Servers using the Administration Console.

In most production scenarios, there are multiple WebLogic instances in a given domain. Using the Administration Console, you can deploy applications to an Administration Server, a Managed WebLogic Server, or to a cluster.

Note: You can deploy a Data Services Platform application to only a single target, which can be either a server or a cluster.

The Administration Console further enables you to upgrade applications or shut down application modules on a WebLogic Server without interrupting other running applications. For general information about deploying applications, see Deploying WebLogic Platform Applications at:

http://e-docs.bea.com/platform/docs81/deploy/index.html

# Deploying Data Services Platform Components

Data Services Platform-enabled applications can only run in a domain that has been provisions for DSP.

The WebLogic Configuration Wizard automatically transfers the required items to the target server. These include the DSP project artifacts, including configuration files and binary files, as well as WebLogic components such as data source connections and pools.

You need to make sure, however, that any data sources configured in the development environment are available from the production environment.

Table 3-1 lists the contents of a compiled Data Services Platform project.

Table 3-1 Contents of a DSP Provisioned Application EAR file

Component | Description
--- | ---
`ld-server-app.jar` | Compiled components and executables for the DSP runtime engine.
Project JAR files | Individual JAR files for each Data Services Platform project in the EAR file.

# Deploying Data Services Platform Applications to an Administration Server

An Administration Server is the central configuration repository for the set of WebLogic Servers in a domain. Once the Data Services Platform application is deployed to the Administration Server, you can deploy it to all of the managed servers in the domain.

To deploy an application to WebLogic using the Administration Console:

1. Start the Administration Console for the Administration Server of the WebLogic domain.

For more information, see Using the WebLogic Server Console.

2. Right-click the Application node under Deployments in the Navigation pane, and choose Deploy a new Application from the menu.

Figure 3-1 illustrates the Application node context-sensitive menu.

Figure 3-1 Deploy application menu selection

3. Using the Location links, navigate to the directory where the EAR file, JAR, or EJB is located.
4. Click the radio button for the application you want to deploy, and click Continue.

Figure 3-2 Deploy an Application page

5. After reviewing the deployment information, click Deploy.

The deployment status of the application appears. Also, the application appears in the list of Applications in the Navigation pane. From there you can manage the application and deploy it to other servers in the domain.

# Deploying Data Services Platform Applications to a Managed Server

You can deploy applications to Managed Servers in the WebLogic domain using the Administration Console.

To deployed applications to a Managed Server:

1. Start the Administration Console for the Administration Server of the WebLogic domain.

For more information, see Using the WebLogic Server Console.

2. Select the node for the Data Services Platform application in the Navigation pane.
3. Click the Deploy tab in the Contents pane.

The Administration Console displays the Data Services Platform Deploy tab.

4. Click Redeploy Application.

The console shows the status of the redeploy action, and displays Success for each module when the redeploy operation has completed.

# Deploying Data Services Platform Applications to a Cluster

A cluster is multiple WebLogic Server instances running simultaneously and working together to provide increased scalability and reliability. A cluster appears to clients to be a single WebLogic Server instance.

To deploy a Data Services Platform application to a cluster:

1. Start the Administration Console for the Administration Server of the WebLogic domain.

For more information, see Using the WebLogic Server Console.

2. Right-click the Application node under Deployments in the Navigation pane, and choose Deploy a new Application from the menu.
3. Using the Location links, navigate to the directory where the EAR file, JAR, or EJB is located.

Figure 3-4 illustrates the screen for selecting an application to deploy to a cluster.

Figure 3-3 Selecting an Application to Deploy to a Cluster

4. Click the radio button for the application you want to deploy, and click Target Application.

The console displays the available clusters, as illustrated in Figure 3-5.

Figure 3-4 Selecting a Target for the Application

5. Click the radio button corresponding to the cluster or part of cluster to which you want to deploy the Data Services Platform application, and click Continue.
6. After reviewing the deployment information, click Deploy.

# Deploying Data Services Platform Applications from Development to Production Mode

Data Services Platform applications are typically developed and tested in development mode, which offers a relaxed security configuration and enables auto-deployment of applications. Once the application is available in its final form, you can deploy the application to production mode which offers full security and may use clusters or other advanced features.

This section describes the following methods for migrating Data Services Platform applications from development to production mode:

- Migrating applications using configuration templates
- Manually migrating applications

## Migrating Data Services Platform Applications Using Configuration Templates

You can migrate Data Services Platform applications from development to production mode by creating a configuration template using the WebLogic Configuration Template Builder, and then choosing the template when creating a new domain using the WebLogic Configuration Wizard.

This section highlights steps specific to migrating Data Services Platform applications. For complete information about using the Configuration Template Builder and Configuration Wizard, see the following:

- Creating Configuration Templates Using the WebLogic Configuration Template Builder
  (http://e-docs.bea.com/platform/docs81/confgwiz/tempbuild.html)
- Creating WebLogic Configurations Using the Configuration Wizard

To migrate Data Services Platform applications using configuration templates:

1. Start the Configuration Template Builder by choosing Start —>Programs—>BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1—>Other Development Tools—>Configuration Template Builder.

Complete the following:

1. Choose to Create a Configuration Template, and click Next.
2. Select the WebLogic configuration directory for the domain in development mode, and click Next.
3. Enter descriptive information about the template you are creating, and click Next.
4. Choose the Data Services Platform applications to add to the template, including the ldconsole application, and click Next.
5. Add the `liquiddata` folder to the `<Domain Root Directory>` of the Current Template View, and click Next.
6. Add SQL scripts, as required, and click Next.
7. Configure the Administration Server, and click Next.
8. Configure the managed servers and clusters, as required, and click Next.
9. Edit the JDBC connection pools, updating the database configuration, and click Next.

Maintain the JDBC connection pool names unchanged.

10. Continue through the rest of the wizard, configuring options as required.
11. Click Create to create the template, and click Done to exit the Configuration Template Builder.

By default, the Configuration Template Builder stores the new template in the `<BEA_HOME>/user_templates` directory on the development server.

2. Start the Configuration Wizard by choosing Start —>Programs—>BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1—>Configuration Wizard.

Complete the following:

1. Choose Create a new WebLogic configuration, and click Next.
2. Click Browse and choose the directory in which the template resides. Choose the template in the Templates pane, and click Next.
3. Continue through the rest of the wizard, configuring options as required.
4. Click Create to create the domain, and click Done to exit the Configuration Wizard.

## Manually Migrating Applications from Development to Production Mode

You can manually deploy Data Services Platform applications from development to production mode, if required.

To manually deploy an application from development to production mode:

1. Create a Data Services Platform domain in production mode with the same JDBC connection pool and data source information as the development domain.
2. Copy the `liquiddata` folder which contains `<``app_name``>LDconfig.xml` file from the development domain to the production domain.
3. Copy the EAR file of the Data Services Platform application from the development domain to the production domain.

The EAR file resides in the `applications` folder of the domain.

4. Edit the `config.xml` file of the production domain, and add application elements which belong to the Data Services Platform application and DSP Administration Console (ldconsole).

You can cut and paste this information from the `config.xml` file in the development domain.

5. Migrate the WebLogic security data from the development domain to the production domain.

Export the security policies for the WebLogic Authorization provider, and import the policies into the new security realm. For more information about migrating WebLogic Security data, see the WebLogic documentation at:

http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs81/secmanage/security_data_migration.html

6. Migrate the Data Services Platform security policies from the development domain to the production domain.

Export the Data Services Platform security policies in the development domain and import them into the production domain. For more information about exporting Data Services Platform security policies, see Exporting Access Control Resources.

7. If you are using Data Service controls in any of your applications, migrate the `ldcontrol.properties` file from development to the production domain.

Each domain that runs Data Services Platform Control applications has a single ldcontrol.properties file, which stores the connection information for all Data Services Platform Control applications running in the domain.

The `ldcontrol.properties` file is located at the root directory of your domain where the application EAR file is deployed that uses a Data Service control. There is an entry in the ldcontrol.properties file for each control you have created in each of your applications.

The entries in the `ldcontrol.properties` file are of the following form:

>     AppName.ProjectName.FolderName.jcxName=t3\://hostname\:port

Table 3-2 provides additional details.

Table 3-2 Description of ldcontrol.properties File Options

Name | Description
--- | ---
>     AppName
| The name of the WebLogic Workshop application.
>     ProjectName
| The name of the WebLogic Workshop Project which contains the Data Services Platform Control.
>     FolderName
| The name of the folder which contains the Data Services Platform Control.
>     jcxName
| The name of the Data Services Platform Control file (without the `.jcx` extension). For example, if the control file is named `myLDControl.jcx`, the entry in this file is `myLDControl`.
>     hostname
| The hostname or IP address of the Data Services Platform Server for this control.
>     port
| The port number for the Data Services Platform Server for this control.

Note: The colons (`:`) in the URL must be escaped with a backslash (`\`) character.

If the URL value is missing, the Data Services Platform Control uses the connection information from the domain `config.xml` file.

The following is a sample `ldcontrol.properties` file.

>     #Fri Oct 31 15:30:36 PST 2003
>     myTest.myTestWeb.myFolder.Untitled=t3\:myLDServer\:7001
>     myTest.myTestWeb.myFolder.myControl=
>     SampleApp.LiquidDataSampleApp.Controls.RTLControl=t3\:myLDServer\:7001
>     SampleApp.Untitled.NewFolder.Untitled=t3\:yourLDServer\:7001
>     testnew.Untitled.NewFolder.ldc=
>     test.testWeb.NewFolder.Untitled=

1. Update the WebLogic Workshop configuration settings by adding:

>     -Djavax.xml.rpc.ServiceFactory="weblogic.webservice.core.rpc.
>     ServiceFactoryImpl"

to the following file:

>     <WL_HOME>\workshop\workshop.cfg

1. Start the WebLogic Server and verify that the Data Services Platform application is working properly.

# Checking the Data Services Platform Version Number

You can determine which version of Data Services Platform you are through the WebLogic Administration Console.

To determine the version number (which appears associated with the name Liquid Data):

1. Start the Administration Console for the Administration Server of the WebLogic domain.

For more information, see Using the WebLogic Server Console.

2. Click Console in the Navigation pane.
3. Click the Versions tab in the Contents pane.

A page displaying the version information appears.