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Creating Templates Using the Domain Template Builder

# Introduction

This section provides an overview of how to create templates using the Domain Template Builder.

Topics include:

- Overview of the Domain Template Builder
- About Domain and Extension Templates
- Overview of Creating Domain Templates Using the Domain Template Builder
- Overview of Creating Extension Templates Using the Domain Template Builder
- Additional Tools for Creating Templates and Domains

# Overview of the Domain Template Builder

One method of creating domains in WebLogic Server is to use domain and extension templates that contain the main attributes and files required for building or extending a domain. To simplify the process of creating templates, BEA provides the Domain Template Builder, a stand-alone Java application that guides you through the process of creating custom domain and extension templates. This process is illustrated in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1 Domain Template Builder

The Domain Template Builder is designed to be used off-line, in graphical mode only. It is not supported in console mode. Therefore, the console attached to the machine on which you are using the Domain Template Builder must support a Java-based GUI. All consoles for Windows systems support Java-based GUIs; only a subset of UNIX-based consoles support Java-based GUIs.

BEA delivers a set of predefined domain and extension templates with your product installation that you can use to create domains. This set of templates includes the base WebLogic Server domain template, and various extension templates that allow you to add product component functionality and samples to the base domain. For more information about the templates provided by BEA, see Domain Template Reference at the following URL:

`http://e-docs.bea.com/common/docs90/tempref/index.html`

After you create your domain and add new resources and applications to it, you can use the Domain Template Builder to create a custom domain template. You can also use the Domain Template Builder to customize an existing template. For example, you may want to remove applications or add SQL scripts for additional databases. To do so, select the existing domain or template as the source for your new custom template. When your custom domain templates are complete, you can start using them to create domains using the Configuration Wizard, WLST Offline, or the `unpack` command. For more information about these tools, see Additional Tools for Creating Templates and Domains.

# About Domain and Extension Templates

When you are using the Domain Template Builder, the term template refers to a Java Archive (JAR) file that contains the files and scripts required to create or extend a domain.With the Domain Template Builder, you can create the following types of templates:

- Domain template—defines the full set of resources within a domain, including infrastructure components, applications, services, security options, and general environment and operating system parameters. You can create a domain template from an existing template or from a domain. A domain template is used to create a new domain.

As part of your product distribution, BEA provides a Base WebLogic Server domain template. This template defines the core set of resources within a domain, including an Administration Server and basic configuration information, infrastructure components, and general environment and operating system options. It does not include sample applications. You use this template to create a basic WebLogic Server domain that you can then extend using an extension template that contains applications and services, or additional product component functionality.

- Extension template—defines applications and services that can provide additional product component functionality, such as Apache Beehive, product sample applications, or JDBC or JMS components. This type of template can be used to extend an existing domain.

# Overview of Creating Domain Templates Using the Domain Template Builder

To create a custom domain template using the Domain Template Builder, select the domain or domain template from which you want to create your new domain template. You then have the option of modifying the following:

- Basic template information
- Application and domain directory contents
- SQL scripts for database configuration
- Administration Server and user configuration
- Basic security configuration, such as creating users, groups, and global roles and their assignments
- Start menu entries (Windows systems only)
- Customized scripts and variables

Table 1-1 summarizes the steps necessary to create a domain template using the Domain Template Builder.

Table 1-1 Steps for Creating a Domain Template Using the Domain Template Builder

In this step . . . | You . . .
--- | ---
Create a New Template | Choose Create a Domain Template to create a new domain template.
Select a Template Domain Source | Select the domain template or the directory of the domain from which you want to create a new domain template.
Describe the Template | Specify a description of the template.
Add or Omit Applications | Review and modify, if desired, the list of applications to be included in the template.
Add Files | Review and modify, if desired, the files to be included in the template.
Add SQL Scripts | Add SQL scripts for each database that you expect to be used with the domains created from this template and specify the order in which the scripts are executed.
Configure the Administration Server | Define parameters for the Administration Server, a designated server from which the domain is managed.
Configure an Administrator Username and Password | Specify a user name and password to be used for starting the Administration Server. Optionally, you can also configure additional security features by defining users and groups and assigning them to global security roles.
Specify Start Menu Entries | Optionally, define entries for the Windows Start Menu.
Prepare Scripts and Files with Replacement Variables | Replace specific paths, filenames, and other domain environment settings with replacement variables in text files contained in the template. The Configuration Wizard later replaces the variables with exact strings to set up a specific WebLogic domain.
Review the Domain Template | Review the settings defined in your template.
Create Your Domain Template | Specify the name and directory for the domain template, and launch the process that creates it.

# Overview of Creating Extension Templates Using the Domain Template Builder

The process used to create an extension template is virtually the same as the process used to create a domain template except that you are not prompted to configure the Administration Server, assign an administrator username and password, or specify Start menu entries, since these domain settings are defined in the domain to be extended.

To create an extension template using the Domain Template Builder, you select a domain or extension template to use as the basis for your template which you can then modify to suit your needs. When creating an extension template, you have the option of modifying the following:

- Basic template information, such as name and description
- Application directory contents and location
- Files to be included in the template
- SQL scripts for database configuration
- Additional security, such as creating users, groups, and global roles
- Customized scripts and variables

The Domain Template Builder creates an extension template (JAR file) that can be used to extend an existing domain. Table 1-2 summarizes the steps for creating an extension template using the Domain Template Builder.

Table 1-2 Steps for Creating Extension Templates Using the Domain Template Builder

In this step . . . | You . . .
--- | ---
Create a New Extension Template | Choose Create an Extension Template to create a new extension template.
Select a Template Domain Source for Your Extension Template | Choose an extension template or a domain directory from which you want to create a domain template.
Describe Your Extension Template | Enter a description of the template. If you selected an existing template as your source, the description for that template is displayed. Review and modify the description if necessary.
Add or Omit Applications in Your Extension Template | Review and modify, if desired, the list of applications to be included in your extension template.
Add Files to Your Extension Template | Review and modify, if desired, the list of files to be included in your extension template.
Add SQL Scripts to Your Extension Template | Add SQL scripts for each database that you expect to be used with the domains created from this template and specify the order in which the scripts are executed.
Configuring Security Options in Your Extension Template | Optionally, create users, groups, and roles, then assign them to groups and global roles.
Prepare Scripts and Files When Creating Extension Templates | Replace specific paths, filenames, and other environment-specific strings with replacement variables in text files contained in the template. Later, when a specific WebLogic domain is being created, the Configuration Wizard replaces these variables with exact strings.
Review the Extension Template Settings | Review the settings defined in your templates.
Create Your Extension Template | Enter a name and directory for the extension template, and launch the process that creates it.

# Additional Tools for Creating Templates and Domains

Your product installation includes several tools for creating templates and domains: the Domain Template Builder, the `pack` and `unpack` commands, WLST Offline, and the Configuration Wizard. As described previously, you can use the Domain Template Builder to create custom domain and extension templates using a graphical user interface. The other tools are described in the following table.

Table 1-3 Additional Tools for Creating Templates and Domains

To perform the following task . . . | Use the following tools . . .
--- | ---
Create a template | `pack`—command that enables you to create a template archive (`.jar`) file that contains a snapshot of either an entire domain or a subset of a domain. You can use a template that contains a subset of a domain to create a Managed Server domain directory hierarchy on a remote machine. For more information, see Creating Templates and Domains Using the pack and unpack Commands at the following URL: `http://e-docs.bea.com/common/docs90/pack/index.html` WLST Offline—command-line scripting interface used to create a new domain or update an existing domain without connecting to a running instance of WebLogic Server. The `writeTemplate` functionality of WLST Offline provides the same capability for creating a template as the `pack` command. For more information, see "Creating a Domain Template (Offline)" in "Creating and Configuring WebLogic Domains Using WLST Offline" in WebLogic Scripting Tool at the following URL: `http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs90/config_scripting/domains.html#create_template`
Create a new domain or extend an existing domain | Configuration Wizard—stand-alone Java application that guides you through the process of creating or extending a domain. When creating a domain, you can choose to accept the default settings or to customize the domain to more closely match your particular environment. To customize your domain, you can add and configure Managed Servers, clusters, and machine definitions, and/or customize predefined JDBC data sources and JMS file store directories. You can also use the Configuration Wizard to extend an existing domain by adding predefined applications and services, or product component functionality. For more information, see Creating WebLogic Domains Using the Configuration Wizard at the following URL: `http://e-docs.bea.com/common/docs90/confgwiz/index.html` WLST Offline—command-line scripting interface used to create a new domain or update an existing domain without connecting to a running instance of WebLogic Server. WLST Offline supports the same functionality as the Configuration Wizard. For more information, see WebLogic Scripting Tool at the following URL: `http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs90/config_scripting/index.html` `unpack`—command that enables you to create a new domain by using a template compatible with your current installation. To create a Managed Server domain, use the `unpack` command with a Managed Server template.You cannot use `unpack` to extend an existing domain. For more information, see Creating Domains and Templates Using the pack and unpack Commands at the following URL: `http://e-docs.bea.com/common/docs90/pack/index.html`