IBM WebSphere Appliance Management Center for WebSphere Appliances

Book description

IBM® WebSphere® Appliance Management Center for WebSphere Appliances simplifies the management and monitoring of environments that consist of multiple IBM WebSphere DataPower® Appliances. This web-based application provides centralized multi-appliance administration to support daily WebSphere DataPower Appliance operation. WebSphere Appliance Management Center for WebSphere Appliances provides the following key services:

  • Centralized firmware management

  • Disaster recovery

  • Domain and service configuration

  • Configuration life cycle deployment

  • Monitoring multiple appliances, collecting key metrics, and presenting them in a central location


  • This IBM Redbooks® publication helps administrators of WebSphere DataPower Appliances to perform daily administration tasks by using WebSphere Appliance Management Center. The topics in this book include health monitoring of an environment, disaster recovery (secure backup and restore), firmware management, and environment promotion. This book also includes best practices, tips and techniques, and general recommendations for administrators of WebSphere DataPower Appliance deployments.

    Table of contents

    1. Front cover
    2. Notices
      1. Trademarks
    3. Preface
      1. The team who wrote this book
      2. Now you can become a published author, too!
      3. Comments welcome
      4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
    4. Chapter 1. Introduction to WebSphere Appliance Management Center
      1. 1.1 Overview of WebSphere Appliance Management Center
        1. 1.1.1 Management component
        2. 1.1.2 Monitoring component
      2. 1.2 Business value
      3. 1.3 Solution architecture
      4. 1.4 Supported operating environments
        1. 1.4.1 Supported operating systems and platforms
        2. 1.4.2 Hardware requirements
        3. 1.4.3 Supported web browsers
      5. 1.5 Supported WebSphere DataPower Appliances
      6. 1.6 A usage scenario
      7. 1.7 Ordering information
    5. Chapter 2. Administration fundamentals
      1. 2.1 Installing the management component
        1. 2.1.1 Installing the management component by using the GUI
        2. 2.1.2 Installing the management component by using the unattended mode
      2. 2.2 Starting and stopping WebSphere Appliance Management Center
        1. 2.2.1 Starting the WebSphere Appliance Management Center server
        2. 2.2.2 Stopping the WebSphere Appliance Management Center server
      3. 2.3 Default ports
      4. 2.4 Managing users and roles
        1. 2.4.1 Managing users by using the local repository
        2. 2.4.2 Managing users by using LDAP
      5. 2.5 Adding and removing WebSphere DataPower Appliances
        1. 2.5.1 Adding a WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        2. 2.5.2 Removing a WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        3. 2.5.3 Grouping WebSphere DataPower Appliances
    6. Chapter 3. Disaster recovery
      1. 3.1 Introduction to disaster recovery of WebSphere DataPower Appliances
        1. 3.1.1 Disaster recovery mode
        2. 3.1.2 WebSphere DataPower cryptographic objects
      2. 3.2 Secure backup
        1. 3.2.1 Secure backup basics
        2. 3.2.2 Encryption and security
        3. 3.2.3 Considerations for secure backup
      3. 3.3 Backing up WebSphere DataPower Appliances
        1. 3.3.1 Before you begin
        2. 3.3.2 Performing a secure backup
      4. 3.4 Secure restore
        1. 3.4.1 Secure restore basics
        2. 3.4.2 Considerations for the secure restore process
      5. 3.5 Restoring a WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        1. 3.5.1 Before you begin
        2. 3.5.2 Performing a secure restore
        3. 3.5.3 What to do next
    7. Chapter 4. Firmware management
      1. 4.1 Managing the firmware repository
        1. 4.1.1 Introducing WebSphere DataPower Appliance firmware
        2. 4.1.2 Identifying and downloading firmware images
        3. 4.1.3 Managing firmware images
      2. 4.2 Hints and tips before you upgrade the firmware
        1. 4.2.1 Confirming a working WebSphere DataPower administrator user ID
        2. 4.2.2 Configuration backups
        3. 4.2.3 Cleaning the file system space
        4. 4.2.4 Avoiding live traffic and impact
      3. 4.3 Defining a firmware upgrade policy
        1. 4.3.1 Deciding when to upgrade
        2. 4.3.2 Firmware support lifecycle for WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        3. 4.3.3 Upgrading non-critical WebSphere DataPower Appliances first
        4. 4.3.4 Running service conformity tests after you upgrade the firmware
        5. 4.3.5 Avoiding impact to the production environment
      4. 4.4 Deploying the firmware
        1. 4.4.1 Single WebSphere DataPower Appliance upgrade
        2. 4.4.2 Multiple WebSphere DataPower Appliance upgrade
        3. 4.4.3 Verifying the firmware upgrade
        4. 4.4.4 Rolling back the firmware
    8. Chapter 5. Managing domains and services
      1. 5.1 Managing application domains
        1. 5.1.1 Application domains
        2. 5.1.2 Application domain configuration
        3. 5.1.3 Creating domain configuration files
        4. 5.1.4 Creating domains
        5. 5.1.5 Updating domains
        6. 5.1.6 Quiescing and unquiescing domains
        7. 5.1.7 Deleting domains
        8. 5.1.8 Managing groups of domains
      2. 5.2 Managing services
        1. 5.2.1 Exporting service configuration
        2. 5.2.2 Creating services
        3. 5.2.3 Updating services
        4. 5.2.4 Updating services by using IBM WebSphere Registry and Repository
        5. 5.2.5 Quiescing and unquiescing services
        6. 5.2.6 Deleting services
      3. 5.3 Deployment policies
        1. 5.3.1 Understanding deployment policies
        2. 5.3.2 Creating deployment policies
        3. 5.3.3 Using deployment policies
      4. 5.4 Automatic synchronization of a configuration
        1. 5.4.1 Understanding the behavior of automatic synchronization
        2. 5.4.2 Considering the impact of automatic synchronization
        3. 5.4.3 Toggling automatic synchronization for existing domains
    9. Chapter 6. Managing the software development lifecycle
      1. 6.1 The software development lifecycle
      2. 6.2 A lifecycle scenario
      3. 6.3 The development environment
        1. 6.3.1 Single WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        2. 6.3.2 Multiple WebSphere DataPower Appliances
      4. 6.4 Deployment models
        1. 6.4.1 Defining the scope of exported configuration
        2. 6.4.2 Selecting a deployment process
        3. 6.4.3 Updating existing configuration
        4. 6.4.4 Evaluating the approaches
      5. 6.5 Promoting configuration
        1. 6.5.1 Promoting configuration through a single WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        2. 6.5.2 Promoting configuration through multiple WebSphere DataPower Appliances
    10. Chapter 7. Effective monitoring of WebSphere DataPower Appliances
      1. 7.1 Monitoring architecture
      2. 7.2 Installing the monitoring component
        1. 7.2.1 Installing IBM Tivoli Monitoring
        2. 7.2.2 Installing ITCAM Agent for a WebSphere DataPower Appliance
      3. 7.3 Adding WebSphere DataPower Appliances to ITCAM Agents
        1. 7.3.1 Editing the configuration settings of an ITCAM Agent instance
      4. 7.4 Monitoring WebSphere DataPower Appliances
    11. Chapter 8. Troubleshooting
      1. 8.1 Issues with the installer
        1. 8.1.1 Problems running the installer
        2. 8.1.2 Installer log files
        3. 8.1.3 Problems running the uninstaller
      2. 8.2 Issues with the graphical user interface
        1. 8.2.1 Verifying the server address that is used
        2. 8.2.2 Checking the state of the server
        3. 8.2.3 Web browser problems
        4. 8.2.4 Checking the login credentials
      3. 8.3 Issues with WebSphere DataPower Appliances
        1. 8.3.1 Checking the WebSphere DataPower Appliance and firmware support
        2. 8.3.2 Checking the connection to the WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        3. 8.3.3 Checking the configuration of the XML management interface
        4. 8.3.4 Checking the login credentials
        5. 8.3.5 Setting up firewalls
      4. 8.4 Issues with firmware
        1. 8.4.1 Problems adding firmware to the repository
        2. 8.4.2 Problems matching firmware to a WebSphere DataPower Appliance
        3. 8.4.3 Problems deploying firmware
        4. 8.4.4 Unable to connect to web GUI or SSH after upgrading firmware
        5. 8.4.5 Management Information Base changes in firmware
      5. 8.5 Logging and trace
        1. 8.5.1 Logging in WebSphere Appliance Management Center
        2. 8.5.2 Trace in WebSphere Appliance Management Center
        3. 8.5.3 The WebSphere DataPower Appliance system log
      6. 8.6 Technotes
      7. 8.7 Other hints and tips
    12. Related publications
      1. IBM Redbooks
      2. Online resources
      3. Help from IBM
    13. Back cover

    Product information

    • Title: IBM WebSphere Appliance Management Center for WebSphere Appliances
    • Author(s): Ashley Earl, Fernando Ewald, Dr. Chris Poole, Pablo Sanchez
    • Release date: April 2013
    • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
    • ISBN: None