Tuesday 18 May 2010

Using wsadmin to change the hostname of a WebSphere Application Server ... server

For various reasons ( don't ask ), it's been necessary to change the domain name portion of the fully qualified hostname of my Lotus Connections servers, which are running WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment 6.1.0.29 ( two nodes, one deployment manager ).

Now I remember doing this back in WAS V3 where it was necessary to update the underlying DB2 UDB database, via a SQL UPDATE command.

How the world has changed ...

The Information Centre here: -


describes how the Swiss Army Knife tool, wsadmin.sh, can be used to achieve the same ending.

Here are the steps that I followed: -

***CAUTION - THIS WILL POTENTIALLY BREAK YOUR WEBSPHERE ENVIRONMENT IF YOU DO IT WRONG***

Note that I've used the format wsadmin> to reflect that wsadmin has its own prompt and also used italics to indicate the commands that I typed

Change to the appropriate directory

cd /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/bin

Execute the wsadmin script ( this requires the server - be it server, node agent or deployment manager ) to be running - note the language is set to jython rather than the default JACL

wsadmin.sh -user wasadmin -password passw0rd -lang jython

Generate a listing showing the cell name

wsadmin> AdminConfig.list('ServerIndex')

-> this returns the path to the serverindex.xml - depending upon the environment, there may be more than one, as each node ( managed or unmanaged ) has one
-> in my case, this was (cells/cmwputCell01/nodes/cmwputCellManager01|serverindex.xml#ServerIndex_1)

Generate a listing showing the current hostname

wsadmin> AdminConfig.show('(cells/cmwputCell01/nodes/cmwputCellManager01|serverindex.xml#ServerIndex_1)', 'hostName')

-> this returns the hostname - in my case, this was '[hostName cmwput.uk.ibm.com]' 

Change the hostname

wsadmin> AdminConfig.modify('(cells/cmwputCell01/nodes/cmwputCellManager01|serverindex.xml#ServerIndex_1)', "[[hostName cmwput.demo.uk.ibm.com]]")

-> note the really peculiar syntax, with a plethora of apostrophes, quotation marks, brackets and square brackets

Save the configuration

wsadmin> AdminConfig.save()

Generate a listing showing the current hostname

wsadmin> AdminConfig.show('(cells/cmwputCell01/nodes/cmwputCellManager01|serverindex.xml#ServerIndex_1)', 'hostName')

-> this returns the hostname - in my case, this was '[hostName cmwput.demo.uk.ibm.com]' 

Restart WebSphere Application Server

Use the stop/startServer or stop/startNode or stop/startManager scripts as appropriate.

***CAUTION - THIS WILL POTENTIALLY BREAK YOUR WEBSPHERE ENVIRONMENT IF YOU DO IT WRONG***

A simple solution to a potentially complex problem.

Again, remember your mileage may, and almost certainly will, vary.


4 comments:

Technology said...

Hi ,

May i know how to change application server name change in webpshere applcaion server v7.0.I have cloned one server to other new server and also done all configuration changes like :node/cells/hostname.etc.
But doesn't change server name in websphere level. Kindly see the below path doesn't change new server name :
path:/config/cells/cellname/nodes/nodename/servers/

Dave Hay said...

Hi Technology ( what a great name ! )

I've not had a need to do this, as I typically work in a WAS ND environment where it is easy to create new servers, migrate applications etc.

However, I did find this: -

How to rename an application server in WebSphere Application Server 6.0.2.23

and used the sample ConfigScripts to rename a single server within a managed cell.

I previously had a server called foobar in the AppSrv01 on the Node1 node, as seen here: -

ls /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/config/cells/PCCell1/nodes/Node1/servers/

AppClusterMember1 foobar MEClusterMember1 nodeagent SupClusterMember1 webserver1

which I renamed as follows: -

/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01/bin/ws_ant.sh -profileName AppSrv01 -buildfile ~/ConfigScripts/bin/exportImport.xml -logfile ~/rename.log -DoldServerName=foobar -DnewServerName=snafu -DnodeName=Node1 changeServerName

resulting in: -

AppClusterMember1 MEClusterMember1 nodeagent snafu SupClusterMember1 webserver1

Of course, I'm NOT advocating this solution, as it's not something that one needs to do. If you choose to use the sample scripts, please see the IBM license agreement, and consider the impact on a production environment e.g. backup, backup, backup, check backups etc.

PS For the record, I was using WAS 8.5.5.5, but I believe the scripts work on earlier versions of WAS.

Cheers, Dave

Unknown said...

Hi!

I'm trying to change the IP address of a cloned server, should I follow these steps in order to make this change?

Thank you in advance!

Jesus

Dave Hay said...

@Jesus

As long as WAS is configured to use a hostname rather than the IP address, there should be no need to update WAS if you're only changing the hostname.

Cheers, Dave

Visual Studio Code - Wow 🙀

Why did I not know that I can merely hit [cmd] [p]  to bring up a search box allowing me to search my project e.g. a repo cloned from GitHub...