MidVision RapidDeploy for IBM WAS ND on AWS (Early Fixpacks)

Amazon EC2 Installation guide

1. Overview

This guide will provide step by step instructions how to start using the installed products on your AWS EC2 instance.

This AMI contains a ready-to-run WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment + MidVision RapidDeploy image at the selected version. In order to use this image, you need to launch it with your selected type, and log in via SSH to create required profile(s) and activate (start) the WebSphere servers.

Visit the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Edition + MidVision RapidDeploy page on the AWS Marketplace
Launch WebSphere AS ND from AWS

2. Launching an instance

In order to launch IBM WebSphere Application Server (referred as WAS) + MidVision RapidDeploy, a few settings need to be configured on the AWS console as follows. The instructions for launching an instance differ depending on where you launch from. Initially you will launch the instance from the AWS Marketplace.

You can also view the YouTube video which will take you through the launch and configuration steps for this AMI.

Follow the step-by-step YouTube video to launch and configure your IBM WebSphere ND + MidVision RapidDeploy instance.

3. Initial login and setup

The products are shipped with a base binary installation but without the necessary profiles created.

Before performing bespoke configuration you should create and assign an elastic IP address to the instance.

On the first login via SSH to the instance, you will be placed into a console wizard, which will guide you through the process of  creating and starting new IBM WAS ND profile(s) and other configuration steps. The following is an overview of the steps you will be guided through to get started with the installed products on the instance.

The wizard allows us to create and configure a Dmgr and/or Nodeagent on the instance. In this example we will create both.

Once the instance has started up (you can see it by having ” 2/2 checks passed ” in EC2 console).

      1. Log onto the instance from the EC2 console or via SSH as the ‘midvision’ user, using the key you selected above.  For example:
        • From the EC2 console by clicking  the “Connect to your instance” button with username “midvision” (if your instance contains IBM MQ installation use “mqm” as username), using the previously (instance launch-time) selected .pem keyfile.
        • Via SSH from your desktop, for example
          ssh -i ./MidVisionUSMC.pem midvision@ec2-52-87-198-23.compute-1.amazonaws.com
      2. You should see the MidVision banner and then you are placed in a setup wizard.
        Welcome to                                                                                                                                             

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|  \/  (_) __| \ \   / (_)___(_) ___  _ __        / ___| | ___  _   _  __| |
| |\/| | |/ _` |\ \ / /| / __| |/ _ \| '_ \ _____| |   | |/ _ \| | | |/ _` |
| |  | | | (_| | \ V / | \__ \ | (_) | | | |_____| |___| | (_) | |_| | (_| |
|_|  |_|_|\__,_|  \_/  |_|___/_|\___/|_| |_|      \____|_|\___/ \__,_|\__,_|

                                                       A MidVision Service

        * WebSite: http://portal.midvision.com/page/cloud-applications
        * Support: http://support.midvision.com/redmine/projects/devtestcloud
        * Wiki:    http://support.midvision.com/redmine/projects/devtestcloud/wiki      


Welcome, this is DevTestCloud Websphere Application Server image first run configuration

Note that you can rerun this configuration wizard again by executing /home/midvision/firstrunsetup.sh script

Configuration steps
1. Create Deployment manager profile for Websphere application server (optional)
2. Create Node agent profile for Websphere application server (optional)
3. Set RapidDeploy framework initial password
4. Open ports on RHEL firewall

Create Deployment manager profile? [y/n]
      3. Type ‘y‘ and hit [return]. You should see the following output. We strongly advise use of elastic IP address.
        Set Dmgr host name. Defaults to current public hostname of the instance: ec2-52-91-9-147.compute-1.amazonaws.com
Recommended to use elastic ip address. Note that changing ip address of the instance will break the Websphere server profiles connectivity, so you will be prompted on the next login whether you want to reassign a new hostname to WebSphere services.

      4. Set Cell ID, Starting Port, Username, Password and Profile name. For all the questions listed here, we just accept the default. Once the Deployment Manager profile creation starts, you should allow up to 15 minutes for it to complete.

        Set cell id. Defaults to 'cell01'
Set starting port. Dmgr will get a range of ports for the interfaces starting from this number. Defaults to 9060
Set admin username. Defaults to 'wasadmin'
Set admin password. Defaults to 'wasadmin'
Set profile name. Defaults to 'Dmgr01'

Creating deployment manager profile may take a few minutes, please be patient...

      5. You should see the following output following the Dmgr creation:

        Profile creation finished, see output in /root/wasinstall.log.

      6. You will now be prompted whether to create a node agent profile. In this example we again type ‘y‘ and hit [return]. Accept the default of the instance IP address or enter a different one. Again, we strongly advise use of elastic IP address.

    Create node agent profile? [y/n]
y
Set node agent host name. Defaults to current public hostname of the instance: ec2-52-91-9-147.compute-1.amazonaws.com
      1. Set Cell ID, Starting Port, Username, Password and Profile name. For all the questions listed here, we just accept the default. Once the Node Agent profile creation starts, you should allow up to 15 minutes for it to complete.
    Set starting port. Node agent will get a range of ports for the interfaces starting from this number. Defaults to 9160
Set cell id. Defaults to 'cell01'
Set admin username. Defaults to 'wasadmin'
Set admin password. Defaults to 'wasadmin'
Set profile name. Defaults to 'Appsrv01'
      1. You will be asked for the Deployment Manager to federate this node agent into. In this example we’re using the local one we just created, but this could just as easily be another AWS instance. Once the Node Agent profile creation starts, you should allow up to 15 minutes for it to complete.
    Set deployment manager host. Defaults to current public hostname of the instance: ec2-52-91-9-147.compute-1.amazonaws.com
Set Dmgr SOAP connector port. Defaults to 9063
Creating node agent profile may take a few minutes, please be patient...
      1. You should see the following output following the Node Agent creation:
    Profile creation finished, see output in /root/wasinstall.log.
      1. Set initial password for RapidDeploy user “mvadmin“. Hit [return] to accept the default of the instance id.
    Configuring password for RapidDeploy default user 'mvadmin'
Set password for user 'mvadmin'. Submit blank for default value of the instance id: i-380002a3
    1. Open required firewall ports on Red Hat Linux firewall. ‘y‘ and hit [return].
      Open firewall ports for Websphere application server (default port 9060) and RapidDeploy (port 9090) [y/n]?
y
Opening default web UI ports for WebSphere and RapidDeploy.
Open firewall port 9090
iptables: Saving firewall rules to /etc/sysconfig/iptables:[  OK  ]
Open firewall port 9060
iptables: Saving firewall rules to /etc/sysconfig/iptables:[  OK  ]
Type port number to open. Type 'process' to open all ports used by WebSphere, type 'all' to open all ports, type 'exit' to finish.
process

    2. Open required firewall ports on Red Hat Linux firewall.  Type ‘process‘ to open all ports used by WebSphere and hit [return].

    3. You should see ports list of ports being opened. Type ‘exit‘ to leave this section and the wizard. The correct URLs to access the WebSphere server are displayed.

      Configuration finished, you may now start using Websphere and RapidDeploy services. You can use WebSphere and RapidDeploy web user interface  on:
WebSphere: ec2-52-91-9-147.compute-1.amazonaws.com:9060/ibm/console
RapidDeploy: ec2-52-91-9-147.compute-1.amazonaws.com:9090/MidVision
    4. You can log in to WebSphere console with the username and password you set in step 5, in our case using the default answers this will be ‘wasadmin‘ using ‘wasadmin‘ as password.

4. Accessing the Command Line & Web Consoles

4.1 Access the IBM WebSphere Application Server Admin Console

4.2 Subsequent logins via SSH to the instance

When logging into the instance after the first time, you will be asked if you need to reassign the bound hostnames in the IBM WebSphere configuration. You will only need to do this if you have not used elastic IP addresses when running the setup wizard, and you have stopped and started your instance.

In this situation, your instance will probably get a new IP address, whereas the IBM WebSphere configuration still references the old host name of the instance in the deployment manager and node agent profile configurations.

In order to fix this issue, you can run the setuphost.sh script provided in the midvision user home directory, which will search and replace for the old host name occurrences in the configuration files. See the section below for detailed instructions running setuphost.sh

4.3 Access the RapidDeploy Web Console

RapidDeploy server and agent will start up automatically when you start your instance. You can access the web console on:

http://[publicip]:9090/MidVision

Note: make sure you have port 9090 open in your Security group when trying to access RapidDeploy web console. For the first time, you can set the password for the default username ” mvadmin “. 

5. Maintaining the installation

The following sections cover some of the activities you might want to perform after the instance has been started.
  • midvision: This is the default user, which you can log in as. It is permitted to use all SUDO rights. To switch to the root user, type “sudo su“.
  • root:      This is the superuser in linux systems. You can log in as any other user without using passwords. E.g: “su ec2-user“, “su midvision“
  • ec2-user:  This user does not have SUDO rights. If you want to switch back to root user, type “exit“, this will take you back to the previous user session.

The IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Admin Console is initially configured so that you can log in to WebSphere console as “wasadmin” using your ‘[instance-id]‘ as password.

You can further configure WebSphere security in the normal way according to your requirements. However you should pay attention to some AWS specifics covered on this page.

You can use the managewas.sh in the midvision home directory to stop and start profiles (Deployment Manager and/or Node Agent) on your instance. The script takes the argument ‘stop‘ or ‘start’. It will detect all profiles and perform the action on each profile in turn. For example:

sudo /home/midvision/managewas.sh stop

You can open the necessary ports quickly using the setup wizard.  To re-run this section of the wizard, from the midvision home directory run:

sudo /home/midvision/openwasports.sh

There is an option to open all ports used by IBM WebSphere services, by entering ‘process‘ input. Alternatively, you can choose to open all ports on the instance by entering ‘all‘ input. If you are creating a distributed cell over multiple nodes, we strongly recommend you don’t try to estimate which ports should be opened, but select the ‘process’ option, which will open all the required ports to ensure node agent synchronisation will work correctly. Port opening options:

  • <port number> – Open this port. Multiple ports can be entered, separated by pressing the ‘[return]’ key.
  •  ‘process’           – Open all WebSphere ports for all WebSphere processes detected on the instance.
  • ‘all’                    – Open all ports on the instance (effectively remove the firewall).
  • ‘exit’                  – Exit the port opening script.

You can re-run the first run setup wizard at any time by issuing the following command:

sudo /home/midvision/firstrunsetup.sh

RHEL instances are shipped with a firewall by default to protect your machine. For security reasons, the instance is only accessible via SSH (port 22) at first, so further ports can be opened on the firewall as needed. You will need to open all the ports in this internal firewall, which you have open in your Security group. There is a script placed in the user home of midvision (/home/midvision), which is also the starting location when logged in. You will need to be the root user to run this script. Example usage:

[midvision@ ] sudo ./open-firewall.sh 9090
Open firewall port 9090 iptables: Saving firewall rules to /etc/sysconfig/iptables:[ OK ]
 

WE RECOMMEND USING THE DEFAULT CONFIGURATION OR AN ELASTIC IP ADDRESS DURING BESPOKE CONFIGURATION TO AVOID PERFORMING THESE OPERATIONS ON EACH RESTART

If you restart your instance(s) and are using a bespoke configuration and have not assigned elastic IP addresses, your instance(s) will probably get new IP address(es), whereas the IBM WebSphere configuration still references the old host name of the instance in the deployment manager and node agent profile configurations. In order to fix this issue, you can run the setuphost.sh script provided in the midvision user home directory, which will search and replace for the old host name occurrences in the configuration files. See the section below for detailed instructions running setuphost.sh

sudo /home/midvision/setuphost.sh

Example changing IP addresses in a distributed system

Please see below for the example steps for the case where a Deployment Manager and remote Node Agent instance are both stopped and restarted without an elastic IP address: Take a note of the four IP addresses: the original deployment manager host (referred as oldDmgrHost), the original node agent host (ref oldNodeagentHost), the current deployment manager host (ref newDmgrHost), the current node agent host (refnewNodeAgentHost)

  • Record [oldDmgrHost] and [oldNodeagentHost] addresses
  • Start DMGR instance – get a [newDmgrHost] instance address
  • Login to Dmgr instance – You will be prompted for [oldDmgrHost] and [newDmgrHost] host to replace. Answer and run.
  • Start NodeAgent instance – get a [newNodeAgentHost] instance address
  • Login to NodeAgent instance – You will be prompted for [oldNodeagentHost] and [newNodeAgentHost] host to replace. Answer and run.
  • On Dmgr host , run sudo ./setuphost.sh, entering the [oldNodeagentHost] and [newNodeAgentHost]
  • On NodeAgent host, run ./setuphost.sh, entering the [oldDmgrHost] and [newDmgrHost]
  • Restart the NodeAgent
  • In the AdminConsole, run a full resynchronise from System Administration -> Nodes -> Select the nodes and click “Full resynchronise“

There are a few scripts and other files in midvision and root users home directory, which will need to remain unchanged in order to keep the provided scripts working. Files are placed under /root/WAS_install are required to create the IBM WebSphere profiles. There are a set of scripts in midvision home directory. Those scripts are executed when logging into the instance controlled by .bash_profile, but you can also execute them manually whenever they are needed. There are some hidden files used as well,

.firstrun indicates that the setup wizard has already ran once,

.dontask indicates that the user will not be prompted again for running the setuphost script (if chosen not to ask again),

.host file is needed to determine the previously bound hostname to WebSphere service.

To restart RapidDeploy manually from the filesystem, use the rapiddeploy linux service. The RapidDeploy version is 5.0.4. RapidDeploy home is located at /var/rd/midvision Example usage:

[midvision@ ] sudo service rapiddeploystart start 
[midvision@ ] sudo service rapiddeploystart stop

The RapidDeploy server uses an in-memory database, so your RapidDeploy framework needs to be shut down properly to save your work. This happens when the instance is stopping or when calling the stop service manually from the command line. Note that on instance restart, unsaved data will be lost.

For security reasons, you will need to change the default password (default value is ‘[instance-id]‘) for user mvadmin. This will be requested the first time only when you log in to the RapidDeploy server.

6. Troubleshooting

6.1 Session loss during setup

If you lose your SSH connection to the target instance during the first run setup script execution (e.g. as a result of a network problem), we advise you to delete and recreate the EC2 instance and run the script again.

6.2 Profile startup exceptions

If the profile fails to start with the startmanager.sh or startnode.sh commands, check that you are running as the root user, either by being in a root shell, or by prepending ‘sudo’ to the start command.

6.3 Cannot access the IBM WebSphere admin console (ISC)

Check that  the default server is running, and you have correctly opened all the required ports on the firewall, and that your instance was created using a security group definition that allows TCP access to the instance on the required ports.

6.4 Contacting MidVision support

Please visit our support website.

7. Reference

7.1 Creating a Deployment manager profile

You will be prompted to enter the following values, or accept the defaults:

  • dmgrHostName: the host name binding for the deployment manager profile. This resource has a default value of the current public host name of the instance. You are strongly recommended to assign an elastic IP address for the instance before proceeding with the deployment manager profile creation.
  • cellID: the id of the WebSphere cell containing the profile
  • startingPort: the WebSphere service ports will be incremented from this number, assigning each unused ports to the WebSphere services.
  • profileName: the name of the profile to create

7.2 Creating a Node agent profile

You will be prompted to enter the following values, or accept the defaults:

  • nodeAgentHostName: the host name binding for the Node Agent profile. This resource has a default value of the current public host name of the instance. It is strongly recommended to assign an elastic IP address for the instance before proceeding with the node agent profile creation.

  • nodeAgentStartingPort: the WebSphere service ports will be incremented from this number, assigning each unused port to the WebSphere services.

  • nodeAgentCellID: the id of the WebSphere cell containing the profile

  • nodeAgentAdminUserName: the username to authenticate against the deployment manager (if required)

  • nodeAgentAdminPassword: the password to authenticate against the deployment manager (if required)

  • nodeAgentProfileName: the name of the profile

  • dmgrHostName: the host name the deployment manager is running at. This resource has a default value of the current public host name of the instance. If necessary,change this to the hostname, IP or DNS of the remote Deployment Manager instance. Note that if you use a remote deployment manager host, you will need to make sure all the required ports are open on both machines.

  • dmgrPort: the deployment manager SOAP connector port to connect to for the purposes of federation and subsequent synchronisation.