MidVision RapidDeploy for WAS ND on Windows on AWS

Amazon EC2 Installation guide

1. Overview

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

This AMI contains a ready-to-run WebSphere 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 using remote desktop to activate (start) the WebSphere servers.

Visit the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment + MidVision RapidDeploy page on the AWS Marketplace

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.

 3. Initial login and setup

The IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment + MidVision RapidDeploy products are shipped with a base binary installation. On the first login to the instance, you will be placed into a console wizard, which will guide you through the process of creating and starting the IBM WAS ND default 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:

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

  1. Log onto the instance using a remote desktop application:
    • From the EC2 console select the instance and click on the “Connect” button, click on the “Get Password” button, browse and select the key pair .pem file, click on the “Decrypt Password” button, and use the generated password to connect to the instance using the desired remote desktop application.
  2. Wait until a “cmd” window appears. You do not need to start a command window, it will appear once the instance is properly initialized.
  3. This window will ask you if you want to create and start the default WAS ND profiles:

     

    Welcome, this is the MidVisionCloud WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment image first run configuration.

    Configuration steps:

    1. Create and start WebSphere Application Server default profiles: deployment manager and application server.
    2. Set RapidDeploy initial password.

    Create and start WebSphere Application Server default profiles? [y/n]: y
  4. Type ‘y‘ and hit [return]. You should see the following output. Depending on your instance type, the following output will be displayed over several minutes. Please be patient and wait at least 30 minutes for the profiles to be created and started:
    Creating and starting WebSphere Application Server default profiles...
    CWMBU0002I: The deployment manager profile template has been deprecated and replaced by the management profile template with a deployment manager server.
    INSTCONFSUCCESS: Success: Profile Dmgr01 now exists. Please consult C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Dmgr01\logs\AboutThisProfile.txt for more information about this profile.
    INSTCONFSUCCESS: Success: Profile Appsrv01 now exists. Please consult C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Appsrv01\logs\AboutThisProfile.txt for more information about this profile.
    ADMU0116I: Tool information is being logged in file
    C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Dmgr01\logs\dmgr\startServer.log
    ADMU0128I: Starting tool with the Dmgr01 profile
    ADMU3100I: Reading configuration for server: dmgr
    ADMU3200I: Server launched. Waiting for initialization status.
    ADMU3000I: Server dmgr open for e-business; process id is 4924
    ADMU0116I: Tool information is being logged in file
    C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Appsrv01\logs\addNode.log
    ADMU0128I: Starting tool with the Appsrv01 profile
    CWPKI0308I: Adding signer alias "CN=localhost, OU=Root Certifica" to local
    keystore "ClientDefaultTrustStore" with the following SHA digest:
    A7:A2:C6:61:B1:F4:E4:EB:D3:FD:B4:00:3B:61:E5:7E:22:16:6E:A0
    CWPKI0309I: All signers from remote keystore already exist in local keystore.
    ADMU0001I: Begin federation of node Appsrv01 with Deployment Manager at
    localhost:9063.
    ADMU0009I: Successfully connected to Deployment Manager Server: localhost:9063
    ADMU0507I: No servers found in configuration under:
    C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Appsrv01\config/cells/cell01Node/nodes/Appsrv01/servers
    ADMU2010I: Stopping all server processes for node Appsrv01
    ADMU0024I: Deleting the old backup directory.
    ADMU0015I: Backing up the original cell repository.
    ADMU0012I: Creating Node Agent configuration for node: Appsrv01
    ADMU0014I: Adding node Appsrv01 configuration to cell: cell01
    ADMU0016I: Synchronizing configuration between node and cell.
    ADMU0018I: Launching Node Agent process for node: Appsrv01
    ADMU0020I: Reading configuration for Node Agent process: nodeagent
    ADMU0022I: Node Agent launched. Waiting for initialization status.
    ADMU0030I: Node Agent initialization completed successfully. Process id is:
    2400
    ADMU0505I: Servers found in configuration:
    ADMU0506I: Server name: nodeagent


    ADMU0300I: The node Appsrv01 was successfully added to the cell01 cell.


    ADMU0306I: Note:
    ADMU0302I: Any cell-level documents from the standalone cell01 configuration
    have not been migrated to the new cell.
    ADMU0307I: You might want to:
    ADMU0303I: Update the configuration on the cell01 Deployment Manager with
    values from the old cell-level documents.


    ADMU0306I: Note:
    ADMU0304I: Because -includeapps was not specified, applications installed on
    the standalone node were not installed on the new cell.
    ADMU0307I: You might want to:
    ADMU0305I: Install applications onto the cell01 cell using wsadmin $AdminApp or
    the Administrative Console.


    ADMU0003I: Node Appsrv01 has been successfully federated.
  5. Set the initial password for the admin RapidDeploy user “mvadmin“. Hit [return] to accept the default one, the instance ID:
    Configuring password for the RapidDeploy default user 'mvadmin'.

    Set password for the user 'mvadmin'. Submit blank for a default value of the instance ID: i-06239498abd4171bf: *******
    Confirm password: *******

    Setting RapidDeploy password for the user 'mvadmin'...

    RapidDeploy password successfully set!
  6. The correct URLs to access the WebSphere and the RapidDeploy servers are displayed:
    Configuration finished, you may now start using the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment and RapidDeploy services. You can access the WebSphere Application Server and RapidDeploy web user interfaces on the following links:

    WebSphere Application Server: ec2-54-80-6-248.compute-1.amazonaws.com:9060/ibm/console (wasadmin/i-06239498abd4171bf)
    RapidDeploy: ec2-54-80-6-248.compute-1.amazonaws.com:9090/MidVision
  7. You can log in to the WebSphere console as “wasadmin” using your ‘[instance-id]‘ as password.

IMPORTANT!

Remember you need to have the necessary rules in the Windows firewall to access the WAS ND web console and the application servers. In order to do this:

1. Open the tool “Windows Firewall with Advanced Security” in Windows

2. Select “Inbound rules

3. Click on “New Rule...

4. Select “Port” and click “Next

5. Select “TCP” and set the “Specific local ports” to the necessary specific port values, by default it should be something like “9060,9061,9044,9043,9090,9080“, and click “Next

6. You can leave the rest of the values by default on the following windows and assign a memorable name to the rule

4. Accessing the web consoles

4.1 Access the IBM WebSphere Application Server Admin Console

You should now be able to access the WebSphere admin console at the URL specified below:
http://[publicip]:9060/ibm/console

which will redirect to the secure connection:

https://[publicip]:9061/ibm/console/
You can log in to the WebSphere console as “wasadmin” using your ‘[instance-id]‘ as password.
 

Note that the IBM WAS ND profiles are bounded to the localhost IP address in order to work reliably with the changing hostnames as the instance is restarted. You should not need to change this. However, in case you want to change the bound IP address, there is a script provided in “C:\rd\scripts” to change the configuration by replacing the configured hostnames with the new IP address. The script is called setuphost.ps1. Please refer to IBM documentation for WebSphere Application Server configuration.

4.2 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 the RapidDeploy web console. You can log in with the administrative user ” mvadmin ” using your ‘[instance-id]‘ as password.

5. Maintaining the installation

The following sections cover some of the activities you might want to perform after the instance has been started.

The IBM WebSphere Application Server ND Admin Console is initially configured so that you can log in to the 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.

Two scripts are provided in the “C:\rd\scripts” folder to start and stop the WAS ND servers. These are named startWas.ps1and stopWas.ps1.

PowerShell C:\rd\scripts\startWas.ps1
PowerShell C:\rd\scripts\stopWas.ps1

You will be prompted for the WebSphere username/password you used earlier (Default: wasadmin/[instance-id]) in a pop-up box or (if you cancel out this box) on the command line.

You can use the WAS ND install in three host configurations:

  • Leave as the default ‘localhost
  • Assign to an elastic IP address. You will need to run the setuphost.ps1 script once to change the address from ‘localhost‘ to the elastic IP address
  • Use dynamically assigned hostname. You will need to run the setuphost.ps1 script on each restart of the instance

The setuphost.ps1 script provided in “C:\rd\scripts” folder will search and replace for the old host name (localhost) occurrences in all the necessary WAS configuration files. We recommend leaving ‘localhost‘ default setting or using an elastic IP address to avoid having to run setuphost.ps1 on each restart.

C:\rd\scripts\setuphost.ps1

For security reasons, you will need to change the default password (the default value is ‘[instance-id]‘) for user mvadmin. You can change this password at any time by clicking the ‘mvadmin’ drop down in the top right hand corner of the RapidDeploy web console and clicking ‘Change Password’.

6. Troubleshooting

6.1 Session loss during setup

If you lose the 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 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.

6.3 Contacting MidVision support

Please visit our support website.