WebSphere

This agent returns performance metrics for an IBM Websphere application server.

Local/Remote Modes

The agent supports both local and remote modes. A requirement is that at least Websphere 'Application Client' or WebSphere must be installed on the machine where the agent is deployed.

Supported Versions

The agent supports Webpshere versions 5.0.x, 5.1.x, 6.0.x. and 6.1.x

Configuration

The following configuration options are available for WebSphere 5.x:

• Username: user name to use when connecting to Websphere
• Password: password to use when connecting to Websphere
• Port: Websphere port number to connect to.
• WebSphere host: The host where WebSphere is running; leave empty if this is the same as the agent deployment host or if the agent is run on the local host.
• Connector: type of connector to be used, either SOAP or RMI.
• WebSphere home directory: path to the location where Websphere or WebSphere 'Application Client' is installed.
• WebSphere library classpath: contains a list of all jars required for monitoring Websphere; under normal circumstances there is no need to change the default values.
• Security: check this option if Websphere global security is enabled.
• Trust store password: Password to the WAS certificate store. Defaults to WebAS.
• Key store password: Password to the WAS key store. Defaults to WebAS.
• Trust store: location of the WAS certificate store, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• Key store: location of the WAS key store, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• soap.client.props file location: location of this configuration file required by WAS client, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• sas.client.props file location: location of this configuration file required by WAS client, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• Proxy RMI port: The RMI port used by the agent proxy. Must be unique for every websphere agent running on the local machine.

The following configuration options are available for WebSphere 6.x:

• Username: user name to use when connecting to Websphere
• Password: password to use when connecting to Websphere
• Port: Websphere port number to connect to.
• Profile: The Websphere profile to use when connecting to WebSphere; it is only used as a token in the values of other configuration entries.
• WebSphere host: The host where WebSphere is running; leave empty if this is the same as the agent deployment host or if the agent is run on the local host.
• Connector: type of connector to be used, either SOAP or RMI.
• WebSphere home directory: path to the location where Websphere or WebSphere 'Application Client' is installed.
• WebSphere library classpath: contains a list of all jars required for monitoring Websphere; under normal circumstances there is no need to change the default values.
• Security: check this option if Websphere global security is enabled.
• Trust store password: Password to the WAS certificate store. Defaults to WebAS.
• Key store password: Password to the WAS key store. Defaults to WebAS.
• Trust store: location of the WAS certificate store, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• Key store: location of the WAS key store, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• soap.client.props file location: location of this configuration file required by WAS client, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• sas.client.props file location: location of this configuration file required by WAS client, relative to the WAS home directory (above).
• Proxy RMI port: The RMI port used by the agent proxy. Must be unique for every websphere agent running on the local machine.

The following is an example of configuration when using Websphere Application Client on the console to monitor a remote Websphere system.

Contents

Will vary depending on the version of Websphere system installed. Please refer to Websphere documentation for details regarding its performance metrics.

Note: due to a known issued in Sun's JRE (see bug #4496398), the agent cannot monitor using an Application Client or Websphere system installed in a path which contains spaces (eg c:/Program Files). Please note that when monitoring a remote Websphere system the only requirement is that the Application Client on the console machine be installed in a path without spaces; the monitored system is not subjected to this kind of restriction.

How to setup WebSphere for monitoring

Before activating the WebSphere agents you must enable the monitoring service for the servers that you wish to monitor. Details are given below on how to do this for different versions of WebSphere:

• WebSphere 5.x:
  • In the Administration Console follow this path through the menu: "Servers > Application Servers > [serverName] > Performance Monitoring Service", check the "Startup" box and select "Standard" as the "Initial Specification Level" Repeat this for every server that you intend to monitor. Press the "Ok" button and restart all servers.
• WebSphere 6.x:
  • In the Administration Console follow this path through the menu: "Monitoring and Tunning > Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI) > [serverName]" you must check the "Enable Performance Monitoring Infrastructure (PMI)" checkbox and choose at least "Extended" for "Currently monitored statistics set" Repeat this for every server that you intend to monitor. For WebSphere 6.0.x there is one extra step: you must decrease the logging and tracing level in order to avoid some warning messages being written to the log file every time a performance snapshot is taken. Follow the following steps: navigate to "Logging and Tracing > [serverName] > Change Log Detail Levels". In the "Configuration" pane select the "[All Components]", click and select the 'severe' level and then press the "Ok" button. Now restart all servers for the changes to take effect.

Now depending on your environment you are probably in one of following situations:

• Your WebSphere instance is intalled on the console host. This is probably the case if you use IxoraRMS in a development environment: You can run the WebSphere agent in 'Local' mode without any additional steps.
• You want to monitor WebSphere servers in a remote location and you don't have WebSphere installed on the console host: In order to get IxoraRMS console to connect to a remote WebSphere server you need to install on the console workstation the 'Application Client' package which is available on one of your WebSphere CDs. The following is a link on the IBM's website about installing the Client Application for WebSphere 6.0; similar documents are also available for WebSphere 5.0 and 5.1.http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.nd.doc/info/ae/ae/tcli_installclient.html Once you have the client application environment set-up you can run the monitoring agent on the console workstation in 'Local' mode
• You want to monitor WebSphere servers in a remote location and you don't have WebSphere installed on the console host. You also do not have the 'Application Client' installed on the console host:
• You can run the agent in 'Remote' mode on the monitored host; in order to do this you must have IxoraRMS HostManager installed on the monitored host. NOTE: this is not recommended as the cost of monitoring will increase (in terms of CPU cycles and memory usage on the remote host)
• You can run the agent in 'Remote' mode on a third host where you have either WebSphere or WebSphere Application Client installed. In this case you must specify the host to monitor in the agent configuration.

Screenshots