WebSphere Application Server Concepts

 Profile:

A profile is the set of files that define the runtime environment for a WebSphere Application Server.

A need for more than one profile one server is common. For example, you might want to create separate profiles of the application server for development and testing.

There are advantages of creating profiles instead of multiple installations of the WebSphere Application Server product. Not only is disk-space saved, but updating the application server is simplified when you maintain a single set of core files. Also, creating new profiles is more efficient and less prone to errors than full installations of the WebSphere Application Server.

Creating a new profile on the same server as an existing one defines unique characteristics, such as profile name and node name. Each profile shares all runtime scripts, libraries, the Java runtime environment, and other core server files. However, each profile has its own administrative console and administrative scripting interface.

There are different types of profiles available in WebSphere Application Server:

• Management Profile
• Application Server Profile
• Cell Profile
• Custom Profile
• Secure proxy profile
• Default Profile

Node:

A node is a logical group of one or more application servers on a physical computer. The node name is unique within the cell. A node name usually is identical to the host name for the computer. That is, a node usually corresponds to a physical computer system with a distinct IP address.

Node Agent:

Each node has a Node Agent, which is a service that is used to communicate with the Deployment Manager.

Node Groups:

Nodes that you organize into a node group need to be similar in terms of installed software, available resources, and configuration to enable servers on those nodes to host the same applications as part of a server cluster. The deployment manager does no validation to guarantee that nodes in a given node group have anything in common.

Node groups are optional and are established at the discretion of the WebSphere Application Server administrator. However, a node must be a member of a node group. Initially, all Application Server nodes are members of the default DefaultNodeGroup node group.

A node can be a member of more than one node group.

To delete a node group, the node group must be empty. The default node group cannot be deleted.

Cell:

The administrative domain that a Deployment Manager manages. A cell is a logical grouping of nodes that enables common administrative activities in a WebSphere Application Server distributed environment. A cell can have one or many clusters.

Deployment Manager:

The Deployment Manager is a service that manages all nodes in the cell. The deployment manager communicates with the node agents of the cell that is administering to manage the applications within the node.

Application server

The application server is the primary component of WebSphere. The server runs a Java virtual machine, providing the runtime environment for the application's code. The application server provides containers that specialize in enabling the execution of specific Java application components.

Cluster

A logical grouping of one or more functionally identical application server processes. A cluster provides ease of deployment, configuration, workload balancing, and fallback redundancy. A cluster is a collection of servers working together as a single system to ensure that mission-critical applications and resources remain available to clients.

Clusters provide scalability. For more information, refer to additional documentation that customer support may provide that describes vertical and horizontal clustering in the WebSphere Application Server distributed environment.

Cluster member

An instance of a WebSphere Application Server in a cluster.