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Comparison of the Administration in Versions 4 and 5

Before getting into the details of Application Server 5, it is useful to compare the implementation of system administration in Version 5 with Version 4. Those familiar with Version 4 administration, especially with Version 4 Advanced Edition, will be pleasantly surprised by all of the new management features in Version 5.

There are significant differences between how you would handle administration in Application Server Versions 4 and 5. One of the main differences is that the Version 4 Advanced Edition (AE) requires a database to hold configuration data, whereas no edition of Version 5 requires a database. Version 4 AE administration is based on J2EE Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) and all of the Version 4 administrative programs are EJB client programs. Version 5 does not use EJBs to store configuration data; therefore, none of the Version 4 administration programs, such as the Swing console, wscp scripting (smapi for v4 on z/OS), and XMLConfig, are compatible with Version 5. Instead, Version 5 relies on Extensible Markup Language (XML) configuration files and industry-standard JMX components to handle management functions.

The Version 4 administration program is a single AdminServer program that serves several functions simultaneously. In Version 4, the AdminServer runs on every node, and every instance of the AdminServer is equivalent to any other. In Version 5, the same functions that were combined in the Version 4 AdminServer have been separated into different specialized administrative programs. The node agent program discussed earlier runs on every node and is specialized to perform node-specific administration functions, such as server monitoring, configuration synchronization, file transfer, and request routing. The single Deployment Manager program manages the entire cell, coordinating with the node agents for the various nodes in the cell.

Unlike Version 4, all administrative functions and programs are applicable to all editions of the product in Version 5. The same scripting program, wsadmin, that works for the Version 5 WebSphere Express edition also works for the full Enterprise package, even on the enterprise-class zSeries server machines. The same Administrative Console program, a J2EE Web application based on Java Server Pages (JSPs) and the Jakarta struts framework, works for all editions of Application Server Version 5.

Table 1.1 provides summary comparisons of some of the administrative features between Version 4 AE and Version 5.

Table 1.1. Comparison of Version 4 and Version 5 Administration

Administrative Function

Application Server Version 4 AE

Application Server Version 5

Administrative processes

AdminServer

Node Agent and Deployment Manager

Location of repository data

Relational database

XML configuration files

Graphical interface

"Fat" Swing client

"Thin" Web application

Scripting program

wscp (Tcl syntax) (REXX on z/OS)

wsadmin (Tcl syntax)

Backup of repository data to XML

XMLConfig (different format on z/OS)

None (already in XML)

Debugging utility

DrAdmin (IPCS on z/OS)

wsadmin

Java API

WscpCommand (Part of SMAPI on z/OS)

AdminClient

Program to start the server process

startServer (MVS START command on z/OS)

startServer

Install images

One

Two: Base install and ND install (except for z/OS which is a single image on tape)

Application binary distribution

None

On by default

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