Super Cluster

A look at using Super Clusters for extreme large scale deployments

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0906_banerjee/0906_banerjee.html

Understanding the IBM WebSphere Portal Solution Installer

Help standardizing Portal Application Deployments between Lifecycles

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/portal/proddoc/solutioninstaller/

WASDroid

Android WAS Admin Application


http://www.appbrain.com/app/wasdroid/com.wasdroid.android

SpecJEnterprise2010 results for WebSphere Application Server V8

Great details around JVM arguments and linux configs

http://www.spec.org/jEnterprise2010/results/res2011q2/jEnterprise2010-20110601-00022.html

The WAIT Tool - Portal Performance Diagnosis and Beyond

Interesting option for Portal Performance Tuning

http://portal2portal.blogspot.com/2011/10/open-mic-webcast-wait-tool-portal.html

Using Visual Configuration Explorer to compare two WAS cell configurations

Tool to Visually view and compare WAS configs

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/kevgrig/entry/using_visual_configuration_explorer_to_compare_to_was_cell_configurations7?lang=en_us

Techline Sizing for Portal and WCM

Planning Questionnaire
http://www-03.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/PRS1456

DNS caching ability of the SDK

This can cause problems caching a bad DNS response
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21207534

IBM Extensions to the Eclipse memory analyzer

Nice set of extensions from IBM for detailed heapdump analysis

http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/08/ibm-extensions-to-eclipse-memory.html

WebSphere Portal on POWER 7

http://blogs.perficient.com/portals/2011/08/29/websphere-portal-on-ibms-new-power-7-processors/

Collection of WAS Performance Tuning Ideas

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0909_blythe/0909_blythe.html
http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/08/tune-your-websphere-application-server.html
http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/05/websphere-application-server-top-10.html
http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2010/03/pimp-my-websphere-reduce-websphere.html
http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/04/websphere-application-server-walk-in.html
http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/05/websphere-application-server.html
http://webspherecommunity.blogspot.com/2011/05/tuning-for-idleness-service.html

Recommended values for Web server plug-in config

 Great Explanation of plugin settings

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21318463

How to RippleStart a cluster with wsadmin

Nice Sample
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21218742

Rotating Verbosegc logs

Everyone needs to do this.

-Xverbosegclog:${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/verbosegc.log,10,200000

Identifying the Java stack of a thread making an allocation request larger than a certain size

Get when getting OOM with large allocation failures

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21236523

Configure and monitor WebSphere Application Server applications with Optim Performance Manager Extended Insight

End to End database monitoring

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/techarticle/dm-1107extendedinsight/index.html?ca=drs-

Configuring the WebSphere Application Server hung thread detector to produce javacores

Make sure you have enough disk space and alerts in place

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21448581

Best Practice for using common application files

Good article to share with developers

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006159

A better Web application configuration for high availability

Architecture

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0802_webcon/0802_webcon.html

High availability (again) versus continuous availability

Details on the 2 topics

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1004_webcon/1004_webcon.html

Cloning an IBM WebSphere Portal V7 installation

Everyone loves cloning

https://greenhouse.lotus.com/blogs/lotustechinfo/entry/latest_everyone_writes_white_paper_cloning_an_ibm_websphere_portal_v7_installation?lang=en_us

Frequently asked questions about WebSphere Application Server security

Details FAQ on security
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1003_botzum/1003_botzum.html

How do I configure IBM HTTP Server to require SSL Client Authentication for only certain requests

Great when sharing IHS with multiple backends
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21503373

How to display SQL statements executed from J2EE applications using minimal tracing

Great trace string to keep handy
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21496047

Understanding the new JVM exit property in the latest DB2 Universal JDBC driver

A new global property to trap exits

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/techarticle/dm-1107jvmexitdb2univjdbc/index.html?ca=drs-

Correlating TPROF output to a specific thread in the JAVACORE using DBXTrace -a output

Great troubleshooting tool
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21138359

Configuring defaultRowPrefetch for an Oracle JDBC driver

Oracle JDBC settings

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21417765

Plug-in-Tools

Short tools for analyzing trace files from the WebServer Plugin in WebSphere Application Server.

https://github.com/covener/plugin-tools

Windows style Task Manager for WebSphere Application Server

A couple of JSP's that will show you details on your WAS threads

http://wasdynacache.blogspot.com/2011/07/windows-style-task-manager-for.html

The WebSphere Application Server Security Configurations - Visual walk-through

Nice eBook

http://www.websphereusergroup.org/josephamrithraj/blog/2011/07/16/the_websphere_application_server_security_configurations_-_visual_walk-through_e-book

WAS V8.0 Redbooks

 WebSphere Application Server V8.0 Technical Overiew

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/redp4756.html?Open

WebSphere Application Server V8 Concepts, Planning and Design Guide

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/SG247957.html

Realizing an IBM WebSphere Portal farm topology on the Amazon Cloud

Step by Step for Portal Farming on the Cloud with demo

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Realizing_A_WebSphere_Portal_Farm_Topology_on_the_Amazon_Cloud

What's new in WebSphere Application Server V8

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1106_alcott/1106_alcott.html

WebSphere Application Server V7 advanced security hardening

Part 1
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1004_botzum/1004_botzum.html

Part 2
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1005_botzum/1005_botzum.html



Keys Botzum

Tuning WebSphere Application Server V7 and V8 for performance

Great getting started doc

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0909_blythe/0909_blythe.html

Garbage collection in WebSphere Application Server V8

Part 1
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1106_bailey/1106_bailey.html

Part 2
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1108_sciampacone/1108_sciampacone.html

Web server plug-in policy for WebSphere Application Server

Supported levels of plug-in with WAS

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21160581

Proxy server versus the HTTP plug-in

Choosing the best WebSphere Application Server workload management option

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1010_pape/1010_pape.html

Changing the context root of WebSphere Portal

Nice Step by Step PDF

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?mynp=OCSSHRKX&mync=R&uid=swg21507613&myns=swgws

WebSphere Portal V8 Beta

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Whats_new_wpbeta

Java Health Center- a low overhead monitoring tool

Really Cool option for monitoring Java in Apps

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21413628&wv=1

Web security concepts and considerations for IBM WebSphere Portal administrators

Security for WebSphere Portal

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/Web_security_concepts_and_considerations_for_IBM_WebSphere_Portal_administrators

Performance tuning WebSphere Application Server 7 on AIX 6.1

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/timdp/entry/performance_tuning_websphere_application_server_7_on_aix_6_1179?lang=en

Tuning guide for dynamic cache and data replication service

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006431

Troubleshooting native memory issues

Native JVM issues are hard to track down. These notes will help.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21373312&wv=1

Zero wsadmin Knowledge To Useful Scripts In Minutes

Good doc on command assistant

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/scottc/entry/zero_wsadmin_knowledge_to_useful_scripts_in_minutes?lang=en

Tuning IBM HTTP Server to maximize the number of client connections to WebSphere Application Server

More HTTP Tuning Info
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21167658&wv=1

New High Performance Extensible Logging (HPEL) infrastructure available in WebSphere Application Server V8

More info on HPEL in WAS V8

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21502247&wv=1

Scripting from scratch Jython

Can never read enough of these reference articles

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/1004_gibson/1004_gibson.html

WebSphere Application Server - System Management

Open Mic presentation from WebSphere Support

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018405

Analyzing remote WebSphere logs: It's a Small World Afterall

Great new logging feature

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ServiceabilityDev/entry/analyzing_remote_websphere_logs_it_s_a_small_world_afterall62?lang=en

Guide to properly setting up SSL within the IBM HTTP Server

Good how-to document

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21179559

Why the Memory Analyzer (with IBM Extensions) isn't just for memory leaks anymore

Great troubleshooting info

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1103_supauth/1103_supauth.html

Configuring the WebSphere Application Server Web server plug-in to serve custom error pages

Title says it all

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21405555

TCP Packet Tracing

Nice WebCast on troubleshooting

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27021655

Recommended values for Web server plug-in config

I good explanation of plug-in settings

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21318463

A dozen IBM JVM arguments to cut & paste

The Title says it all

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/timdp/entry/adozentopjvmarguments?lang=en

Modifying web server plug-in properties from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console

Best way to persist plug-in changes

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21460889

WSADMIN FAQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wsadmin

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.express.doc/info/exp/ae/txml_scriptingep.html

http://josephamrithraj.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/wsadmin-tutorial-part-1of3/

http://wpcertification.blogspot.com/2009/08/wsadmin-objects.html

http://www-03.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP100963

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/dmndhelp/v6rxmx/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.wsps.sec.doc/doc/tut_intro_jmxadmin.html

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4576.html

Converting binary format IBM Java heap dump (.phd) to text format(.txt)

Great tip to read heap dumps files

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21196223

Using ibm-allGroups in VMM to Improve LDAP Performance

Portal Performance Tuning Tip

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/portalops/entry/using_ibm_allgroups_in_vmm_to_improve_ldap_performance6?lang=en

Deployment Scenario: WebSphere Portal 7.0 – Virtualization in a Portal Farm

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/WebSphere_Portal_7.0_%E2%80%93_Virtualization_in_a_Portal_Farm

WebSphere On Demand Demos

For your free time

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/demos/

Exception occurs during recovery of Oracle database transactions

Oracle DB connection clean-up

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21196663

Disabling AIO (Asynchronous Input/Output) native transport in WebSphere Application Server

Security guys like this

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21366862

Configuring WebSphere Application Server to reuse JSESSIONID information.

Really useful at a lot of customers

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21210881

Problem determination for javacore files from WebSphere Application Server

Javacore Readme

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21181068

TroubleShooting: Synchronization problems

Syncing Problems

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21199305

Tune High Availability (HA) Manager configuration for large cell environments

Performance Tuning Info
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21251873

How to read a heapdump generated in .phd format

More Troubleshooting info
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21190476

Getting Heapdumps on the Solaris platform

Great Troubleshooting info

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21242314

Mapping Underlying Java Thread Identifiers to those in Logging and Trace

Useful troubleshooting info
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21418557

"Dark matter" on the Heap

Good performance tuning info
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21214654

WAS V8.0 is released

All the new stuff.
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/34242.wss#release

Creating Windows services for WebSphere Application Server

If you are stuck working on windows, this will help.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1005_supauth/1005_supauth.html

Configuring static ports to enable RMI communication through a firewall

Great details on changing Ports

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21174604

Changing the CACERTS password

Nice set of details here.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21220252

DNS caching ability of the SDK

Have been burned by the DNS cache before

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21207534

Configurables for managing HTTP Session Cookie Vulnerability

Security guys will appreciate these settings

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21427901

Limit the number of Heapdumps and System Dumps using wsadmin

Great option to set to prevent file system full issues

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21474166

Sample Scripts for WebSphere Application Server

Downloaded Sets of Sample Scripts. Can never have enough of these

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/samples/SampleScripts.html

WebSphere eXtreme Scale Design and Performance Considerations

Great Article by Nitin on WXS and Performance

http://ibm.ulitzer.com/node/1803990

IBM WebSphere Portal V 7.0 Performance Tuning Guide

Title says it all

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/WebSphere_Portal_Tun

Resolving WebSphere Application Server configuration conflicts

Tom Alcott article around looking for config issue

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1007_webcon/1007_webcon.html

Tuning Java virtual machines

Nice Read detailing the specific tuning options on different OS's

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.nd.doc/info/ae/ae/tprf_tunejvm_v61.html

Rotating the plug-in log using UNIX commands

Commands you can use in a script

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21425624

Creating External Facing Web Sites Using IBM WebSphere Portal

Nice Wiki from the RedBook team

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/tips0760.html?Open

Importing and exporting LTPA keys

Nice Sample Jython Script

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21320758

Native memory use in WebSphere Application Server thread pools

Always good to set the min / max thread pools to the same for long running app servers.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21368248

Best practices: setting up session replication in IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1

Replay of a webcast

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27012528

IBM HTTP Server - Configuring a temporary 'Site Down For Maintenance' page

Creating a simple site down for maintenance page


http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21397422

New custom properties for WebSphere Application Server data source to validate new database connection

 Should set for Database Failover

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21220833

Tuning WebSphere Application Server V7 for performance

Great White Paper on basic performance tuning on WAS 7.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0909_blythe/0909_blythe.html

IBM Portal Enhanced Event Handling 7.0

Portlet Wiring and Event Settings

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/IBM_Portal_Enhanced_Event_Handling_7.0

"netstat -a" shows many connections with a status of FIN_WAIT_2

Always a good idea to set this.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21008268

Which thread is using all the CPU

Correlating CPU usage from top output to a particular thread in the JVMhttp://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21158192

Too Many Open Files error message

How to clear up this message on various OS's
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21067352

Request Header Field Exceeds Server Limit Error received from browser

How to allow for larger cookie sizes.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21384722

Speaking UNIX: Introduction to emerging file systems

I nice little read about newer file system options on linux.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-spunix_newfs/index.html

How to quickly and effectively learn a large and complex application with a long history and many interconnected and interdependent application systems

Ying Ding • I like this tools and test based approach. I can add ITADDM (IBM Tivoli Application Discovery Dependency Manager). This tool gives you a visualized presentation of the whole system and its interdependency as well as configuration details. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/taddm/. Along with the Wily Introscope transaction monitoring capability ("Provides end-to-end transaction visibility from browser to back-end systems"), we should gain a lot insight into the application. http://www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/gsd/solutiondetails.do?solution=23517&lc=en&stateCd=P&page=&expand=true

In my mind, ITADDM's visualization of the complete end-to-end application is highly valuable in understanding the holistic picture of the interconnected application suite and the transacation monitoring capability will reveal the dynamics of the applications.

Many large companes have unlimited license to ITADDM, but are not using it at all. I am not sure what is the driver behind the reluctance. Maybe skills level or the lack of strategic insight or both? Introscope is widely used, but need long years focused use to gain useful expertise - no easy buttons at all.

Installing WAS 8 Beta on your machine

Get an Early Look at WAS 8

http://wpcertification.blogspot.com/2011/04/installing-was-8-beta-on-your-machine.html

Assiginging administrative roles to user

How-To from Sunil

http://wpcertification.blogspot.com/2011/03/assiginging-administrative-roles-to.html

Fine grained security in WAS

A Great how to from Sunil

http://wpcertification.blogspot.com/2011/04/fine-grained-security-in-was.html

Best Practices for Large WebSphere Topologies

A Great Read

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0710_largetopologies/0710_largetopologies.html?ca=drs-

HPEL Logging API

Great Tools for Log Analysis

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ServiceabilityDev/entry/analyzing_websphere_logs_slice_dice_filter_merge_and_never_parse?lang=en

WAS V8.0 Coming Soon

Lots of new stuff to explore here.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21495792

Memory Utilization w/ Prepared Statement Cache

I have been burned by this before.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21108496

Portal Solution Installer

This could be interesting. Will be investigating this to see if / how it works with Portal Farming.

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/dx/IBM_WebSphere_Portal_Solution_Installer_V7

WAS EDGE Components

Here are some docs for the WebSphere Edge Components.

Load Balancer
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.edge.doc/edge/LBguide.htm

Caching Proxy
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v6r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.edge.doc/edge/admingd.htm

GSK_ERROR_BAD_CERT WAS Plug-In

Here is how to resolve the GSK_ERROR_BAD_CERT error configuring SSL between Plug-in and WebSphere Application Server V6.1http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21264477

WebSphere Portal and WCM Quick Start Guides

Here are the links to the Quick Start Guides for both Portal and WCM

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27018605

Free WAS Cloudburst Education

If you have some free time, here is some free education on WebSphere Cloudburst Appliance.

http://www.websphereusergroup.org/cms/articles/164788/ibm_cloudburst_appliance_%E2%80%94_video_education_course

Limit the number of Heap Dumps

This is a really great setting to prevent your file system from filling up from heapdumps.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21474166

Tuning Guide for DRS and DynaCache

This doc provides some great insight into the Dynamic Cache (dynacache) and Data Replication Server (DRS).  Often overlooked is the tuning steps required to make this efficient and effective.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006431

WebSphere Portal V7 Tuning Guide

This is a great getting started doc for WebSphere Portal V7 Performance. You should start here at a minimum when building a new portal infrastructure.

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/xsp/.ibmmodres/domino/OpenAttachment/ldd/portalwiki.nsf/63118020B7AFE98A85257839006E068C/attach/wp7TuningGuideV1.pdf

Jython Administrative Scripting for WebSphere Application Server

At times, I need to write a jython script to do some basic WebSphere Admin Functions.

Here is a great quick reference from literaly "the guy that wrote the book" on it.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/1004_gibson/1004_gibson.html


This is another good reference site for WAS scripting
http://webspherehacks.com/blog/

2011 Certifications

Here is a list of IBM Certifications I want to complete this year.

IBM Certified System Administrator - WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment V7.0
http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/01007007.shtml

IBM Certified System Administrator - WebSphere Portal 7.0
http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/01007205.shtml

IBM Certified Advanced System Administrator - WebSphere Portal 7.0
http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/01007501.shtml

Summary

Decided I finally needed to start blogging. I have so many ideas and come across so many items that it has become to difficult to keep up with all of them. I plan to use this blog to keep an indexed collection of these items for future reference.