Visual Administrator

SAP J2EE Engine 6.20 Visual Administrator is a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables administration of the whole cluster, of the cluster nodes, and all modules running on them. Visual Administrator is written in the Java programming language and can be run in any environment where a Java Virtual Machine is available. It enables remote monitoring and management of the cluster, and for each cluster element, and enables the system administrator to monitor all managers and services working on each node in a single GUI. Visual Administrator includes functions for:

Obtaining general information about a service or manager (for example, its name, group, and so on)
Administering and changing the properties either specific or common for each service or manager
Security management (for example, access to methods, security roles, and so on)
Runtime administration and control
Deployment of applications on all cluster elements
Log viewing

Logging on to SAP J2EE Engine 6.20

To connect to SAP J2EE Engine 6.20, the following parameters must be specified in the “Login” dialog box:

User Name – a valid user name (case insensitive) must be specified. The default value is Administrator .
Password – a user password. The default value is “” (empty string).
Host – host name or IP address. The default value is localhost .
Port – server port for connection (RMI). The default value is 3011 .
Connect – connects the user to the server. The server must be started before trying to connect to it.
Cancel – cancels the operation and closes the dialog box.
Transport layers – the available modes are

No layer – the connection is done using RMI/P4 protocol. This is the default mode.
HTTP Tunneling – this enables communication through proxies and firewalls. If HTTP Tunneling is used, Proxy Host and Port must be specified using the “Settings” option. The default Proxy Port is 3080 .
SSL – SSL protocol provides privacy and reliability of communication between applications over the Internet using cryptographic security. The default port is 3044 .

When Visual Administrator is started for the first time, the fields of the “Login” dialog box contain the default values. Each time Visual Administrator is started, the last-known values for “User Name,” “Host,” and “Port” are displayed.

Visual Administrator Utilities

Visual Administrator utilities enable you to obtain general information about services and managers, setting the properties, security management, runtime control, and log viewing.

General Utilities

Main Menu and Toolbar

The main menu provides the following options:

Connect

Login – connects the user to the server. The same operation can be performed by choosing (Login) on the toolbar.
Logout – disconnects the user from the server. The same operation can be performed by choosing (Logout) on the toolbar.
Exit – closes the SAP J2EE Engine 6.20 Visual Administrator. The same operation can be performed by choosing (Exit) on the toolbar.

View

Tab View – shows the cluster elements, managers and services in three tabs. The “Tab View” mode can be chosen by selecting (Tab View) on the toolbar.
Cluster View – shows the cluster elements with their managers and services. The “Cluster View” mode can be chosen by selecting (Cluster View) on the toolbar.
Element View – shows all Managers and Services. The “Element View” mode can be chosen by selecting (Element View) on the toolbar.
Expand – expands the tree in the selected tab. The same operation can be performed by choosing (Expand tree) on the toolbar.
Collapse – collapses the tree in the selected tab. The same operation can be performed by choosing (Collapse tree) on the toolbar.

Tools – This menu contains a single command “Properties”. The following properties can be set

Ping Time (ms) – the ping time in milliseconds. This is the interval at which Visual Administrator checks if the connection with SAP J2EE Engine 6.20 is still alive. The default value is 1500 .
Status msg history – the number of messages in the “Status” bar. The default value is 20 .
Statistics pooling interval (ms) – the interval at which the refresh of diagrams and statistics is made, in milliseconds. The default value is 1500 .
LogViewer Ping Time (ms) – the “Log Viewer” ping time in milliseconds. The default value is 1500 .
HTML Browser – the browser used to visualize the help topics
Look and Feels – displays the installed look-and-feel and the one in use. The “Look and Feel” of the GUI can be changed by selecting one of the available modes: Metal, CDE/Motif, or Windows. A new “Look and Feel” can be added by specifying its name and class that extends the standard javax.swing.LookAndFeel . The default mode is “Metal.”

The properties can also be set by choosing (Properties) on the toolbar.

Help

Help Topic – opens a help topic using the HTML Browser specified in the Tools ®Properties menu. The same operation can be performed by choosing (Help) on the toolbar.
About – opens a window with information about SAP J2EE Engine 6.20. The same operation can be performed using the “Shift + F1” key combination.

The toolbar provides additional options for administration of cluster nodes:

– Shuts down the selected cluster node

– Reboots the selected cluster node

The toolbar enables you to start or stop SAP J2EE Engine 6.20 modules:

– Starts the server or dispatcher part of a service (or both)

– Stops the server or dispatcher part of a service (or both)

The toolbar provides the following options for saving or resetting SAP J2EE Engine 6.20 modules properties:

– Saves the properties that were changed in the “Properties” or in the “Control Descriptor” tab

– Resets the properties from the last change

Status Bar

The “Status” bar provides information about system events.

– Provides detailed information about system events

Module Information

The “Control Descriptor” tab provides the following subtabs with information about each service.

General

This tab provides general information about the SAP J2EE Engine 6.20 services. The tab contains the following fields:

Service Name – the service name cannot be changed
Display Name – sets a name defined by the user
Service Group – refers to services visual representation only
Server Frame Class Name and Dispatcher Frame Class Name – the main service classes. If the service is an application, the “Server Frame Class Name” must be specified. If it is a session service, the “Server Frame Class Name” and the “Dispatcher Frame Class Name” must be specified.
Startup Mode – provides three available options

STARTUP_ALWAYS – the service is started always when the server is started
STARTUP_AUTOMATIC – the service is started when another service invokes it
STARTUP_ MANUAL – the service is started manually

Note 1: All core services must be in “STARTUP_ALWAYS” mode.

Note 2: All transport services (HTTP, IIOP, P4) must be in either “STARTUP_ALWAYS” or “STARTUP_MANUAL” mode.

Security

The “Security” tab provides information about “Security roles,” “User Mapping,” and “Access to Methods” - separated in three tabs.

The usage of the “Security” tab is described in the Security Management section below.

Properties

The “Properties” tab provides information about cluster services properties.

The usage of the “Properties” tab is described in Setting the Properties section below.

Distribute

Service Version – displays the version of the service according to the Java Package Versioning Specification
Provider Name – displays the name of the service provider
Service Directory – specifies the work directory of the current service
Protocol Remote Support for Service – describes the list of support protocols for the service with the “Support” and “Service Name”
Service References – describes the list of service references of the service to other services and libraries

Additional

The “Additional” tab provides basic information about each service. You can change the “Running Service Icon,” “Stopped Service Icon,” and “Suspended Service Icon” fields, or set their default values.

Description for <service_name> – a brief descriptive text about the service and its purpose, where <service_name> is the name of the service

Setting Properties

Properties

The “Properties” tab contains the cluster modules properties that can be modified. These properties are specific for each service and are used to start the service. Each property has “Key” and “Value” according to java.util.Properties .

Control Descriptor

The subtab “Properties” of the “Control Descriptor” tab provides information about the service properties:

Properties Editor Class Name – the name of the editor class that enables the editing of the service properties. If the service has its own properties, you must provide an editor for them.
Runtime Class Name – the name of the class that contains information about the visual part of the service
Deployment Class Name – the class that controls the deployment. It implements a specific interface with methods, which are invoked before or after deploying or undeploying a service. This class is used only for the deployment of services whose implementations differ from the standards described in the corresponding specifications.
Debug mode properties - if the “Enable Debug Mode” indicator is set, the “Server Frame Class” and the “Dispatcher Frame Class” are started to enable displaying of debug information from the service. These classes are specific for each service.

Note: For detailed information about the service properties, refer to the Services Administration Reference and Managers Administration Reference sections in this manual.

Security Management

Visual Administrator ( Control Descriptor ® Security tab) defines security roles assigned to specified users or groups of users. Security roles can be bound with access rights for particular methods of a service, or for the entire service. All parameters must be set in the following order.

Security Roles

A security role is defined by specifying the following parameters in the “Security Roles” tab:

Role Name – the name of the security role to be added to the “Security Roles” list
Security Role Description – descriptive text about the security role
“Add Role” – adds a new security role with “Security Role Description” to the “Security Roles” list
Security Roles – displays a list of security roles defined for a service
“Remove” – removes a selected security role from the “Security Roles” list
“Clear” – clears the “Role Name” and the “Security Roles Description” fields

User Mapping

User mapping handles correspondence between the security roles (mnemonic users) and the selected real server users who have access permissions to certain methods:

Security Roles – a list of all roles added by the user
Selected Users – a list of users selected from the available users on SAP J2EE Engine 6.20
Users on Server – a list of all users registered on SAP J2EE Engine 6.20

Access to Methods

Defined security roles can be granted access permissions to a single method or entire service (all methods). The “Access to Methods” tab contains a list of mnemonic names of all defined security roles:

Methods – a list of all available methods in the service main interface. You can specify certain security roles for each method, or for the service in general.
Selected Roles – a list of the roles that were chosen from “Available Roles”
Available Roles – a list of all security roles that were added by the user in the “Security Roles” tab
Description – descriptive text about the purpose of the particular security role

Runtime Control

The “Runtime” tab provides options to modify certain service properties at runtime. The toolbar provides additional options for each “Runtime” tab, which are described when the corresponding service “Runtime” tab is considered.

Note: Service-specific “Runtime” tabs are described in the corresponding Services Administration Reference sections in this manual.

Log Viewing

All significant events that occur on cluster nodes are written to log files that correspond to each module. A list of these events is displayed in the “Log Viewer” tab. You can view the following types of log messages:

Emergency – system is unusable

Alert – immediate action must be taken

Critical – critical conditions

Error – error conditions

Warning – warning conditions

Notice – normal but significant events for the system

Info – information

Trace – events that occur during application methods execution

Debug – debug-level messages

All – shows all existing events

Log messages can be displayed in ascending or descending order by type, date and time, caller (the specific service), user, client IP, and cluster.

By choosing (Save log messages) on the toolbar, all displayed log messages in the table are saved.

By choosing (Reset log messages) on the toolbar, all displayed log messages in the table are deleted and pointers are nullified.

By choosing (Next log) on the toolbar, the next log of the selected type in the table is displayed and the log message content is shown.

By choosing (Next log messages) on the toolbar, the next “X” log messages are added in the table, where “X” is the number specified in the “CountField”.

By choosing (Auto on) on the toolbar, the next “X” log messages are added in the table in the defined period automatically.

By choosing (Auto off) on the toolbar, the “Auto on” option is turned off.