This documentation supports the 21.05 (12.2) version of BMC Discovery.To view an earlier version of the product, select the version from the Product version menu.

Discovering WebSphere

IBM WebSphere is an Application Server, otherwise known as a Web Container, developed by IBM.

WebSphere implements the Java Servlet and the JavaServer Pages (JSP) specifications from Sun Microsystems, providing an environment for Java code to run in cooperation with a web server. In addition, it adds tools for configuration and management, which can be configured through a web interface, and includes its own internal HTTP server.

Related topics

Configuring-credentials

Configuring-discovery-of-target-systems

KeywordsExtended discovery of WebSphere

Discovering WebSphere

BMC Discovery uses the IBM.WebSphereApplicationServer pattern to discover the WebSphere instance, identify the installation directory, and determine the WebSphere version. The pattern extracts information from the WebSphere configuration files to create and populate a WebSphere SI and its attributes.

Extended WebSphere discovery is enabled by the activation of the WebSphere.ExtendedDiscovery.DiscoverWebSphere pattern. This pattern is activated by default in a new installation of BMC Discovery, but in an upgraded appliance, it must be activated manually. The WebSphere.ExtendedDiscovery.DiscoverWebSphere pattern is triggered by the creation or update of a WebSphere SI, and performs a deep discovery of WebSphere instances via configuration files. It then parses the results to build a J2EE inferred model of its applications and resources.

Creation of a JDBC Resource Detail node triggers the CreateJDBCToDatabaseSI pattern, which searches the BMC Discovery model for an SI representing that database. If the database SI is found, the pattern creates relationships between the WebSphere Application Server SI and the nodes representing the database. For more information, see database nodes and relationships. If the host that the database runs on has not been scanned, no further work is undertaken.

Creation of a J2EE Application Component node does not trigger any further operations.

The pattern attempts to perform the following tasks:

  • Get the application names from serverindex.xml and create the application Software Component node.
  • Get the JNDI names of all the resources used by each application from the <appname.ear>/WEB-INF/web.xml file.
  • Read the resources.xml files for the server, node, and cell, and get database and mail resource information.
  • Create the database and mail Detail nodes.
  • Link each resource with the applications that use it.

The WebSphere.ExtendedDiscovery.DiscoverWebSphere pattern is fully described in Configipedia.

Requirements for a full discovery

For a full discovery of WebSphere, of the database or databases that it is using, and of the relationships between them, you need the following credentials:

Database nodes and relationships

The relationships created depend on the way that the database type is represented. (For example, an Oracle database is represented by an SI, whereas a MySQL database server is represented as an SI and the individual databases by Detail nodes with contained by relationships to the database server SI).

Note

The use of detail nodes is not intended to be permanent.

WebSphere Discovery results

The following screen shows a successfully scanned IBM WebSphere instance.

WebSphereSI.png

The attributes section of the WebSphere SI contains sections for the following items:

  • Components—J2EE applications on WebSphere.
  • Details—Resources on WebSphere. These resources might be application specific or globally defined and can be one of the following:
    • User Database Resource—Default WebSphere user management database.
    • Java Mail Resources
    • JDBC Resources

 

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