Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Administration I

The <deployments> section of the standalone.xml configuration file defines the deployed applications on the standalone server. The <deployments> element contains a single <deployment> child element.

Here is an example of a <deployments> section:

<deployments>
  <deployment name="kitchensink.war" runtime-name="kitchensink.war">
      <content sha1="f9418ea27525e0f3c02ea099405265246b22b55a"/>
  </deployment>
  <deployment name="temperature-converter.war" runtime-name="temperature-converter.war">
      <content sha1="555df23b973ed9f76f7c817deec3bab6a13a7ea3"/>
  </deployment>
  <deployment name="numberguess.war" runtime-name="numberguess.war">
      <fs-exploded path="/opt/apps/numberguess.war"/>
  </deployment>
</deployments>

In the example above, there are three applications deployed: kitchensink.war, temperature-converter.war, and numberguess.war. The first two applications are managed by JBoss EAP. The numberguess.war application is deployed by using the unmanaged method.

The <content> element represents a secure hash algorithm (SHA) value of the deployment file, and is the unique identifier for the deployment.

The managed deployments are stored in the BASE_DIR/data/content directory which is the deployment cache directory. For example, if your JBoss EAP instance is in the /opt/jboss/my-instance directory, then the managed deployments are in the /opt/jboss/my-instance/data/content directory.

JBoss EAP creates a directory in which the name is defined by the first two characters of the SHA1 code. Inside this directory, another subdirectory is created. The name of this subdirectory is the remaining characters of the SHA1 code.

For the deployments listed above, the following directory should be available:

[student@workstation labs]$ tree -d JBOSS_HOME/standalone/data/content/
standalone/data/content/
├── 55
│   └── 5df23b973ed9f76f7c817deec3bab6a13a7ea3
└── f9
    └── 418ea27525e0f3c02ea099405265246b22b55a

The numberguess.war application is deployed by using the unmanaged approach. Therefore, its files are not present in the $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/data/content directory.

The deploying process is responsible for installing an application in JBoss EAP. This includes the copy of the package, and also the configurations that should be executed in the server.

There are three ways to deploy an application to a standalone server:

Deploying by Using the Management Console

The management console has a section to manage the deployments available in the standalone server. This section is available in the management console, in the Deployments menu at the top of the page.

Figure 3.1: Deployments view

You can create a deployment by clicking Add, to start the deployments wizard. The first step of the wizard asks for the type of the deployment. Three options are available:

Upload Deployment

By using this option, you upload an application. This upload makes the application available in the JBOSS_HOME/standalone/data/content directory, and adds a <deployment> element in the standalone.xml configuration file.

Add Unmanaged Deployment

By using this option, a path must be specified to where the application archive is available. It is called unmanaged because JBoss EAP does not persist the application in the deployment cache, and any user who has permission to the configuration file can remove it.

Create Empty Deployment

By using this option, JBoss EAP creates an empty deployment in an directory with the same structure of an enterprise application archive (EAR), or a web application archive (WAR). You can test deployments by copying individual files to that directory.

You can upload the application file by using the Upload Deployment option. You can select a file from your local file system, or drag and drop the application file.

Figure 3.2: Selecting deployment file

The next step on the wizard has three options to be defined:

Name

Identifies the deployment. It must be a unique value across all deployments.

Runtime Name

Identifies the deployment internally within the server runtime. JBoss EAP bases internal names for application modules, such as EJB names, in this runtime name. It is common that the value for Name, and Runtime Name are the same.

Enabled

Defines if the deployment should start immediately. If it is not checked, then it is possible to enable it later.

Enabling and Disabling a Deployment by Using the Management Console

An application can be configured to start during the startup of JBoss EAP. Configure the deployment as enabled if it should start during JBoss EAP startup.

You can enable and disable a deployment in the management console by using the Deployments menu.

To disable an application, click the application. A combo box shows. Clicking the down arrow, the Disable option is displayed.

Figure 3.3: Disabling a deployed application

Click Disable and then, in the confirmation screen, click Confirm to disable the deployment.

To enable a deployment, click the application and the combo box shows again. Click the down arrow to see the Enable option.

Figure 3.4: Enabling an application

Click Enable and then, in the confirmation screen, click Confirm to enable the deployment.

[standalone@localhost:19990 /] deploy /home/student/myapp.war --name=myapp.war

[standalone@localhost:19990 /] undeploy myapp.war

The file system deployer is a JBoss EAP subsystem that scans for Jakarta EE compliant applications at a specific directory.

The standalone server mode supports deployment of applications manually. You can copy the application to the JBOSS_HOME/standalone/deployments directory to manually start a deployment.

The deployment process is managed using marker files. A marker file is an empty file that uses the same name as the application, and adds the objective of the marker file to the end of the file name. The marker file is created in the deployments directory. You can use the following marker files extensions:

To deploy an application named myapp.war, create the myapp.war.dodeploy marker file.

Red Hat recommends to disable the file system deployer in productive environments.