Configuring ZIETrans applications in a clustered environment

If you deploy ZIETrans Web applications in a vertically clustered environment, each application server instance will create its own files for logging, tracing, and license tracking. This is accomplished by decorating the names of the output files with the fully qualified name of the application server instance. For example, the default pattern for the logging file is messages.txt, but the actual file name will be something like messages_myCell_myNode_myAppServerInstance_1.txt.

By default, all of the server instances read the same runtime.properties file for their settings. To properly control runtime settings you must configure each instance to have its own runtime properties file. This enables you to control tracing for each instance independently, and prevents runtime settings from changing spontaneously.

Follow these steps to configure each of your vertically clustered ZIETrans application instances to have its own runtime.properties file:

1. Make a copy of the runtime.properties file for each application server instance in the vertical cluster.
   1. Locate the runtime.properties file for your ZIETrans application. This file should reside in the installedApps\app_name.ear directory under the directory where you installed WebSphere® Application Server.
   2. For each instance, make a copy of the runtime.properties file, with a unique name, in the same directory. For example, you might name the files Clone1runtime.properties, Clone2runtime.properties, and so on. You can use any valid file name, but the name should help the administrator identify the application server instance with which this file is associated.
   3. At this point, for n server instances you have n unique runtime properties files.
   4. If you have more than one ZIETrans .ear file in your vertically clustered environment, repeat this step in each .ear file directory.
2. Add a new configuration setting to identify the runtime.properties file that is used by each instance. For example, for WebSphere Application Server V6.x:
   1. Select Application Servers in the Servers item in the left navigation pane of the WebSphere Application Server administrative console.
   2. Select the server instance from the list of application servers.
   3. Select Java and Process Management from the Configuration tab for the server.
   4. Select Process Definition > Java Virtual Machine > Custom Properties.
   5. In the Custom Properties window, click New.
   6. In the Name field, enter zietrans.runtime.properties.
   7. In the Value field, enter the name of the properties file that you created for this server, for example, Clone2runtime.properties. Do not specify directory names or slashes in this value.
   8. The Description field does not require a value.
   9. Click Apply.
   10. Repeat this procedure for each server instance.

After adding the new custom property and ensuring that each server instance has its own, uniquely named, copy of the runtime.properties file, you must restart each application to begin using the new files.