5
Configuration and Administration Tools Overview

This chapter introduces the various administration tools of Oracle9iAS Web Cache. It discusses the main administration application and tells you how to launch it and navigate through it. It also introduces the command line tool.

This chapter contains these topics:

• Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager for Configuration and Management

• Oracle Enterprise Manager for Metrics

• webcachectl Utility for Process Administration

• Oracle9iAS Web Cache Configuration Files

• Configuration and Administration Tasks at a Glance

Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager for Configuration and Management

Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager is a graphical user interface tool that combines configuration and monitoring options to provide an integrated environment for configuring and managing Oracle9iAS Web Cache and the Web sites for which it caches content. With Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager, you can easily:

• Configure Oracle9iAS Web Cache to cache for application Web servers

• Start and stop Oracle9iAS Web Cache

• Establish caching rules

• Monitor Oracle9iAS Web Cache and Web site performance

• Establish listening ports and security passwords

This section introduces you to the features of Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager. However, the primary documentation for using Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager is the accompanying online help. This section contains these topics:

• Starting Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager

• Navigating Oracle9iAS Web Cache

Starting Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager

To start Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager:

1. Start the admin server process with the webcachectl start or webcachectl startadm commands.

   See Also: "webcachectl Utility for Process Administration"

2. Point your browser to the following URL:

   http://web_cache_hostname:4000/webcacheadmin
   
   

3. When prompted for the administrator user ID and password, enter administrator for the username, and enter the appropriate password.

   The first time you log in, the password is administrator.

   Note: You can also point your browser to http://web_cache_hostname:4000 to link to Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager, information about examples, user documentation, and the Oracle Technology Network.

   See Also: "Task 5: Configure Oracle9iAS Web Cache with Operations Ports" for information on modifying port 4000 "Task 2: Modify Security Settings" for information on modifying the administrator's password

Navigating Oracle9iAS Web Cache

The Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager interface includes:

• Top menu bar containing Apply Changes and Cancel Changes buttons and Oracle9iAS Web Cache status message

• Navigator pane with configuration and monitoring menu items

• Right pane with property sheet for selected menu item

Figure 5-1 Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager Interface

Apply Changes and Cancel Changes Buttons

The Apply Changes button applies submitted configuration changes to Oracle9iAS Web Cache. The Cancel Changes button cancels submitted configuration changes to Oracle9iAS Web Cache.

Status Messages

Status messages appear below the Apply Changes and Cancel Changes buttons. Table 5-1 describes the possible status messages.

Table 5-1  Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager Status Messages

In addition, information about any needed operations is displayed in the Operations page.

Navigator Pane

The navigator pane provides a graphical tree view of configuration, administration, and performance monitoring capabilities for Oracle9iAS Web Cache and its supported Web sites.

The navigator pane contains the following major folders:

• Administration

  Contains pages that enable you to:

  • Start, stop, and restart Oracle9iAS Web Cache

  • Monitor the performance of Oracle9iAS Web Cache

  • Monitor the performance of origin servers

  • Invalidate documents in the cache

  • View the contents of a cache

  • Configure a cache cluster

• Cache-Specific Configuration

  Contains pages that enable you to:

  • Specify the process identity for Oracle9iAS Web Cache processes

  • Configure Oracle9iAS Web Cache listening ports

  • Configure listening ports for administration, statistics, and invalidation requests

  • Specify the storage size of the cache

  • Configure event logging settings

  • Configure access logging settings

  • Specify the location of the wallet used for communication to an origin server

• General Configuration

  Contains pages that enable you to:

  • Specify settings for the auto-restart process

  • Configure security settings such as usernames and passwords for administrators and invalidation users

  • Specify origin servers

  • Configure site definitions

  • Map site definitions to origin servers

  • Configure caching rules

  • Configure session-related settings

Right Pane

The right pane contains property sheets that enable you to configure and administer Oracle9iAS Web Cache. Figure 5-2 shows the Cacheability Rules property sheet used for viewing caching rules.

Figure 5-2 Cacheability Rules Property Sheet

The Operations Page

The Operations page of Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager (Administration > Operations) provides information about the status of a cache and what operations are needed. From this page, you can start, stop, or restart a cache.

If the cache is part of a cache cluster, all caches in the cluster are listed on the Operations page. In addition to starting, stopping, and restarting a cache, you can propagate the configuration to other cluster members from this page. You can perform the operations on a selected cache or on all caches in the cluster. To minimize disruption in your Web site, you can specify an interval to stagger the times that the operations begin on the caches.

Oracle Enterprise Manager for Metrics

Oracle Enterprise Manager is the primary tool for administering Oracle9i Application Server. It is a complete management solution for administering, configuring, and monitoring the application server and its components. Oracle Enterprise Manager provides a Web-based tool that enables you to view the overall status of Oracle9iAS Web Cache and view Oracle9iAS Web Cache performance metrics.

Based on the metrics, you can make changes to the configuration with Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager. Later, you can use Enterprise Manager to monitor how configuration changes affect the performance of the Oracle9iAS Web Cache.

webcachectl Utility for Process Administration

The webcachectl utility enables you to administer the Oracle9iAS Web Cache processes, including the admin server process, cache server process, and auto-restart process:

• The admin server process manages the Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager interface

  On Windows, the admin server process is represented by the OracleHOME_NAMEWebCacheAdmin service

• The cache server process manages the cache

  On Windows, the cache server process is represented by the OracleHOME_NAMEWebCache service

• If enabled, the auto-restart process checks that the cache server process is running and automatically restart the cache server process if it is not running

  Because the auto-restart process is dependent upon the cache server process, you administer it by starting, stopping, or restarting the cache server process.

  On Windows, the auto-restart process is represented by the OracleHOME_NAMEWebCacheMon service

  See Also: "Task 6: Configure Auto-Restart Process Settings" for instructions on enabling auto-restart

On UNIX, webcachectl must run as the root user in the following cases:

• Privileged port numbers less than 1024 are being used for Oracle9iAS Web Cache listening ports

• There are more than 1,024 file descriptors being used for connections to Oracle9iAS Web Cache.

• The current webcachectl user does not match the configured user in the Process Identity page (Cache-Specific Configuration > Process Identity) of Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager

In order for webcachectl to run as the root user, ensure that root.sh was run during installation. If root.sh was not run during installation, run it now from the $ORACLE_HOME directory.

On Windows, webcachectl runs as the owner of OracleHOME_NAMEWebCache service.

The general syntax for this utility follows:

webcachectl command parameter

webcachectl is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/webcache/bin directory on UNIX and the ORACLE_HOME\bin directory on Windows.

The possible commands for the webcachectl utility are listed in Table 5-2. The start, stop, and restart commands enable you to administer all three processes. You can save system resources by administering only the processes you require.

• The *adm commands enable you to administer the admin server process

  The admin server process is the only process required during configuration with the Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager.

• The *cache commands enable you to administer the cache server process, and if enabled, the auto-restart process

  Once Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager configuration is complete, the admin server process is no longer needed. The cache server process is the only process required to run the cache.

Table 5-2  webcachectl Commands

Previous configuration restored. You must restart 
Oracle Web Cache for it to run with that 
configuration.If any of the processes are running, 

Oracle Web Cache admin server is already down.
Oracle Web Cache auto-restart monitor is already down.
Oracle Web Cache cache server is already down.

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Admin Server now running as process 10072

Admin Server is attempting to start the Cache Server

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Cache Server now running as process 10074

Oracle Web Cache admin server is already down.

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Admin Server now running as process 10079

Admin Server running in admin-only mode. Cache Server 
NOT started

Oracle Web Cache auto-restart monitor is already down.
Oracle Web Cache cache server is already down.

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Cache Server now running as process 10081

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Admin Server now running as process 10017

Admin Server is attempting to start the Cache Server

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Cache Server now running as process 10019

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Admin Server now running as process 10057

Admin Server running in admin-only mode. Cache Server 
NOT started

Oracle Web Cache, Version 9.0.2.0.0
Copyright: Oracle Corporation, 1999-2001

Cache Server now running as process 24892

Oracle Web Cache admin server is not running.
Oracle Web Cache cache watchdog is not running.
Oracle Web Cache cache server is not running.

Oracle Web Cache admin server is running as process 
10048.
Oracle Web Cache auto-restart monitor is running as 
process 10052.
Oracle Web Cache cache server is running as process 
10050.

Oracle Web Cache admin server stopping.
Oracle Web Cache auto-restart monitor stopping.
Oracle Web Cache cache server stopping.

Oracle Web Cache admin server stopping.

Oracle Web Cache auto-restart monitor stopping.
Oracle Web Cache cache server stopping.

The possible parameters for the webcachectl utility commands are listed in Table 5-3. These parameters are intended for Oracle Support Services.

Table 5-3  webcachectl Parameters

Oracle9iAS Web Cache Configuration Files

Oracle9iAS Web Cache uses two configuration files: webcache.xml and internal.xml. Default configuration information created during installation and modify by the Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager is stored in the webcache.xml file. Internal configuration settings for Oracle9iAS Web Cache are stored in internal.xml file. These files are located in the $ORACLE_HOME/webcache directory on UNIX and ORACLE_HOME\webcache directory on Windows. Do not edit these configuration files manually, except in the cases described in this guide, or when directed to do so by Oracle Support Services. Improper editing of these configuration files may cause problems in Oracle9iAS Web Cache.

Configuration and Administration Tasks at a Glance

Oracle9iAS Web Cache configuration and administration tasks are described throughout this guide and in the Oracle9iAS Web Cache Manager online help system. Table 5-4 lists the common tasks, and points you to the topic in this guide that describes the task.

Table 5-4  Common Administrative Tasks for Oracle9iAS Web Cache