Working with Class loading problems on Weblogic

Figuring out which jar file is a java class loaded from in a web application might be cumbersome. Weblogic makes it easy with an inbuilt application called Classloader Analysis Tool(wls-cat).

How to access it?

This can be accessed from http://<Weblogic URL>:<port>/wls-cat.
for e.g  http://localhost:7101/wls-cat

I tried the URL, But cannot access it

This is deployed on demand only in development mode.
If you created a domain in production mode. You can deploy it onto that server. The application comes with Weblogic installation. You can find it in wlserver\server\lib\ directory. The war file you need to install is wls-cat.war

What can I do with it?

You can dig into it by application. See the order in which jars are loaded. you can search a class and see where was it loaded from. Enough detail to understand and solve almost all class loading issues.

Stop Weblogic from validating basic authentication automatically

If you have custom code written in your web service/application that uses basic authentication. And you don't want the weblogic to authenticate the user. Instead you want to write the authentication in your application code.

Weblogic by default automatically authenticates the user if it finds an authentication in the HTTP header against the realm and gives a “404 – unauthorized” back. This will happen even if you don't have any security configured in your web.xml.

To stop this from happening.
Add  <enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials>false</enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials>  in the <security-configuration> tag  inside config.xml of your Weblogic domain. 
 
for e.g.

<domain xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/domain" xmlns:sec="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security" xmlns:wls="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/wls" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/xacml http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/xacml/1.0/xacml.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/providers/passwordvalidator http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/providers/passwordvalidator/1.0/passwordvalidator.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/domain http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/1.0/domain.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/1.0/security.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/wls http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/wls/1.0/wls.xsd">
  <name>base_domain</name>
  <domain-version>12.1.3.0.0</domain-version>
  <security-configuration>
    <name>base_domain</name>
    <realm>
      <sec:authentication-provider xsi:type="wls:default-authenticatorType">
        <sec:name>DefaultAuthenticator</sec:name>
      </sec:authentication-provider>
      <sec:authentication-provider xsi:type="wls:default-identity-asserterType">
        <sec:name>DefaultIdentityAsserter</sec:name>
        <sec:active-type>AuthenticatedUser</sec:active-type>
      </sec:authentication-provider>
      <sec:role-mapper xmlns:xac="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/xacml" xsi:type="xac:xacml-role-mapperType">
        <sec:name>XACMLRoleMapper</sec:name>
      </sec:role-mapper>
      <sec:authorizer xmlns:xac="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/xacml" xsi:type="xac:xacml-authorizerType">
        <sec:name>XACMLAuthorizer</sec:name>
      </sec:authorizer>
      <sec:adjudicator xsi:type="wls:default-adjudicatorType">
        <sec:name>DefaultAdjudicator</sec:name>
      </sec:adjudicator>
      <sec:credential-mapper xsi:type="wls:default-credential-mapperType">
        <sec:name>DefaultCredentialMapper</sec:name>
      </sec:credential-mapper>
      <sec:cert-path-provider xsi:type="wls:web-logic-cert-path-providerType">
        <sec:name>WebLogicCertPathProvider</sec:name>
      </sec:cert-path-provider>
      <sec:cert-path-builder>WebLogicCertPathProvider</sec:cert-path-builder>
      <sec:name>myrealm</sec:name>
      <sec:password-validator xmlns:pas="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/security/providers/passwordvalidator" xsi:type="pas:system-password-validatorType">
        <sec:name>SystemPasswordValidator</sec:name>
        <pas:min-password-length>8</pas:min-password-length>
        <pas:min-numeric-or-special-characters>1</pas:min-numeric-or-special-characters>
      </sec:password-validator>
    </realm>
    <default-realm>myrealm</default-realm>
    <credential-encrypted>{AES}yU9xHRMY0WFsY6F4Yf6DQ09xjtmR7VPGpdrwT+c7kaXxSB8Wky+64z8kZ+fBudis+VsHIMoFCjo7zqaF2aVfCY6RHeorI90oo8siu+wn31duct2QI1CmhRKuCCZylPei</credential-encrypted>
    <node-manager-username>weblogic</node-manager-username>
    <node-manager-password-encrypted>{AES}6iWAp7ftiYlStgO/SyX9iHQ0frHRYdcHkzagtc9hoE8=</node-manager-password-encrypted>
    <enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials>false</enforce-valid-basic-auth-credentials>
  </security-configuration>

How to Deploy ADF10g applications on Weblogic 12C.

You might ask me why, we had a scenario where it’s easier to manage fewer variety of application servers.  legacy 10g applications will be replaced by new applications in a couple of years. Until then reduce infrastructure’s load.

Weblogic Server Setup.

You might ask me why, we had a scenario where it’s easier to manage fewer types of application servers.  And it was too expensive to re write legacy 10g applications and decided to let some new systems take over the old applications. Until then reduce infrastructure team’s load and their ability to train. 

1. Create a basic Weblogic domain. And add clusters and servers as required
   
   
2. Once the servers are set up and running.
   
   If you need JDeveloper to be able to deploy directly to the server
   Go to the admin console and select servers and go to Protocols - > HTTP and check “Enable Tunneling”.
   This is only needed if you want to deploy from jdeveloper 10.1.3 directly
   
   
3. Create necessary data sources for the application.

JDeveloper 10.1.3.4 setup

You need Weblogic 9.x‘s weblogic.jar to configure JDeveloper 10g to be able to deploy directly to Weblogic 12c.  I was able to find it in DOC ID 1401953.1.

1. Copy the Weblogic.jar (Weblogic 9.x) from Weblogic server/lib directory to /jdev/lib/ext directory in JDeveloper 10g.
   
   You can create a Weblogic 9.2 connection and point the server to 12c to be able to deploy as illustrated in the images below
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

ADF 10g Application Setup.

Couple of problems I faced was some JSF and Oracle libraries were loaded through Weblogic.jar. When I added the 10g libraries in the CLASSPATH, some of the classes were loaded earlier as a part of Weblogic.jar and causing problems. Adding a PRE-CLASSPATH was not helping as Weblogic need the latest version of some jars files to start up. So the only option I found was to load the required libraries as a part of WEB-INF lib for 12c. In case of Weblogic 10.x you could load the required libraries as a part of CLASSPATH.

1. Add required Weblogic descriptors.
   Add weblogic.xml in WEB-INF.
2. Add the required jars in the application classpath
   I added the below jars in the classpath
   
   

   adf-connections.jar	bc4jctejb.jar	concurrent.jar	ojdbc6dms.jar	ordhttp.jar	translator.jar
   adfbinding.jar	bc4jdomorcl.jar	dc-adapters.jar	ojdl.jar	ordim.jar	wsclient.jar
   adfcm.jar	bc4jimdomains.jar	dms.jar	ojmisc.jar	osdt_cert.jar	wsdl.jar
   adfm.jar	bc4jmt.jar	http_client.jar	ojpse.jar	osdt_core.jar	wssecurity.jar
   adfmweb.jar	bc4jmtejb.jar	jazncore.jar	oracle-el.jar	osdt_saml.jar	xml.jar
   adfs-jazn.jar	bc4jsyscat.jar	jdev-cm.jar	oraclepki.jar	osdt_wss.jar	xmlef.jar
   adfs.jar	cache.jar	jsp-el-api.jar	orajaxr.jar	osdt_xmlsec.jar	xmlparserv2.jar
   adfshare.jar	collections.jar	mdds.jar	orasaaj.jar	runtime12.jar	xsdlib.jar
   antlr.jar	commons-cli-1.0.jar	mdsrt.jar	orawsdl.jar	share.jar	xsqlserializers.jar
   bc4jct.jar	commons-el.jar	ojdbc6.jar	orawsrm.jar	toplink.jar	xsu12.jar
   	adfmtl.jar	adfui.jar	bc4jdomgnrc.jar

3. Make sure you have the below tag in the Weblogic.xml
   <container-descriptor>
   <prefer-web-inf-classes>false</prefer-web-inf-classes>
   <prefer-application-packages>
   <package-name>javax.faces.*</package-name>
   <package-name>com.sun.faces.*</package-name>
   <package-name>com.bea.faces.*</package-name>
   <package-name>oracle.*</package-name>
   </prefer-application-packages>
   <prefer-application-resources>
   <resource-name>javax.faces.*</resource-name>
   <resource-name>com.sun.faces.*</resource-name>
   <resource-name>com.bea.faces.*</resource-name>
   <resource-name>META-INF/services/javax.servlet.ServletContainerInitializer</resource-name>
   </prefer-application-resources>
   </container-descriptor>
   

Debugging Weblogic 12c applications using JDeveloper 10g.

I use remote Debugger. Since the Weblogic was running on my local machine. I did not find any lag and it was smooth.
Below are the steps to add remote debugging

1. Change startWebLogic.cmd to add the below line
   set JAVA_OPTIONS=-Xdebug -Xnoagent -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=4000,server=y,suspend=n
   
   
2. Restart your Weblogic for this to take effect.
3. Now in JDeveloper. Right click on the project you want to debug. And click on Run/Debug and Edit as in the image below.
   
4. Check Remote Debugging and Profile
   
   
5. Click on the Remote
   
   Change Protocol to “Attach with JPDA”
   Give the host and leave defaults for the other.
   
6. When you want to debug. You can right click on the class you want to debug and hit “Start remote Debugger”.
   

Weblogic Bridge for IBM MQ Series(Running on AS400 / iseries / Mainframe) Part 1

Bridges help in improving reliability of messages that need to be created on a remote Messaging Servers. If we have a program in weblogic writing to queues in MQ series, we write the messages into a JMS queue created in weblogic. Then, we create a bridge that takes care of sending the message from the local weblogic queue to MQ series. By doing this, We are immune to remote MQ going down. The bridge takes care of reconnecting and sending messages to the remote MQ.

In this part we will look at the pre requisites to setup a Weblogic Bridge for IBM MQ. We need a .bindings file which described JNDI lookups for weblogic to connect to the MQSeries (Websphere MQ)

1. Install MQ Series MQ Explorer on Windows.

2. Set up connection to Remote Queue Manager

a. Open MQ explorer and right click on queue managers and select “Add Remote Queue Manager”



b. give a queue manager name, select “Connect Directly” and click next





c. Give HostName, port number and Server Connection Channel. (The MQ administrator can give you these details) and click next

d. click next

e. give the user name and password if MQ is secure

f. click finish (Sometimes you might have to put in other information. Contact your MQ Administrator)
you should be able to see the Queue manager and expand queues and see the queues on the remote server.


3. Create an Initial Context

a. right click on JMS administered Objects and select “Add Initial Context”




b. Select File System, and give a valid Bindings Directory. Click Next.



c.Click Finish




4. Create Connection Factory

a. Expand the Initial context you just created,
right click on Connection Factory –> New –> Connection Factory.



b. Give a connection factory name( We use this name to configure connection factory in weblogic)



c. Select Queue Connection Factory and check supports XA transactions



d. Select MQ Client in transport and click Next. click next



e. select the appropriate version of the server



f. Select connection on left.
Select the queue manager
Give the appropriate url and port in connection list
click Finish.



5. Create a Destination


a. Right click on Destinations
Select new –> Destinations



b. Give a Destination Name(You will use the same name in Weblogic Destination Name)
Select Type and click Next.



c. Click Next.

d. Select the Queue Manager and the queue and click Finish.


 


(Will continue tomorrow)

Enabling ADF for Weblogic Clustering

To Enable ADF Application to be clusterable

1.  Any object that might be replicated to another instance of the server, should be Serializable.

• The most common ones are the backing beans. 
• ADF UI Components are not serializable, to over come this problem don't bind UI Components to Backing Beans.

2. ADF BC State Management should be enabled. Activation and Passivation should be done to a place where all the server instances can access the data. Preferably to a database.
 set jbo.dofailover = true in Application module to true.

3. in      Weblogic-application.xml

Change the Persistent store type to REPLICATED_IF_CLUSTERED

1.       adf-config.xml
Check the box “High Availability for ADF Scopes”

Install Enterprise Manager (EM) in JDeveloper Integrated Weblogic Server

1. Download  Application Developer Runtime from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/adf/downloads/index.html

2. Extract the compressed file
3. Run setup.exe –jreloc <location to java>
4. It will ask for jre loc again in anther cmd promp. Enter the same location there as well. and continue the install.


Select Configuration wizard in program files.
1. Select extend existing Weblogic domain
2. select weblogic domain directory
3. select Oracle Enterprise manager  and continue.


The enterprise manager URL will be http://localhost:7101/em

MDB throttling using Work Managers in Weblogic

A JMS Message Burst can result in a lot of threads created to process these messages. Because of this other applications/processes might not have threads to run or exhaust on data source connections etc..

One way to solve this is to use work Managers.
Work managers can be created globally or in the application scope.
1. Global Scoped Work Managers: These are accessible by every application running in the targeted server. These are created in the weblogic console
2. Application Scoped: These are defined in the application and are only available to the application.  They can be defined in weblogic-application.xml(the ear) or weblogic-ejb-jar.xml(module) or weblogic.xml(particular web application).

if you are defining in this in  weblogic-ejb-jar.xml
<weblogic-ejb-jar xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.bea.com/ns/weblogic/weblogic-ejb-jar/1.0/weblogic-ejb-jar.xsd"
                  xmlns="http://www.bea.com/ns/weblogic/weblogic-ejb-jar">
<weblogic-enterprise-bean>
<ejb-name>MyEJBBean</ejb-name>
  <message-driven-descriptor>
    <destination-jndi-name>jms/dq</destination-jndi-name>
    <connection-factory-jndi-name>jms/tqcf</connection-factory-jndi-name>
  </message-driven-descriptor>
  <dispatch-policy>WM1</dispatch-policy>
</weblogic-enterprise-bean>
<work-manager>
  <name>WM1</name>
  <min-threads-constraint>
    <name>wm2_mintc1</name>
    <count>0</count>
  </min-threads-constraint>
  <max-threads-constraint>
    <name>wm2_maxtc1</name>
    <count>3</count>
  </max-threads-constraint>
</work-manager>
</weblogic-ejb-jar>

You can also have the workmanager defined in the weblogic.xml or in weblogic-application.xml by having xml like this. and the MDB will refer the work manager in <dispatch-policy> tag.
work-manager>
  <name>WM1</name>
  <min-threads-constraint>
    <name>wm2_mintc1</name>
    <count>0</count>
  </min-threads-constraint>
  <max-threads-constraint>
    <name>wm2_maxtc1</name>
    <count>3</count>
  </max-threads-constraint>
</work-manager>

If you want to to define a global scoped work manager. You can do it in the weblogic console as below

If you want to throttle MDB threads by Database connection Pool Size. You can change the max constraint to have  pool-name tag instead of count tag. You fill the data source name here and not the jndi
work-manager>
  <name>WM1</name>
  <min-threads-constraint>
    <name>wm2_mintc1</name>
    <count>0</count>
  </min-threads-constraint>
  <max-threads-constraint>
    <name>wm2_maxtc1</name>
   <pool-name>OracleDS</pool-name>  </max-threads-constraint>
</work-manager>

Installing Weblogic on Linux using Console Mode

1 Run the below command to install weblogic

java -jar wls1036_generic.jar -mode=console

Extracting 0%....................................................................................................100% <-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Welcome: -------- This installer will guide you through the installation of WebLogic 10.3.6.0. Type "Next" or enter to proceed to the next prompt.  If you want to change data entered previously, type "Previous".  You may quit the installer at any time by typing "Exit". Enter [Exit][Next]> Next

2 Give the Middleware Home Directory

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Choose Middleware Home Directory: ---------------------------------     "Middleware Home" = [Enter new value or use default "/home/rohit/Oracle/Middleware"] Enter new Middleware Home OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> /software/Oracle/Middleware

3 Next

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Choose Middleware Home Directory: ---------------------------------     "Middleware Home" = [/software/Oracle/Middleware] Use above value or select another option:     1 - Enter new Middleware Home     2 - Change to default [/home/rohit/Oracle/Middleware] Enter option number to select OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

4 Next

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Choose Middleware Home Directory: ---------------------------------     Warning /software/Oracle/Middleware directory is not empty. Proceed with installation? Enter [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

5 You can skip this by entering 3

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Register for Security Updates: ------------------------------ Provide your email address for security updates and  to initiate configuration manager.    1|Email:[]    2|Support Password:[]    3|Receive Security Update:[Yes] Enter index number to select OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> 3

6 Enter Yes

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Register for Security Updates: ------------------------------ Provide your email address for security updates and  to initiate configuration manager.     "Receive Security Update:" = [Enter new value or use default "Yes"] Enter [Yes][No]? No

7 Yes

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Register for Security Updates: ------------------------------ Provide your email address for security updates and  to initiate configuration manager.     "Receive Security Update:" = [Enter new value or use default "Yes"]     ** Do you wish to bypass initiation of the configuration manager and     **  remain uninformed of critical security issues in your configuration? Enter [Yes][No]? Yes

8. Next

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Register for Security Updates: ------------------------------ Provide your email address for security updates and  to initiate configuration manager.    1|Email:[]    2|Support Password:[]    3|Receive Security Update:[No] Enter index number to select OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

9. Next(Select default)

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Choose Install Type: -------------------- Select the type of installation you wish to perform. ->1|Typical     |  Install the following product(s) and component(s):     | - WebLogic Server     | - Oracle Coherence    2|Custom     |  Choose software products and components to install and perform optional     |configuration. Enter index number to select OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

10. Next

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> JDK Selection (Any * indicates Oracle Supplied VM): --------------------------------------------------- JDK(s) chosen will be installed.  Defaults will be used in script string-substitution if installed.    1|Add Local Jdk    2|/software/Oracle/Middleware/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_37-R28.2.5-4.1.0[x]    *Estimated size of installation:  690.2 MB Enter 1 to add or >= 2 to toggle selection  OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

11. Hit Next

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Choose Product Installation Directories: ---------------------------------------- Middleware Home Directory: [/software/Oracle/Middleware] Product Installation Directories:    1|WebLogic Server: [/software/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3]    2|Oracle Coherence: [/software/Oracle/Middleware/coherence_3.7] Enter index number to select OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

12. Next

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> The following Products and JDKs will be installed: --------------------------------------------------     WebLogic Platform 10.3.6.0     |_____WebLogic Server     |    |_____Core Application Server     |    |_____Administration Console     |    |_____Configuration Wizard and Upgrade Framework     |    |_____Web 2.0 HTTP Pub-Sub Server     |    |_____WebLogic SCA     |    |_____WebLogic JDBC Drivers     |    |_____Third Party JDBC Drivers     |    |_____WebLogic Server Clients     |    |_____WebLogic Web Server Plugins     |    |_____UDDI and Xquery Support     |    |_____Evaluation Database     |_____Oracle Coherence          |_____Coherence Product Files     *Estimated size of installation: 690.3 MB Enter [Exit][Previous][Next]> Next

13. Press Enter Key

<-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Installing files.. 0%          25%          50%          75%          100% [------------|------------|------------|------------] [***************************************************] Performing String Substitutions... <-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Configuring OCM... 0%          25%          50%          75%          100% [------------|------------|------------|------------] [***************************************************] Creating Domains... <-------------------- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.6.0 -------------------> Installation Complete Congratulations! Installation is complete. Press [Enter] to continue or type [Exit]>

    








 

Weblogic Bridge for IBM MQ Series(Running on AS400 / iseries / Mainframe) Part 2

6. Create Local Queues


You need to create local queues in weblogic
refer my previous posts on how to create local queues



Configure MQ series Bridge in weblogic





7. Install jms-xa-adp.rar in weblogic.


This is an XA adapter for weblogic and is required for guaranteed delivery. This comes along with weblogic installation and is available in server/lib directory. Install this as a .rar file and dont unzip this.
to deploy this go to weblogic console. domain - > deployments - > install.

select the jms-xa-adp.rar and on the choose target style. select "Install this deployment as an application" as shown above and continue the rest of the installation.
 
7. Create JMS Bridge destinations
 
You need to create a source and target destination. In our case local queues are source and  MQ series is remote





8. Create Source Destination

 
a.  Select JMS Bridge Destinations and click New

b. fill in the following details and click OK
Name: Source Bridge
Adapter JNDI Name: eis.jms.WLSConnectionFactoryJNDIXA
Classpath:
Connection URL: t3://localhost:7004,localhost:7003  (ignore the image)
*Connection Factory JNDI Name: jms/MYJMSCF  (from  step 5 – > d  http://rohith-oracle.blogspot.com/2012/10/creating-file-based-jms-queue-on_9.html)
*Destination JNDI Name: jms/MYDISTQUEUE       (Local distributed Queue JNDI  given when creating a file based jndi as in step 6 – > d  http://rohith-oracle.blogspot.com/2012/10/creating-file-based-jms-queue-on_9.html )
Destination Type: QUEUE
 

 

9. Create a Target Destination

a.  Select JMS Bridge Destinations and click New



b.  Enter the following details and click OK
*Name:  TargetBridgeDestination
Adapter JNDI Name: eis.jms.WLSConnectionFactoryJNDIXA
Adapter Classpath:
Connection URL: file:/C:/jmsbindings/    (As given when creating initial context in Step 3 –> b)
Initial Context Factory: com.sun.jndi.fscontext.RefFSContextFactory
*Connection Factory JNDI Name: MQCF  (As given when creating initial context in Step 4 –> b)
*Destination JNDI Name: TestQ   (As given when creating initial context in Step 5 –> b)





c. Click on the currently generated destination



d. Change the initial context factory to com.sun.jndi.fscontext.RefFSContextFactory
click ok.



10. Create the Bridge

a. Select bridges and new

b. Give a name , Quality of service and Started Check box. Click next

c. Select  Source Bridge Destination and click next


d. Select source provider.  Since the source is a weblogic queue we selected Weblogic 7 or higher



e. Select the bridge destination.

f.  Since the remote queue is MQ Series . Select Other JMS


g. Select the target


h. click next and finish