Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved


Chapter 2 Creating a TIBCO Silver Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator Stack : Creating a TIBCO Administrator Component

Creating a TIBCO Administrator Component
This component creates a TIBCO Domain, and start TIBCO Hawk services and a TIBCO Administrator server.
To create and configure a TIBCO Administrator component, perform the following tasks:
After you complete these tasks, the TIBCO Administrator component should be published. At runtime, you can access the TIBCO Administrator GUI, an HTTP redirector (refer to Virtual Router for TIBCO Administrator), with the following URL:
http://SilverFabricBroker:BrokerPort/TIBCO_DOMAIN_NAME
This automatically redirects to the machine where TIBCO Administrator is running with the port calculated using the base port set in Task G, Set the HTTP Base Ports.
 
Task A Create a TIBCO Administrator Component
1.
2.
In the components page, select Create New TIBCO Administrator Component in the Global Actions drop-down list as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Creating a TIBCO Administrator Component
3.
When an older version of the TIBCO Silver Fabric Administrator is available, you are prompted to pick the version you want to work with. Make sure to use the latest enabler version available unless there is a specific reason to use an older enabler.
4.
Figure 2 Configuring General Properties
5.
Select a version of each of the installed distributions. It is generally a good practice to use the latest version of a product distribution. Refer to the TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Edition Readme for more information on supported distributions. All product versions which are displayed are compatible with the component being defined.
To properly publish and run TIBCO Administrator - Enterprise Edition, you must have installed the latest release of the following Distributions on the TIBCO Silver Fabric Broker so that they can be deployed and run with the TIBCO Administrator distribution:
TIBCO Runtime Agent; TIBCO Hawk; and TIBCO Rendezvous
If you don’t see the latest release versions of all the Distributions shown below you should gather these dependencies from https://edelivery.tibco.com and refer to the Installation guide for more specific information.
Figure 3 Choosing TIBCO Product Distribution Versions
6.
Figure 4 Choosing Optional Distribution
7.
Click the Next button after selecting the TIBCO product distribution versions and the TIBCO Administrator: <ComponentName> - Basic Configuration panel is displayed as is shown in Task B, Set Basic Configurations.
Task B Set Basic Configurations
The TIBCO Administrator Basic Configuration page and each of the configuration parameters are described here. Enter appropriate values for each field as applicable.
Figure 5 Editing TIBCO Administrator Basic Configuration
Choose a name that clearly identifies the Administrator Domain. The Administrator Domain value can also be the name of the server itself.
If an Administrator Server is already running in the sub net, you cannot use that name for a second server with the same TIBCO Rendezvous parameters. Don’t re-use the name of a Network Domain.
Selections of specific options change the visibility and order of component wizard pages, so the order descriptions may not match your experience in the wizard.
Domain name length must be less than 64 characters. Alphanumeric characters, hyphens (-) and underscores (_) are accepted, but other characters including periods and commas are not allowed.
Once published TIBCO Administrator can be accessible via Virtual Router at:     http://<BrokerName_IP>:<Port>/<DomainName>
Values entered here create a new TIBCO Administrator profile.
Alphanumeric characters, hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are allowed. The password is not case-sensitive and can’t start with ! or !#.
The default value is admin. It is strongly recommended that you change it.
The character set selected is used for all communication between the administration server and its clients, servers in the administration domain.
The default domain encoding is ISO8859-1 (Latin-1). Choose the character encoding most appropriate for your implementation.
Choose either Disabled, Self_Signed_Certificate, or CA_Signed_Certificate.
When disabled TIBCO Administrator uses HTTP for messaging.
When either of the other two options are selected HTTPS is enabled for messaging between components and another configuration page is added to this component wizard so that configurations can be set to use the Certificate Authority (CA) issued certificate or the self-signed certificate.
For more information on HTTPS configuration, refer to the section: Configure HTTPS.
Choose either Disabled, UI, or XML. UI and XML settings enable LDAP configuration with settings made with either a graphical user interface or an uploaded XML settings file.
An LDAP configuration page is added to the component wizard when UI or XML are selected.
For more information on LDAP configuration properties, refer to the section: Configure LDAP.
This checkbox allows you to switch from storing domain data in files (unchecked) or in a database (checked). When you check this box the TIBCO Administrator Database Configuration page is added to this wizard.
When the TIBCO Administrator is configured to use a database for domain storage then a larger number of stacks can be published.
TIBCO Administrator messaging can be configured to use either the TIBCO Enterprise Message Service (TIBCO EMS) or TIBCO Rendezvous (default).
This check box defines whether TIBCO Administrator will use TIBCO EMS (checked) or TIBCO Rendezvous (unchecked). A messaging configuration specific page is added to the wizard depending on this check box setting.
For more information on transport settings, refer to one of the following sections, Configure Default Transport - TIBCO Rendezvous or Configure TIBCO EMS as Transport (Optional).
When you check this checkbox and publish a dependent TIBCO Silver Fabric Enabler for TIBCO EMS server component, the connection and configuration settings are set automatically and the TIBCO EMS Connection Configuration page is not displayed.
Select the checkbox to Use Dependent EMS Server if TIBCO EMS is to be used as a dependent component. When this setting is used, you must also make the TIBCO Silver Fabric Enabler for TIBCO EMS component a dependency of the TIBCO Administrator component in the stack setting.
If the component messaging is independent of the TIBCO Administrator publishing, then keep this check box unchecked and enter connection settings values on the TIBCO EMS Connection Configuration page.
This checkbox specifies whether TIBCO Administrator (hosted on a TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine) runs in Fault Tolerance mode. Fault tolerance mode provides for system resilience because hardware and network failures occur. Using the Fault Tolerance mode is strongly recommended.
When FT mode is enabled (checked), if a TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine stops responding for whatever reason, then a new TIBCO Administrator instance can be restarted using the existing domain data on the next available TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine.
If FT mode is not enabled (default is unchecked) and the TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine suspends for whatever reason, then TIBCO Administrator restarts on another available Silver Fabric Engine and recreates a new TIBCO Domain without the existing domain data information. When Fault Tolerance is not enabled, restart of the TIBCO Administrator even with a database domain does not completely synchronize the domain information from the previous instance.
Admin Root Path for FT
Fault Tolerance (FT) requires connection with a shared drive path used to store the Domain configuration data. The Admin Root Path for FT value specifies the path for that shared drive path.
The Admin Root Path must be a valid path across all the machines where the TIBCO Administrator runs. For example, on a Unix/Linux based platforms:
/ShareDrive/TIBCODomain/MyDomainName
FT mode requires that allocated TIBCO Administrators use the same shared drive available to all Engines. FT mode is not fully compatible with Windows operating systems because Windows services don’t have access to shared drives. It is strongly recommended that implementations requiring FT mode target operating systems other than Windows based resources. This can be accomplished by defining a Resource Preference - Allocation Rule to specify the OS Platform as equal to a preferred operating system. If Windows platforms must be used then the Silver Fabric Engines can be run as stacks by the desktop user so that the Silver Fabric Engine and child processes can use mapped drives.
If FT mode is disabled (unchecked) the Admin Root Path value does not apply.
Use the Next button to proceed with your component configuration. Changes are saved when you click the Finish button.
Task C Configure Default Transport - TIBCO Rendezvous
TIBCO Rendezvous (RV) is the default transport . That is, in the Task B, Set Basic Configurations if the Use EMS as transport option remains unchecked, RV is used for transport.
The TIBCO Rendezvous Configuration page defines the Rendezvous and Hawk interface.
Specify the protocol and port for client server communication between the TIBCO Administrator component and the TIBCO Rendezvous daemon.
The default value is tcp:7500
Figure 6 TIBCO Rendezvous and TIBCO Hawk Configuration
This specifies the TIBCO Rendezvous network used for client-server communication. This variable only needs to be set on computers with more than one network interface. If specified, the TIBCO Rendezvous daemon uses that network for all outbound messages.
This specifies the TIBCO Rendezvous Service used for client-server communication. The Rendezvous daemon divides the network into logical partitions. Each transport communicates on a single service. A transport can communicate only on the same service with other transports.
The default TIBCO Rendezvous port setting is 7500, but your specific Rendezvous implementation may be set to publish according to what you specify. Unless you are using a TIBCO Rendezvous configuration that has been changed from its default port setting, you need to use the value: 7500.
This specifies TIBCO Rendezvous Daemon used for communication with TIBCO Hawk. The default value is tcp:7474
Like the RV Daemon, if you need to use a remote daemon, you can set the value to tcp:ADMINMACHINE:port_number, for example, tcp:ADMINMACHINE:7474.
This specifies the TIBCO Rendezvous network used for communication with TIBCO Hawk. Use the default value unless you are an experienced TIBCO Rendezvous user. See TIBCO Hawk Installation and Configuration for details about this parameter.
This specifies the TIBCO Rendezvous service used for communication with TIBCO Hawk. Use the default unless you are an experienced TIBCO Rendezvous user. The default value is 7474. See TIBCO Hawk Installation and Configuration for details about this parameter.
Using a remote TIBCO Rendezvous Daemon
In the following conditions, you can use a remote daemon:
To use a remote TIBCO Rendezvous Router Daemon, set the RV Daemon value to:
tcp:ADMINMACHINE:port_number
The placeholder value, ADMINMACHINE, will be automatically replaced during runtime by the value of the machine name or IP address where TIBCO Administrator is running.
For example when you set the value to tcp:ADMINMACHINE:7500, it starts TIBCO Rendezvous on the TIBCO Administrator machine. All machines that join this TIBCO Domain use this remote daemon.
Task D Configure Hawk Application Management Interface (AMI)
The TIBCO Hawk AMI Configuration page defines how the Administrator component uses TIBCO Hawk Microagents (HMA).
Even when EMS is used as the primary transport, HMA still uses Rendezvous as the transport.
Figure 7 TIBCO Hawk AMI Configuration
AMI Hawk Service - specifies the TIBCO Hawk port number, for example, TIBCO Rendezvous connects with TIBCO Hawk on the default port 7475. AMI Hawk Service and AMI Hawk Daemon must be set with valid values together. Setting only one of them results in an error.
AMI Hawk Daemon - specifies the location of the TIBCO Hawk Daemon. A value of "tcp:yyyy" would correspond to a local Hawk Daemon where "yyyy" would be the port number. A Hawk Daemon located elsewhere would be specified by a value of the protocol, IP address, and port number: "tcp:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:yyyy".
The AMI Hawk Service and the AMI Hawk Daemon ports may be the same or they may be different. By default, different TLMs on the same engine daemon (physical machine) are using the same RV transport (default AMI Hawk Service=7475, and default AMI Hawk Daemon=tcp:7474). This setting enables visibility of all of the deployed applications on each TLM even if some applications are NOT deployed on this particular TLM.
Generally, AMI Hawk Network is an empty string, and all three fields may be left empty, but if a value is set for either AMI Hawk Service or AMI Hawk Daemon then they must both be set with valid values together. Setting only one of them results in an error.
Task E Configure TIBCO EMS as Transport (Optional)
If your TIBCO Administrator component is configured to use independent EMS as a transport in Task B, Set Basic Configurations, then only the Configure TIBCO EMS Connection Configuration page is displayed. Here you add the URL, port, and login profile.
Figure 8 Configuring an Independent TIBCO EMS Connection
The URL of the TIBCO Enterprise Message Service server is in the following format: tcp://hostname:port
Multiple Enterprise Message Service servers may be configured for use by the Administrator component for fault-tolerance by specifying all of them here. Enter multiple EMS Server URL by separating them with a comma between entries. For example:
tcp://host1:7222,tcp://host2:7222
This is the EMS user profile (username and password) used to connect to the EMS Server. If multiple EMS are set up for fault tolerance, they must all be able to use the same user profile for creating a connection between the Administrator component and the Enterprise Message Service.
Task F Configure TIBCO Administrator Database
To configure a database for TIBCO Administrator, follow these steps.
 
Figure 9 TIBCO Administrator Database Configuration
Specify the JDBC driver to be used by the TIBCO Administrator.
One of the following native drivers may be used:
Oracle Thin: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver
MSSQL Server: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
Refer to the TIBCO Runtime Agent documentation for information on supported TIBCO Administrator Domain databases.
MS SQL driver: sqljdbc4.jar
Use the Upload button in the "Upload a JDBC driver..." field below for this.
This Database URL provides the connection information to your database.
Enter the Database URL for your specific implementation.
Oracle Thin: jdbc:oracle:thin:@host:port:SID
MSSQL Server: jdbc:sqlserver://host:port;databaseName=databaseName
Use a database administrative user profile that allows for table creation/deletion, as well as read, write, update, and deletion of data.
When your stack starts up, it initializes this number of connections to the database. For optimal performance, this number should be equal to the number of subscribers that you expect to connect to the database at any time.
When you specify the minimum connections, keep the following in mind:
The number of simultaneous connections cannot exceed the number set in this field. The database must be able to simultaneously handle the total maximum number of connections for all instances.
Make sure that you set Maximum JDBC Connection Pool Size to a number greater than the number for Minimum JDBC Connection Pool Size, otherwise, you get an error message.
If you use a database as the domain storage, you must upload a JDBC driver.
Specify a JDBC driver to publish with the TIBCO AdministratorDistribution for TIBCO Silver® Fabric so that it can communicate with a runtime TIBCO Administrator Domain database. When the TIBCO Administrator uses a database as the domain storage, you must upload a JDBC driver so the component can interact with it.
The JDBC driver must match the database type used by the TIBCO Administrator as is defined in .
Task G Set the HTTP Base Ports
The TIBCO Administrator Server Port Configuration sets the HTTP Base Port.
When HTTPS is enabled by the setting on the Basic Configuration page this configuration page is not shown and instead an HTTPS configuration page for the type of server certificate selected is shown.
In order to avoid HTTP port conflicts for TIBCO Administrator when more than one TIBCO Administrator servers are running on the same machine, TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Edition automatically sets the port to the following value:
HTTP Base Port + EngineInstanceValue
The EngineInstanceValue is the Engine number of where TIBCO Administrator runs.
For example, on a dual core machine, the default number of Engines is 2 (one per core). The first Engine has the number 0, the second one has the number 1.
As an example if you set the HTTP Base Port to 8483, the HTTP ports used by TIBCO Administrator would be 8483 and 8484 for the first and second engines respectively.
Figure 10 HTTP Base Port settings
In order to avoid shutdown port conflicts for TIBCO Administrator when many TIBCO Administrator servers stop working on the same machine, TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Edition automatically sets the shutdown port to the following value:
HTTP Shutdown Base Port + EngineInstanceValue
The value is calculated in the same way as the TIBCO Administrator HTTP Base Port described previously.
Task H Configure Hawk Agent Running Conditions
Use the following options to configure running conditions for TIBCO Hawk agent:
Verification that TIBCO Administrator and TIBCO Hawk Agent are still running is tested frequently based upon a configurable interval period. Enter an integer to specify the number of seconds between checks. If either TIBCO Administrator or TIBCO Hawk Agent become unresponsive to this verification the process it is automatically restarted.
Figure 11 TIBCO Administrator and Hawk Agent Running Conditions
Enter an integer to specify the number of restart retries for the TIBCO Administrator before the TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine to be restarted. A successful restart resets the count.
Enter an integer to specify the number of restart retries for the TIBCO Hawk Agent before the TIBCO Silver Fabric Engine is to be restarted. A successful restart resets the count.
Task I Add a Third Party JAR to the TIBCO Administrator Classpath
When a product like TIBCO BusinessConnect has a TIBCO Administrator specific plug-in, you can upload the JAR file in a zipped archive. It get placed in the TIBCO Administrator classpath by simply uploading the Third party JAR File(s).
Figure 12 Add Third Party JAR Files
Refer to the respective product documentation for compatibility and use with your selected TIBCO Administrator Distribution.
Task J Add or Edit Enabler-specific Runtime Context Variables
String, Environment, System, or Encrypted variables may be added to the component to define and set runtime specific context variables.
Select a variable type from the Add Variable pull-down list or Add from Enabler to use a variable from a selected Enabler.
Figure 13 Adding a Runtime Context Variable
Once you have added any runtime context variable you may select the variable (selected row is highlighted) and Edit to change its attributes. Selected rows may also be removed.
Changes are of course optional, because all variables have default values that are appropriate for the most common use cases.
Variable values from the Enabler may be added to the runtime as well. Use the Add from Enabler button to add Enabler-specific context variables.
Task K Configure HTTPS
You can configure HTTPS using one of the following methods:
HTTPS Using a Self-Signed Certificate
When Enable HTTPS is set to Self-Signed Certificate on the Basic Configuration page, then the TIBCO Administrator HTTPS Configuration Self-Signed Certificate page is displayed to provide an interface for configuring TIBCO Administrator to use your certificate.
While generating your own certificate, you must note the parameter values used to create it, so that the TIBCO Administrator has the proper values to use the certificate.
Figure 14 HTTPS Configuration using a Self-Signed Certificate
This setting helps the system avoid HTTPS port conflicts for the TIBCO Administrator when more than one TIBCO Administrator servers are running on the same machine. TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Edition sets the port to the following value:
HTTPS Base Port(value) + EngineInstanceValue
The EngineInstanceValue is the Engine number where TIBCO Administrator runs.
For example, on a dual core machine, the default number of Engines is 2 (one per core). The first Engine has the number 0, the second one has the number 1.
If for example you set the HTTPS Base Port to 8483, the HTTPS ports used by TIBCO Administrator would be 8483 and 8484 for the first and second engines respectively.
To avoid shutdown port conflicts for TIBCO Administrator, TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Edition automatically sets the shutdown port to the following value:
HTTPS Shutdown Base Port + EngineInstanceValue
Enter your unique alpha-numeric string.
Enter your Email Address, Common Name (CN), Organizational Unit (OU), Organization (O), City/Locality, State (required), Country Code (two letters), and Validity. These values are required.
HTTPS With a CA Certificate
This configuration page appears only when the HTTPS Enabled field on the Basic Configuration page is set to CA_Signed_Certificate.
Figure 15 HTTPS Configuration with a CA-Signed Certificate
This setting helps the system avoid HTTPS port conflicts for the TIBCO Administrator when more than one TIBCO Administrator servers are running on the same machine. TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Editionsets the port to the following value:
HTTPS Base Port(value) + EngineInstanceValue
The EngineInstanceValue is the Engine number where TIBCO Administrator runs.
For example, on a dual core machine, the default number of Engines is 2 (one per core). The first Engine has the number 0, the second one has the number 1.
For example if you set the HTTPS Base Port to 8483, the HTTPS ports used by TIBCO Administrator would be 8483 and 8484 for the first and second engines respectively.
To avoid shutdown port conflicts for TIBCO Administrator, TIBCO Silver® Fabric Enabler for TIBCO Administrator- Enterprise Edition automatically sets the shutdown port to the following value:
HTTPS Shutdown Base Port + EngineInstanceValue
Enter your unique alpha-numeric string.
Upload the server Certificate returned from the third-party Certificate Authority using the Upload button to browse for the proper file.
The CA chain certificate is optional. Use the Upload button to browse for the proper file.
Because this process uses a pre-existing certificate, you don’t have to go through the step of generating a CSR for each component server, but the certificate must be in PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) format and a private key (in the PKCS#8 format) is required. The name of the private key file must be "key.p8". Use the Upload button to browse for the proper file.
Task L Configure LDAP
You can choose either Disabled, UI, or XML. The UI and XML settings enable LDAP configuration with settings made with either a graphical user interface or an uploaded XML settings file. An LDAP configuration page is added to the component wizard when UI or XML are selected.
When LDAP is enabled with the UI option, the LDAP Configuration Using User Interface page is added to the wizard for setting basic LDAP properties. See the following figure to evaluate whether the LDAP configuration using the UI is adequate for your environment implementation.
Figure 16 LDAP Configuration Using U
Refer to your LDAP implementation for details on how to connect with it.
If your implemented LDAP environment is more complex and requires configuration settings that are not exposed by this UI, then you should use an XML settings file to configure LDAP for the component. If this is the case use the Menu button to go back the TIBCO Administrator Basic Configuration page and set LDAP Enabled to "xml".
You can set all of the LDAP parameters in an XML file and upload it.
A template to help with correctly specifying the LDAP parameters in an XML file is located in the TIBCO Runtime Agent directory:
TIBCO_HOME/tra/version/template/domainutility/cmdline/ ModifyLDAPConfiguration.xml
Copy this file, make your modifications, and after choosing the Enable LDAP XML option, the component wizard displays a page for uploading the file.
Figure 17 LDAP Configuration Using XML File
For more information on "Creating a Domain that integrates with an LDAP Directory Server" refer to the section with that same name in the TIBCO Runtime Agent Domain Utility User’s Guide.
To configure LDAP for use with SSL connections refer to the TIBCO Runtime Agent Domain Utility User’s Guide section on "Configuring LDAP Integration With SSL Connections."
<DomainName>ldap_domain</DomainName>
<AdministratorUsername>a</AdministratorUsername>
<AdministratorPassword>a</AdministratorPassword>
Task M Add or Edit Enabler-specific Runtime Context Variables
String, Environment, System, or Encrypted variables may be added to the component to define and set runtime specific context variables.
Select a variable type from the Add Variable pull-down list or Add from Enabler to use a variable from a selected Enabler.
Figure 18 Adding a Runtime Context Variable
Once you have added any runtime context variable you may select the variable (selected row is highlighted) and Edit to change its attributes. Selected rows may also be removed.
 
Changes are of course optional, because all variables have default values that are appropriate for the most common use cases.
Variable values from the Enabler may be added to the runtime as well. Use the Add from Enabler button to add Enabler-specific context variables.
Task N Add Allocation Rule Settings
Add rules to specify and set component behavior. Add rules to do the following:
Each rule selection brings up a slightly different dialog window that allows property selection of a tracked Engine or component statistic to be evaluated according to a logical operator and a value you specify to define an action.
Figure 19 Using Statistics for Threshold Activation
More information on using statistics for scaling is available in the TIBCO Silver Fabric Cloud Administration Guide.
Task O Finish Configuring the Component
The remaining screens of the component wizard are generic for all Silver Fabric Enablers. The configuration of these is optional for the TIBCO Administrator component.
Refer to TIBCO Silver Fabric User’s Guide for more information on these configuration screens.
After you click the Finish button, make sure to publish the component to make it available when creating a stack or to use the configuration changes in existing stacks.
From the Actions drop-down list located at the left side of the row for the component you just created, select Publish Component or Publish Changes if you were editing a component that was already published.

Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved