Install EAR or WAR in WebSphere Application server using wsadmin/Jython

Introduction

This is wsadmin Jython code snippet to install a WAR/EAR file in WebSphere Application Server. The script takes path to the WAR or EAR file and the context root of the web app as the parameter, installs the application on the server and starts the app.

The code was written to install standalone WAR on WebSphere App Server (There is nice big reason why it was not wrapped in an EAR, but that is another story.)

The motivation was the way WAS 6.1 installs standalone WARs when done via wsadmin command prompt. wasadmin picks the war file (say, my-war-file.war) and installes it as my-war-file.warBCBGMAX4234. The weird chars at the end changes every time it is deployed, because of which using command prompt was a pain. After installation the snippet matches the installed war with the list of apps installed using file name and then starts the application.

Disclaimer: The code was tested while installing WAR file only and NOT with EAR. May need some changes in the way context-root is handled for it to work with EAR. This code was written to be run in development environment and not meant for production usage (although with some exception handling and parametrization it can be).

Details

# Jython script to install a EAR or WAR in WebSphere Application Server
#

import sys

#Some Global variables
#WebSphere environment related variables
cellName = 'testvmNode01Cell'
nodeName = 'testvmNode01'
serverName = 'server1'

print '\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------'
print 'This script will install a EAR/WAR on WebSphere Application Server'
print "\nUsing these WebSphere Defaults:"+"\nCell: "+cellName+"\nNode: "+nodeName+"\nServer: "+serverName
print "\nPass the path to the EAR/WAR and web-app's context-root as parameters. File path should be in this format:"
print "\tc:\\\\osgiapps\\\\war-to-install.war (With double back-slashes)"
print "\nPlease edit the variables in the script if these defaults need to be changed."
print '-------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n'


numberOfArgs = len(sys.argv)
if numberOfArgs < 2:
    print "Usage: installApp.py {file-absolute-path} {context-root}"


else:
    #Get the absolute path of the WAR file and replace \ with /
    filePath1 = str(sys.argv[0])
    contextRoot = str(sys.argv[1])
    filePath1 = filePath1.replace('\\', '/')
    
    #Get the name of the WAR file:
    strAppToInstall = filePath1[filePath1.rfind("/")+1:len(filePath1)];
    print "Installing ", strAppToInstall, " from ", filePath1;
    
    #Uninstall the app if already deployed.
    appToUninstall = ""
    appsBefore = AdminApp.list().split("\n");
    for iApp in appsBefore:    
        if str(iApp).find(strAppToInstall) >= 0:    
            appToUninstall = iApp;
    if appToUninstall:
        print "Uninstalling app: ", appToUninstall
        appToUninstall = str(appToUninstall).strip();
        AdminApp.uninstall(appToUninstall)
        AdminConfig.save();
    
    #Install the app
    print "Installing App: ", strAppToInstall
    AdminApp.install(filePath1, "-contextroot /"+contextRoot+" -defaultbinding.virtual.host default_host -usedefaultbindings");    
    AdminConfig.save();    
    
    #Start the app    
    apps = AdminApp.list().split("\n");    
    theApp = ""    
    for iApp in apps:
        if str(iApp).find(strAppToInstall) >= 0:
            theApp = iApp;
    print "Starting App: ", theApp
    appManager = AdminControl.queryNames('cell='+cellName+',node='+nodeName+',type=ApplicationManager,process='+serverName+',*')
    AdminControl.invoke(appManager, 'startApplication', theApp)
    print "Application installed and started successfuly!"