Customizing with WebSphere CloudBurst, Part 1: Creating highly customized private clouds

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Customizing with WebSphere CloudBurst, Part

1: Creating highly customized private cloudsDustin Amrhein , Staff Software Engineer, IBMRuth Willenborg ([email protected] ), Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM

Summary: This is the rst of several articles that looks at the customization features available inIBM® WebSphere® CloudBurst™ and how you can use them. Part 1 describes how you can createprivate WebSphere clouds, how and when to use the WebSphere CloudBurst customization fatures,and how those capabilities align with organizational responsibilities. This content is part of the IBMWebSphere Developer Technical Journal .

Date: 22 Jul 2009Level: IntermediateActivity: 63 viewsComments: 0 (Add comments )

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Introduction

The concept of images that are installed and congured once and then copied and reused over andover again rapidly comes up against the reality that every executing server is unique. The uniqueness

might be as minor as a different password and IP address, or as major as different software andapplication requirements. To gain the efciency promised by images, you must carefully considerwhat goes into the image and how many images to build.

This article is an overview of the image customization capabilities in the IBM WebSphere CloudBurstAppliance, including image creation, image extension, script packages, pattern denition, and imagemaintainance. Subsequent articles in this series will provide indepth examples for each of thesetechniques.

Creating customized private clouds

IBM’s new WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance helps you create, deploy, and manage WebSpherevirtual systems within a private cloud. The appliance ships with IBM WebSphere Application ServerHypervisor Edition, which is a virtual image packaging of WebSphere Application Server accordingto the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) standard. This packaging includes the operating system,WebSphere Application Server proles and binaries, and IBM HTTP Server, all pre-installed andready to be deployed to a hypervisor.

Customizing with WebSphere CloudBurst, Part 1: Creating high... http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0...

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Enterprises can realize out-of-the-box value with WebSphere CloudBurst with the pre-conguredvirtual images and patterns that are shipped with the appliance. However, many users (if not all) willrequire customized environments in their private clouds. Using WebSphere CloudBurst, you canprovide customization to all levels of your private WebSphere cloud, including the operating system,middleware, and application layers. These layers of customization correspond to the separation of responsibilities often seen in enterprises in which distinct teams are assigned to take care of operatingsystem environments, middleware environments, and applications. Along with these customizationcapabilities, WebSphere CloudBurst provides a user access model that maps to these differentcustomization paths, and, therefore, organizational roles.

WebSphere CloudBurst provides these customization capabilities by enabling you to customize bothits virtual images and patterns. The type and frequency of the customizations will play a part in wherethe customization is performed.

Figure 3 illustrates different customization needs and how those customizations can be achieved inWebSphere CloudBurst -- while preserving traditional organizational responsibilities. WhileWebSphere CloudBurst provides mechanisms to store and reuse customizations, it also recognizesthat some customizations -- virtual machine passwords, for example -- are unique to each deploymentand need to be performed each time.

Figure 3. Customization overview


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Custom images

As mentioned earlier, WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition is a virtual image that comespre-installed with the operating system, along with WebSphere Application Server binaries andproles, and IBM HTTP Server. When WebSphere patterns are dispensed to the private cloud viaWebSphere CloudBurst, the operating system and selected components in the virtual image areactivated in order to create a virtual machine instance. While the virtual image packaging doesprovide for extremely rapid creation of middleware environments, it does not necessarily provide you

with your required operating system capabilities.

To enable you to customize your operating system environment by installing custom software,WebSphere CloudBurst introduces the idea of extending virtual images. You can extend one of theWebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition virtual images, make changes to the image, andthen recapture the changed image.

Figure 4. Extending virtual images


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The recaptured image reects the changes you made and is stored in the WebSphere CloudBurstcatalog. Once in the catalog, the image can be used as the basis for all patterns that are built using theWebSphere CloudBurst Appliance. Many different types of WebSphere congurations can be basedoff of this same virtual image; this means that no matter the middleware topology or application, theunderlying operating system and software installed in that operating system are the exact same foreach WebSphere Application Server virtual system running in the private cloud. Further, you need toperform the customization only one single time, while the virtual image can be reused by as manypatterns as necessary.

Custom environment patterns

Of course, there are those customizations that are more appropriate for a WebSphere ApplicationServer middleware environment. Again, WebSphere CloudBurst represents the WebSpheremiddleware environment in a pattern; these patterns are essentially a representation of the WebSphereApplication Server topology with desired customizations. Using the WebSphere CloudBurst PatternEditor, you can interact with a graphical interface to create WebSphere Application Servermiddleware environments that include topology denition, custom settings, and user applications.

For example, suppose a member of the team responsible for maintaining WebSphere ApplicationServer environments wanted to create a WebSphere cluster pattern that included a deploymentmanager, four custom nodes, and two IBM HTTP Servers. The cluster pattern mentioned earlier inthis article could be cloned and the topology altered to t the needs outlined, all using the PatternEditor.

Figure 5. Customizing WebSphere topologies


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In addition to saving topology settings as part of the pattern, additional properties for the WebSphereApplication Server environment, such as messaging, persistence, and security settings, can all becongured and preserved as part of the pattern. For example, a standard WebSphere ApplicationServer environment pattern with in-memory session persistence and global security can be created.Properties on each WebSphere component, such as virtual machine size and virtual CPU count, can bestandardized and saved as part of the pattern as well. By capturing all of these customizations in theform of a pattern, you are ensured of a consistent, repeatable middleware environment.

Custom application patterns

Beyond the topology changes and settings that you can congure in the Pattern Editor, WebSphereCloudBurst provides the capability to perform any other WebSphere Application Server congurationchanges that you might need. For example, a member of the team responsible for applications in theenterprise could take the customized cluster pattern above and add an application to the conguration.

Figure 6. Customization with script packages


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For customizations that involve installing applications, conguring trace settings on servers, orotherwise tuning the WebSphere Application Server environment outside of the Pattern Editorcapabilities, you can use script packages. These components contain executable les (and artifactsneeded by those executables) and are invoked by WebSphere CloudBurst after a pattern is deployed.Using script packages, you can achieve virtually any type of customization you need.

Custom deployments

Certain customizations will be unique to each and every WebSphere Application Server deployment.It is usually not appropriate to capture these specic values in a pattern because you would end upcreating and saving a pattern for literally every deployment. WebSphere CloudBurst enables you toalter properties that have not been locked as part of the pattern. This can include virtual machine size,WebSphere Application Server cell and node names, passwords for the virtual system, and customproperties for script packages.

While it may seem a minor point, the fact that you can only change properties that are not locked aspart of the pattern is worth noting. This restriction enables those who are knowledgeable inconstructing middleware environments and the organization’s resource availability to harden thepattern by “freezing” this intelligence into the conguration. Later, users who need such environmentscan use WebSphere CloudBurst self-service capabilities to deploy these patterns while being assuredthe WebSphere virtual systems will behave optimally in the private cloud.

When to customize what

To effectively leverage the customization options of both virtual images and WebSphere CloudBurstpatterns, it is important that you understand when to use these customizations. Some scenarios lendthemselves better to extending the virtual image, while others benet from pattern customization.

Extending virtual images can be employed in many different scenarios. Consider a case in whichevery operating system instance in an enterprise is required to have special anti-virus softwareinstalled. This scenario is a perfect candidate for image extension because by making thecustomization at the image level, you only need to apply the customization once and then leverage itby every WebSphere virtual system in the private cloud.

Common dependencies of the middleware environment is another good candidate for customizationthrough image extension. Suppose that nearly all of your middleware deployments utilized a commonJDBC driver. This driver could be installed in an extended image, and that customized image in turncould be utilized to build the WebSphere Application Server patterns to be deployed to the privatecloud. Customizing the image guarantees that each environment can utilize the JDBC driver withoutperforming any additional install steps after deployment.

Customizing patterns, whether it is via the Pattern Editor or through script packages, are bestemployed for changes that will vary across different middleware instances. For example, productionWebSphere Application Server cluster patterns might contain more custom nodes than a similarenvironment used in testing. These different topologies can be constructed once for each use and thensaved in the form of a pattern, thus making it reusable across the different teams as necessary. Test


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departments could benet from automatically having all of their applications installed after theWebSphere Application Server virtual system is created, and this could be achieved via theWebSphere CloudBurst customization capabilities. Changes in the environments could be less subtleas well. For example, patterns that are identical in topology might only differ in that patterns used bythe test group contain customizations to enable trace after deployment.

Table 1. WebSphere CloudBurst customization matrix

Technique Description AdvantagesUsed byWebSphereCloudBurst

Customizationexample

Image Changes are madeonce directly toimage binaries

Speed, reduce codedevelopment andtest

Operating systemand WebSphereApplication Server

Monitoring agents,JDBC drivers

Patterns andscripts

Changes areautomated once andexecuted for each

deployment

Reuse of imageswith differentapplications and

parameters

Advanced patternoptions (messaging,HTTP session,

security)

Deploy applications,perform WebSphereconguration

Deploymenttimeparameter

Changes are applieduniquely for eachenvironment

Unique values foreach virtual machine

Passwords,WebSphere cell andnode names

Application databasename

Table 1 above provides a summary and examples of the different customization techniques currentlyincluded in the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance. In general, if the customization is needed by eachand every environment in your private WebSphere cloud, image extension is likely to be the bestroute. This is because the customization can be completed once and then used in every WebSpherepattern you create, thus ensuring that each virtual system contains the customization. If acustomization is specic to the context in which the environment is being deployed -- for example,

installing certain applications -- then this is likely to be best captured by editing a pattern.

Role-based permissions

Providing customization capabilities that can be aligned with organizational responsibilities is onlyhalf of the customization story in WebSphere CloudBurst. The second half of that story is delivering amechanism for dening users whose system permissions align with organizational responsibilities.Using administrative capabilities in WebSphere CloudBurst, users and user groups can be dened andassociated with a set of permissions. The WebSphere CloudBurst console includes permissions to:

Deploy patternsCreate patternsManage the catalogAdminister the cloudAdminister the appliance

These different permissions align nicely with the different customization scenarios in WebSphereCloudBurst and the different responsibilities among IT teams. For example, the team responsible for


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the operating system infrastructure would need the permission to manage the WebSphere CloudBurstcatalog so they could create and store customized virtual images. On the other hand, the teamsresponsible for applications and middleware would need the permission to create and deploy patterns.This would give them the capability to create tailored WebSphere Application Server middlewareenvironments for the private cloud.

Users and user groups can have anywhere from one (all dened users have the ability to deploypatterns) to all of the permissions dened in WebSphere CloudBurst. The ability to associate userswith multiple permissions acknowledges the reality that IT staff members are seldom responsible for asingle set of tasks.

Role-based permissions can be combined with ne-grained access control for each image, pattern,virtual system, and more. This level of access control provides additional administrative control,especially useful for supporting multiple organizations. For example, a common WebSphereApplication Server environment pattern might be shared across multiple lines of business; however,once the specic applications are added, these patterns can be access-controlled so that only theappropriate line of business can view and deploy the pattern. Figure 7 shows how this capability

works in WebSphere CloudBurst.

Figure 7. Pattern Access Control

On the left, access permissions to the WebSphere cluster (development) pattern have been granted tothe Developer user. On the right, you see the patterns view for the Developer user. Notice that theDeveloper user only sees the WebSphere cluster (development) pattern, since that is the only patternto which the user has access.

By delivering both role-based permissions and ne-grained access controls, WebSphere CloudBurstprovides you with a robust system of controlling components that make up your WebSphere privatecloud.

Conclusion


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The WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance provides the best of both worlds when it comes to creatingprivate WebSphere cloud environments. With the inclusion of WebSphere Application ServerHypervisor Edition and pre-congured WebSphere patterns built from this virtual image, you canimmediately begin to deploy relevant WebSphere middleware environments to your private cloud. Inaddition, customization capabilities provide you with the ability to achieve virtually any type of WebSphere Application Server environment you need. Whether customization means installing

custom software, altering WebSphere topologies, or installing custom applications, WebSphereCloudBurst delivers the ability to produce highly customized WebSphere environments, and storethem on the appliance for maximum reuse, either in the form of custom virtual images or customWebSphere patterns.

Subsequent articles in this series will provide details on how these different customizations can beachieved using the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance.

Resources

Learn

Cloud computing for the enterprise (series)Part 1: Capturing the cloudPart 2: WebSphere sMash and DB2 Express-C on the Amazon EC2 public cloudPart 3: Using WebSphere CloudBurst to create private clouds

WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance product information

Cloud Computing Journal

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IBM developerWorks WebSphere

Discuss

Space: WebSphere Cloud Computing for Developers

Space: Cloud Computing Central

YouTube: WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance videos

Forum: WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance Forum

Blog: A view from the clouds: Cloud computing for the WebSphere developer

Follow us on Twitter


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About the authors

Dustin Amrhein joined IBM as a member of the development team for WebSphere ApplicationServer. While in that position, Dustin worked primarily on Web services infrastructure and Webservices programming models. In addition, Dustin worked on the development of a RESTful servicesframework for Java runtimes. In his current role, Dustin is a technical evangelist for emergingtechnologies in IBM’s WebSphere portfolio.

Ruth Willenborg is a Senior Technical Staff Member in IBM's WebSphere Technology Instituteworking on virtualization. Prior to this assignment, Ruth was the manager of the WebSpherePerformance team responsible for WebSphere Application Server performance analysis, performancebenchmarking and performance tool development. Ruth has over 20 years of experience in softwaredevelopment at IBM. She is co-author of Performance Analysis for Java Web Sites (Addison-Wesley,2002).

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