Configuring Kinetic Task to Run in an IIS/Tomcat Web Environment
Details
The Apache Connector uses two files that we are concerned with when configuring Kinetic Request to work in this environment. Both files should be located in the <tomcat_home>/conf directory. The files are:
- workers.properties - holds the definition of a Tomcat worker. If your system is already up and running, the chances are you may not have to modify this file
- uriworkermap.properties - holds rules that handle the forwarding of requests by IIS to Tomcat. This file will need to be modified
The first thing you need to do is open the uriworkermap.properties file. Inside you should see some lines like this:
/admin/*=wlb
/manager/*=wlb
/examples/*=wlb
/arsys/*=wlb
The word between the two forward slashes represents a web application’s context, such as mid-tier’s “arsys” context. The asterisk (*) following the second forward slash is saying that anything after that context uses this mapping. The “wlb” is the part that tells the Apache Connector which Tomcat worker to use. In the case of the above examples, “wlb” is the name of worker defined in the workers.properties file.
The easiest way to configure Kinetic Task to work in this environment is to add a line to this file that includes the “kineticTask” context and sets it to use the worker that the other apps are using. This assumes that your IIS instance is front-ending a single Tomcat instance and that you have installed Kinetic Task in that instance. Using the “wlb” worker from the above examples, the Kinetic Task context line would be:
/kineticTask/*=wlb
If your environment has one IIS server front-ending multiple Tomcat instances, or your company standards are to use a different Tomcat worker for each application, you will need to open up the workers.properties file and verify that the worker you chose is the correct one. You have chosen the correct one if the worker’s 'type' is "ajp13" and its 'host' and 'port' values point to the Tomcat instance that Kinetic Task is installed in. If not, you will need to define a new worker using these credentials. Information on how to define workers can be found here on Apache’s website.
Once the uriworkermap.properties file has been updated (along with the workers.properties file if necessary) you are done. Test to see if everything is working by opening a web browser and pointing it to http://<you_webserver>/kineticTask/. If everything is setup correctly you should see the Kinetic Powered Welcome page.