How to Deploy Apache Axis2 on IBM WebSphere

As I mentioned in a previous post, the flexible deployment mechanism of Axis2 allows you to install it on any application server with minimum configuration effort.
Lets see how Axis2 can be deployed on IBM WebSphere.

Pre-requisites:
Download and install IBM WebSphere 6.1
Create a profile as specified in the WebSphere installation steps

I will use Axis2-1.4 and WebSphere6.1 for demonstration purposes. But you should be fine with the other versions too.

Step 1
Download Axis2.war from here

Step 2
Start WebSphere server (In windows XP menu All programs--> IBM WebSphere-->Application Server 6.1 --> profiles --> YourProfile -->Start the Server)

Wait until start window closes.

Step3

Access WebSphere administration console
(In windows XP menu All programs--> IBM WebSphere-->Application Server 6.1 --> profiles --> YourProfile-->Administrative Console)

Log in to administration console (You should have configured username and password for admin console when creating WebSphere profile)

Step 4

In the left navigation menu of the WebSphere administrative console, select Install New Application
Enter the path of the Axis2.war file (Browse for axis2.war in your file system)
Enter 'axis2' as the context root for application (See the image below) and click on 'Next'



Step 5

In the Select installation options page, keep the default values and click.
Map modules to servers page will be displayed. Select Apache Axis2 module and click Next.
You will be directed to the Map virtual hosts for Web modules page. Select Apache-axis2 web module and click Next.
You should see a Summary page similar to the one given below. Click 'Finish' to complete installing Axis2.war on WebSphere.



You will get 'Application axis2_war installed successfully.' message in the next page. Click on Save to persist changes directly to the master configuration.

Step 6

Now we have to start the installed Axis2.war. Click on Enterprise Applications link in the left navigation menu.

Select Axis2.war and click on Start button. You will see the axis2.war started successfully message as in the following image.



Step 7

Now open a browser and go to http://localhost:<port>/axis2
Axis2 welcome page will be displayed.

Step 8

Verify the status of installation. Click on 'Validate' link. You should see the following 'Axis2 Happiness' page.



That's all!. If you encounter any issues with deployment, please drop a mail charitha@wso2.com

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