Weblogic: How to setup & test Oracle WebLogic Server 12c (a quick guide On Windows, Linus & Mac OS X)

Weblogic 12c = JEE6 full profile Edition.

Oracle WebLogic 12c is a, certified, full profile Java EE 6 server.

Here is a quick guide for downloading, configuring and installing Oracle weblogic 12c zipped file (size = 164M) development environment.

Steps:

1. Download size of wls1211_dev.zip is 164 MB.
2. Installation requires you to unzip the archive, run some scripts and set the following JVM options: -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m (without setting the PermSize, the deployment didn't work) refer to  QUICKSTART.
3. Disc size (server): 383 MB after installation
4. Disc size (domain): 26 MB after installation
5. Startup: execution of [DOMAIN-FOLDER]/startWebLogic.sh is fast (< 7 secs)
6. Deployment: copy the ServerSmokeTest.war into [DOMAIN-FOLDER]/standalone/autodeploy/.

For Installation & configuration (On Windows, Linus & Mac OS X) follow the following steps:

The WLS zip distribution is intended for development use. It is supported on  Windows, Linux and Mac OS X systems. It contains the necessary artifacts to develop and test applications on WebLogic Server. 

An optional supplemental zip (wls1211_dev_supplemental.zip) is available as a separate download. The supplemental zip contains samples, evaluation database (Derby) and L10N console help files. 

The following instructions should help in quickly setting up WLS. Please refer to the general WLS documentation for detailed instructions. 

This version of WLS requires JDK 1.6 as a minimum. 

Ensure that you have the proper JDK version installed and ready for use. 

QUICKSTART
---------------------
Note: don't use any spaces in the paths referred in environment variables like JAVA_HOME, MW_HOME etc...
1. Extract the contents of the zip to a directory. This directory is referred to as MW_HOME (eg: /home/myhome/mywls).

2. Setup JAVA_HOME, JAVA_VENDOR, MW_HOME variables in the current shell as required for the target platform.
  
Linux
    $ export JAVA_HOME=/home/myhome/myjavahome
    $ export MW_HOME=/home/myhome/mywls
  
Mac
    $ export JAVA_HOME=
      /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6/Home
    $ export USER_MEM_ARGS="-Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m"       
    $ export MW_HOME=/home/myhome/mywls
  
Windows
    > set JAVA_HOME=C:\home\myhome\myjavahome
    > set MW_HOME=C:\home\myhome\mywls
    > set JAVA_VENDOR=[Sun|Oracle] 

  On Windows you must set JAVA_VENDOR to the JVM being used:
    If using HotSpot, use "Sun"
    If using JRockit, use "Oracle"

3. Run the installation configuration script in the MW_HOME directory.

This step is required to be run only once. If you move the installation to another location/machine, you need to rerun this step.

  Linux/Mac: $ ./configure.sh 
  Windows: > configure.cmd

  On Windows, this step retains the WLS environment settings for the current shell. 
  So, the next step can be omitted.

4. Setup WLS environment in the current shell. 
   Linux: $ . $MW_HOME/wlserver/server/bin/setWLSEnv.sh 
   Mac:   $ . $MW_HOME/wlserver/server/bin/setWLSEnv.sh 
   Windows: > %MW_HOME%\wlserver\server\bin\setWLSEnv.cmd

5. Create a new WLS domain and start WLS.
   
It is recommended that you create domains outside the MW_HOME.
   
Linux
    $ mkdir /home/myhome/mydomain
    $ cd /home/myhome/mydomain
    $ $JAVA_HOME/bin/java $JAVA_OPTIONS -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m weblogic.Server
  
Mac
    $ mkdir /home/myhome/mydomain
    $ cd /home/myhome/mydomain
    $ $JAVA_HOME/bin/java $JAVA_OPTIONS -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m weblogic.Server
   
Windows
    > mkdir C:\home\myhome\mydomain
    > cd C:\home\myhome\mydomain
    > %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe %JAVA_OPTIONS% -Xmx1024m -X:MaxPermSize=128m weblogic.Server

Once the domain is created, you can shutdown WLS and restart it with the scripts provided in the newly created domain.

Note: You can also create the domain by invoking the GUI configuration wizard (Run MW_HOME/wlserver/common/bin/config.[sh|cmd]).

6. If you already have an existing domain that you want to run with this installation, edit the DOMAIN_HOME/bin/setDomainEnv.sh script and change the WL_HOME to point to the new installation - ${MW_HOME}/wlserver/.

Note: If the existing domain has samples configured, the server will issue failures during startup as samples are not included in the zip distribution.

7. Start a browser and open up url - 'http://localhost:7001/console' to administer the server.

8. If you need samples, evaluation database (Derby) or console help files for non-english locales, you can download the supplemental zip and extract it under MW_HOME. Follow instructions in README_SUPP.txt to properly setup samples. this file can be found in WLS extracted folder.

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
---------------------------------------
The following components are not available in the zip distribution.

• Coherence libraries
• WebServer plugins
• Native JNI libraries for unsupported platforms
• Samples, evaluation database (Derby), non-english console help (can be added by using the WLS supplemental zip)

CLEANUP
---------------
Delete the MW_HOME directory. Note that this will delete everything under MW_HOME. If you have created domains or extracted supplemental zip those files will be removed as well. Ensure that you don't create domains or applications under MW_HOME directory for easier migration. 


UPGRADE
----------------

• In-place upgrade of installation is not supported in the zip distribution. 
• Download the new version of zip distribution and extract it to a new location. 
• Change the MW_HOME to point to the new location and update the startup scripts in your domains to point to the new MW_HOME.

KNOWN ISSUES
--------------------------

• [MAC OS X] Memory settings have to be explicitly defined using the USER_MEM_ARGS variable prior to running any domain scripts.
• [MAC OS X] The config wizard does not recognize a Mac OS X JDK installation and issues a warning. But, it successfully creates a domain and should not cause any issue running servers in the domain.
• [MAC OS X] The zip distribution has limited support for functionality requiring native support. JMS C clients, auto stack-dumps, auto privileged port binding are not supported.
• [ALL OS] Smart update tool is not supported in a zip distribution.
• [ALL OS] The zip distribution should not be extracted to an existing MW_HOME
•   or BEA_HOME which had been created by a regular installers. Doing so will conflict with already installed products and is unsupported.
• [ALL OS] JAVA_HOME cannot contain directory names with space characters.

General impression:

1. Installation is a bit more complicated, comparing it to GlassFish, JBoss, TomEE or Siwpas. All Java EE 6 servers so far can be installed just by unzipping the archive. WebLogic requires you to run some scripts after unzipping. However: the installation can be performed in a few minutes.
2. The server is lean and fast. Startup and deployment performance is good.
3. The admin console http://localhost:7001/console is fast, clean and usable. WebLogic comes with extensive monitoring capabilities.