Developing an Application for a Shared Application Server

In this section:

The Shared Application Server is a dedicated configuration of an WebFOCUS Maintain Server in pooled mode and is designed for running high-performance highly-scalable applications. Under pooled deployment, all users run under the same user ID and share the same WebFOCUS server environment. The server allows you to widen an application's availability while retaining its efficiency, enabling it to perform well for both small and large groups of users. For example, you could develop an application for a department, and then scale it up to the entire enterprise.


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Why Use a Shared Application Server?

By running an application on a Shared Application Server, you can increase the number of its end users while maintaining effective performance with regard to:

You can install the Shared Application Server as a separate WebFOCUS Server or choose to configure an alternate service on an existing WebFOCUS Server to run a Shared Application Server partition.

For information on installing and configuring a Shared Application Server, see the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration manual for your platform.

If you wish to optimize the configuration of a server instance, you can do so using the Web Console; the console is described in your WebFOCUS Developer Studio documentation. For information about how to optimize your server, contact your Information Builders representative.

To run an application on a Shared Application Server, you must first develop it according to the principles in Designing Applications for Scalability and Performance. Then deploy it in accordance with the server guidelines, as described in the following topics.

The following limitations apply:


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Deploying and Testing Applications on Shared Application Servers

An application written for the Shared Application Server should always first be deployed to and tested in a private WebFOCUS Server Environment.

A pooled SAS service is dedicated to running Maintain applications, and will not accept the deployment of application files from Developer Studio. You can deploy to one of the following:

For more information on configuring for SAS refer to the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration manual for your platform.


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Preparing a Shared Application Server

Before you run an application on a Shared Application Server instance, you must append the following commands to the end of the server instance's global profile or service profile

MNTCON PREPARESERVER
-INCLUDE loadproc 
MNTCON STARTSERVER

where:

loadproc

Is the name of an external procedure that contains MNTCON LOADIMAGE commands for the application you wish to run. The name must be uppercase.

The external procedure must reside in the APPPATH of the server instance.

The syntax of an application's MNTCON LOADIMAGE commands is

MNTCON LOADIMAGE [appname1/]proc1 
.
.
.
MNTCON LOADIMAGE [appnamen/]procn

where:

appnamen

Is the name of the directory on the server where you can find the Maintain procedure of the application, where n is the sequential number of the image.

procn

Is the name of the compiled Maintain procedure of the application, where n is the sequential number of the procedure. The name must be uppercase.

Alternatively, you can place the MNTCON LOADIMAGE commands directly in the profile in place of the -INCLUDE statement. However, using the -INCLUDE statement makes it easier for you to switch a server instance from one application to another.



Example: Running an Application on a Shared Application Server

Maintain application images must be successfully loaded on the Shared Application Server before you invoke the starting procedure.

To run an application on a Shared Application Server, use the MNTCON RUNIMAGE command. For example:

MNTCON RUNIMAGE procname 

The default WFMSTART.HTML launch page includes a RUNIMAGE option in the Invocation Type drop-down list. (For details on locating the page, see Using the WFMSTART.HTML Launch Page.)



Example: Switching a SAS Server Instance Between Different Applications

For example, the following commands switch a server instance between the AcctPay, Courses, and Sales applications. The server instance is currently set up to run the AcctPay application:

MNTCON PREPARESERVER
-INCLUDE ACCTPAY
-*  -INCLUDE COURSES
-*  -INCLUDE SALES
MNTCON STARTSERVER


Example: EDASPROF Configuring a Shared Application Server to Use SU on FOCUS Data Sources

The following is a sample EDASPROF.PRF for a Shared Application Server using SU for FOCUS data sources:

APP ENABLE
APP PATH ACCOUNTS
-*
USE
NYACCTS ON FOCSU01
REGIONS ON FOCSU01
END
SET COMMIT=ON
-*
MNTCON PREPARESERVER
MNTCON LOADIMAGE NYACCTS
.
.
.
MNTCON STARTSERVER

To run the starting procedure NYACCTS, use the MNTCON RUNIMAGE NYACCTS command from your launch form.


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