Overview of Payara Server Administration

Payara Server provides a runtime for developing and deploying Jakarta EE Platform and Eclipse MicroProfile applications.

As an administrator of Payara Server, your main responsibilities are to establish a secure Payara Server environment and to oversee the services, resources, and users that participate in that environment.

Your key tasks include configuring resources and services, managing Payara Server at runtime, and fixing problems that are associated with the server’s operation.

Default Settings and Locations

After installation, you might need to perform some immediate configuration tasks to make your installation function as intended.

If configuration defaults have been accepted, some features are enabled and some not. For an overview of initial configuration tasks for Payara Server services and resources, see Initial Configuration Tasks.

In addition, you might want to reset default passwords, change names or locations of files, and so on.

The following tables list the default administration values.

The default administrator login is admin, with no password, which means that no login is required.

Default Administration Values

Item Default

Domain Name

domain1

Master Password

changeit

Administration User

admin

Administration Server Port

4848

HTTP Port

8080

HTTPS Port

8181

Pure JMX Clients Port

8686

Message Queue Port

7676

IIOP Port

3700

IIOP/SSL Port

3820

IIOP/SSL Port With Mutual Authentication

3920
Table 1. Default Locations
Item Default

Command-line Utility (asadmin)

as-install/bin

Configuration Files

domain-dir/config

Log Files

domain-dir/logs

Configuration Tasks

Some configuration tasks must be performed directly after installation for your Payara Server environment to work as intended. For example, if you are using a database with Payara Server, you need to set up database connectivity right away.

Some configuration situations are ongoing and will require you to make changes many times during the life of your installation. You can use either the Administration Console or the asadmin utility to modify the configuration. Changes are automatically applied to the appropriate configuration file.

Initial Configuration Tasks

This section maps the common configuration tasks to the command-line procedures in this guide. In some situations, the resource or service is automatically enabled and your configuration tasks involve adjusting or changing the default settings to suit your specific needs.

The following resources and services frequently require configuration immediately after installation:

System Properties

See Administering System Properties.

Domains

The initial domain1 is created during installation. Additional configuration tasks might include such tasks as configuring additional domains or setting up automatic restart. See Administering Domains.

JVM

The initial tasks for configuring the JVM include creating JVM options and profilers.

Logging

By default, logging is enabled, so basic logging works without additional configuration. However, you might want to change log levels, property values, or the location of log files. See Administering the Logging Service.

Monitoring

By default, the monitoring service is enabled. However, monitoring for the individual modules is not enabled, so your first monitoring task is to enable monitoring for the modules that you want to monitor. See Administering the Monitoring Service.

Life Cycle Modules

See Administering Life Cycle Modules.

Security

  • System Security. Initial configuration tasks might include setting up passwords, audit modules, and certificates. See "Administering System Security" in the Payara Server Security Guide.

  • User Security. Initial configuration tasks might include creating authentication realms and file users. See "Administering User Security" in the Payara Server Security Guide.

  • Message Security. Initial configuration tasks might include configuring a Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) provider, enabling default and non-default security providers, and configuring message protection policies. See "Administering Message Security" in the Payara Server Security Guide.

Database Connectivity

The initial tasks involved in configuring Payara Server to connect to an external database include creating a Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) connection pool, creating a JDBC resource, and integrating a JDBC driver. See Administering Database Connectivity.

EIS Connectivity

The initial tasks involved in configuring Payara Server to connect to an enterprise information system (EIS) include creating a connector connection pool, creating a connector resource, editing a resource adapter configuration, creating a connector security map, creating a connector work security map, and creating an administered object (if needed). See Administering EIS Connectivity.

Internet Connectivity

The initial tasks involved in making deployed web applications accessible by internet clients include creating HTTP network listeners and virtual servers, and configuring the HTTP listeners for SSL (if needed). See Administering Internet Connectivity.

Object Request Broker (ORB)

An initial configuration task might involve creating an IIOP listener. See Administering the Object Request Broker (ORB).

JavaMail Service

An initial configuration task might involve creating a JavaMail resource. See Administering the JavaMail Service.

Java Message Service (JMS)

Initial configuration tasks might include creating a physical destination, creating connection factories or destination resources, creating a JMS host (if the default JMS host is not adequate), adjusting connection pool settings (if needed), and configuring resource adapters for JMS. See Administering the Java Message Service (JMS).

JNDI Service

An initial configuration task might involve creating a JNDI resource. See Administering the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) Service.

Information and instructions for accomplishing the tasks by using the Administration Console are contained in the Administration Console online help.

How Dotted Names Work for Configuration

After the initial configuration is working, you will continue to manage ongoing configuration for the life of your Payara Server installation.

You might need to adjust resources to improve productivity, or issues might arise that require settings to be modified or defaults to be reset. In some situations, an asadmin subcommand is provided for updating, such as the update-connector-work-security-map subcommand. However, most updating is done by using the list, get, and set subcommands with dotted names. For detailed information about dotted names, see the dotted-names(5ASC) help page.

Dotted names also apply to monitoring, but the method is slightly different. For information on using dotted names for monitoring, see How the Monitoring Tree Structure Works.

The general process for working with configuration changes on the command line is as follows:

  • List the modules for the component of interest.
    The following single mode example uses the | (pipe) character and the grep command to narrow the search:

    asadmin list "*" | grep http | grep listener

    Information similar to the following is returned:

    configs.config.server-config.network-config.network-listeners.network-listener.http-listener-1
configs.config.server-config.network-config.network-listeners.network-listener.http-listener-2
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.admin-listener.http
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.admin-listener.http.file-cache
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-1
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-1.http
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-1.http.file-cache
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-2
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-2.http
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-2.http.file-cache
configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener-2.ssl

  • Get the attributes that apply to the module you are interested in.

    The following multimode example gets the attributes and values for http-listener-1:

    asadmin> get server-config.network-config.network-listeners.network-listener.http-listener-1.*

    Information similar to the following is returned:

    server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.acceptor-threads = 1
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.address = 0.0.0.0
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.blocking-enabled = false
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.default-virtual-server = server
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.enabled = true
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.external-port =
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.family = inet
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.id = http-listener-1
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.port = 8080
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.redirect-port =
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.security-enabled = false
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.server-name =
server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.xpowered-by = true

  • Modify an attribute by using the set subcommand.

    This example sets the security-enabled attribute of http-listener-1 to true:

    asadmin> set server.http-service.http-listener.http-listener-1.security-enabled = true

Configuration Files

The bulk of the configuration information about Payara Server resources, applications, and instances is stored in the domain.xml configuration file. This file is the central repository for a given administrative domain and contains an XML representation of the Payara Server domain model. The default location for the domain.xml file is domain-dir/config.

Payara Server maintains a backup of the domain.xml file that is named domain.xml.bak. The purpose of this file is solely to enable Payara Server to start a domain if the domain.xml file cannot be read. Do not modify or delete the domain.xml.bak file and do not use this file for any other purpose.

The logging.properties file is used to configure logging levels for individual modules. The default logging.properties file is located in the same directory as the domain.xml file. For further information on the logging.properties file, see Logging Properties.

The asenv.conf file is located in the as-install/config directory. Its purpose is to store the Payara Server environment variables, such as the installation location of the database, Message Queue, and so on.

Changes are automatically applied to the appropriate configuration file. Do not edit the configuration files directly. Manual editing is prone to error and can have unexpected results.

Impact of Configuration Changes

Some configuration changes require that you restart the DAS or Payara Server instances for the changes to take effect. Other changes are applied dynamically without requiring that the DAS or instances be restarted. The procedures in this guide indicate when a restart is required. Payara Server enables you to determine whether the DAS or an instance must be restarted to apply configuration changes.

Some changes to resources or connection pools affect the applications that use the resources or connection pools. These changes do not require restart. However, any applications that use the resources or connection pools must be disabled and re-enabled or redeployed for the change to take effect.

To Determine Whether the DAS or an Instance Requires Restart

  1. Ensure that the DAS is running.
    To obtain information about the DAS or an instance, a running server is required.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To determine if the DAS requires restart, list the domains in your Payara Server installation.
      Use the list-domains subcommand for this purpose.

      asadmin> list-domains [--domaindir domain-root-dir]

      The domain-root-dir is the directory that contains the directories in which individual domains' configuration is stored. The default is as-install/domains, where as-install is the base installation directory of the Payara Server software.

      If the DAS requires restart, a statement that restart is required is displayed.

    • To determine if an instance requires restart, list information about the instance.

      Use the list-instances subcommand for this purpose:

      asadmin> list-instances instance-name

      The instance-name is the name of the instance for which you are listing information.

      If the instance requires restart, one of the following pieces of information is displayed: a statement that restart is required, or a list of configuration changes that are not yet applied to the instance.

Example 1-1 Determine whether the DAS or an instance requires restart

This example determines that the DAS for the domain domain1 requires restart to apply configuration changes.

asadmin> list-domains
domain1 running, restart required to apply configuration changes
Command list-domains executed successfully.

Example 1-2 Determine whether the DAS or an instance requires restart

This example determines that the instance pmd-i1 requires restart to apply configuration changes.

asadmin> list-instances pmd-i1
pmd-i1   running;  requires restart
Command list-instances executed successfully.

You can also view the full syntax and options of the subcommands by typing the following commands at the command line.

  • asadmin help list-domains

  • asadmin help list-instances

Configuration Changes That Require Restart

The following configuration changes require restart for the changes to take effect:

  • Changing JVM options

  • Changing port numbers

  • Changing log handler elements

  • Configuring certificates

  • Managing HTTP, JMS, IIOP, JNDI services

  • Enabling or disabling secure administration as explained in "Running Secure Admin" in the Payara Server Security Guide

Dynamic Configuration Changes

With dynamic configuration, changes take effect while the DAS or instance is running. The following configuration changes do not require restart:

  • Adding or deleting add-on components

  • Adding or removing JDBC, JMS, and connector resources and pools (Exception: Some connection pool properties affect applications.)

  • Changing a system property that is not referenced by a JVM option or a port

  • Adding file realm users

  • Changing logging levels

  • Enabling and disabling monitoring

  • Changing monitoring levels for modules

  • Enabling and disabling resources and applications

  • Deploying, un-deploying, and redeploying applications

Changes That Affect Applications

Some changes to resources or connection pools affect the applications that use the resources or connection pools. These changes do not require restart. However, any applications that use the resources or connection pools must be disabled and re-enabled or redeployed for the change to take effect.

If you do not know which applications use the changed resources or connection pools, you can apply these changes by restarting the clusters or Payara Server instances to which applications are deployed. However, to minimize the disruption to the services that your applications provide, avoid restarting clusters or instances to apply these changes if possible.

The following changes affect applications:

  • Creating or deleting resources (Exception: Changes to some JDBC, JMS, or connector resources do not affect applications.)

  • Modifying the following JDBC connection pool properties:

    • datasource-classname

    • associate-with-thread

    • lazy-connection-association

    • lazy-connection-enlistment

    • JDBC driver vendor-specific properties

  • Modifying the following connector connection pool properties:

    • resource-adapter-name

    • connection-definition-name

    • transaction-support

    • associate-with-thread

    • lazy-connection-association

    • lazy-connection-enlistment

    • Vendor-specific properties

Administration Tools

For the most part, you can perform the same tasks by using either the graphical Administration Console or the asadmin command-line utility, however, there are exceptions.

Administration Console

The Administration Console is a browser-based utility that features an easy-to-navigate graphical interface that includes extensive online help for the administrative tasks.

To use the Administration Console, the domain administration server (DAS) must be running. Each domain has its own DAS, which has a unique port number. When Payara Server was installed, you chose a port number for the DAS, or used the default port of 4848. You also specified a username and password if you did not accept the default login (admin with no password).

When specifying the URL for the Administration Console, use the port number for the domain to be administered. The format for starting the Administration Console in a web browser is http://hostname:port. For example:

https://admin.payara.fish:4848

If the Administration Console is running on the host where Payara Server was installed, specify localhost for the host name. For example:

http://localhost:4848

If the Administration Console is run on a host different from the host where Payara Server was installed, a secure connection (https instead of http) is used. Some browsers do not display pages on secure connections by default and must be configured to permit secure protocols (SSL and TLS).

You can display the help material for a page in the Administration Console by clicking the Help button on the page. The initial help page describes the functions and fields of the page itself.

If you try to use the Administration Console from a system through a proxy server on another system back to the original system, while using the system’s full host name (instead of localhost or 127.0.0.1) you are denied access because the request is treated as a remote request, which requires that the secure administration feature (secure admin) to be enabled.

To avoid this situation, do one of the following:

  • Do not use a proxy server.

  • Use localhost or 127.0.0.1 as the host name.

  • Enable secure admin so that what Payara Server interprets as a remote request is accepted as such.

To enable secure admin, see "Managing Administrative Security" in the Payara Server Security Guide.

asadmin Utility

The asadmin utility is a command-line tool that runs subcommands for identifying the operation or task that you want to perform. You can run asadmin subcommands either from a command prompt or from a script.Running asadmin subcommands from a script is helpful for automating repetitive tasks. Basic information about how the asadmin utility works can be found in the asadmin(1M) help page. For instructions on using the asadmin utility, see Using the asadmin Utility.

To issue an asadmin subcommand in the standard command shell (single mode), go to the as-install/bin directory and type the asadmin command followed by a subcommand. For example:

asadmin list-jdbc-resources

You can invoke multiple command mode (multimode) by typing asadmin at the command prompt, after which the asadmin> prompt is presented. The asadmin utility continues to accept subcommands until you exit multimode and return to the standard command shell. For example:

asadmin> list-jdbc-resources

You can display a help page for any asadmin subcommand by typing help before the subcommand name. For example:

asadmin> help restart-domain

or

asadmin help restart-domain

A collection of the asadmin help pages is available in HTML and PDF format in the Payara Server Reference Manual.

REST Interfaces

Payara Server provides representational state transfer (REST) interfaces to enable you to access monitoring and configuration data for Payara Server, including data that is provided by newly installed add-on components. For more information, see Using REST Interfaces to Administer Payara Server.

OSGi Module Management Subsystem

The OSGi module management subsystem that is provided with Payara Server is the Apache Felix OSGi framework .

To administer this framework, use either the Apache Felix Gogo remote shell. This shell is provided with Payara Server. The shell uses the Felix Gogo shell-service to interact with the OSGi module management subsystem.

This tool allows you to perform administrative tasks on OSGi bundles such as:

  • Browsing installed OSGi bundles

  • Viewing the headers of installed OSGi bundles

  • Installing OSGi bundles

  • Controlling the life cycle of installed bundles

To Enable the Apache Felix Gogo Remote Shell

By default, the Apache Felix Gogo remote shell in Payara Server is disabled. Before using the shell to administer OSGi bundles in Payara Server, you must enable the shell.

Enabling the Apache Felix Gogo remote shell in Payara Server involves changing the value of the property glassfish.osgi.start.level.final. This property controls whether the OSGi start level service enables the shell when the DAS or a Payara Server instance is started.

  1. Ensure that the DAS is running.

  2. Change the value of the glassfish.osgi.start.level.final property from 2 to 3.

    If the domain includes clustered or standalone instances on remote hosts, perform this step on each remote host. You can change this value either by creating a Java system property or by editing a file.

    To change this value by creating a Java system property, create the system property glassfish.osgi.start.level.final with a value of 3:

    asadmin> create-jvm-options --target target -Dglassfish.osgi.start.level.final=3

    To change this value by editing a file, edit the plain-text file as-install/config/osgi.properties to change the value of the glassfish.osgi.start.level.final property from 2 to 3.

  3. Restart the DAS.

For instructions, see To Restart a Domain.

To Run Apache Felix Gogo Remote Shell Commands

The Apache Felix Gogo remote shell is integrated with the Payara Server asadmin command line utility. You can use the asadmin subcommands osgi and osgi-shell to access the remote shell and run OSGi shell commands.

To Run Remote Shell Commands Using the osgi Subcommand

The osgi subcommand delegates the command line to the Apache Felix Gogo remote shell for the execution of OSGi shell commands. Commands are executed by the remote shell and results are returned by the asadmin utility. The osgi subcommand is supported in remote mode only.

  1. Ensure that the server is running. Remote commands require a running server.

  2. Access the remote shell by using the osgi subcommand. For the full syntax and options for this subcommand, see osgi.

To Run Remote Shell Commands Using the osgi-shell Subcommand

The osgi-shell subcommand provides interactive access to the Apache Felix Gogo remote shell for the execution of OSGi shell commands. OSGi shell commands are executed on the server and results are printed on the client. You can run multiple commands from a file or run commands interactively. The osgi-shell subcommand is supported in local mode only. Unlike other local subcommands, however, the DAS and the server instance whose shell is being accessed must be running.

  1. Ensure that the server is running.

  2. Access the remote shell by using the osgi-shell subcommand. For the full syntax and options for this subcommand, see osgi-shell.

Example 1-3 To run remote shell commands using the osgi-shell subcommand

This example lists Apache Felix Gogo remote shell commands. Some lines of output are omitted from this example for readability.

asadmin> osgi help

felix:bundlelevel
felix:cd
felix:frameworklevel
gogo:cat
gogo:each
gogo:echo

asadmin> osgi-shell
Use "exit" to exit and "help" for online help.

gogo$ help
felix:bundlelevel
felix:cd
felix:frameworklevel
gogo:cat
gogo:each
gogo:echo

Example 1-4 To run remote shell commands using the osgi-shell subcommand 2

This example runs the Felix Remote Shell Command lb without any arguments to list all installed OSGi bundles. Some lines of output are omitted from this example for readability.

asadmin> osgi lb
START LEVEL 2
ID|State      |Level|Name
 0|Active     |    0|System Bundle
 1|Active     |    1|Metro Web Services API OSGi Bundle
 2|Active     |    1|jakarta.annotation API
Command osgi executed successfully.

asadmin> osgi-shell
Use "exit" to exit and "help" for online help.
gogo$ lb
START LEVEL 2
ID|State      |Level|Name
 0|Active     |    0|System Bundle
 1|Active     |    1|Metro Web Services API OSGi Bundle
 2|Active     |    1|jakarta.annotation API
gogo$

Example 1-5 To run remote shell commands using the osgi-shell subcommand 3

This example runs the Felix Remote Shell Command inspect with the service option and the capability option to determine the services that OSGi bundle 251 provides. Some lines of output are omitted from this example for readability.

asadmin> osgi inspect service capability 251
Payara EJB Container for OSGi Enabled EJB Applications (251) provides services:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
objectClass = org.glassfish.osgijavaeebase.Extender
service.id = 68
-----
objectClass = org.glassfish.osgijavaeebase.OSGiDeployer
service.id = 69
service.ranking = -2147483648
Command osgi executed successfully.
...
asadmin> osgi -shell
Use "exit" to exit and "help" for online help.
gogo$ inspect service capability 251
Payara EJB Container for OSGi Enabled EJB Applications (251) provides services:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
objectClass = org.glassfish.osgijavaeebase.Extender
service.id = 68
...
gogo$

Java Monitoring and Management Console (JConsole)

Java SE provides tools to connect to an MBean server and view the MBeans that are registered with the server. JConsole is one such popular JMX Connector Client and is available as part of the standard Java SE distribution.

For instructions on integrating JConsole in the Payara Server environment, see Configuring JConsole to View Payara Server Monitoring Data.

Instructions for Administering Payara Server

Information and instructions on performing most of the administration tasks from the command line are provided in this document and in the asadmin utility help pages. For instructions on accessing asadmin online help, see To Display Help Information for the asadmin Utility or a Subcommand.

Phone Home

All Payara Platform distributions report back a limited amount of information about their specific configuration at launch time. No sensitive data about your machine or specific usage of Payara Server is sent to 0s or any member of the Payara Services team.

Gathered phone home data is sent via a GET request to http://www.payara.fish/phonehome

The following is the list of information attributes gathered by the Phone Home service:

Attribute Example

Payara Server Version

6.2024.12 #badassfish

Java Virtual Machine Version

1.8.0_121

Domain Uptime

36500

Number of nodes in the domain

1

Number of instances in the domain

2

Randomly generated UUID

eaa6fe2c-2388-4aa7-fdcc-288c7b318ddfeaa6ef23-2388-4aa7-8dcc-288c7b318ddf

This is the only data which the phone home service gathers from your system.

The UUID is specific to the DAS and is randomly generated on startup, so it is not machine specific.

What is the data used for?

The phone home data is presently used to gather usage statistics about the corresponding distribution, such as how long users typically run instances, and what versions they use.

Previously this could only be done at an extremely simple level from downloads over time, giving us no idea how Payara Server is used beyond specific interactions with contributors and customers which may not accurately represent the state of our user base.

The phone home service was designed as a non-intrusive survey tool which would only gather data specific to Payara and has no contact with any running applications, or indeed anything on your machine other than the mentioned attributes.

Disabling and Enabling Phone Home

The phone home service is enabled by default when starting a Payara Server. The phone home service can be easily disabled in the following ways.

Enable the Phone Home service

asadmin> enable-phone-home

See enable-phone-home

Disable the Phone Home service

Using Asadmin

Run this asadmin command and then restart the server to disable PhoneHome

asadmin> disable-phone-home

See disable-phone-home

Disable by Removing The Service Module

  • Navigate to the ${PAYARA_INSTALL_DIR}/glassfish/modules directory

  • Delete the phonehome-bootstrap.jar module.

List the current status of the Phone Home service.

asadmin> list-phone-home

See list-phone-home

See Also