10.5. Deploy with the Deployment Scanner

Procedure 10.9. Use the Deployment Scanner to Deploy Applications

1. Copy content to the deployment folder

   Copy the application file to the deployment folder found at EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/.

2. Deployment scanning modes

   There are two application deployment methods. You can choose between automatic and manual deployment scanner modes. Before starting either of the deployment methods, read Section 10.5.8, “Configure the Deployment Scanner with the Management CLI”.

   • Automatic deployment

     The deployment scanner picks up a change to the state of the folder and creates a marker file as defined in Section 10.5.8, “Configure the Deployment Scanner with the Management CLI”.

   • Manual deployment

     The deployment scanner requires a marker file to trigger the deployment process. The following example uses the Unix touch command to create a new .dodeploy file.

     Example 10.3. Deploy with the touch command

     [user@host bin]$ touch $EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/example.war.dodeploy

Procedure 10.10. Undeploy an Application using one of these Methods

• Undeploy the application

  There are two methods to undeploy the application depending on whether you want to delete the application from the deployment folder or only alter its deployment status.

  • Undeploy by deleting the marker file

    Delete the deployed application's example.war.deployed marker file to trigger the deployment scanner to begin undeploying the application from the runtime.

    Result

    The deployment scanner undeploys the application and creates a example.war.undeployed marker file. The application remains in the deployment folder.

  • Undeploy by removing the application

    Note

    Undeploying an exploded WAR file using this method is not valid. Only undeployment by removing the marker file is valid. Attempting to undeploy an exploded WAR file will result in a message like the following message being logged.

    WARN  [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS015006: The deployment scanner found that the content for exploded deployment EXAMPLE.war has been deleted, but auto-deploy/undeploy for exploded deployments is not enabled and the EXAMPLE.war.deployed marker file for this deployment has not been removed. As a result, the deployment is not being undeployed, but resources needed by the deployment may have been deleted and application errors may occur. Deleting the EXAMPLE.war.deployed marker file to trigger undeploy is recommended.

    Remove the application from the deployment directory to trigger the deployment scanner to begin undeploying the application from the runtime.

    Result

    The deployment scanner undeploys the application and creates a filename.filetype.undeployed marker file. The application is not present in the deployment folder.

Procedure 10.11. Redeploy an Application to a Standalone Server

• Redeploy the application

  There are three possible methods to redeploy an application deployed with the deployment scanner. These methods trigger the deployment scanner to initiate a deployment cycle, and can be chosen to suit personal preference.

  • Redeploy by altering the marker file

    Trigger the deployment scanner redeployment by altering the marker file's access and modification timestamp. In the following Linux example, a Unix touch command is used.

    Example 10.5. Redeploy with the Unix touch command

    [user@host bin]$ touch EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/example.war.dodeploy

    Result

    The deployment scanner detects a change in the marker file and redeploys the application. A new .deployed file marker replaces the previous.

  • Redeploy by creating a new .dodeploy marker file

    Trigger the deployment scanner redeployment by creating a new .dodeploy marker file. Refer to the manual deployment instructions in Section 10.5.2, “Deploy an Application to a Standalone Server Instance with the Deployment Scanner”.

  • Redeploy by deleting the marker file

    As described in Section 10.5.5, “Reference for Deployment Scanner Marker Files”, deleting a deployed application's .deployed marker file will trigger an undeployment and create an .undeployed marker. Deleting the undeployment marker will trigger the deployment cycle again. Refer to Section 10.5.3, “Undeploy an Application from a Standalone Server Instance with the Deployment Scanner” for further information.

Procedure 10.12. Configure the Deployment Scanner

1. Determine the deployment scanner attributes to configure

   Configuring the deployment scanner via the Management CLI requires that you first expose the correct attribute names. You can do this with the read-resources operation at either the root node, or by using the cd command to change into the subsystem child node. You can also display the attributes with the ls command at this level.

   • Expose the deployment scanner attributes with the read-resource operation

     Use the read-resource operation to expose the attributes defined by the default deployment scanner resource.

     Example 10.8. Sample read-resource output

     [standalone@localhost:9999 /]/subsystem=deployment-scanner/scanner=default:read-resource
     {
         "outcome" => "success",
         "result" => {
             "auto-deploy-exploded" => false,
             "auto-deploy-xml" => true,
             "auto-deploy-zipped" => true,
             "deployment-timeout" => 600,
             "path" => "deployments",
             "relative-to" => "jboss.server.base.dir",
             "scan-enabled" => true,
             "scan-interval" => 5000
         }
     }

   • Expose the deployment scanner attributes with the ls command

     Use the ls command with the -l optional argument to display a table of results that include the subsystem node attributes, values, and type. You can learn more about the ls command and its arguments by exposing the CLI help entry by typing ls --help. For more information about the help menu in the Management CLI, refer to the topic Section 3.4.5, “Obtain Help with the Management CLI”.

     Example 10.9. Sample ls -l output

     [standalone@localhost:9999 /] ls -l /subsystem=deployment-scanner/scanner=default
     ATTRIBUTE            VALUE                 TYPE    
     auto-deploy-exploded false                 BOOLEAN 
     auto-deploy-xml      true                  BOOLEAN 
     auto-deploy-zipped   true                  BOOLEAN 
     deployment-timeout   600                   LONG    
     path                 deployments           STRING  
     relative-to          jboss.server.base.dir STRING  
     scan-enabled         true                  BOOLEAN 
     scan-interval        5000                  INT

2. Configure the deployment scanner with the write-attribute operation

   Once you have determined the name of the attribute to modify, use the write-attribute to specify the attribute name and the new value to write to it. The following examples are all run at the child node level, which can be accessed by using the cd command and tab completion to expose and change into the default scanner node.

   [standalone@localhost:9999 /] cd subsystem=deployment-scanner/scanner=default

   1. Enable automatic deployment of exploded content

      Use the write-attribute operation to enable the automatic deployment of exploded application content.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=auto-deploy-exploded,value=true)
      {"outcome" => "success"}

   2. Disable the automatic deployment of XML content

      Use the write-attribute operation to disable the automatic deployment of XML application content.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=auto-deploy-xml,value=false)     
      {"outcome" => "success"}

   3. Disable the automatic deployment of zipped content

      Use the write-attribute command to disable the automatic deployment of zipped application content.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=auto-deploy-zipped,value=false)
      {"outcome" => "success"}

   4. Configure the path attribute

      Use the write-attribute operation to modify the path attribute, substituting the example newpathname value for the new path name for the deployment scanner to monitor. Note that the server will require a reload to take effect.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=path,value=newpathname)            
      {
          "outcome" => "success",
          "response-headers" => {
              "operation-requires-reload" => true,
              "process-state" => "reload-required"
          }
      }

   5. Configure the relative path attribute

      Use the write-attribute operation to modify the relative reference to the filesystem path defined in the paths section of the configuration XML file. Note that the server will require a reload to take effect.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=relative-to,value=new.relative.dir)
      {
          "outcome" => "success",
          "response-headers" => {
              "operation-requires-reload" => true,
              "process-state" => "reload-required"
          }
      }

   6. Disable the deployment scanner

      Use the write-attribute operation to disable the deployment scanner by setting the scan-enabled value to false.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=scan-enabled,value=false)        
      {"outcome" => "success"}

   7. Change the scan interval

      Use the write-attribute operation to modify the scan interval time from 5000 milliseconds to 10000 milliseconds.

      [standalone@localhost:9999 scanner=default] :write-attribute(name=scan-interval,value=10000)
      {"outcome" => "success"}

Procedure 10.13. Define a Custom Deployment Scanner with the Management CLI

1. Add a deployment scanner using the Management CLI add operation:

   [standalone@localhost:9999 /] /subsystem=deployment-scanner/scanner=new-scanner:add(path=new_deployment_dir,relative-to=jboss.server.base.dir,scan-interval=5000)
   {"outcome" => "success"}

   Note

   The specified directory must already exist or this command will fail with an error.
2. The new deployment scanner is now visible in the standalone.xml file and management interfaces.

   Example 10.10. Excerpt from standalone.xml

   <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:deployment-scanner:1.1">
   	<deployment-scanner path="deployments" relative-to="jboss.server.base.dir" scan-interval="5000"/>
   	<deployment-scanner name="new-scanner" path="new_deployment_dir" relative-to="jboss.server.base.dir" scan-interval="5000"/>
   </subsystem>

3. The specified directory will now be scanned for deployments. See Section 10.5.2, “Deploy an Application to a Standalone Server Instance with the Deployment Scanner” for details on deploying an application with the deployment scanner.