Visual Configuration Explorer Headless Automation Runtime

The VCE Headless Automation Runtime provides the ablity to drive VCE
function from the command line without requiring the Graphical User
Interface. Most of VCE's functions can be driven via customized ANT
scripts and results are persisted in xml files. Note that in order to
run the Automation Runtime, depending on the IBM Support Assistant
level, the following Java minimum requirements must be observed -

IBM Support Assistant v4.0 - Java version 1.4.2
IBM Support Assistant v4.1 - Java version 1.5

Note that since there are no User Interface components, the runtime
should execute on any Operating System that supports the required
version of Java.


      Creating and installing the Headless Automation Runtime

The Headless Automation Runtime must first be created before it can be
installed. To create the runtime, open up the VCE preferences panel at
/File->Preferences->Visual Configuration Explorer/, then select the
/Utilities /tab. You will need to specify a directory where you wish the
runtime to be created, then simply select the Headless Automation
Runtime from the list and click "/Deploy/". After a few minutes, you
will find a a zip file and a readme with further instructions.
Installation involves simply copying and unzipping the zip file to a
target server/directory of your choosing. A "vce" subdirectory will be
created from which you can launch your tasks. You will also find an
empty "vce\startup" directory. This directory is for storing any rules,
filters, and templates files that may be required for your environment.
Files found in this directory will be automatically loaded at runtime
and artifacts defined within may then be used by automation tasks.
*NOTE: The Headless Automation Runtime shares all of it's code with the
core VCE component, so in order to pick up changes, it is strongly
recommended that the Headless Automation Runtime be rebuilt and
redeployed with each release of VCE.*


      Running the provided automation-example.xml sample script

An example VCE automation script, automation-example.xml, has been
provided to get you started. The example does the following:

   1. Drives the WebSphere Configuration Exporter against the WebSphere
      installation specified by property "was.root".
   2. Creates a new VCE workspace.
   3. Loads the exported WebSphere configuration into the workspace.
   4. Exports the entire WebSphere configuration to a single XML file.
   5. Creates a topology diagram in the workspace of all the Application
      Server instances present in the configuration.
   6. Validates the entire WebSphere configuration.
   7. Saves the VCE workspace.

To drive the example script, issue the following command:

    /java -jar startup.jar -buildfile automation-example.xml
    -Dwas.root="WAS_INSTALL_DIR"/

For help on the example script, type:

    /java -jar startup.jar -buildfile automation-example.xml -projecthelp/

The example automation script will generate several output files named
"example.*" in the current directory, one for each task executed. The
default workspace that is created, /example.vce/, may be opened using
Visual Configuration Explorer.


    More information

Automating Visual Configuration Explorer Functions <automation.html>

Visual Configuration Explorer Ant Tasks <anttasks.html>

Visual Configuration Explorer Ant Types <anttypes.html>

Visual Configuration Explorer Automation Examples <automationExamples.html>

MQ Configuration Exporter <mqexporter.html>

DB2 Configuration Exporter <db2exporter.html>

WebSphere Configuration Exporter <wasexporter.html>

Portal Configuration Exporter <portalexporter.html>