The plan

The plan

Decide what type of data you want to collect. You do not have to collect it all, however you must collect Config XML data for the dashboards and views in the App to be populated and for the solution to work correctly. You can choose to also collect log data, performance data, both, or none. The Solution components you install into your environment are driven by your data collection choices. The choice you make around data collection drive your visibility into the data in your WebSphere environment.

The plan

Installation and configuration of Splunk for WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is much easier when you have an actual plan. The following steps will guide you through the installation and configuration process:

1. Know the data that you want to collect (log, performance, Config XML).
2. Know the machines in your environment that you will splunk to collect data.
3. You must have access to the machines from which you want to collect data.
4. Know where to get the Solution components and what components you need to successfully collect the data you need.
5. Understand the requirements to get each of the components working:
   1. Splunk App for WebSphere Application Server.
   2. Splunk Forwarder Add-on for WebSphere Application Server.
   3. Splunk Forwarder Appliance Add-on for WebSphere Application Server.
6. Decide whether to create inputs.conf using the installation scripts or to manually create inputs.conf.
7. Install the Splunk components.
   1. Install the Splunk universal forwarder version 4.2 or later on one or more WAS machines.
   2. Install and configure Splunk, version 4.2 or later, as an indexer on a non-WAS box.
   3. Install and configure Splunk, version 4.2 or later, as a search head on a non WAS box. The search head and the indexer can be installed on the same box.
8. For JMX data collection, designate a machine to collect JMX data and configure it to collect the data. We recommend that you do not use your indexer or WAS box to collect JMX data. This is the forwarder appliance.
   1. Install a Splunk forwarder on this machine.
   2. Install WAS Jar files from your WAS installation and a compatible JRE. For more information, see Requirementsin this manual to understand what is required to do this. Also see Create the JMX Collection Appliance for instructions on how to build your JMX data collection appliance.
9. Install Splunk for WAS.
   1. Install the Splunk App for WebSphere Application Server on the Indexer or Search head.
   2. Install the Splunk Forwarder Appliance Add-on for WebSphere Application Server on the Splunk forwarder that resides on the box collecting JMX data.
   3. Install the Splunk forwarder Add-on for WebSphere Application Server on the Splunk Forwarder on each WAS box from which you want to get log data.
10. Get the host name for each WAS box. Know the hosts on which Deployment Manger is installed (and the log-in credentials for the hosts) and from which you want the Forwarder Appliance to collect data.
11. Set permissions and credentials( if you have not done so already). Do you have a service account(s) and credentials for each WAS box and Deploymnet manager in your environment? If you have not created service accounts or set up permissions for these hosts, please see your IBM documentation for instructions on how to do this.
12. Configure the Solution so that Splunk can collect and index the data from your environment.
13. Start Splunk App for WAS. The dashboards will populate with the data being collected from your environment.

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