Getting instance name of a WebSphere app Server

Question

My Web service will run on a Jboss App Server or a Websphere app Server. For both of them I need to know the instance name, for Jboss I can use System.getProperty("jboss.server.name"), but what can I use for WebSphere? I can't use WebSphere-specific methods, I need to call System.properties

Thanks

score 20 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 03 '13 at 12:49

20

An alternative, at least for WebSphere, is to look it up in the JNDI tree. This is what I use:

InitialContext ic = new javax.naming.InitialContext();
String serverName = ic.lookup("servername").toString();

This way I don't have to configure anything as WebSphere binds that information for me.

Cell and node name can also be retrieved using "thisNode/cell/cellname" and "thisNode/nodename". Something useful in clusters.

answered Oct 03 '13 at 12:49

IsidroGH

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This saved me a lot of headache since I didn't want to send in a JVM parameter for every webapp. +1 – Dakota Brown Oct 05 '15 at 20:09
sorry, I'm confused, I'd like to look up nodename. Is "thisNode" literal or do I have to replace that with the name of the node? If so: where to get the name of the node. – molecular Sep 16 '16 at 06:34

score 10 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 17 '14 at 09:55

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I agree with specifying server name as an environment variable (Manglu's touch is also fine). Just to make the discussion complete, here is how you get get instance name via runtime (this API is deprecated in recent versions but still in use);

import com.ibm.websphere.runtime.ServerName;

System.out.println("Display name: " + ServerName.getDisplayName());
System.out.println("Full name: " + ServerName.getFullName());

Sample output would be like

Display name: server1
Full name: was7host01Node01Cell\was7host01Node01\server1

edited Feb 17 '14 at 09:55

Danubian Sailor

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answered May 17 '12 at 12:33

Kurtcebe Eroglu

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Exactly what I needed. Works like a charm. – Bruno Brant Dec 29 '15 at 16:40

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 17 '14 at 09:58

To keep it platform neutral you can set a variable as a JVM argument for the Websphere server (one for each node if its clustered). For Websphere 7, you will find the following in the Admin Console ...

Servers > Server Types > Websphere application servers > [your cluster node] >
  >  Java and Process Management  > Process Definition > Java Virtual Machine >
    > Generic JVM arguments

and add a variable like this ...

-DServerName=serverNodeA

You can then access the value in your code as ...

String serverName = System.getproperty("ServerName");

This technique can be used with all application servers so long as you have access to add arguments to the JVM. I'm sure there must be Websphere specific API to query the node name, but then you're typing your code to the server which makes it difficult to unit test and is not portable. I prefer this approach.

yes, is a good idea, but seems more as a good workaround, I prefer the JNDI one, if possible — Marian, Apr 13 '23 at 23:48

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered May 21 '12 at 19:10

kurtcebe solution works well. For those using maven, you won't be able to get the jar easily into your project. Because of this, use Class.forname...

try {
  Class<?> c = Class.forName("com.ibm.websphere.runtime.ServerName");
  LOGGER.debug("Class found" + c);
  Method m = c.getMethod("getFullName", new Class<?>[0]);
  LOGGER.debug("Method found" + m);
  Object o = m.invoke(DeliveryServiceUtils.class, new Object[0]);
  LOGGER.debug("Method invoked, response is " + o);
  processName = o.toString();
}
catch (Exception ex) {
  processName = "unknown - " + ex.getClass().getName() + ": " + ex.getMessage();
}

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered May 17 '12 at 03:56

The approach suggested by Brad is good but I would do it subtle differently.

In the custom property of the Server JVM, I would add a property Server-Name and specify its value as WAS_SERVER_NAME.

here is the bread crumb for this:

Servers -> -> Process Definition -> Java Virtual Machine > Custom properties

Add a new one wiht say ServerName with value ${WAS_SERVER_NAME}

Every WAS Server instance has this WebSphere Variable set to the name of the Server instance. You don't need to worry about making typos (or similar errors here) and this approach works for all WAS Server.

You can create a Server with such values set as a template and when you create a new server, these are always present for you.

HTH

Getting instance name of a WebSphere app Server

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