Weblogic Server : Quick EAR Deployment using WLST

" The WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) is a command-line scripting environment that you can use to create, manage, and monitor WebLogic Server domains. "

- Oracle Weblogic Server Manual

You can use WLST to quickly deploy an Application EAR File in a Weblogic Server.

What do you need ?

• the EAR file ( uploaded to a directory in the target WebLogic Server )
• A simple WLST script
• Credentials for the Weblogic Server ( preferrably, the weblogic user ).

How do we do it ?

• Upload your EAR file to a directory in the target Weblogic Server

/app/home/myUser/

• Write a simple WLST Script to do your work and save it as "myApp.py"
  

print '*** WEBLOGIC : START ***'

print 'connecting to admin server....'
connect( 'weblogic', 'weblogic', 't3://localhost:8001', adminServerName='AdminServer' )

print 'stopping and undeploying ....'

stopApplication('myApplication')
undeploy('myApplication')

print 'deploying....'

deploy('myApplication', '/app/home/myUser/myApplication.ear', targets='AdminServer')
startApplication('FoundationSearch')

print 'disconnecting from admin server....'
disconnect()
exit()

print '*** WEBLOGIC : STOP ***'

• Open a Terminal Window / Command Prompt
• Run the setDomainEnv.sh ( or setDomainEnv.bat ) script to set the required environment variables.
• Switch to the /common/bin directory of your Weblogic Server
• run the wlst.sh / wlst.bat script to open the Scripting Environment.
• Execute your WLST Script :-

execfile('myApp.py')

That's it ! You can now stop an application, undeloy it, deploy it & start an application with a simple script !

You need to watch out for two small things :-

• The WAR File and some of the classes / libs are "cached" under the /tmp/_WL_user/myApplication/ folder. You may need to delete them before you execute your script.
• Make sure the EAR file is available in a folder in the same node as the Server.