GlassFish
Admin CLI - asadmin
(Past, Present and Future)
Kedar Mhaswade km@dev.java.net
Jane Young janey@dev.java.net
February 12th 2009

Agenda
• What asadmin is ...
• GlassFish V2.x asadmin
• What GlassFish V2 asadmin Lacked
• Enter GlassFish V3
• Interactive Command Development
• Exciting Features Planned
• References
• Questions?
2

What asadmin is ...
Asadmin is:
> Well, a Hidden Gem ;)
> Extensive, Powerful, Scriptable Administrative
Command Line Interface for GlassFish
CLIP Compliant Grammar
> A Very Stable Interface
Countless Scripts Depend on it
Savior for Automated Test Scripts
3

What asadmin is … (Quiz Time)
Did you know?
> Asadmin Manages Multiple Domains
> Securely Administers on Single Port
Speaks Beloved (?) HTTP
> Has ~ 250 Commands (+/-)
> Has a DSL (well, sort of) in Dotted Names
Number of Commands is Reduced
Cryptic Till You Get Them
> Has a Minimal Shell
4

What asadmin is … (Architecture, sort
of)
Server Software is Complex, Needs
Setup Commands (Local)
Create-domain, create-node-agent ...
Server Management Commands (Remote)
Server Implements Most Commands
Parsed Command Line + RPC
Transport is HTTP
Admin
Admin
Server (DAS)
CLI
Server (DAS)
5

GlassFish V2.x asadmin
A Java HTTP/JMX Client to DAS
Several Generic JMX Commands
Uses JSR-160 (Little-Known) Implementation
HTTP/S
Has Parsing Framework and Commands
Used Elsewhere (cli-framework)
Some Form of Pluggability
OpenESB Integration
CLIDescriptor.xml
6

GlassFish V2.x asadmin
Provides CRUD Support (Configuration)
Generic Set/Get/List
Monitoring (vmstat/prstat)
Super-set of GUI Properties
Files
Not Just Domain.xml
Keyword Search/Manpages List Set/Get
Integration
Database
Operating System (SMF)
7

What it Lacks ...
•Rather Monolithic
>Hard to Extend, Plug Commands In
>Not Dynamic
•A Powerful/Useful Shell
>Too Many Commands to Remember and
Key-in!
•Integration with Scripting Languages
•Separation of Options (Command, asadmin)
8

Enter V3 (Prelude)
9

Changes in v3 asadmin
Server Became Pluggable/Modular
Asadmin Had to Follow
A Rigorous Look at Command
A Command Line With a Grammar
A Set of Options and Operands (Parameters)
A Java Class Implementing Functionality
Adequate Hooks Into Infrastructure
Data Transfer Between Client and Server
Strings, Baby!
10

Changes in v3 asadmin – II
Command Line Remains
Parsing Moves to Server
A General Purpose Injection Manager
Injects Params into Object
A Command is a POJO with
AdminCommand Annotation
A Set of @Params @AdminCommand (name=”mycmd”)
A Report Filled In public class FooCommand {
@Param String name; //--name
@Param String value; // -- value
@Param Boolean enabled; //
public void execute(AdminCommandContext
Context) { …}
}
11

Changes in v3 asadmin – III
Data Transfer
A Simple Get/Post HTTP Request
Get for URI
Post for FileUpload
Grizzly Adapter at the Server End
java.util.Manifest (Yikes!) Coming Back
Other Formats Totally Possible (hk2-agent)
12

Changes in v3 asadmin – IV
As a Result, You as a Command Developer (and
App Server Enhancer)
Create Your Module/Container/Whatever
Identify Admin Commands and Name Them
Create Pojo's With @Param(s)
Write Business Logic and Return the Result
Drop in Module.jar in /modules Folder
Run asadmin mycmd –opt1=v1 –opt2=v2 ...
Forget Command Line Parsing
And Get CLI for your Module for Free
13

V3 asadmin – How Commands Are
Received
Grizzly Adapter Called AdminAdapter
Entertains Authenticated Requests Only
Context Root: host:admin-port/__asadmin
Supports Streaming
Intercepts ALL Admin Requests
Reads the Input Stream for POST and Uploads Files (Deploy)
Invokes the Commands
Returns the Result to OutputStream
Writes a Manifest for CLI/NetBeans
Writes an HTML for Browser Invocation
14

V3 asadmin – How Authentication
Works
Only Admin Users Should Be Able to Manage
Requires HTTP BASE64 Authentication
Admin-Realm (A File Realm – Remember admin-keyfile)?
CLI Sends a BASE64-Encoded UserName and Password
Provision of the so-called Anonymous Login
Of Course Not Secure
Need SSL
Certificate Exchange
15

V3 asadmin – Are We Doing Enough?
Enter V3 FCS
16

V3 FCS asadmin
Build the Icing on the Cake
No Changes to Basic API
A Powerful Shell
Alias
History
Completion, Navigation
Separation of Options
--host is NOT an option for create-cluster!
17

V3 FCS asadmin – II
A Shell In the Browser?
Cool and Useful, No Installation Required
Add a Ruby Gem irb>> require 'asadmin'
Gem install asadmin! irb>> domain = Domain.new(“localhost”);
irb>> domain.each_application do { |app|
puts “app: #{app.name}, type: #{app.type}”
}
app: trade2 type: web
app: Twitterfeed type: jruby
18

V3 FCS asadmin – III
A Client-side Preferences File
Should asadmin be an OSGi System?
Local Commands Made Pluggable
Many More Commands
Feature Parity With V2 Developer Profile
And Compatibility
19

What Are Others Doing?
JBoss 5.0 GA:
• No changes in administration for the past 3 years. Same scripts: run,
shutdown, twiddle (JMX based)
• No commands for deployment. Applications are manually copied to the
deploy directory.
• No monitoring and diagnostics support
BEA (Oracle) WebLogic 10g:
• WLST – manages server lifecycle, deployment, diagnostics, navigation of
MBeans
• Hard to follow syntax. e.g. Invoke a Mbean Object:
wls> obj s = j ar r ay. ar r ay( [ j ava. l ang. St r i ng( \" oam ver \" ) ] , j ava. l ang. O ect )
ser bj
wls> st r s = j ar r ay. ar r ay( [ \" j ava. l ang. St r i ng\" ] , j ava. l ang. St r i ng)
wls> i nvoke( ' l ookupSer ver ' , obj s, st r s)
• Command category to WLST is not extensible
GF asadmin : Most powerful and user friendly amongst 20
all others!

References
users@glassfish.dev.java.net
admin@glassfish.dev.java.net
km@dev.java.net
janey@dev.java.net
21

Got Questions?
22