Troubleshooting: Creating a WebSphere Commerce instance using a remote Web server

A WebSphere Commerce instance can be configured with either a local or remote Web server. Review this information to assist you in the values needed to configure a remote Web server.

Problem

You have installed WebSphere Commerce in a multi-tiered environment, including a remote Web server machine. Using the Configuration Manager to create a new WebSphere Commerce instance, it is not clear what some of the fields represent in the Web server panel when the option Use Remote Web server is selected.

Solution

Selecting the Use Remote Web server option during instance creation, presents new fields to be filled in. The fields are:

Remote Server Install Path
This field is displayed only if IBM HTTP Server is selected. Enter the full path of the installation directory for the remote Web server. This path you specify is the actual path on the Web server machine.
Remote Plugin Install Directory
Enter the Web server plug-in installation directory that exists on the remote Web server machine.
Remote Configuration Directory
This field is displayed only if IBM HTTP Server is selected. This directory is used to store WebSphere Commerce configuration files for the Web server. This directory must exist on your remote Web server machine. The directory can be a subdirectory under the main Web server installation directory. If you have multiple WebSphere Commerce instances, each instance should have a separate configuration directory. During instance creation several subdirectories and files will be created under this directory.

The configuration files created during instance creation, can be transferred to the remote Web server by one of two methods:

Remote Configuration
This method uses FTP to update the Web server configuration files. Selecting this option, presents the following fields:
- Remote Server Name
  Enter the fully qualified host name of the remote Web server machine.
- Remote Server Port
  Enter the FTP port number for the remote Web server machine. The default FTP port is 21.
- Remote User Name
  Enter a user ID that has FTP access to the remote Web server machine. This user ID must have authority to create files on the remote Web server machine.
- Remote User Password
  Enter the password associated with the remote user name.
Mapped Network Drive Configuration
This method uses NFS to update the Web server configuration files. Selecting this option, presents the following field:
- Mapped Configuration Directory
  Enter the network path, including the mapped drive letter, of the configuration directory on the remote Web server machine.