Model

Contents

Model

The Model section helps you work with WebLogic Deploy Tooling models for a WebLogic domain. A WebLogic Deploy Tooling model for a domain can include the following file types:

  • Model file - A declarative definition of the domain configuration.
  • Variable file - A property file that maps names to values. These names can be referenced from the model file to allow a model to be used across environments by applying the variable file for a particular environment to the model.
  • Archive file - A ZIP file containing application binaries and other files and directories needed to run the domain.

For more information about WebLogic Deploy Tooling models, see Metadata Model and Archive File in the WebLogic Deploy Tooling documentation.

Design View

The Design View is provided through integration with the WebLogic Remote Console. For version details, see Prerequisites. Upon first access, provide the location of the Remote Console installation directory, then click Start WebLogic Remote Console.

Use the Model Design View pages to create or edit your WDT model files. For reference, see WDT Model Files in the Remote Console documentation. In addition, use the Help (?) icon to the left of each field to access summary and detailed help for the field. Or, click the ? icon in the top right of the content pane to toggle the view of the reference information for all of the fields displayed on the page.

The WDT model files that you configure will be reflected in the Code View. Using the Model Design View pages, if you select the “circle/arrow” icon beside a field, a dialog appears with the option of setting the field to a variable. The variable will show up in both the model and the variables editor on the Code View page. Likewise, when adding an application, you supply the path to the EAR, WAR, or JAR file (or directory); that path will be put in the archive editor on the Code View page.

Note that if you create a new model using the Design View pages, then the Design View will insert the AdminUserName and AdminPassword fields into the domainInfo section of the model with their values set to variables whose values you will need to provide. This is intended to help you create a domain with all of the required fields.

Code View

Using an IDE-like layout, the Code View provides editor panes for editing the model, variables, and archive files, each of which support creating and editing the domain’s WDT files. When working with an editor, there are several things to keep in mind:

  • When working with a WKT Project that has no associated WDT file for storing the data, entering data into an editor will cause a new WDT file with the editor’s current content to be created and associated with the project.
  • Changes made in the editor are buffered in memory until the WKT Project is saved.
  • Adding, deleting, or modifying data in the variable or archive editors will not change the model references. You will need to make sure that the model references are accurate and up to date.

While it is possible to use the WKT UI application to create the files from scratch, the File > Add Model menu supports adding existing files or using the WebLogic Deploy Tooling’s Discover Domain Tool to create a model of an existing domain.

While WebLogic Deploy Tooling supports using multiple model, variables, or archive files to describe a single domain, the current release of WKT supports only one WDT model file, one WDT variables file, and one WDT archive file for describing the domain.

Model Editor

In Code View, the model editor is just to the right of the navigation pane. This editor displays the current model file associated with the WKT Project file. Typing model content into the editor will result in a new model file being added to the project the next time the project is saved.

The current release has the following limitations:

  • Model files must be in YAML format.
  • Model files must exist directly on the file system and not inside an archive, such as in a ZIP file; any model file inside an archive is ignored by the application.

Variables Editor

The WDT variables editor is in the upper right pane of the Code View page. It supports editing any existing name-value pairs, as well as adding or removing name-value pairs.

To reference a variable from the model, you must set the value of the desired model file to a variable reference. For example, the model snippet shown here references a variable named httpPort.

topology:
    Name: tododomain
    ProductionModeEnabled: true
    Cluster:
        mycluster:
            DynamicServers:
                ServerNamePrefix: Server_
                DynamicClusterSize: 10
                ServerTemplate: mysrvtemplate
    ServerTemplate:
        mysrvtemplate:
            ListenPort: '@@PROP:httpPort@@'
            Cluster: mycluster

When working with this model file, WebLogic Deploy Tooling expects the httpPort variable to be defined in the model’s variables file, as shown here:

httpPort = 7001

Archive Editor

The WDT archive editor is in the lower right pane of the Code View page. It supports adding content to and removing content from the archive file. While updating content in the archive is not supported directly by the archive editor, the archive editor safely supports multiple operations on the same entry. As such, combining a remove operation followed by the corresponding add operation will effectively replace an entry.

To add content to the archive file, use the plus (+) button in the archive editor title bar and follow the prompts to choose the type of content to add and select the corresponding file or directory. For example, to add a WAR file called todo.war to the archive, do the following:

  1. On the archive editor title bar, click +.
  2. In the resulting dialog, choose Application File from the list and click OK.
  3. In the resulting file chooser dialog, select the todo.war file and click Select.

This will result in the file structure wlsdeploy/applications/todo.war being added to the archive editor pane. At this point, the application has not created or modified the archive file; it is simply storing the data it needs about the archive path to the added entry and the file path where the content is found. Saving the WKT Project will update the archive to reflect the buffered operations performed in the editor.

Don’t forget to add the application to the model and set its SourcePath attribute to the path in the archive where it can be found, as shown in the following model file snippet.

appDeployments:
    Application:
        todo:
            SourcePath: wlsdeploy/applications/todo.war
            ModuleType: war
            Target: mycluster

To remove content from the archive file, select the content to remove in the archive editor pane and click the minus (-) button in the archive editor title bar. Don’t forget to remove any reference to this content from the model file.

Validate Model

Validate Model invokes the WDT Validate Model Tool, which validates that the model and its related artifacts are well-formed and provides help on the valid attributes and subfolders for a particular model location. This action is available by using the Validate Model button on the Model page and by selecting Go > Validate Model Files.

Prepare Model

Prepare Model invokes the WDT Prepare Model Tool to modify the model to work in a Kubernetes cluster with WebLogic Kubernetes Operator or Verrazzano installed. This action is available by using the Prepare Model button on the Model and Kubernetes WebLogic Domain pages and by selecting Go > Prepare Model for Kubernetes. It is also possible to run Prepare Model during the Create Image action, though typically it is best to run Prepare Model explicitly, prior to moving to the Image section.

Prepare Model does the following:

  1. Removes model sections and fields that are not compatible with the target environment.
  2. Replaces endpoint values with model tokens that reference variables.
  3. Replaces credential values with model tokens that reference either a field in a Kubernetes secret or a variable.
  4. Provides default values for fields displayed in the application’s variable, variable overrides, and secret editors.
  5. Extracts topology information to the application that it uses to generate the resource file used to deploy the domain.

For more information, see the WDT model tokens documentation.

In replacing credential values, Prepare Model must handle the replacement differently for the “Domain in Image” and “Model in Image” domain locations:

  • With “Domain in Image”, the WebLogic Image Tool creates the domain while creating the image. As such, it has no knowledge of Kubernetes so the token replacement uses variable tokens so that domain creation has access to the actual credential values. You must ensure that all variables have valid values prior to running Create Primary Image.

  • For “Model in Image”, the domain is created at runtime by the WebLogic Kubernetes Operator running in a Kubernetes cluster. As such, token replacement uses secret tokens for all credential fields. You must to be sure to provide values for all secret reference fields using the WebLogic Domain section’s Secrets pane so that the required secrets get populated correctly during domain deployment. For more information, see WebLogic Domain.

The application tries to preserve any values from the model and variable files that Prepare Model replaces with secret tokens. The current release is limited by the behavior of the underlying WDT Prepare Model Tool in that all passwords are not retained and must be re-entered in the appropriate location.