Skip navigation.
Downloads | Product Documentation | Support

Administration Guide

# Overview of Liquid Data Administration

This chapter introduces BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic® administration. The chapter also introduces the concept of WebLogic domains, and explains how to create new WebLogic domains for BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic or add Liquid Data to an existing WebLogic domain.

The chapter contains the following sections:

- Administration Tasks in Liquid Data
- Understanding WebLogic Domains and Administration
- License Key Updates

# Administration Tasks in Liquid Data

BEA Liquid Data for WebLogic is integration software that unifies data programming through the use of data services. Since it is deployed to a WebLogic Server, you can administer Liquid Data through the underlying WebLogic Platform. Administrative tasks that you can perform through WebLogic include deployment, starting and stopping the server, configuring connection pools and data sources, logging, and others. The WebLogic Platform provides extensive tools and capabilities for configuring and maintaining a large-scale, production-level integration platform.

However, there are several administrative tasks that are specific for Liquid Data. Generally these arise from Liquid Data's role as data integration software and include managing applications that use Liquid Data data services, and configuring data caching and access control for data services.

This document introduces you to general WebLogic administration and describes several common tasks. However, its primary focus is on Liquid Data-specific tasks. For complete information on WebLogic administration, see Configuring and Managing WebLogic Server at:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13222_01/wls/docs81/adminguide/index.html

## Securing Data

Liquid Data leverages the security model of the WebLogic Platform to ensure data security. WebLogic uses security policies that control access to deployed resources based on user credentials or other factors.

Liquid Data extends WebLogic security to enable you to apply policies to its data resources at a range of levels, from the application to individual data elements. In addition, you can secure resources based on data values (called instance-level security). For example, you can secure objects if an element value exceeds a specific threshold.

For details, see Securing Liquid Data Resources.

## Caching Query Results

Liquid Data can cache query results for data service functions to enhance overall Liquid Data performance. Caching data alleviates the burden on back-end resource and improves data request response times from the client's perspective. If you want to cache data service function results, you must explicitly enable results caching in the Liquid Data Console.

For more information, see Configuring Liquid Data Applications.

## Data Service Metadata

Traditionally, enterprises have lacked a universal mechanism for advertising availability of data resources across source types, or for communicating information about those resources. Liquid Data provides this capability through dynamically generated metadata.

Data service metadata serves these primary purposes:

- It helps developers create client applications that use the information made available by Liquid Data by revealing what data is available and how to use it.
- It helps administrators maintain Liquid Data by providing a mechanism to gauge effects of changes in underlying data sources upon a data service deployment.

Metadata provides information on data services such as their public functions, datatypes, data lineage, and more. It also provides where used information, showing dependencies between data services.

For more information, see Viewing Metadata.

# Understanding WebLogic Domains and Administration

A WebLogic domain is a collection of WebLogic resources managed as a single unit. A WebLogic domain includes one or more instances of a WebLogic Server and may include WebLogic Server clusters. For more information about domains, see WebLogic Server Domains in Configuring and Managing WebLogic Server.

The WebLogic Administration Console is a web-based interface for configuring and monitoring a WebLogic domain. In cases when the domain has more than one server, one of the servers is designated as the Administration Server for the domain. The Administration Server then serves as the central point of control for an entire domain. If there is only one server in a domain, that server is the Administration Server in addition to the other functions it provides. Any other servers in a domain are Managed Servers.

The Administration Console enables you to perform most of the configuration tasks for domains and servers. It is also where you deploy the Liquid Data application to your domain.

Liquid Data supplements the WebLogic Administration Console with the Liquid Data Console. The Liquid Data Console gives you access to configuration settings specific for Liquid Data, such as caching and data resource security controls as well as metadata information.

## Understanding the Relationship of Liquid Data to WebLogic Domains

Liquid Data is an application and a set of associated resources that are deployed in a WebLogic domain. Starting, stopping, and managing Liquid Data is accomplished by starting the WebLogic Server in the domain in which Liquid Data is deployed, and using the Administration Console for that server to configure and manage Liquid Data resources for that domain.

### Creating a New Domain

Liquid Data applications work with WebLogic domains that have been provisioned for Liquid Data. You can use the BEA WebLogic Configuration Wizard to create these domains.

To create a new domain provisioned with Liquid Data:

1. On Windows systems, choose Programs —>BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1 —>Configuration Wizard.
2. In the wizard, choose Liquid Data Platform Domain as the domain type.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the initial configuration of the domain.

For more information on creating domains, see Creating a New WebLogic Domain in the WebLogic Platform documentation.

### Adding Liquid Data to an Existing Domain

In cases when you have WebLogic Server domain in which you want to use Liquid Data, the next step is to provision the domain for Liquid Data. Once a domain is provisioned with Liquid Data, you can deploy applications that contain Liquid Data projects. For more information see Deploying Liquid Data Applications.

## Understanding Console Users

The Liquid Data Console is targeted for two types of users:

- Client developers
- Liquid Data administrators

Configuration features of the console can be disabled based on the role of the user, so that caching and security controls, for example, are not displayed to the developer user. The administrative user, on the other hand, can access all pages in the console.

For more information, see Securing Liquid Data Resources.

# License Key Updates

Liquid Data requires a valid product license to run. The Liquid Data license is included as a component in the WebLogic Server license file, `license.bea`. If you need to apply or update a Liquid Data license file, use the BEA UpdateLicense utility to update the `license.bea` file.

For details about BEA product licensing, see Installing and Updating WebLogic Platform License Files in Installing WebLogic Platform of the WebLogic Server documentation.