Chapter-08:Configuring Machine and Nodemanager

We already have discussed:

What is Nodeanager?

How does it work?

Its responsibilities?

Machine and its uses...

Having all the above concepts in mind lets move on to understand how we configure Nodemanager and machine using the weblogic console URL....

If you have missed the above concepts, please go through again before we proceed with the practical session.

Also, for more understanding on Nodemanager and Machine please do refer Oracle Docs by following the URL:

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E13222_01/wls/docs81/adminguide/nodemgr.html

So, as you know we need to access the weblogic console and so we must have the Weblogic Server up and running. Lets start it...

1. Login to the console the console URL


2. Under "Domain Structure", click on Environment--->Machines


3. Acquire lock by clicking on the button "Lock & Edit" in the "Change Center" of console


4. Click on "New" button under the "Summary of Machines" in the right side pane of the console

5. Provide the Machine Name and the OS of the Machine and click on "Next", as below:



6. In his screen You will define the properties of Nodemanager. Select "Plain" in the Type (We do not have a certificate currently so, cannot go for SSL)

7. Enter the "Listen Address" (You may enter the IP address or the hostname)

8. Enter the "Listen Port", default is 5556. (This port must be open and reachable from other servers)

9. Click on "Finish" button (below screen appears)

10. Now, click on the machine "trnMachine" under "Summary of Machine " Screen in the console URL

11. Click on the "Servers" tab (Below screen appears).



12. Now, Click on the button "Add" and select the servers of he domain you want to manage remotely (those servers must be added to this machine)

And click on "Finish" button.

13. Click  on "Activate Changes" button in the "Change Center" of console URL. Screen looks as below.

NOTE: Repeat steps 10-13 to add other servers of the domain.

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Now, There are few things to understand wrt Nodemanager.

Login to the host for which you have configured Nodemanager:

Nodemanager Home: /u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager

Nodemanager start script Location:  /u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/server/bin

[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$ pwd
/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager
[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$ ll
total 4
-rw-r----- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 229 Dec 16 20:17 nodemanager.domains
[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$

Please, notice the files which gets created after first attempt made to start the nodemanager process in the location /u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager

Now, Lets give a try to start the nodemanager process:

[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$ pwd
/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/server/bin
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$ ls -lrt
total 16
drwxr-x--- 2 wlsuser wlsuser 4096 Dec 15 17:20 international
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 4592 Dec 15 17:20 startNodeManager.sh
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 3889 Dec 15 17:20 setWLSEnv.sh
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$ ./startNodeManager.sh
+ CLASSPATH=/u01/Oracle/Middleware/patch_wls1036/profiles/default/sys_manifest_classpath/weblogic_patch.jar:/u01/Software/jdk1.7.0_79/lib/tools.jar:/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/weblogic_sp.jar:/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/weblogic.jar:/u01/Oracle/Middleware/modules/features/weblogic.server.modules_10.3.6.0.jar:/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/webservices.jar:/u01/Oracle/Middleware/modules/org.apache.ant_1.7.1/lib/ant-all.jar:/u01/Oracle/Middleware/modules/net.sf.antcontrib_1.1.0.0_1-0b2/lib/ant-contrib.jar::/u01/Oracle/Middleware
+ '[' '!' -z '' ']'
+ '[' '!' -z '' ']'
+ export CLASSPATH
+ export PATH
+ cd /u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager
+ set -x
+ '[' '' '!=' '' ']'
+ '[' '' '!=' '' ']'

INFO: Saving node manager configuration properties to '/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager/nodemanager.properties'
Node manager v10.3

Configuration settings:

NodeManagerHome=/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager
ListenAddress=
ListenPort=5556
ListenBacklog=50
SecureListener=true
AuthenticationEnabled=true
NativeVersionEnabled=true
CrashRecoveryEnabled=false
JavaHome=/u01/Software/jdk1.7.0_79/jre
StartScriptEnabled=false
StopScriptEnabled=false
StartScriptName=startWebLogic.sh
StopScriptName=
LogFile=/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager/nodemanager.log
LogLevel=INFO
LogLimit=0
LogCount=1
LogAppend=true
LogToStderr=true
LogFormatter=weblogic.nodemanager.server.LogFormatter
DomainsFile=/u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager/nodemanager.domains
DomainsFileEnabled=true
StateCheckInterval=500
UseMACBroadcast=false
DomainRegistrationEnabled=false
DomainsDirRemoteSharingEnabled=false

Domain name mappings:

trainingDomain -> /u01/Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/domains/trainingDomain
trngDomain -> /u01/Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/domains/trngDomain

<Dec 26, 2015 8:15:50 PM IST> <Info> <Security> <BEA-090905> <Disabling CryptoJ JCE Provider self-integrity check for better startup performance. To enable this check, specify -Dweblogic.security.allowCryptoJDefaultJCEVerification=true>
<Dec 26, 2015 8:15:51 PM IST> <Info> <Security> <BEA-090906> <Changing the default Random Number Generator in RSA CryptoJ from ECDRBG to FIPS186PRNG. To disable this change, specify -Dweblogic.security.allowCryptoJDefaultPRNG=true>
<Dec 26, 2015 8:15:51 PM IST> <Info> <Security> <BEA-090908> <Using default WebLogic SSL Hostname Verifier implementation.>
<Dec 26, 2015 8:15:51 PM> <INFO> <Secure socket listener started on port 5556>
Dec 26, 2015 8:15:51 PM weblogic.nodemanager.server.SSLListener run
INFO: Secure socket listener started on port 5556

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Lets have a look on the files/folders created under nodemanager home.



You can see that files named nodemanager.properties, nm_data.properties and nodemanager.log got created only after starting the nodemanager first time.

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Now, The status of the Nodemanager in the console should be "Reachable", so that it can function properly. Lets verify that.

How to check the Nodemanager status from console ?

1. Login to weblogic console


2. Go to Domain Structure and traverse to Environment-->Machines--->Select the Machine (in hour example trnMachine)---> Go to "Monitoring" tab and check the "Status"

NOTE: We see that Nodemanager status here is "Inactive". Lets trouble shoot this....

To troubleshoot this lets first have a look on the nodemanager.properties file...

[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$ cd /u01/Oracle/Middleware/wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager
[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$ ls -lrt
total 20
-rw-r----- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 229 Dec 16 20:17 nodemanager.domains
-rw-r----- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 853 Dec 26 20:15 nodemanager.properties
-rw-r----- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 130 Dec 26 20:15 nm_data.properties
-rw-r----- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 7445 Dec 26 21:59 nodemanager.log
[wlsuser@workshop01 nodemanager]$

NOTE: Edited the below parameters in nodemanager.properties file to have the correct configuration.

ListenAddress=192.168.218.11
SecureListener=false -->earlier it was true
StopScriptEnabled=true --> earlier it was false
StartScriptEnabled=true --> earlier it was false

Now, lets start the node manager:

Lets, check the status by following the steps as explained above from console and see whether it is Reachable.

Yes, it is.... :)

Lets, check whether we are able to start the managed server from the console URL:

1. Login to Console URL


2. Go to domain Structure and then traverse to Environment-->Servers


3. Click on the "Control" tab in the right pane


4. Select the server for which you have configured the nodemanager and click on "Start" button

Awesome!!!! it worked ....

Now, lets understand the changes we have made in the nodemanager.properties file...

Why we changed SecureListener=false -->earlier it was true ?

If you remember, when we were configuring nodemanger and machine from console:

We had selected the Type as "Plain" but in the nodemanager.properties file it the parameter "SecureListener" was set to "True", which means it shoudl be using SSL and so was conflicting with the setting at console level, hence changed it to "False"

Why we did set ListenAddress=192.168.218.11 ?

At console level we had provided the IP address in the filed ListenAddress so updated the same to match it with the configuration.

Why we changed the below two parameters ?

StopScriptEnabled=true --> earlier it was false
StartScriptEnabled=true --> earlier it was false

ANS: So that it can pick the script to start/stop the servers.



Hope you enjoyed the session guys!!!

You may go and have a look on the video session of the same in Youtube under the channel named "WeblogicGyanKunj"

Keep practicing and keep learning...

Chapter-07: Working with Weblogic Console

Having understanding of the basics what we have discussed so far, lets move on to understand the weblogic console and its features/advantages.

Key points to remember w.r.t. Weblogic console URL:

• To have an access to the weblogic console, the weblogic admin server must be up and running.


• WebLogic Server Administration Console is a Web browser-based, graphical user interface that you use to manage a WebLogic Server domain.


• The Administration Server hosts the Administration Console, which is a Web application accessible from any supported Web browser with network access to the Administration Server.


• Managed Servers host your applications.

Weblogic console can be used to:

• Configure, start, and stop WebLogic Server instances


• Configure WebLogic Server clusters


• Configure WebLogic Server services, such as database connectivity (JDBC, Data source) and messaging (JMS)


• Configure security parameters, including managing users, groups, and roles


• Configure and deploy your applications


• Monitor server and application performance


• View server and domain log files


• View application deployment descriptors


• Edit selected runtime application deployment descriptor elements

Starting the Administration Server:

As we know, to have an access to the weblogic console URL, The Admin Server must be started first, lets do it.

[wlsuser@workshop01 trainingDomain]$ pwd
/u01/Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/domains/trainingDomain
[wlsuser@workshop01 trainingDomain]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 trainingDomain]$ cd bin
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$ pwd
/u01/Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/domains/trainingDomain/bin
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$ ls -lrt
total 48
drwxr-x--- 2 wlsuser wlsuser 4096 Dec 15 20:18 service_migration
drwxr-x--- 2 wlsuser wlsuser 4096 Dec 15 20:18 server_migration
drwxr-x--- 2 wlsuser wlsuser 4096 Dec 15 20:18 nodemanager
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 1978 Dec 15 20:18 stopWebLogic.sh
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 2422 Dec 15 20:18 stopManagedWebLogic.sh
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 5692 Dec 15 20:18 startWebLogic.sh
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 3201 Dec 15 20:18 startManagedWebLogic.sh
-rwxr-x--- 1 wlsuser wlsuser 13248 Dec 15 20:18 setDomainEnv.sh
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$
[wlsuser@workshop01 bin]$ ./startWebLogic.sh
.
.
JAVA Memory arguments: -Xms256m -Xmx512m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m
.
WLS Start Mode=Production
.
.

.

.

.

<Dec 18, 2015 9:56:48 PM IST> <Notice> <Server> <BEA-002613> <Channel "Default" is now listening on 192.168.218.11:9001 for protocols iiop, t3, ldap, snmp, http.>
<Dec 18, 2015 9:56:48 PM IST> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <BEA-000329> <Started WebLogic Admin Server "AdminServer" for domain "trainingDomain" running in Production Mode>
<Dec 18, 2015 9:56:48 PM IST> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <BEA-000365> <Server state changed to RUNNING>
<Dec 18, 2015 9:56:48 PM IST> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <BEA-000360> <Server started in RUNNING mode>

Login to the console URL by providing weblogic user credentials:

Console URL: http(s)://<hostname OR IP>:<admin server plain port OR admin server SSL port>/console

In our case --> http://192.168.218.11:9001/console



After logging in to console, it looks like:

Now, Lets understand the various sections in weblogic console:

1. Change Center:

This is the starting point for using the Administration Console to make changes in WebLogic Server.

Figure: Change Center

What are the Change Center Usage ?

• Locate the Change Center in the top left corner of the Administration Console screen.

• Click the Lock & Edit button to lock the configuration edit hierarchy for the domain. This enables you to make changes using the Administration Console.

• Make the changes you desire on the relevant page of the console. Click Save on each page where you make a change.

• When you are done with making all the desired changes, click Activate Changes in the Change Center.

How to undo the changes ?

• You can revert any pending (saved, but not yet activated) changes by clicking Undo All Changes button in the Change Center.


• You can revert any individual change by going to the appropriate page in the Administration Console and restoring the attribute to its previous value.

How to release the Configuration Lock ?

• You release the configuration lock as follows:Before you make changes, click Release Configuration button in the Change Center to release the lock explicitly.


• After you save changes, click Activate Changes or Undo All Changes in the Change Center to release the lock implicitly.

NOTE: Stopping the Administration Server does not release the configuration lock. When the Administration Server starts again, the configuration lock is in the same state it was in when the Admin Server was shut down, and any pending changes are preserved.

How the changes are managed ?

• To provide a secure, predictable means for distributing configuration changes in a domain, WebLogic Server imposes a change management process which is similar to database transaction.


• The configuration of a domain is represented on the file system by a set of XML configuration files, centralized in the config.xml file, and at runtime by a hierarchy of Configuration MBeans.


• When you edit the domain configuration, you edit a separate hierarchy of Configuration MBeans that resides on the Administration Server.


• To start the edit process, you obtain a lock on the edit hierarchy to prevent other people from making changes.


• When you finish making changes, you save the changes to the edit hierarchy.


• The changes do not take effect, however, until you activate them, distributing them to all server instances in the domain.


• When you activate changes, each server determines whether it can accept the change. If all servers are able to accept the change, they update their working configuration hierarchy and the change is completed. (in the next question you will understand this part more clearly, when we discuss type of changes)

What are the different type of changes ?

Changes what you make in a weblogic domain are of two types:

I. Dynamic changes:These are the changes which take place immediately.

II. Non-dynamic changes:These changes require a restart of the server pr the module affected by the change.

How can we see the changes ?

• You can view any changes that you have saved, but not yet activated, by clicking the "View Changes and Restarts" link in the Change Center.


• The View Changes and Restarts link presents two tabs, Change List and Restart Checklist.


• The Change List tab presents all changes that have been saved, but not yet activated.


• The Restart Checklist lists all servers for which non-dynamic changes have been activated, but which require restarts before the changes become effective.

Guys!!! this completes the Change Center portion of Weblogic console URL. Lets move on to other sections in it.

2. Domain Structure:

This panel is a tree you can use to navigate to pages in the Administration Console. Click any of the nodes in the Domain Structure tree to go to that page. Click a + (plus) icon in the Domain Structure to expand a node and a - (minus) icon to collapse the node.

Fig. Domain Structure

Now, Lets have a look on expanded version of Domain Structure as below:

Fig. : Domain Structure expanded

3. How do I...

This panel includes links to online help tasks that are relevant to the current Console page.

Fig.: How do I...

4. System Status

This sections provides you a quick status of the servers belonging to the domain. If any server reported in Failed, Critical or Warning, as a Weblogic Admin you need to take the necessary action on it.

NOTE: Further to these, there are couple of more Links/Options available which you would slowly understand when you start exploring them. Hence would request the learners to keep exploring...keep learning....



Happy Learning :)

Chapter 06: Configuring a Weblogic Domain

Friends!!, In the last chapter we learnt how to install weblogic server binaries on a linux OS platform. Further to that, We need to learn how to configure a weblogic domain.

In this chapter I will show you how to configure a very basic domain with just having an Admin Server and slowly as we move to the next chapters, I will be explaining you the other important and advance topics wrt Domain ...

Configuration wizard allows you to create a new domain or extend an already existing domain. The best example of extending a domain is adding a new server on a remote machine and configuring a cluster.

Before starting with the weblogic configuration wizard, lets first understand few basic concepts related to domain.

What is a weblogic domain ?

• Weblogic domain is a logical entity which groups logically related Servers and allows you to manage them from a single set of configuration.


• A Weblogic  domain can contain ZERO to N number of managed servers and ONE Admin Server that is a domain must have only one admin server., without an Admin Server you cannot configure a domain.


• It may contain individual servers or cluster of servers


• NOTE: All WebLogic Server instances within the same domain must be at the same major and minor version.


• A domain looks like as below:

• You can see in the above pic that the domain contains few individual servers and a group of servers withing a cluster.


• Domain can be spanned across number of physical servers (hosts) depending upon the business need.

What is a Server ?

• A Server in Weblogic domain is an instance which you configure and can host applications and other resources such as Enterprise Apps, WebApps,Web Services, JDBC, JMS ...etc


• There are 2 types of servers, one is Admin Server and the other type is called as Managed Server.

What is an Admin Server ?

• Admin Server maintains the configuration information of your entire domain.


• This is the server where your "Admin Console" gets deployed.


• It provides you the power to start/stop/restart/monitor the servers of the domain (cluster or non-clustered) from a single URL that is admin console. (You need to understand the concept of Nodemanager as well to be more clear on ho start/stop/restart of servers running on a remote machine is possible using admin server/console...I will describe it in the following section)


• It also enables you to deploy/undeploy applications on the servers within the domain.


• Allows you to configure services like JDBC, JMS, Logging..etc


• It is recommended to keep your admin server running on an individual physical server (host) and configure rest of the managed server on the different physical  servers(s) or hosts.

What is Managed Server ?

• Managed servers are those which actually hosts your applications (JAR, WAR, EAR). In other words you deply your application on managed servers.


• As of now, Oracle has not commented on the maximum number of managed server a domain can have so, you can have as many as you need for your domain.

How the communication happens between Admin Server and Managed Server(s) ?

• The Administration Server stores the master copy of the domain configuration in a file called config.xml, including the configuration for all managed servers in the domain.


• Each Managed Server stores a local copy of its configuration.


• When a Managed Server starts, it connects to the Admin Server to synchronize the configuration.


• When configuration is changed, the Administration Server sends changed configuration to Managed Servers.

What is a cluster ?

• A cluster is a group of Managed Servers running simultaneously and working together to provide high availability, reliability/scalability and fail-over.


• All servers in a cluster must also be in the same domain.


• All servers within a cluster must be at the same Maintenance Pack Level.


• Clustered servers can be on the same or different
  machines.


• There can be multiple clusters in a domain.


• In the picture below the brown pentagons inside the purple ovals represent managed servers.

What is Node manager ?

• Node manager is a process running on a physical server that enables you to start, stop, suspend, and restart WebLogic Server instances remotely


• It must be configured and running on each physical server that hosts WebLogic Server instances which you want to control with Node Manager


• It is not associated with a domain and can start, stop, suspend, and restart any server instance that resides on the same physical server.


• Node manager is an optional entity but required to tart, stop, suspend, and restart servers using the Admin Console

NOTE: In the picture above the BLACK BOXES represents the individual Physical Servers OR Hosts.





What is Machine wrt Weblogic Domain ?

• A machine is a logical representation of the physical machine (computer) that hosts one or more WebLogic Server instances.


• If you run Node Manager on a machine that does not host an Administration Server, as is typical in production environments, you must create a machine configuration for each computer that runs a Node Manager process.


• The machine configuration includes information about the listen address and port number that the Administration Server uses to connect with the Node Manager process running on that machine.


• In a cluster, WebLogic Server uses machines to ensure that server session data is replicated on separate pieces of hardware.


• If the computer runs a UNIX operating system, you can create a UNIX machine configuration, which enables you to assign the process under which a WebLogic Server instance runs to a user ID (UID) or group ID (GID). The WebLogic Server process is assigned (bound) to the UID or GID after the computer has carried out all privileged startup actions.

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I think, Its a good time now to start with the weblogic domain configuration, what you say ???

Yeah,OK..Lets move on to the weblogic configuration wizard.....

STEPS for configuring a Weblogic domain would go as follows:

1.Below is the location where all your common scripts are located. So first traverse to that location:



2. config.sh is the script which helps you in creating and configuring a weblogic domain, so just invoke the configuration wizard by running the script, then select the radio button "Create a New Weblogic Domain" 

$config.sh



3. No change, just click on "Next", coz the default installer has already been selected.



4. Provide a name to your domain. and notice the domain location.



5. Enter credentials for the admin user "weblogic". The same user will be able to login to admin console and perform the administrative tasks.





6. A domain can be configured in either Development mode or in Production mode. Will discuss the difference in coming sessions.





7. Just select Admin Server and rest of the tasks can be performed from admin console.



8. Provide Admin Server name, hostname and the port number. Make sure the port is open.



9. Click on "Create" which will initiate the process of creating the domain.









10. Click on "Done" to complete the process.



11. Now, go to the prompt and check your domain directory and home.



12. execute the script startWeblogic.sh to start the Admin Server. Enter weblogic credentials when prompted.







13. Access the console. The URL will be if format:

http://<hostname>:<weblogic admin server port>/console





Thanks and Regards,

Diwakar Singh

Keep learning...Keep growing...

Chapter 05: Installing Weblogic Server 10.3.6

Prerequisite checks:

• check for jdk version installed


• $java -version


• If the version certified by Oracle is not available, please download  it from the below link:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/es/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html

• After downloading the JDK Software unzip it and set the JAVA_HOME


• In my example I downloaded the .gzip version of the jdk which you can see below:

• extract the gzip file for jdk by issuing command as below:

• After extracting the .gzip file for jdk, you will get a directory as shown underlined in below snap:

• Now, Setup .bash_profile file which is located at the home directory of the os user, It sets up the necessary environment variable which you need.

• Confirm the java home

Installing Weblogic Server 10.3.6:

Weblogic server installation modes:

 GUI Mode:

Installation through GUI. Pretty easy to follow and used frequently.

NOTE: refer the link below for more info on this topic:

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/install/guimode.html

Console Mode:

Installation through command line utility. If GUI is not supported or DISPLAY is not set this mode will be used as a default mode of installation.

 eg. $java -jar <wlsinstaller> -mode=console

NOTE:refer the link below for more info on this topic:

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/install/console.html

Silent Mode:

Silent-mode installation is a way of setting installation configurations only once and then using those configurations to duplicate the installation on many machines. During installation in silent mode, the installation program reads the settings for your configuration from an XML file that you create prior to beginning the installation. The installation program does not display any configuration options during the installation process. Silent-mode installation works on both Windows and UNIX systems.

NOTE: Please refer below link for more info on this topic

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/install/silent.html

I am going to demonstrate you the Installation procedure in GUI MODE:

• Launch the installer as below:

• Create MW_HOME

• Uncheck the security update check box and then click on "Yes" on the next window:

• Chose the installation type according to your need:

• Select or deselect packages as per the need:

• Specify the JDK to be used:

• MW_HOME and WLS_HOME is dispayed as below:

• Just a summary of installation packages selected by you:

• Installation begins:

• Installation completes here:

NOTE: If you want to run the configuration wizard (which helps yiu configuring the Weblogic domain, do not uncheck the "Run Quickstart" check box on the screen and click on "Done"  ELSE uncheck the same and click on "Done". I will show you how to run the config wizard manually.

• confirm the installation directories under MW_HOME and WLS_HOME