Technical data

2 Starting and Stopping WebLogic Servers
2-2 Administration Guide
Administration Server for the domain. Additional WebLogic Servers in the domain are
managed servers. Whether a WebLogic Server is an Administration Server or a
Managed Server depends on the command-line options used when starting the server.
The default role for a WebLogic Server is the Administration Server. Therefore, if
there is only one WebLogic Server in a domain, that server is the Administration
Server. In a multi-server domain, a WebLogic Server becomes a Managed Server only
if it is instructed to obtain its configuration from a running Administration Server when
started.
The Administration Server controls access to the configuration for a WebLogic Server
domain and provides other management services such as monitoring and log message
browsing. The Administration Server serves up the Administration Console which
provides user access to the management services offered by the Administration Server.
When a WebLogic Managed Server is started, it obtains its configuration from the
Administration Server. For this reason, booting a multi-server WebLogic Server
domain is a two-step procedure: First you start the Administration Server, and then you
start the Managed Servers.
Note: The Administration Server and all Managed Servers in a domain must be the
same WebLogic Server version. The Administration Server must be either at
the same service-pack level or at a later service-pack level than the Managed
Servers. For example, if the Managed Servers are at release 6.1 SP1, then the
Administration Server can be either release 6.1 SP1 or SP2. However, if the
Managed Servers are at SP2, then the Administration Server must be at SP2.
Each server must have a unique name — even if the servers are in different
domains.
Startup Messages
When a WebLogic Server is starting, the normal logging subsystem is not yet available
for logging. Accordingly, any errors encountered during startup are logged to
stdout.
If you start a Managed Server remotely from the Administration Console, using the
Node Manager, these messages are also displayed in the right pane of the
Administration Console.