Technical data

Role of the Administration Server
Administration Guide 4-3
Figure 4-1 shows a typical production environment that contains an Administration
Server and multiple WebLogic Servers. When you start the servers in such a domain,
the Administration Server is started first. As each additional server is started, it is
instructed to contact the Administration Server for its configuration information. In
this way, the Administration Server operates as the central control entity for the
configuration of the entire domain. No more than one Administration Server can be
active in a domain. Only the Administration Server can modify the configuration files
when it is running.
Note: Do not use a shared filesystem and a single installation to run multiple
WebLogic Server instances on separate machines. Using a shared filesystem
introduces a single point of contention. All servers must compete to access the
filesystem (and possibly to write individual log files). Moreover, should the
shared filesystem fail, you may be unable to start managed or clustered
servers.