Working with Geronimo Plug-Ins

Selecting Plugins→Create/Install will take you to the Create and Install Plugins portlet.

Geronimo plug-ins are self-configuring modules that can be downloaded and installed easily. Typically, plug-ins add new features to the Geronimo server. Downloading plug-ins allows you to expand the capabilities of your server only when you need it.

Figure 8-17 shows the Create and Install Plugins portlet.

Figure 8-17: Creating, installing, and removing plug-ins

Plug-ins can be downloaded and installed into your Geronimo server with a single click. However, you must first find a Geronimo Plugin repository. In order not to be biased or appear to favor any specific Geronimo plug-in download sites, Geronimo does not come with a default repository.

In the portlet shown in Figure 8-17, you can click the Update Repository List to download the current list of available public Geronimo plug-in repositories. Once the list is updated, it will become available from the drop-down list.

Since plug-ins are actually Geronimo modules, you can uninstall plug-ins in the same way that you uninstall modules. You need to find the plug-in in one of the Applications menu (such as System Modules) and then click the associated Uninstall link.

You can create plug-ins from any of the currently running modules. The portlet allows you to select the modules from a list, and it will create a CAR file from the current configuration of the selected module.

There are situations when creating your own plug-in make sense. As an example, say you manage a farm of Geronimo servers, and you need to deploy and configure the same application to many servers. Instead of performing this manually on each server, you can install and configure the application on one server, then use this server as your own plug-in repository where the other servers can find and install the plug-in.

The downloadable bonus Chapter 17 (www.progeronimo.com) provides details on how to create your own plug-in and set up the Geronimo server as a plug-in repository.