Installing and Managing Features

As explained in the Introduction, the recommended way to install features is using the component manager. You can also manually provision Carbon by dropping bundles and configuration files that belong to a feature. This method is not recommended because it is complex and error prone. WSO2 has Equinox P2 integrated with its products. It enables user-friendly provisioning capabilities using the component manager explained below.

The steps below explain how to add a feature repository, disable a repository, install features from the repository and  turn your server to an exclusive back-end/front-end server .

1. Log in to the management console and select Features from the Configure menu.
2. The Feature Management page opens.

   Adding a Feature Repository

3. First step is to add a feature repository. If you already have one, skip to Installing a feature. Else, go to the Repository Management tab and click Add Repository.

4. Provide a name and repository location and click Add. For example,  

    WSO2 features are available in the Equinox P2 repository, which you can access from the Release Matrix page on the WSO2 Website (see the Links column for the platform release corresponding to the product version you are running).
   

   Feature manager is unable to add a remote repository when it is behind a proxy. In that case, download the remote repository to your environment and add it by selecting the  local  option.

5.  After adding, you can change the repository name using the Edit link associated with it.

   You cannot change the repository URL after adding it. To change the URL, you must remove the old repository and add a new one.

6. By default, all repositories are enabled. You can disable a repository using the Disable link associated with it.
   

   When you perform a provisioning operation, metadata and artifacts are searched only from the enabled repositories.

   Installing Features

7.  In the Feature Management page, click Available Features tab. Then, select a repository from the drop-down menu.

   The following options can be selected.

   Show only the latest versions

   Some repositories contain multiple versions of features. If you are only interested in the latest versions, click the Show only the latest versions option.

   Group features by category

   A feature category is a logical grouping of the features that constitute a particular WSO2 product. Categorizing logically related features makes it easier for users to search and install related features together. You can select the entire list of features of a particular product at once. Under these product based feature categories, there are other feature categories based on the product features. If you un-check this option when finding features, you will see an uncategorized, flat feature list from which individual features can be selected separately. For example, the features required to install WSO2 Data Services Server is grouped under the Data Service Server feature category as shown below.  

   

8. Once the repository and options are selected, click the Find Features button.

   To find a particular feature, you can use the search box. Search only returns available, uninstalled features. It excludes the ones that are already installed.

9. From the list of features that appear, select the ones you want to add and click Install.

10. The Install Details page appears. Verify the provided information and click Next.

11. Read and accept the terms of license agreement.

12. The installation process starts. It may take a few minutes to download the necessary components.

13. Once the installation process is complete, click Finish and restart the server for the changes to take effect.

14. Go to the Installed Features tab to browse through the list of installed features.

    Turning your product to a back-end/front-end server
    

15. WSO2 products support back-end, front-end separation where you can manage multiple back-end servers using a single front-end server. You can convert a given product either to a back-end server or to a front-end server by removing the irrelevant features.
    
    For example, if you want to get only a back-end server, you have to uninstall all the front-end features. To do that, select Front-end from the drop down menu as follows:
    
    This lists all the front-end features that are currently installed in the system.  
16. Select the features you want to remove and click Uninstall.  

Unsuccessful feature installation can cause server startup failures. See Recovering from Unsuccessful Feature Installation.