Where to place a data file in Websphere?

Question

I have a war deployed on a Websphere box. It uses a file to build up a trie structure inside a web service. Instead of having to redeploy an updated ear with the file as a resource, we want to be able to put the file on Websphere and update it as necessary, then just cycle the servers (we have multiple nodes) to avoid downtime. Where would be the best place to store such a file so that it would be picked up in the classpath?

I'm pretty new to using Websphere, so if I'm not making sense, please let me know.

Answer 1

There is a shared library concept in WebSphere. You can add your data file to a jar and that jar will be deployed as a shared library. the library can then be specified as a dependency to your WAR module during deployment.

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v5r1//index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.base.doc/info/aes/ae/tcws_sharedlib.html http://www.albeesonline.com/blog/2008/04/07/creating-a-shared-library-in-websphere/

But this is not Java EE compliant and specific to WAS only.

Answer 2

In my opinion, the best way to use a URL Provider as described in this article: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0502_botzum/0502_botzum.html