Although many configuration changes can be made safely and easily with the administrative console, quick configuration changes can be made to your server by stopping the server, editing config.xml and then restarting the server. This file can be found in <Geronimo_HOME>/var/config/config.xml, where <Geronimo_HOME> is the directory where the server was installed.

When your server is installed, the initial configuration includes a number of modules pre-configured to get you started.

If a configuration change is limited to changing an attribute value in an existing <attribute> element in config.xml, you can make the change by stopping the server, editing config.xml, and then restarting the server. Although disruptive, the server only examines config.xml during initialization, so the server must be restarted to make the changes effective.

Note: You must always stop the server before changing config.xml. Any changes made to config.xml while the server is running will be lost. When the server stops, it writes a new copy of config.xml so it contains any configuration changes made while the server was running.

Making quick configuration changes

If the configuration changes you need to make are limited to changing attribute values for a GBean that has already been deployed to your server, follow this procedure.

1. Stop the server.
2. Back up the current config.xml file and open the file in an editor.
3. Review the current config.xml file. You can find <module> elements with the following form. Each module contains 0, 1, or more <gbean> elements which, in turn, contain 0, 1, or more <attribute> elements.

   <module name="moduleName">
       <gbean name="beanName">
           <attribute name="name">value</attribute>
           .
           .
           .
       </gbean>
       .
       .
       .
   </module>
   

   where
   <p><em>moduleName</em></p>
   <p>The module name of the component that contains the GBeans that have attributes to be configured. The value specified must match the value specified when the component was deployed. Use the deployer's <a href="/confluence/display/GMOxDOC30/deploy#deploy-deploy-Listmodulescommandandoptions">list-modules</a> command to obtain the list of module names deployed in your server.</p>
   <p><em>beanName</em></p>
   <p>The name of the GBean in the current configuration that contains the attribute to be configured.</p>
   <p><em>name</em></p>
   <p>The name of the attribute with a value that is to be configured.</p>
   <p><em>value</em></p>
   <p>The current configuration value that overrides the default attribute value in the current configuration.</p>
4. Change the attribute values as necessary to customize your configuration.
5. Save and close config.xml.
6. Restart the server and test your configuration changes.

Although the Geronimo structure permits you to add additional <attribute> elements and even additional <gbean> elements for different modules to config.xml in order to customize your server configuration, these tasks may require expert knowledge of the Geronimo architecture, the deployment plans used to build the server, and even the Java source for the GBean itself. Typical administrators should not attempt to add elements to config.xml unless instructed by a service agent or explicit documentation.