JavaEE Application Configuration Management in WebSphere (with restrictions)

Question

We have a JavaEE application running on a WebSphere application server (v7). We want to manage application configuration (key/value pairs) outside the EAR. We cannot use following options due to some valid non-technical reasons:

1. External Database
2. Shared File System
3. Namespace Bindings in Websphere admin console
4. Changes in WebSphere start-up script

Question: Are there any other ways of managing the configuraion in WebSphere console or outside the EAR?

Our current option is to package all configuration files inside EAR and repackage / redeploy the EAR in case of any changes.

I researched lot of articles and questions on this site. JavaEE solution configuration best practices address this issue from a best practices perspective. It still does not provide an option other than using a DB or namespace bindings.

Answer 1

The standard EE solution is to use env-entry. These can be configured during deployment, and they can be modified after deployment (Enterprise Applications > app > Environment entries) without requiring redeployment. They do not require server namespace bindings.