Normally when a web application is deployed to WebSphere, the "exploded" .EAR file resides in a directory similar to
C:\Programs\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\installedApps\<your computer name here>Node01Cell\<EAR file name here>\<WAR file name here>
Most changes to files underneath this directory structure are reflected in the application after the web application is re-started. However, making changes to web.xml here will not have any effect. Instead, WebSphere stores a copy of web.xml in
C:\Programs\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\config\cells\<your computer name here>Node01Cell\applications\<EAR file name here>\deployments\<context root here>\<WAR file name here>\WEB-INF\web.xml
that it actually heeds. Misleading, eh?
