WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, Version 6.2.0 Operating Systems: AIX, HP-UX, i5/OS, Linux, Solaris, Windows


Preparing Linux systems for installation

Learn how to prepare a Linux® system for installation of WebSphere® ESB.

About this task

The installation uses an InstallShield MultiPlatform (ISMP) wizard. You can also install the product silently. Silent mode is invoked at a command line with a parameter that identifies a response file, which you edit before installing. Non-root installation support is available for both the Installation wizard and for silent installations.

While this topic lists many steps that are common to all Linux distributions, specific Linux distributions might require additional steps. Complete all common steps, as well as any additional steps that are required for your distribution. If your distribution is not listed in this topic, but is supported by WebSphere ESB, check for any post-release technical notes that are available for your operating system at the product support site at WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus Support. If a technical note is not available for your distribution, additional steps might not be required.

When additional steps are required, it is typically because a default installation of the distribution does not provide required libraries or operating system features. If you install WebSphere ESB on a customized Linux installation that has installed packages which differ significantly from the packages provided by a default installation of the distribution, ensure that your customized installation has the packages required for WebSphere ESB to run. WebSphere ESB does not maintain lists of the packages required for each Linux distribution or for updates to each distribution.

Use the following procedure to prepare the operating system for installation of WebSphere ESB. For WebSphere Application Server to run adequately, your Linux installation must have the following items:
  • Kernel and C runtime library
  • Current and all compatibility versions of the C++ runtime library
  • X Windows® libraries and runtime
  • GTK runtime libraries
Procedure
  1. Log on to the system. Your user ID does not need to have root privileges.
  2. Select a umask that allows the owner to read and write to the files, and allows others to access them according to the prevailing system policy. For root users, a umask of 022 is recommended. For non-root users, a umask of 002 or 022 can be used, depending on whether the users share the group.
    To verify the umask setting, issue the following command:
    umask
    To set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command:
    umask 022
  3. Optional: Download and install the Mozilla Firefox Web browser so that you can use the launchpad application on the product disk. If you do not have the Firefox browser, download and install the browser from Mozilla.
    Important: You might have to start ">firefoxURL" from directories other than the one where Firefox is installed, so make sure Firefox is in the path. You can add a symbolic link to the /opt/bin directory by typing ">ln -s /locationToFirefox/firefox firefox".
  4. Optional: Export the location of the supported browser.

    Export the location of the supported browser using a command that identifies the location of the browser.

    For example, if the Firefox package is in the /opt/bin/firefox directory, use the following command:
    export BROWSER=/opt/bin/firefox
  5. Stop all Java™ processes related to WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment, WebSphere ESB, on the workstation on which you are installing the product.
  6. Stop any Web server process such as the IBM® HTTP Server.
  7. Provide adequate disk space. For the space required to install WebSphere ESB and related products, see WebSphere ESB detailed system requirements at http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006912 and select the link to your version of the product.
  8. Verify that prerequisites and corequisites are at the required release levels.

    Although the installation wizard checks for prerequisite operating system patches, review the prerequisite supported hardware and software for WebSphere ESB if you have not already done so. To access this information, see WebSphere ESB detailed system requirements at http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27006912 and select the link to your version of WebSphere ESB.

    Refer to the documentation for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to migrate to their supported versions.

  9. Increase the ulimit setting in the bash command shell profile to prevent problems with the addNode and importWasprofile commands and to prevent the ejbdeploy from failing when too many files are open.

    The addNode command script can fail when adding a node, or the importWasprofile command can fail when importing a configuration archive. The importWasprofile command might fail during the installation of a customized installation package (CIP) when the CIP includes a customized profile.

    Set a higher ulimit setting for the kernel in the bash shell profile script, which is loaded at login time for the session. Set the ulimit on your Linux command shells by adding the command to your shell profile script. The shell profile script is usually found under your home directory. To set the ulimit to 8192, issue the following commands:
    1. cd ~
    2. vi .bashrc
    3. ulimit -n 8192
    Note: You need to have root privileges in order to run the ulimit command.

    For more information on the addNode command, see The WebSphere Application Server addNode command or the importWasprofile command can fail on Linux systems.

  10. Restore the original copy of the etc/issue file if the file is modified.

    The prereqChecker program in the installation wizard uses the file to verify the version of the operating system. If you cannot restore the original version, ignore the Operating System Level Check message about the operating system being unsupported. The installation can continue successfully despite the warning.

  11. Verify that the system cp command is used, rather than the cp command provided by emacs or other freeware.

    If you install the product using a cp command that is part of a freeware package, rather than with the system cp command, the installation might appear to complete successfully, but the Java 2 SDK that the product installs might have missing files in the install_root/java directory (where install_root represents the installation directory of WebSphere ESB).

    Missing files can destroy required symbolic links. You must remove the freeware cp command from the PATH in order to install the WebSphere ESB product successfully.

    If you have emacs or other freeware installed on your operating system, perform the following steps to identify which cp command is being used by the system, and to deactivate the freeware cp command if it is being used:

    1. At the command prompt, type which cp.
    2. If the resulting directory output includes freeware, remove the freeware directory from your PATH. For example, if the output is similar to .../freeware/bin/cp, remove the directory from the PATH.

      After installing WebSphere ESB (when instructed in a later topic), add the freeware directory back to the PATH variable.

  12. Complete any distribution-specific set up.

    Complete the steps for your distribution: For more information, see the following WebSphere Application Server specific topics:

    If you are using a supported distribution other than those listed above, examine the WebSphere Application Server support site for any technical notes that are published for your distribution. If technical notes have been published, apply the fixes.

  13. Verify that the Java 2 SDK on your copies of the product discs is functioning correctly.

    If you created your own product DVD by copying the product DVD, or if you created your own DVD from the electronic download image, perform the following steps to verify that the Java 2 SDK is working correctly:

    1. On your created product disc, navigate to the /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin directory. To do this, issue the following command:
      cd /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin
    2. Verify the Java 2 SDK version. To do this, issue the following command:
      ./java -version
      The command completes successfully with no errors when the Java 2 SDK is intact.
    3. Repeat this procedure on all other created product discs.

Results

This procedure prepares the operating system for installation of WebSphere ESB.

What to do next

After preparing the operating system, you can install WebSphere ESB. See Installing the software for descriptions of the various installation alternatives available.


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Timestamp icon Last updated: 21 June 2010


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