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Chapter 9

Installing Releases and Patches Using FTP

Rational provides product releases, update releases and patches on our FTP server (ftp.rational.com). This chapter describes how to use the FTP server to install products, updates, patches or make a product release tape.

The following topics are covered in this section:

Getting The FTP Install Script, rinstall

To install a product release using Rational's FTP server, perform the following:

1. Rational recommends that you start from an empty directory in the rational_dir directory. The rinstall program creates files in whatever directory you are. If you start with an empty directory these files are easier to detect.

2. Get the rinstall script from the server using a web browser. You will need internet connectivity to do this.

Using a web browser, you must do a File:Save As... from the menu bar after selecting rinstall.

The rinstall script automates the process of downloading product files from the FTP server. It is a menu-driven script. It lets you select the product you want to install from an up to date list of products that are currently available from the FTP server. The script has a number of settings to allow you to customize its operations.

Each of the menu items is set by entering an alphabetic key. Here is a sample of the rinstall menu:

FTP/rinstall Transfer Modes

You must select a transfer mode to be used by the install tools. The transfer modes control how and when the files are downloaded from the server. Here is an explanation of the transfer modes:

Bulk Transfer mode

With this mode you get all of the product files before running the install script. All of the product install files will be downloaded. This is required to make a complete product tape. The rinstall program will retry any failed transfers on a file-by-file basis.

You should use bulk transfer if one of the following is true:

Efficient Transfer Mode

With this mode you get only the product files necessary to complete the install. The rinstall script will invoke the install script. You will tailor the install at this time. The install script will determine which files are needed. This information is passed back to rinstall to download the specific files needed to install the tailored product.

You should use efficient transfer if:

The rinstall program will need to run the install program on the local machine to allow you to tailor the install. If you are not going to install the product on the same machine you are running rinstall, you need to...

Very_Efficient Transfer Mode

This mode is similar to efficient transfer mode. In this mode, the install script gets the component files as it needs them and deletes each component file after it has been used. This results in the minimum amount of disk space being used during the install process.

You should use very_efficient transfer if all of the following are true:

Install Scenario #1 - Direct Internet Access

The install machine has access to the Internet. You can install a release using the FTP server. Think of the internet and the FTP server as the install device.

Run the rinstall script, like this:   Or, like this:

Set the FTP user password to your E-mail address. Set the transfer mode to very_efficient. Set the Rational directory (for example, /vendor/rational). Select a product to install and follow the instructions given by rinstall to complete the install.

Install Scenario #2 - Indirect Internet Access (Unix)

The install machine does not have access to the Internet. You have a Unix machine with a locally attached tape drive. In many cases, the machine you want to install products on does not have access to ftp.rational.com. You can use rinstall to get all of the product files, defer the install step, and write the files to a tape.

Set the FTP user password. Set the transfer mode to bulk or efficient. Set the Rational directory to the default. Select the product. Finally, select the st key to start the transfer, but defer the install.

1. If you used bulk transfer mode you can create a product install tape using duptape. The duptape script will be transferred over after the product is transferred.

With this tape, you can install the product as described in chapter 1.

As an alternate method, you can make a simple tar tape of the files and include network_install script on the tape. This method takes more disk space on the installation machine. This method is required if you use efficient transfer mode.

1. Run rinstall as described in scenario above.

2. Use the tar command (not duptape) to make a network install tape. This is required when using efficient transfer mode.

3. Install the product using the network_install tape. It would be best to make a temporary storage directory to do the network install from. Do this on the installation machine:

Follow the instructions given by this script.

Install Scenario #3 - Indirect Internet Access (PC)

The install machine does not have access to the internet and you cannot run the rinstall script (for example, you have a PC).

You need to get all of the files for a particular product copied over from the FTP server and dump the files to a tape. You need to include the network_install script on this tape.

Once you have established an FTP connection to ftp.rational.com, you have two ways to make a tape. This depends on whether there is a product directory for a tar.gz file.

1. If there is a product directory, do this:

2. If there is no product directory, but there is a product.tar.gz file, then get that file.

Using tar, put the two files (product.x.y.z.tar.gz and network_install) on a tape. (Second alternate):

To install either kind of tape, untar all the files into a directory and run network_install:

Install Scenario #4 - Firewall Access to the Internet

The install machine has access to the Internet through a firewall. Assuming your machine gives you access via these steps, you can use rinstall:

The top part of the rinstall menu shows 4 different settings.:

The `f' key is used to set the FTP command:

The `u' key is used to set the FTP user at the gateway:

The `uf' key is used to set the user FTP command to login to Rational's FTP machine from your gateway machine. You must set this before setting the password:

The `p' key is used to set the FTP user password at the gateway:

Now, the top part of the rinstall menu will look something like this:

All of this is subject to your network administrator. The specific way to use your gateway machine may be different.The rinstall program is trying to accommodate a wide range of needs.

Installing Patches

Users can install patches using rinstall, a web browser or the ftp command. In all cases, you must have an internet connection. Otherwise you will need to request a CD containing the patches through your usual Rational support channel.

Using The rinstall Command

It is easiest to use rinstall. To do so you must be on a UNIX machine. You must have an internet connection. All you need to do is select the product for which you want to install one or more patches. Use the 'ip' option when prompted by rinstall to install patches only. If the previously installed product is visible from the machine where you run the rinstall program it will know if you already have patches installed. It is smart enough to only install the patches you do not have. Otherwise, you can download all of the patches that you do not have. You would need to find out what patches have already been installed by looking in the install/patches directory of the product. For Apex and apex layered products, you can run the command 'apexinit info'.

Using A Web Browser

Download the tar.Z file, the inventory file and the install script for each patch you want to install. The patches for each Apex and Apex layered product are listed in the ftp directory where the release is stored. For example, the Apex 3.0.0b/Solaris patches would be listed in /public/apex/releases/sol/apex.3.0.0b/README.patch_info. This is the file rinstall uses to locate patches for a product release. If you download all of these files you can then run the install script for each patch. You must run them in the order they are listed in the file (chronologically). If the product is not visible from the machine where the files are downloaded, move them to such a machine first. It is best to be in an Apex shell when you run the each install script but it is not mandatory.

Using The ftp Command

This is the same as the web browser approach. You use the UNIX ftp command to log into the ftp.rational.com server as user 'ftp' with your e-mail address as your password. You need to navigate to the various patch directories using the 'cd' command inside the ftp command. This is not as easy as using a web browser.

Getting Patch Information

You can visit the Rational FTP server to get information about available patches. You can subscribe to our list server to get e-mail notification about Apex, Summit and layered product patches as they become available.

To view the current list of available patches, visit the ftp://ftp.rational.com/patch_info/index.html patch information page on our FTP server. From this page you can navigate to the patches you are interested in. There you will find instructions for installing each patch.

Note: The definitive list of patches is located in the product release directory on the FTP server in the file: /public/apex/releases/<sys>/apex.<version>/README.patch_info.

Getting Announcements from Rational

We will announce new Apex products, layered products, new releases, patches, and critical technical information about these products through e-mail.

The Rational newsgroups and mailing lists have moved to the Discussion Forums on the Rational Developer Network.

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