Liberty offers a ZIP archive-based installation as an alternative to using IBM® Installation Manager. If you installed Liberty from the ZIP
archive file and want to upgrade to the latest fix pack version, you can apply a new fix pack
archive to a new location, and move any required user files and server configuration data.
About this task
New: Fix pack 16.0.0.2 is the next Liberty fix pack after 8.5.5.9. For more
information about changes in Liberty fix pack numbering and delivery, see What is new in Liberty.
If you used IBM Installation Manager to install Liberty,
you must use Installation Manager to apply a fix pack.
Important: You must extract the fix pack archive to a new location.
Procedure
- Install the new runtime environment by downloading the ZIP archive file from WASdev.net and extracting it. For more information, see Installing Liberty by extracting a ZIP archive file.
- Optional: Upgrade the new installation to an edition with advanced functionality. If you upgraded your previous installation, upgrade to a product edition with at least the
same level of functionality to reduce the chance of any incompatibilities. For example, if you
previously upgraded to WebSphere Application Server Liberty (base), upgrade to that same edition or
WebSphere Application Server Liberty Network Deployment. For more information, see Upgrading Liberty installations.
- Optional: Install Liberty Repository assets to customize the new environment. For more information, see Installing Liberty Repository assets.
- Move any user data and server configurations. Liberty defines two locations for storing user-generated content and server configurations:
- WLP_USER_DIR; The location of server configuration files, including shared
resources.
- WLP_OUTPUT_DIR; The location of resources generated by the server. For
example, log files and temporary disk storage.
If the WLP_USER_DIR environment variable has been set on your system, then
the new runtime environment will continue to use the same location. This results in no backup of
server configuration data. To ensure that your server configuration is backed up, copy the directory
referenced by WLP_USER_DIR to a new location on your file system. To protect
the original environment, change the value of WLP_USER_DIR to point to the new
location. During uninstallation, reset the value of WLP_USER_DIR to the
location of the original server configuration.
If WLP_USER_DIR has not been set, the server configuration and shared
resources are stored in the usr directory at the root of the server's runtime
environment (for example,
<liberty_server_runtime_root>/usr). During uninstallation
of the runtime environment, you can reset the WLP_USER_DIR environment
variable.
If the WLP_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable is set on your system, the new
server also uses this location. This can result in old log files being overwritten. To ensure that
old log files are protected, either update or unset the WLP_OUTPUT_DIR
environment variable. During uninstallation, reset this value to its original value.
If the WLP_OUTPUT_DIR value is not set, the default location is in the
server root directory (for example
<liberty_server_runtime_root>/usr/servers/<serverName>).
If the new runtime environment is installed to a new location, no updates are required during
installation or uninstallation because logs continue to appear under the
usr/servers/<serverName>/logs directory of each
respective installation.
Note: If the server.xml file, or any included XML configuration file,
references another resource outside the server configuration directory, these resources must also be
copied across, or the references will need to be updated. This also applies to any resources that
the application references directly, such as references to hardcoded paths on file systems. During
uninstallation of the fix pack, these values can be manually reset to their original values.
- Start the new server. Run <liberty_VX+>/bin/server start
<server_name>.
What to do next
After you verify that the new installation works correctly, you can remove the old
installation. In the previous installation, stop all servers, then delete the
wlp directory.