Last updated 12/18/00 @ 2:30 p.m. Eastern time
This document contains the Release Notes for IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 3 Release 5 for Linux (Intel) and Linux on S/390. This release brings the features of IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 3.5.1 (in other words, Version 3.5 with Fix Pack 1 applied) to many popular Linux distributions. See the prerequisites Web page for the supported distributions and versions:
http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/doc/v35/prereq.html
Check the Support page for subsequent Version 3.5 Fix Packs for your installation of IBM WebSphere Application Server on Linux, such as Version 3.5.3:
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/efix.html
Although this document focuses on items specific to using the product on Linux, it includes a short section for problems discovered during testing on Linux, but that are suspected to apply to all operating systems. Consider referring to the Fix Pack 1 and Version 3.5 base Release Notes documents for additional problems, workarounds, and limitations that could apply to the product on Linux.
When printing this document, it is recommended that you use "landscape" formatting.
The Release Notes contain information about known defects and the workarounds.
Problem | Linux Distribution | Workaround |
---|---|---|
When using the Custom installation option to configure
the product to use an existing database, double-check the default value
provided for the JDBC driver location. It is likely you will need to modify
it.
If you encounter this problem after installation, the symptom will be that the administrative server (using startupServer.sh) fails to start. |
All | When prompted for the location of the JDBC driver for
DB2, overwrite the default value with the path to your database instance
home.
For example, if the Oracle driver is located at /usr/oracle/myoracle/jdbc/lib/classes111.zip, then enter the location /usr/oracle/myoracle/. See the driver location section of InfoCenter article 1.2.3.6 for further guidance. If you discover this problem after installation (the administrative server will not start because it cannot find the database), correct the problem by editing these WebSphere Application Server files:
Do not edit the files unless you encounter this problem, or new problems could be introduced. After making the changes, attempt to start the administrative server. |
When using the Custom installation option to configure the product to use an existing Oracle database, be sure to specify the database URL in the correct format. The example provided by the script is provided in typical DB2 format, instead of Oracle format. | All | An example of an Oracle URL is:
jdbc:oracle:thin:@<machine name>:1521:<database_name> where <machine name> is the short or the fully qualified hostname of the Oracle server machine. |
JAVA_HOME cannot be set before installing, or while running, IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 3.5 for Linux. | All | Before installing or running WebSphere
Application Server for Linux, ensure that JAVA_HOME is not set.
For example, note that the Caldera startup shell scripts set JAVA_HOME=/usr/java. Other Linux operating systems might have similar statements in their startup scripts. |
Additional installation step is required. | All | Locate the following step in the
installation
and configuration instructions for WebSphere Application Server Version 3.5
on Linux:
Copy the WebSphere Samples to the Web server document root, shown here as document_root:
cp -r /opt/IBMWebAS/WSsamples document_root
It is recommended that you then perform an additional copy statement: cp -r /opt/IBMWebAS/theme document_root |
If you are going to operate a machine in a cluster of WebSphere application servers performing workload management, you must execute certain commands on each machine to prepare it. | All | Issue the following instructions at a system command prompt:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/hidden
Typically, you will need to issue these commands each time the machine is rebooted. |
The Web-based installation of the WebSphere Administrative Console as described in documentation article 1.2.2.4.1.2 does not provide an option for installing the console this way on Linux. | All | None |
The WebSphere Administrative Console does not display Hangul characters, meaning Korean and Traditional Chinese are not supported configurations for displaying the product administrative interface. | All | None |
The functionality provided by the IBM Distributed Debugger and Object
Level Trace on Linux is
similar to that provided on Solaris.
Therefore, for information regarding the use of the IBM Distributed Debugger and Object Level Trace on Linux, please refer to the existing documentation for that on Solaris. This information includes the F1 help, the online information webs, and the samples documentation. |
All | None |
When I use step debug while debugging applications running on my Application Server on Linux, the IBM Distributed Debugger hangs. | All | None. You can use step over or step into instead. There is no workaround to this problem at the moment. It is a JDK problem. |
WebSphere Application Server for Linux on S/390 cannot connect
to a remote DB2 database instance on a machine running WebSphere Application Server for
Linux (Intel) because the DB2 versions
are incompatible (7.1 on S/390 and 6.1 on the Intel machine).
Even if the remote node and database are cataloged correctly, DB2 will display the error message: SQL5048N The release level of the database client is not supported by the release level of the database server. |
All | None. |
The JDK used by WebSphere Application Server Version 3.5 requires glibc updates to Linux servers in some cases. | Caldera | Obtain these
glibc updates from the Caldera Web site:
ftp.calderasystems.com/pub/updates/eServer/2.3/current/RPMS/glibc-2.1.3-4S.i386.rpm
It is suggested that you place them in an empty temporary directory, from which you can run this command one time to apply all four updates: rpm -Fhv glibc-*i386.rpm Note, if the directory in which you placed these files contains any pre-existing files matching the above command parameters, those updates will be applied, too. |
You need an additional RPM to obtain full SMP support. | RedHat | Obtain the RPM from:
ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/updates/6.2/i386/glibc-2.1.3-21.i386.rpm Typically, the command for installing the RPM is as follows: rpm -Uvh glibc-2.1.3-21.i386.rpm |
Migration steps are required for moving from IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 3.0.2.x for Linux to Version 3.5 for Linux. | RedHat | To migrate from 3.0.2.x:
Set install.initial.config=false.
|
IBM UDB DB2 6.1 requires configuration to install correctly in some cases. | SuSE | Because the following steps are performed by the product installation
script, you should not encounter this problem. The steps are provided here in case
you cannot use the script for some reason.
If using SuSE, perform these steps to change some RPM entries, allowing DB2 6.1 to install correctly with the SuSE glibc packages. From the DB2 installation directory (from which you will install DB2) issue the command: cd db2/install/dummyrpm From the dummyrpm directory, issue this command to install the DB2 glibc patch: rpm -ivh glibc-2.0.7-0.i386.rpm You can now install DB2. |
Default DB2 user IDs created during operating system installation cause problems because they are not in their standard locations. | SuSE | Usually, such IDs are created in /home/[username], where
[username] is either db2inst1, db2fenc1, or db2as. The SuSE installation creates them elsewhere,
meaning WebSphere Application Server has trouble finding and using them. For example, it expects
db2inst1 to be located in /home/db2inst1, and with a default password of db2inst1.
Delete the non-standard user IDs and create them again using the standard values (home directories starting with /home). Use the operating-system-level user administration tool of your choice, such as YAST, to perform these tasks:
After you perform the above steps, the IDs that you use for the db2 instances should function properly. |
The WebSphere Administrative Console help files and the HTML version of the product documentation cannot be displayed on an S/390 machine. | Linux on S/390 | View the help files and HTML documentation from a machine containing
a Web browser. An S/390 machine does not contain a Web browser.
Using a Web browser, users can view and download the help and documentation from the WebSphere Application Server InfoCenter Web page at http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/infocenter.html. To access the help files, open the InfoCenter and navigate to article 6.6. On the left side navigation panel, article 6.6 is available by clicking Application Server -> 6. Administer applications -> Help files. Also, from the Web-based InfoCenter, users can download PDF versions of the documentation to view locally. |
These are problems and limitations discovered during product testing on Linux. They are likely to apply to the product on other supported operating systems as well.