Installing the base product with custom options

Use the custom installation path to install IBM WebSphere Application Server while reviewing each installation option specification.

Before you begin

This topic describes one of the available installation procedures.

You can install a customized installation package (CIP) that includes a WebSphere Application Server product and one or more maintenance packages and other customizations. The Installation Factory must create a CIP before you can install the CIP. See IBM Installation Factory for WebSphere Application Server for more information about creating a customized installation package (CIP).

If this topic does not describe the procedure that you meant to select, click the link to the description of the appropriate installation procedure before you issue the install command.

Knowing what component to install and in what order to install the component is an important consideration. Before starting this installation, see Planning to install WebSphere Application Server. The diagrams show typical topologies for the product. The solutions are also in the Installation solution diagrams in the launchpad. See Using the launchpad to start the installation. You cannot run the launchpad remotely to install a product. Only local use of the launchpad is supported.

About this task

Perform the following installation procedure to select features for the base WebSphere Application Server product and to select characteristics for the application server profile.

Procedure

  1. Log on to the operating system.

    Log on as root on an operating system such as AIX® or Linux®, or as a member of the administrator group on a Windows® system.

    [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] In addition, select a umask that would allow the owner to read/write to the files, and allow others to access them according to the prevailing system policy. For root, a umask of 022 is recommended. For non-root users a umask of 002 or 022 could be used, depending on whether or not 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
    [Windows] When installing on a Windows system, a Windows service is automatically created to autostart the application server if your installer user account has the following advanced user rights:
    • Act as part of the operating system
    • Log on as a service
    For example, on some Windows systems, click Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > User Rights Assignments to set the advanced options. See your Windows documentation for more information.

    [Windows] The installation wizard grants your Windows user ID the advanced user rights, if the user ID belongs to the administrator group. The silent installation does not grant these rights. If you create a new user ID on a Windows platform to perform a silent installation, you must restart the system to activate the proper authorizations for the user ID before you can perform a successful silent installation.

    [Windows] If you plan to run the application server as a Windows service, do not install from a user ID that contains spaces. A user ID with spaces cannot be validated. Such a user ID is not allowed to continue the installation. To work around this problem, install with a user ID that does not contain spaces.

  2. Insert the disc labeled WebSphere® Application Server into the disc drive.

    If you are installing a customized installation package (CIP), insert the CD-ROM or DVD with the CIP. Or access the directory where the CIP is located.

    Mount the drive if necessary as described in Mounting disc drives on operating systems such as AIX or Linux.

  3. Start the installation.
    Start the installation of a product image with the launchpad script.
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] launchpad.sh
    • [Windows] launchpad.bat or launchpad.exe

    Or you can start the installation directly with the install command.

    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] /WAS/install
    • [Windows] \WAS\install
    If a problem occurs with the Java™ 2 SDK, force the installation to use the correct JRE with the following command, where downloaded_directory is the name of the directory in which you downloaded the image:
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] ./install -is:javahome disc_mount_point/downloaded_directory/WAS/java/jre
    • [Windows] install -is:javahome disc_drive:\downloaded_directory\WAS\java\jre

    If you have a problem starting the launchpad, use the troubleshooting information in Using the launchpad to start the installation to correct the problem.

    When using the launchpad, launch the installation wizard for WebSphere Application Server.

    After launching the installation wizard from the launchpad or from the command line, the installer wizard initializes and then displays the Welcome panel.

  4. Click Next to continue.

    The license agreement displays.

  5. Read the license agreement and accept its terms.

    Click the radio button beside the message I accept the terms in the license agreement to agree to the license agreement and click Next to continue.

    After you accept the licensing terms, the installation wizard checks for a supported operating system and prerequisite patches. If you encounter a problem such as not having the right prerequisite updates on your system, cancel the installation, make the required changes, and restart the installation.

    Although the installation wizard automatically checks for prerequisite operating system patches with the prereqChecker application, review the prerequisites on the WebSphere Application Server detailed system requirements web site if you have not already done so.

    Although the installation process verifies that the minimum required version of the operating system is available, the installation process might not correctly flag a maintenance upgrade of that operating system version as being a supported configuration. If you have upgraded your supported operating system version to a higher maintenance level and you receive the following error message, then you can ignore the message and click Next.
    Avoid trouble: Although maintenance upgrades of the same major release are supported, subsequent major releases of the operating system might not be supported.gotcha
    Failed : Your operating system failed the
    prerequisites check.
    
    A supported operating system was not detected. Support for your
    operating system might have been added after the release of the
    product.

    The Web site lists all supported operating systems and the operating system fixes and patches that you must install to have a compliant operating system.

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

  6. After confirming that your operating system is supported and that you have installed all necessary patches, click Next to continue.

    The installation wizard checks for a previous installation at the same major product level.

    Specifically, the wizard looks for an existing Version 6.0 installation.

    If the wizard detects a previous installation, it displays the Existing installation panel, where you can:
    • Add features to the existing installation
    • Perform a new installation to another directory
    • Perform an upgrade of a trial installation or an Express® installation to the full product
    • Add maintenance from a CIP to the existing installation
    • Add files, directories, enterprise application archive (EAR) files, and a configuration archive (CAR) file from a CIP to the existing installation
    • Use scripts in a CIP to configure the existing system
    See the following articles for more information about adding features:

    This procedure assumes that you do not have an existing installation that you intend to update.

  7. Specify the destination of the installation root directory and click Next.

    Specify the location of the installation root directory for the product binaries, which are also known as the core product files or system files.

    The core product files do not change unless you:
    • Install a CIP
    • Add a feature
    • Install service, such as refresh packs, fix packs, or interim fixes
    • Install another product that extends the base product.
    Restriction:
    • Deleting the default target location and leaving an installation directory field empty prevents you from continuing.
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Do not use symbolic links as the destination directory. Symbolic links are not supported.
    • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Spaces are not supported in the name of the installation directory on operating systems such as AIX or Linux.
    • [Windows] Do not use a semicolon in the directory name on Windows systems. WebSphere Application Server cannot install properly on a Windows platform if the target directory includes a semicolon. A semicolon is the character used to construct the class path on Windows systems.

    The installer program checks for required space before calling the installation wizard. If you do not have enough space, stop the installation program, free space by deleting unused files and emptying the recycle bin, and restart the installation.

  8. Choose a type of installation and click Next.

    Select Custom installation to select features to install.

    See Installing the base product with full installation options for information about installing with the full installation path.

    The wizard displays the Features selection panel.

  9. Select features to install and click Next.

    A CIP might have from zero to all of the product features. You can install only what was included in the CIP.

    Table 1. Features for the WebSphere Application Server product
    Feature Description
    Core product files Installs the product binary code.
    Application Server Samples Installs the Samples Gallery and Plants By WebSphere applications.
    Javadoc Installs the application programming interface (API) and system programming interface (SPI) documentation for WebSphere Application Server classes.

    For better performance in either a development or production environment, do not install the Samples. By omitting the Samples, you can improve application server startup time by 60 percent and save 15 percent of disk space. You can save up to 30 percent of process footprint (based on a maximum heap size of 256 MB).

    The installation wizard displays a confirmation panel.

  10. Verify that the ports in the server that you are creating do not conflict with existing ports.

    Use the netstat -a command to display all ports in use. Programs and products must run to use ports. The netstat command only displays ports in use by active applications.

    The Installation wizard displays the Node and host names panel.

  11. Specify the node and host names for the application server and click Next.

    A good practice is to use unique names for each application server that you create. However, unique names are important only at the profile name level in the configuration directory.

    Reserved names: Avoid using reserved folder names as field values. The use of reserved folder names can cause unpredictable results. The following words are reserved:
    • cells
    • nodes
    • servers
    • clusters
    • applications
    • deployments
    Field name Default value Constraints Description
    Node name DefaultNode

    Avoid using reserved folder names.

    Pick any name except for the reserved names. To help organize your installation, use a unique name if you plan to create more than one application server on the machine. However, a unique name for a stand-alone application server is not required.
    Host name DNS name of your machine See the following considerations for the host name field. Use the actual DNS name or IP address of your machine to enable communication with your machine. See additional information about the host name following this table.

    Node name considerations

    [Windows] The installation directory path must be no longer than 60 characters.

    See Host name values for more information.

    [Windows] After specifying application server characteristics, the wizard displays the Windows service definition panel, if you are installing on a Windows platform.

  12. [Windows] Choose whether to run the application server as a Windows service on a Windows platform, then click Next.

    WebSphere Application Server attempts to start Windows services for application server processes started by a startServer command. For example, if you configure an application server as a Windows service and issue the startServer command, WebSphere Application Server attempts to start the defined service.

    If you chose to install a local system service, you do not have to specify your user ID or password. If you create a specified user type of service, you must specify the user ID and the password for the user who is to run the service. The user must have Log on as a service authority for the service to run properly.

    To perform this installation task, the user ID must not have spaces in its name. The ID must also belong to the administrator group and must have the advanced user rights Act as part of the operating system and Log on as a service. The installation wizard grants the user ID the advanced user rights if it does not already have them, if the user ID belongs to the administrator group.

    You can also create other Windows services after the installation is complete, to start other server processes. See Automatically restarting server processes for more information.

    The installation wizard shows which components are selected for installation in a pre-installation summary panel.

  13. Review the summary information, then click Next to install the product code or Back to change your specifications.

    The installation wizard creates the uninstaller program and then displays a progress panel that shows which components are being installed. At the end of the installation, the wizard displays the Installation completion panel.

  14. Verify the success of the installer program by examining the completion panel and the log.txt file for installation status.

    Examine the app_server_root/logs/log.txt file to verify that there were no file system or other unusual errors while installing. If there are problems, correct them, and reinstall the product.

    The slip install log for the Installation Factory is located in the app_server_root/logs/log.txt file, which is the same log file as for a normal installation. If the file already exists, new log messages are appended to the file.

    If you use the Update Installer to uninstall maintenance packages that the Installation Factory installed in a slip installation, the results are in a log in the app_server_root/logs/update directory.

    If problems occur, consult the following applicable logs:

    Log files for WebSphere Application Server products: The following table shows the installation logs, content, and indicators of success and failure for WebSphere Application Server products for Version 6.
    Table 2. Installation and profile creation logs for WebSphere Application Server products
    Log Content Indicators
    app_server_root/logs/log.txt Logs all installation events
    INSTCONFFAIL
    Total installation failure.
    INSTCONFSUCCESS
    Successful installation.
    INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS
    Installation errors occurred but the installation is still usable. Additional information identifies the errors.
    app_server_root/wasprofileprofile_name.log
    • Traces all events that occur during the creation of the named profile
    • Created when using the Profile Creation wizard or the wasprofile command
    INSTCONFFAIL
    Total profile creation failure.
    INSTCONFSUCCESS
    Successful profile creation.
    INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS
    Profile creation errors occurred but the profile is still functional. Additional information identifies the errors.
    app_server_root/logs/wasprofile/wasprofile_delete_ profile_name.log
    • Traces all events that occur during the deletion of the named profile
    • Created when using the Profile Creation wizard or the wasprofile command
    INSTCONFFAIL
    Total profile deletion failure.
    INSTCONFSUCCESS
    Successful profile deletion.
    INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS
    Profile deletion errors occurred but the profile is still deleted. Additional information identifies the errors.
    profile_root/logs/pctLog.txt Logs all profile creation events that occur when using the Profile Creation wizard
    INSTCONFFAIL
    Total profile creation failure.
    INSTCONFSUCCESS
    Successful profile creation.
    INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS
    Profile creation errors occurred but the profile is still functional. Additional information identifies the errors.
    app_server_root\logs\instconfig.log (Not available on systems such as AIX or Linux) Logs the activities of ANT configuration scripts that run at the end of the installation procedure.
    Configuration action failed:
    Unsuccessful ANT script configuration.
    Configuration action succeeded:
    Successful ANT script configuration.

    If the installation of the core product files fails, fix the error and reinstall.

    If the creation of a profile fails, fix the error and run the Profile Creation wizard to recreate the profile.

    Troubleshoot the installation if the app_server_root/logs/log.txt file or the app_server_root/logs/wasprofile/wasprofile_create_default.log file does not contain a record of any problems, but problems exist.

    See Troubleshooting installation and Installation component troubleshooting tips for more information.

    [Windows] Examine the Start menu entry. The menu is an indication of a successful installation:
    • [All] Programs > IBM WebSphere > Application Server v6

    If problems exist that cause you to reinstall the product, correct the errors, uninstall the product as described in Uninstalling the product, reboot a Windows machine or log off and back on as root on a machine with an operating system such as AIX or Linux, and reinstall.

  15. Click Finish to close the installation wizard.

    See Creating profiles using the graphical user interface for more information.

    Select the check box to open the First Steps console, then click Finish.

Results

This procedure results in the installation wizard installing WebSphere Application Server into the installation root directory. The installation wizard creates a profile named default that provides the runtime environment for the server1 application server.

Further configuration is not necessary at this time. However, you can create additional stand-alone application servers with the Profile Creation wizard. Each profile is created in the profile_root directory by default.

See Creating profiles using the graphical user interface for more information.

What to do next

Deploy an application to get started!

See Fast paths for WebSphere Application Server to get started deploying applications.




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Last updated: Aug 29, 2010 5:25:00 PM CDT
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