Installing WebSphere Application Server -- Custom Installation option

To install WebSphere Application Server along with the IBM Developer Kit and IBM HTTP Server, do the following:

  1. Ensure that you will be installing WebSphere Application Server under a local Windows user ID that is in the Administrative group and has the advanced user rights "Act as part of the operating system" and "Log on as a service."
  2. If IBM HTTP Server or another Web server on your system is running, stop the Web server.

    If you have a level of IBM HTTP Server prior to 1.3.19 on your system, you must uninstall it for the WebSphere Application Server installation program to install IBM HTTP Server 1.3.19.

  3. If you obtained Version 4.0 from the product Web site, run or unpack the downloaded executable.
  4. If you plan to use a Web server or database at a level that exceeds the current version required by WebSphere Application Server, you must do one of the following:

    • Download the most current prereq.properties file from the Web site http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/tools.html to a directory such as c:\tmp on the machine onto which you will install WebSphere Application Server.
    • Disable the WebSphere Prerequisite Checker before installing WebSphere Application Server.
      1. Copy the prereq.properties file from the \nt directory to the c:\tmp directory on the machine on which you will install WebSphere Application Server.
      2. Edit this file by finding the line prereq_checker=1 and changing it to prereq_checker=0.

  5. If you have not downloaded a new prereq.properties file or disabled the Prerequisite Checker (Step 3), run setup.exe or, if you have the product CD, run \nt\setup.exe.

    If you have downloaded a new prereq.properties file or disabled the Prerequisite Checker, enter the following command:

    setup.exe -prereqfile c:\tmp\prereq.properties

    You will need 135 MB free in your temp directory (usually on the C drive), even if you are installing on another drive, because the installation shield package unpacks to the temp directory. This will kick off an installation shield package.

  6. If the Choose Setup Language dialog is displayed, select a language and click OK.
  7. Click Next to pass the introductory page.
  8. If WebSphere Application Server is already installed on your system, a dialog giving you the option to backup and uninstall WebSphere Application Server displays. You now have three options:
    • To backup your files and uninstall WebSphere Application Server, click Backup and Uninstall and then Next to continue with the installation.
    • To install to a different directory, simply click Next and continue with the installation.
    • To migrate your files from a previous release, click Perform Migration. Complete the migration, then run the WebSphere installation program again.

    If WebSphere Application Server is not already installed on your system, proceed to step 9.

  9. In the Installation Options dialog, select Custom Installation; then click Next.
  10. In the Choose Application Server Components dialog, select those components you want and deselect those components you do not want.

    If you want to install Application and Administrative Server, Administrator's Console or Application and Development Tools, you must also install the IBM JDK or specify a valid JDK in the Select Java Development Kit dialog.

    Clicking Other JDK displays the Select Java Development Kit dialog. If you have a non-IBM Java development kit installed, we recommend that you specify that you want the Java Development Kit (IBM Developer Kit 1.3.0.). Also specify the destination directory for the IBM Developer Kit. Further, to use the IBM Developer Kit, you must remove your other JDKs from the jre\lib\ext directory. If you use a JDK other than IBM Developer Kit to run WebSphere Application Server, it must be at the XML4j/Xerces 3.1.1 level. Click Next to confirm your selections. Otherwise, click Back to exit the dialog.

  11. If you want to install Samples, you must also install Application and Administrative Server or have the Application Server product already installed on your system.

    As to Web Server Plugins, no plugins are required to bring up the Application Server or the administrative console. However, for production applications, you generally will not be able to serve servlets without a Web server plugin and a valid Web server. For non-production applications, you can use the internal HTTP transport system to serve servlets without an HTTP plugin by simply using the internal HTTP transport port (9080). For example, to serve the sample snoop servlet without an HTTP Web server, you use the URL http://your_server_name:9080/servlet/snoop, with 9080 being the internal transport port number and your_server_name being localhost if the Application Server is on the local machine. The internal transport mechanism lacks the performance for production applications available with a plugin.

    As to IBM HTTP Server, you must install this Web server if you intend to select the IBM HTTP Server plugin and do not have IBM HTTP Server installed.

    These installation instructions assume that you will install all of the components.

  12. Click Next. If necessary, shut down all Web servers you plan to run with WebSphere Application Server and proceed.
  13. On the Choose Web Server Plugins page, select IBM HTTP Server and click Next. Only IBM HTTP Server 1.3.19 is provided with WebSphere Application Server. You must separately purchase and install the other supported Web servers.
    Choose Web Server Plugins page
  14. On the Security Options dialog, fill in the user ID and password to use for the application server. Do not use the characters < or > for the user ID or password. Then, click Next.
  15. Specify the destination directory for WebSphere Application Server. If IBM HTTP Server is not installed already, you can also specify the destination directory for that product. Then, click Next.
  16. On the Database Options dialog, do the following:
    1. For Database Type, select DB2. If the Application Server will be using a database that is installed on a machine other than the one onto which you are installing WebSphere Application Server, select the Remote Database check box.
    2. For Database Name, give the name of the database to use. The default is was40.
    3. For Database User ID, specify the Username that installed DB2 UDB; or specify a new name and the WebSphere installation program will create a new database user ID for you.
    4. For Password and Confirm Password, enter your password. If you specified the Username that installed DB2 UDB, ensure that you specify the password specified when installing DB2 UDB. Note that DB2 requires a password of 8 or fewer characters.
    5. For Path, specify the path for the database program. This is the SQLLIB directory.
    6. Click Next.
  17. Select a program folder and click Next.
  18. Click Next again to begin the installation.
  19. After the installation completes, check the box to view the README file.

    For the most recent version of the README or release notes, go to Library section of the product Web site at http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/.

  20. Click Finish and, to complete the installation, restart your computer.

Finishing prerequisite configuration

When installing WebSphere Application Server, the installation program should have created a DB2 UDB database to store the administrative configuration used when your system starts up after rebooting. Further, the installation program should have created the WAS40 database with its DB2 application heap size set to 256.

To ensure that the WAS40 database exists, do the following:

  1. Go to the Control Center dialog. If it did not open automatically after rebooting, open it by selecting Start -> Programs -> IBM DB2 -> Control Center.
  2. In the DB2 Control Center, expand the tree under Systems. Your DB2 databases are listed under Databases. Examine the list to see if WAS40 is in it.

If you see WAS40 in the list, proceed to "Testing the installation".

If you do not see WAS40 listed, run the file createdb2.bat in the \AppServer\bin directory. Or, do the following:

  1. Go to the Services dialog accessible from a Control Panel and set the startup for the DB2-DB2 service to Automatic. Also, ensure that the hardware profile for the DB2-DB2 service is enabled. Then, complete Step 2. Optionally, for information about why the installation program did not create the WAS40 database, look at the wasdb2.log file.
  2. If the DB2 database WAS40 has not yet been created, do the following:
    1. From the Start menu, select Programs -> IBM DB2 -> Command Line Processor.
    2. Enter CREATE DATABASE WAS40
    3. Wait a minute to allow time for DB2 to create the database.
    4. Enter UPDATE DB CFG FOR WAS40 USING APPLHEAPSZ 256
    5. Type quit to leave the CLP, and then exit to finish the command prompt.
    6. Restart the machine.

    If an application heap size of 256 doesn't work for your system, return to the DB2 Command Line Processor and change the application heap size to, for example, 512 using the command:

    UPDATE DB CFG FOR WAS40 USING APPLHEAPSZ 512