[Linux only]

Preparing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 for installation

You must complete additional steps to prepare a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5 system for a WebSphere® Application Server installation.

Before you begin

Complete all steps in Preparing Linux systems for installation. Those steps are common to any Linux system.

Installation guide issue

You might see an error message when you double-click the file icon to open an installation guide found in the docs directory on any application server installation image. This message warns of a security risk because the file name indicates that the file is an "HTML document" type, but the contents are an "XML document" type. The file does not open. To avoid this problem, right-click the installation guide icon and select Open with Web Browser.

About this task

In addition to the common steps required for installing any Linux system, a few system specific steps are required for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5.

Verify that the prerequisite packages are installed. A Linux package registration limitation prevents the prerequisites checker program from examining prerequisite packages on Linux systems. See Installing and verifying Linux packages for more information.

SELinux considerations

You should consider the following points if you have enabled Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5 operating system.
  • If SELinux is enabled and enforced while you are installing the product from the CD, then you must mount the CD with the following option:
     -o context=system_u:object_r:textrel_shlib_t
  • If you enable SELinux after installing the product while SELinux was disabled, then the file labels will be reset when the system is rebooted. In this case, you must run the relabel_was.sh script located in app_server_root/properties/version/nif/config/script to relabel the product runtime files. Note that running the relabel_was.sh command is not necessary if you made security mode changes with the command setenforce, which does not required a system reboot.

Procedure

  1. Install packages for all hardware platforms.

    Install the following packages on any hardware platform:

    compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61
    Required for C++ runtime compatibility. Used by such components as GSKit, the Java 2 Software Development Kit (SDK), and the Web server plug-ins.
    compat-db-4.2.52-5.1
    Required by IBM® HTTP Server. Some of the modules use the libraries contained within this package.
    [Updated in March 2013] gtk2-2.10.4-29.el5 [Updated in March 2013]
    mar2013
    [Updated in March 2013] Required by the IBM WebSphere Installation Factory and the IBM Installation Manager [Updated in March 2013]
    mar2013
    [Updated in March 2013] gtk2-engines-2.8.0-3.el5 [Updated in March 2013]
    mar2013
    [Updated in March 2013] Required by the IBM WebSphere Installation Factory and the IBM Installation Manager [Updated in March 2013]
    mar2013
    libXp-1.0.0-8
    Required by the Java 2 SDK to provide printing functions for graphical user interfaces. Without this package, Swing-based applications and AWT-based applications, such as InstallShield for Multiplatforms (ISMP), cannot instantiate.
    libXmu-1.0.2-5
    libXtst-1.0.1-3.1
    pam-0.99.6.2-3.26.el5
    rpm-build-4.4.2-37.architecture.el5 or later
    Required by ISMP to properly register products within the RPM database.
    elfutils-0.125-3.el5
    elfutils-libs-0.125-3.el5
    libXft-2.1.10-1.1
    Required to install the application server using a user interface.

    These packages are part of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 operating system, but might not installed by default. You can also install a later release of any of these packages if Red Hat provides new packages as errata.

  2. Select packages for hardware platforms that are capable of running both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

    Hardware platforms capable of running both 32-bit and 64-bit applications include Opteron, EM64T, iSeries®, pSeries® (PowerPC®), and zSeries® (64-bit) machines.

    By default, RHEL 5 only installs 64-bit runtime support on these platforms. However, various applications included with WebSphere Application Server Version 7.x products and packages also require the 32-bit runtime support. Therefore, you must install the 32-bit runtime support.

    Install the following required 32-bit packages by selecting to customize the packages during the RHEL 5 installation. Or, customize packages on an existing RHEL 5 system by issuing the system-config-packages command from a graphical terminal.

    Install the Compatibility Architecture Support under the System category. Optionally install the Compatibility Architecture Development Support under the Development category if you intend to build C or C++ libraries for use with both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

    Platforms that support both 32-bit and 64-bit applications require both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the following packages:
    • compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61
    • compat-db-4.2.52-5.1
    • [Updated in July 2012] gtk2-2.18.9-4 [Updated in July 2012]
      jul2012
    • [Updated in July 2012] gtk2-engines-2.18.4-5 [Updated in July 2012]
      jul2012
    • libXp-1.0.0-8
    • libXmu-1.0.2-5
    • libXtst-1.0.1-3.1
    • pam-0.99.6.2-3.26.el5
    • libXft-2.1.10-1.1

    Run the rpm -qa | grep package_name command to verify that you have both versions of each package. Substitute the name of each package for the package_name variable.

    Installed packages are displayed in the reply to the command. If you do not get two replies for each package, you have only one version of the package installed. You must then install the missing package.

  3. Install additional packages for specific platforms.

    In addition to the packages that are common to all platforms, install the following packages on hardware platforms capable of running both 32-bit and 64-bit applications before installing WebSphere Application Server products and packages.

    x86 platforms and Opteron or EM64T platforms: compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138
    The compat-libstdc++ package is required for C++ runtime compatibility. The package is used by such components as GSKit, the Java 2 SDK, and the Web server plug-ins.
    z/Series platforms: compat-libstdc++-295-2.95.3-85
    The compat-libstdc++ package is required for C++ runtime compatibility. The package is used by such components as GSKit, the Java 2 SDK, and the Web server plug-ins.

    Install both the 32-bit version and the 64-bit version of the package on 64-bit z/Series hardware platforms.

Results

If you do not install all of the required packages, the Installation wizard cannot start. Error messages indicate missing libraries, the inability to load graphical interfaces, or other errors that occur during the installation.

What to do next

After you complete the steps in this topic, proceed to the final step in Preparing Linux systems for installation.



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Last updatedLast updated: Feb 6, 2014 2:29:34 AM CST
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