[AIX HP-UX Linux Solaris Windows]This topic applies only on the IBM i operating system.

Installation Factory overview

The IBM® WebSphere® Installation Factory is an Eclipse-based tool which creates installation packages for installing WebSphere Application Server in a reliable and repeatable way, tailored to your specific needs.

The product can produce two kinds of packages, a customized installation package (CIP) and an integrated installation package (IIP). A CIP is used to install a WebSphere Application Server product in addition to maintenance, profile customization, and user-defined scripting. An IIP is a larger package which can install an entire WebSphere software stack, such as an application server, a feature pack, and other user files. An IIP can even contain several CIPs.

See Getting started with IBM WebSphere Installation Factory to begin creating an installation package.

New feature: IBM WebSphere Installation Factory Version 7.0 is backwards compatible with Version 6.1 and can create both Version 6.1 and Version 7.0 installation packages. Read the IBM WebSphere Installation Factory topic for more information.newfeat
[iSeries] Note: You must install IBM WebSphere Installation Factory on a distributed platform to create installation packages for IBM i. The Installation Factory does not run on an IBM i platform.

Customized installation packages

The Installation Factory combines the installation image for a version or release of a WebSphere software product with applicable maintenance packages, a configuration archive, one or more enterprise archive files, customization scripts, and other user files to create a customized installation package. You can even create a CIP containing a WebSphere feature pack and any associated feature pack fixes. You can significantly reduce the time and complexity of a standard installation process by creating and installing a CIP.

Installing and configuring a WebSphere application server product is usually a multiple step process:
  1. Install the shipped version of the product.
  2. Install the current fix pack.
  3. Install a Java™ SDK fix pack.
  4. Install one or more interim fixes as needed.
  5. Create and configure application servers and other artifacts.
  6. Deploy applications.

A feature pack CIP cannot also contain the application server. You must first install the application server or an application server CIP before installing a CIP containing a feature pack. An IIP is an excellent way to install multiple products or CIPs.

The Installation Factory simplifies the process by creating a single installation image, the customized installation package.

Overview of creating a CIP

After creating the CIP, installing and configuring a WebSphere software product is a one-step process: install the CIP.

Integrated installation packages

Customers who need to install multiple installation packages in an automated and highly repeatable manner can create an IIP which aggregates those packages into a single installable package. As an example, you can have multiple servers on which you need to deploy WebSphere Application Server and some number of feature packs. Instead of having to install each of these products as an independent step on each server, you can create an IIP that will install all of them at once.

You specify which installation packages to include in the IIP, the order in which they should be installed, and various other details about the desired behavior of the IIP and each of its contained installation packages.

Each product you include in the IIP can be customized separately for greater flexibility. For example, you could run the WebSphere Application Server product install interactively and then run one or more feature pack installs silently to obtain a seamless install of the entire set of packages. There is also flexibility as to which contained installation packages actually get installed on any given invocation of the IIP; in other words you can choose not to install certain packages in the IIP.

One example of an IIP installation scenario is the following:

  1. Install a CIP containing a WebSphere Application Server product
  2. Install a feature pack (or, a CIP created with a feature pack and feature pack fixes)
  3. Install additional user files and directories
  4. Install another instance of the application server CIP in another directory on the machine
Remote IIP installation
There are two scenarios for running an IIP installation on a remote machine:
  • You can create a build definition file and the entire IIP package on a local machine. The IIP might include, for example, WebSphere Application Server, feature packs, and maintenance. You can then ship the package for installation on a remote machine.
  • You can create a build definition file on a local machine and ship it to a remote machine that already has the package. For example, the package might include WebSphere Application Server, feature packs, and maintenance. You can then run IBM WebSphere Installation Factory on the remote machine and it can use the shipped build definition file to complete the installation. After the IIP is created, you can then install the IIP on the remote machine.

For more information on remote IIP installation, see the topicCreating build definitions and generating the IIP.




Related concepts
IIP overview
Related tasks
Getting started with IBM WebSphere Installation Factory
Developing and installing customized installation packages
Developing and installing integrated installation packages
IBM WebSphere Installation Factory
Concept topic    

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Last updated: Oct 21, 2010 12:35:57 PM CDT
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