An integrated installation package (IIP) is an installation package created with the IBM® WebSphere® Installation Factory that can install an entire WebSphere software stack, such as an application server, a supported feature pack, and user files. An IIP can also contain several customized installation packages (CIPs).
To install multiple installation packages in an automated and highly repeatable way, you can create an IIP that aggregates those packages into a single installable package. For example, you can have multiple servers on which you need to deploy WebSphere Application Server and some number of supported 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 in a defined sequence.
The Installation Factory user specifies which installation packages to include in the IIP, the order in which they must 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 might run the WebSphere Application Server product installation interactively and then run one or more feature pack installations silently to obtain a seamless installation 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.
Consider the following IIP installation scenario:
Contributions
An IIP consists of contributions, which are WebSphere products or feature packs. A given contribution can be invoked multiple times if desired. Each of these is referred to as an invocation. For example, you might add an invocation of the contribution for installing WebSphere Application Server multiple times in different directories on the same machine.
Some examples of contributions are the following:
Defined Installation Packages
A DIP is a supported installation package such as WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment or Feature Pack for Web Services. IBM has provided several pre-configured contribution types which can be added to an IIP and controlled by the IIP installer during installation, which reduces user effort, the possibility of mistakes, and so on.
Installation Integration Bus
Installation packages and related tools can be easily included in the IIP by the user, and Installation Factory will automatically integrate this installation package with others that might already exist in the IIP, saving time and effort. This integration between the contained installation packages is accomplished by passing information from one package to the next. The underlying infrastructure that enables this integration is referred to as the Installation Integration Bus (IIB, or just Bus). The design allows installation packages and other install-related commands to be plugged in, wired together, and executed through the Bus in a uniform way, allowing otherwise separate installation packages to work together.
Macros
You can use macro substitution to take advantage of the Installation Integration Bus. For example, when installing WebSphere Application Server and one or more feature packs using an IIP, the -installLocation option used for the application server can be automatically reused as the default installation location for each of the feature packs with a macro (for example, $RESV ) so you do not have to specify that location more than once. In many cases you must only add the feature pack package into the IIP, and Installation Factory integrates it with the other packages. The Bus enables this end-to-end flow of all included packages. See IIP macro replacement for more information on macros and their use.
IIP installation status and progress
An integrated installation package contains an application programming interface (API) which allows an application to launch the IIP installer and retrieve information pertaining to the running installation. The API provides a standardized way to retrieve installation status and progress. The installation status in WebSphere Application Server has been historically captured inside the installation log file. Products and applications which extended the application server and required its installation status have had to use various means to examine the application server installation log file. The new API allows you to retrieve the installation status of the application server in a standard way. See IIP installation status and progress for more information.