Before you begin
The installation uses an InstallShield MultiPlatform
(ISMP) wizard. You can use the graphical interface of the wizard.
You can also use the wizard in silent mode.
On
the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Version 10 operating system, the
xorg-x11-libs package exists, by default. This package contains the
following libraries, which are required to properly operate WebSphere
Application Server:
For more information on this package, see the Novell Web site.
About this task
Preparing the
operating system involves such changes as allocating disk space and
installing patches to the operating system. IBM® tests WebSphere Application
Server products on each operating system platform. Such tests verify
whether an operating system change is required for WebSphere Application Server products to
run correctly. Without the required changes, WebSphere Application Server products do
not run correctly.
While
this topic lists many steps that are common to all Linux distributions,
specific Linux distributions might require additional
steps. Complete all common steps, as well as any additional steps
that are required for your distribution. If your distribution is not
listed in this topic, but is supported by WebSphere Application
Server, check for any post-release technical notes that are available
for your operating system at the product support site at http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/was/support/.
If a technical note is not available for your distribution, additional
steps might not be required.
When additional steps are required,
it is typically because a default installation of the distribution
does not provide required libraries or operating system features.
If you install WebSphere Application Server on a customized Linux installation
that has installed packages which differ significantly from the packages
provided by a default installation of the distribution, ensure that
your customized installation has the packages required for WebSphere Application Server to run. WebSphere Application Server does not maintain
lists of the packages required for each Linux distribution
or for updates to each distribution.
For WebSphere Application
Server to run adequately, your Linux installation
must have the following items:
- Kernel and C runtime library
- Current® and all compatibility versions of
the C++ runtime library
- X Windows® libraries and runtime
- GTK runtime libraries
- Log on to the operating system.
You
can log on as root or as a non-root installer.
Select a umask
that allows the owner to read/write to the files, and allows 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 can be used, depending on whether 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
- Download and install the Mozilla Firefox Web browser so
that you can use the launchpad application on the product disk and
the Gnome and KDE shortcut menu entries for WebSphere Application
Server Network
Deployment.
If you do not have the Firefox browser,
download and install the browser from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/.
Note: It
might be necessary to run
>firefox &url from
directories other than the one where Firefox is installed, so ensure
that Firefox is in the path. You can add a symbolic link to the Firefox
directory by entering:
>ln -s /locationToFirefox/firefox firefox
- Optional: Export the location
of the supported browser.
Export the location of the
supported browser using a command that identifies the actual location
of the browser.
If the Mozilla Firefox package is in the
/opt/bin/firefox directory,
for example, use the following command:
export BROWSER=/opt/bin/firefox
- Stop all WebSphere Application
Server-related Java™ processes
on the machine where you are installing the product.
- Stop any Web server process such as the IBM HTTP Server.
- Provide adequate disk space. The amount of disk
space required varies with the number of features or products installed.
If you are installing the product using the installation wizard, the
installation summary panel indicates the approximate amount of disk
space required based on the features and products you have selected.
Installing all features and products, including the centralized installation
manager (CIM) requires approximately 3 GB of disk space. Installing
all features and products without the CIM requires approximately 2
GB of disk space. This estimate includes the following products, components,
and features:
- Main application server product installation
- Profiles
- Sample applications
- IBM HTTP Server
- Web server plug-ins
- Application Client for WebSphere Application Server
- IBM Update Installer for WebSphere Software
If you plan to migrate applications
and the configuration from a previous version, verify that the application
objects have enough disk space. As a rough guideline, plan for space
equal to 110 percent of the size of the applications.
- Verify that prerequisites and corequisites are at the required
release levels.
Although the installation wizard checks
for prerequisite operating system patches with the prereqChecker application,
review the prerequisites on the Supported hardware and software Web
site if you have not done so already.
Refer to the documentation
for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to
migrate to their supported versions.
- Increase the ulimit setting in the bash command shell profile
to prevent addNode and importWasprofile problems.
The addNode command
script can fail when adding a node, or the importWasprofile command
can fail when importing a configuration archive. The importWasprofile command
might fail during the installation of a customized installation package
(CIP) when the CIP includes a customized profile.
Set a higher
ulimit setting for the kernel in the bash shell profile script, which
is loaded at login time for the session.
Set the ulimit on your
Linux command shells by adding the command to your shell profile script.
The shell profile script is usually found under your home directory:
- cd ~
- vi .bashrc
- ulimit -n 8192
- Restore the original copy of the etc/issue file
if the file is modified.
The prereqChecker program in
the installation wizard uses the file to verify the version of the
operating system. If you cannot restore the original version, ignore
the Operating System Level Check message about the operating system
being unsupported. The installation can continue successfully despite
the warning.
- Verify the system cp command
when using emacs or other freeware.
If you have emacs
or other freeware installed on your operating system, verify that
the system
cp command is used.
- Type the following command prompt before running the installation
program for the WebSphere Application
Server product.
which cp
- Remove the freeware directory from your PATH
if the resulting directory output includes freeware.
For example, assume that the output is similar to the following message: .../freeware/bin/cp.
If so, remove the directory from the PATH.
- Install the WebSphere Application
Server product.
- Add the freeware directory back to the PATH.
If you install with a cp command that
is part of a freeware package, the installation might appear to complete
successfully, but the Java 2
SDK that the product installs might have missing files in the app_server_root/java directory.
Missing
files can destroy required symbolic links. If you remove the freeware cp command
from the PATH, you can install the Application Server product successfully.
- Complete any distribution-specific set up.
Complete
the steps for your distribution:
If you are using a supported distribution other than those
listed above, examine the WebSphere Application Server
support site for any technical notes that are published for your distribution.
If technical notes have been published, apply the fixes.
- Verify that the Java SDK on the installation image disk is functioning
correctly, if you created your own disk.
For example,
you might have downloaded an installation image from Passport Advantage®, or you might
have copied an installation image onto a backup disk. In either case,
perform the following steps to verify that the disk contains a valid Java software development kit (SDK).
- Change directories to the /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin directory
on the product disk. For example:
cd /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin
- Verify the Java version.
Type the following command:
./java -version
The
command completes successfully with no errors when the SDK is intact.
- Grant a non-root installer ID the correct file permissions
to create menu entries in Gnome and KDE.
Before the
installation, the root user can grant write permission to the non-root
installer for the /etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged directory.
Then the Installation wizard creates the menu entries during the non-root
installation.
Otherwise, you must run scripts to create and
remove the menu entries while WebSphere Application Server Network
Deployment is installed.
See Non-root installations for more information.
What to do next
After verifying prerequisites, verifying the product disk,
and setting your installation goals, you can start installing. Use
one of the following links to open the installation procedure that
you require.
Install the Network
Deployment product on your operating system.
- Perform a custom installation.
The custom installation lets
you select features to install. The features include the core product
files (required), the sample applications (optional), non-English
language packages for the administrative console (optional), and non-English
language packages for the application server runtime environment (optional).
See Installing the Network Deployment product.
- Perform a silent installation.
A silent installation requires
you to edit the example response file to contain all of your installation
choices. After creating a valid response file, issue the install command
with the silent parameter from a command window.
See Installing silently.
- Install additional features to an existing product.
After using
a custom installation to omit one or both of the optional features,
you can install the product again to add the features. Select a missing
feature to install it.
See Installing additional features on an existing Network Deployment product.