Before you begin
The installation uses Installation Manager. You can
use the graphical interface or use a response file 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 website.
Avoid trouble: Ensure that the default shell for your Linux
operating system is
/bin/bash. Use the following
command to ensure that your default shell is
bash and
not
dash:
$ readlink /bin/sh
If
the result of the command is
dash, consult your operating
system documentation for the steps to properly switch to
bash as
the default shell. Failure to use the
bash shell
can result in errors and hang situations during the profile creation
process.
gotcha
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 that 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 nonroot 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 nonroot 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.
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 Java processes
related to WebSphere Application
Server 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 Installation Manager,
the installation summary panel indicates the approximate amount of
disk space required based on the features and products that you have
selected.
Installing all features and products 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
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 Installation Manager checks
for prerequisite operating system patches, review the prerequisites
on the Supported hardware and software website 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.
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.
Installation Manager 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.
- 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, Installation Manager 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 is installed.