Product fix packs contain bundled service to bring WebSphere® Application Server
up to a new product level. Interim fixes provide corrective service
for specific known problems. You can use IBM® Installation
Manager to update the product with the fixes that are available for
your service level of WebSphere Application
Server Version 9.0.
Before you begin
Contact the IBM Software Support Center for information
about upgrades for WebSphere Application Server for z/OS®. For more information about upgrades, see the WebSphere Application Server for z/OS: Program Directory. The most current information is available from
the IBM Software Support Center and Fix Central.
IBM Installation
Manager is used to apply product maintenance to WebSphere Application Server for z/OS. A set of scripts called the post-installer,
a part of WebSphere Application
Server for z/OS, is used to
make any configuration file system changes that are required as a
consequence of product maintenance.
When you install a fix pack, Installation Manager automatically reapplies any installed interim
fixes if they apply to the updated fix pack level. Interim fixes that do not apply, such as if the
updated fix pack contains the fix, are uninstalled. In some cases, Installation Manager must
uninstall an interim fix that you must manually reapply. For example, you might update to a fix pack
that does not contain the fix and requires an updated interim fix level. Installation Manager
notifies you if any interim fixes must be manually reapplied. You can verify which interim fixes are
installed by running the versionInfo -ifixes command.
Notes: In WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 7 and earlier, a highly pervasive (HIPER) APAR or program-error
(PE) PTF was flagged as HIPER or PE. These flags indicated issues that might cause outages or
exceptions in common product usage. When applying a PTF, SMP/E would warn you if you were applying a
PTF level that contained a HIPER or PE issue. You could then bypass it manually or move up in PTF
level where the HIPER or PE had been resolved.
Due to packaging and installation changes introduced in WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0,
APARs taken against Version 8.0 and higher are no longer flagged HIPER nor PE. Instead, APARs that
would have previously been considered HIPER are raised for customer awareness through FLASH
notifications. You should sign up for and manage your notification subscriptions to ensure that you
are receiving FLASH notices using the "Notifications" section of the WebSphere Application Server support website.
APARs that would have previously been flagged PE are added to a table near the top of the
affected levels' fix-pack web pages. The fixing APAR's "Special Activity" field is also updated with
"MDVREGR" if it is fixing a regression or "MDVPARTL" if it is a partial fix. If the problem is
highly pervasive, a FLASH notification is sent as well.
Procedure
- Use Installation Manager to apply the required maintenance
to your product dataset and file-system structure.
- For a list of fixes that are available for WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0
and specific information about each fix, perform the following actions.
- Go to Fix
Central.
- Select the Select product tab.
- Select WebSphere as the product group.
- Select WebSphere Application Server as the product.
- Select the version of the product to be updated.
- Select your operating system as the platform, and click Continue.
- Select Browse for fixes, and click Continue.
- Click More Information under each fix to view information about the
fix.
- Recommendation: Make a list of the names of the fixes that
you would like to install.
- Update WebSphere Application
Server Version 9.0 with the fixes using one of the following procedures.
- To update the product with interim fixes or fix packs, access
the live service repository that contains the fixes and use web-based
updating.
Use Installation Manager on your local system to update WebSphere Application Server
Version 9.0 with the interim fixes from the live web-based service
repositories.
To install a fix from a service repository, perform the
following actions:
- Mount the product file system, read and write, at the path at
which it was originally mounted with Installation Manager.
- If you do not already have an Installation Manager credential storage file containing your IBM software
user ID and password, create one that will allow you to access the
repository.
Note: These are the credentials that you use to access
protected IBM software websites.
Use
the
imutilsc saveCredential command to create a
keyring or add additional credentials to it:
imutilsc saveCredential
-secureStorageFile storage_file
-userName IBM_software_ID
-userPassword IBM_software_password
-url repository_URL
For information
on the imutilsc saveCredential command, read the IBM Installation Manager documentation.
Tip: When
creating a storage file, append /repository.config at
the end of the repository URL location if the imutilsc command
is unable to find the URL that is specified.
- From the Installation Manager user ID, perform the following actions:
- Change to the Installation_Manager_binaries/eclipse/tools directory,
where Installation_Manager_binaries is
the installation root directory for the Installation Manager.
- Install the fix.
To install an interim fix, use this command:imcl install fix_name
-installationDirectory product_installation_location
-repositories repository_URL
-secureStorageFile storage_file
To
install a fix pack, use this command:imcl install offering_ID_offering_version
-installationDirectory product_installation_location
-repositories repository_URL
-secureStorageFile storage_file
-acceptLicense
Tips: - The offering_ID is the offering ID that is
listed in WebSphere Application Server product offerings for supported operating systems.
- The offering_version, which optionally can
be attached to the offering ID with an underscore, is a specific version
of the offering to install (9.0.0.20160503_0200 for
example).
- If offering_version is not specified,
the latest version of the offering and all interim fixes for
that version are installed.
- If offering_version is specified, the specified
version of the offering and no interim fixes for that version
are installed.
The offering version can be found attached to the end of the
offering ID with an underscore when you run the following command
against the repository:
imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories source_repository
- You can also specify none, recommended or all with
the -installFixes argument to indicate which interim
fixes you want installed with the offering.
- If the offering version is not specified, the -installFixes option
defaults to all.
- If the offering version is specified, the -installFixes option
defaults to none.
- Optional: List all installed packages to verify the installation:
imcl listInstalledPackages -long
- To update the product with interim fixes or fix packs, download
the files that contain the fixes from Fix Central and use local updating.
You
can download compressed files that contain the fixes from Fix Central.
Each compressed fix file contains an Installation Manager repository
for the fix and usually has a .zip extension. After downloading the
fix files, you can use Installation Manager to update WebSphere Application Server
Version 9.0
with the fixes.
- To download the fixes, perform the following actions:
- Go to Fix
Central.
- Select the Select product tab.
- Select WebSphere as
the product group.
- Select WebSphere Application
Server as the product.
- Select the version of the product to be updated.
- Select your operating system as the platform, and click Continue.
- Select Browse for fixes, and click Continue.
- Select the fixes that you want to download, and click Continue.
- Select your download options, and click Continue.
- Click I agree to agree to the terms and conditions.
- Click Download now to download the fixes.
- Transfer the compressed fix files in binary format to the z/OS system on which they will
be installed.
- If you are installing a fix pack, extract the compressed repository
files to a directory on your system.
- To install a fix from a downloaded file, perform the following
actions:
- Mount the product file system, read and write, at the path at
which it was originally mounted with Installation Manager.
- From the Installation Manager user ID, perform the following actions:
- Change to the Installation_Manager_binaries/eclipse/tools directory,
where Installation_Manager_binaries is
the installation root directory for the Installation Manager.
- Install the fix.
To install an interim fix, use this command:imcl install fix_name
-installationDirectory product_installation_location
-repositories compressed_file
To
install a fix pack, use this command:imcl install offering_ID_offering_version
-installationDirectory product_installation_location
-repositories location_of_expanded_files
-acceptLicense
Tips: - The offering_ID is the offering ID that is
listed in WebSphere Application Server product offerings for supported operating systems.
- The offering_version, which optionally can
be attached to the offering ID with an underscore, is a specific version
of the offering to install (9.0.0.20160503_0200 for
example).
- If offering_version is not specified,
the latest version of the offering and all interim fixes for
that version are installed.
- If offering_version is specified, the specified
version of the offering and no interim fixes for that version
are installed.
The offering version can be found attached to the end of the
offering ID with an underscore when you run the following command
against the repository:
imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories source_repository
- You can also specify none, recommended or all with
the -installFixes argument to indicate which interim
fixes you want installed with the offering.
- If the offering version is not specified, the -installFixes option
defaults to all.
- If the offering version is specified, the -installFixes option
defaults to none.
- Optional: List all installed packages to verify the installation:
imcl listInstalledPackages -long
- To update the product with fix packs, apply fix-pack PTFs to the
SMP/E-managed repository and use local updating.
You can add a new
fix-pack level of the product to the SMP/E-managed repository that
contains the base product by applying PTFs for the fix pack to the
repository. See the WebSphere Application
Server for z/OS service page
for a listing of available fix packs and PTFs. After installing the
PTFs, you can use Installation Manager to update WebSphere Application Server Version 9.x
with the new fix pack.
- Apply the PTFs for the fix pack to the WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0
repository (FMID HBBO900).
- Perform the following actions:
- Mount the product file system, read and write, at the path at
which it was originally mounted with Installation Manager.
- From the Installation Manager user ID, perform the following actions:
- Change to the Installation_Manager_binaries/eclipse/tools directory,
where Installation_Manager_binaries is
the installation root directory for the Installation Manager.
- Use the imcl install command to install the
new product fix-pack level. For example:
imcl install com.ibm.websphere.zOS.v90_offering_version
-installationDirectory product_installation_location
-repositories /usr/lpp/InstallationManagerRepository/HBBO900
-acceptLicense
- Optional: List all installed packages to verify the installation:
imcl listInstalledPackages -long
For more information on updating WebSphere Application Server, see Updating the product on z/OS.
- Remount the product file system at its production location.
The file system should normally be mounted read-only.
- Perform any other migration actions as instructed in fix
or APAR cover letters.
- Start your server(s) to complete any necessary post-installation
tasks.
At server startup, the
post-installer will run automatically against each node in order to
update the configuration file system to the new service level.
Note: In
Network Deployment cells, the deployment manager node must be at the
same or a later service level than the cell's application server nodes.
You must ensure that the deployment manager node is upgraded to the
new service level.