Before you begin
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 article 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 article, 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 are using the graphical Launchpad
to install the product.
- 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
Best practice: Set ulimit -c as unlimited
to ensure that the core file is not truncated if a failure occurs.
bprac
- 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.
- Complete any distribution-specific set up. For more information, see the subtopics.
If you are using a supported distribution that
does not have detailed setup instructions in the WebSphere Application Server documentation, 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 Network Deployment is installed.
What to do next
After verifying
prerequisites, verifying the product disk, and setting your installation
goals, you can start installing WebSphere Application
Server by choosing one of the following installation procedures: