UNIX system administrator tasks

This section describes the pre-installation tasks of the UNIX system administrator. It contains the following subsections:

Installing and patching the UNIX operating system page "Installing and patching the UNIX operating system"
Configuring the kernel page "Configuring the kernel"
Creating the IBM WebSphere business integration administrator account page "Creating the IBM WebSphere business integration administrator account"
Setting up ports page "Setting up ports"

Installing and patching the UNIX operating system

Follow the installation instructions from IBM for AIX, from Sun Microsystems for Solaris, from HP for HP-UX, from Red Hat for Red Hat Linux and from SuSE for SuSE Linux to install the operating system. Make sure that you have the password of the root account before continuing with this installation process. For a list of AIX, Solaris, HP-UX and Linux versions that IBM supports, see Software requirements.

After installing the UNIX operating system, update it with the required patches. Some patches have a direct impact on software such as Java. Therefore, it is very important that you be compliant with patch levels.

Note:
If you install any patches, reboot the computer and log in as root.
Important:
To prevent failures when resubmitting unresolved flows, install the Performance Tool Kit for AIX and modify the default permissions on /dev/mem before installing InterChange Server software. Use the following command to modify the permissions:
chmod o+r /dev/mem 

Verify that you are running a supported combination of operating system and patch level according to the instructions in the relevant section below.

Validating the operating system and patch level in AIX

You can issue the oslevel -rq command on an AIX system to determine the operating system version and maintenance release level.

The following example shows an output of the command on an AIX 5.2 system that is compliant with supported operating system and maintenance release level:

# oslevel -rq

Known Recommended Maintenance Levels

5200-01

For a detailed list of the patches applied to the system, you can issue the


lslpp -L all command. The output of this command lists each fileset with its level, state, type, and description.

Validating the operating system and patch level in Solaris

You can use the cat /etc/release command in Solaris to determine the operating system version and the release date of the maintenance update applied to it.

For a detailed list of the patches applied to the system, you can issue the


showrev -p command.

The output of the showrev -p command is as follows:

Patch: patchID Obsoletes: patchIDs Requires: patchIDs: Incompatibles: Packages:

Validating the operating system and patch level in HP-UX

You can use the uname -a command in HP-UX to determine the operating system level.

You can use the swlist | grep patch command in HP-UX to determine the patches currently applied to the system. The output of the command is as follows:

PHSS_patch_number or PHCO_patch_number

Validating the operating system and patch level in Linux

You can use the uname -r command in Linux to determine the operating system level.

You can use the uname -v command in Linux to determine the current version level of the kernel release (this information is contained in the output of uname -r but can be difficult to identify).

Configuring the kernel

On HP-UX you will probably have to modify the kernel configuration to run WebSphere InterChange Server. To do this, edit the kernel configuration file, /etc/system, by adding or modifying the parameters listed in Table 12.

Tip:
Before you edit any system file, it is recommended that you create a backup copy of the file, for example, /etc/system_orig. In the event that problems occur during the edit, you can return to the undamaged backup file.

Table 12. HP-UX kernel configuration settings for WebSphere InterChange Server

set Shmmax=0x3908b100
set nproc=4096
set nkthread=7184
set maxusers=64
set maxfiles=256
set maxfiles_lim=1024
set Nfiles=8192
set Max_thread_proc=4096
set MAXSSIZ=8388608 (0X800000)
set MAXDSIZ=268435456 (0x10000000)

Creating the IBM WebSphere business integration administrator account

InterChange Server software is installed as a user-space program. It does not require any root or special privileges to run. Although you can install it under any directory for which you have write permission, it is recommended that you create a special account for the WebSphere business integration administrator and install the InterChange Server software in the home directory of that account.

As root, create a user account for the WebSphere business integration administrator on the machine on which InterChange Server will be installed. This account provides a single point from which to manage the software. It is recommended that you use the name admin for this account. However, you can choose another account name. In this guide, WebSphere business integration administrator refers to this user.

Perform the following steps to create the account for the WebSphere business integration administrator:

  1. Create a new user for the WebSphere business integration administrator.
    AIX

    Use SMIT to specify the following information:

    • User Name = admin
    • Primary GROUP = mqm
      Note:
      The WebSphere business integration administrator account must have the WebSphere MQ group, mqm, as its default group. If you have never installed WebSphere MQ on your machine, this mqm group is not defined at this point in the installation process. Use SMIT to add the mqm group before creating the user.
    • HOME directory = home_dir
    • Initial PROGRAM = shell_path

      where

      • home_dir is the path for the account's home directory
      • shell_path is the path for the account's login shell (usually one of the shells shown in Table 13)
      • admin is the name of the WebSphere business integration administrator account. There is an eight-character limit on this account name.

    Solaris

    Use the useradd command with the following syntax to create the new WebSphere business integration administrator account:

    useradd -d home_dir -s shell_path -m username
    

    where

    • home_dir is the path for the account's home directory
    • shell_path is the path for the account's login shell (usually one of the shells shown in Table 13)
    • username is the name of the WebSphere business integration administrator account. There is an eight-character limit on this account name.

    For example, the following useradd command creates a WebSphere business integration administrator account called admin that uses the Korn shell as its login shell:

    useradd -d /home/admin -s usr/bin/ksh -m admin
    

    Note:
    The WebSphere business integration administrator account must have the WebSphere MQ group, mqm, as its default group. If you have not installed WebSphere MQ on the computer, this mqm group is not defined at this point in the installation process. When you install WebSphere MQ, you create this group and add mqm as the default group for the WebSphere business integration administrator. For more information, see Creating user accounts for WebSphere MQ.

    However, if the mqm group is already defined on your system, you can specify it as the default group by including the -g option of the useradd command:

    useradd -d home_dir -g mqm -s shell_path -m admin
    

    HP-UX

    Use SAM to specify the following information:

    • User Name = admin
    • User ID = WebSphereMQ_id
    • Primary GROUP = mqm
      Note:
      The WebSphere business integration administrator account must have the WebSphere MQ group, mqm, as its default group. If you have never installed WebSphere MQ on your machine, this mqm group is not defined at this point in the installation process. Use SAM to add the mqm group before creating the user.
    • HOME directory = home_dir
    • Initial PROGRAM = shell_path

      where

      • home_dir is the path for the account's home directory
      • shell_path is the path for the account's login shell (usually one of the shells shown in Table 13)
      • admin is the name of the WebSphere business integration administrator account.
    Linux

    Use useradd to specify the following information:

    • User Name = admin
    • Primary GROUP = mqm
      Note:
      The WebSphere business integration administrator account must have the WebSphere MQ group, mqm, as its default group. If you have never installed WebSphere MQ on your machine, this mqm group is not defined at this point in the installation process. Use groupadd to add the mqm group before creating the user.
    • HOME directory = home_dir
    • Initial PROGRAM = shell_path

      where

      • home_dir is the path for the account's home directory
      • shell_path is the path for the account's login shell (usually one of the shells shown in Table 13)
      • admin is the name of the WebSphere business integration administrator account.
  2. Create the system-specific files for this new home directory.

    System-specific files include the personal profile. Each login shell has its associated personal profile files. The names of these files depend on the login shell chosen for the account. Table 13 lists the recommended shells and their corresponding profile files.

    Table 13.

    Profiles for UNIX shells
    Shell Profile
    csh .cshrc
    sh, ksh .profile
    bash .bashrc, .bash_profile

    Note:
    The ksh or csh are the optimum shells from which to operate InterChange Server. Be particularly careful if running the product in the Bourne shell. For instance, commands run in a Bourne shell affect all instances of the Bourne shell. Therefore, stopping an operation in one shell might also stop operations in all other running Bourne shells, creating undesired effects. Most commands in this documentation are shown in Bourne shell format. Appropriate command equivalents should be used if other shells are used.
  3. Initialize the environment for the WebSphere business integration administrator account.

    In the profile file for the WebSphere business integration administrator, include the following information:

  4. Assign a password to the WebSphere business integration administrator account with the passwd command.

    The passwd command prompts you to enter the new password twice. The following example prompts to set the password for the suggested WebSphere business integration system administrator account, admin:

    passwd admin
    

    Make sure that you give this password to your site administrator.

Later in this installation, you will add the WebSphere business integration administrator to special groups required for your system.

Setting up ports

Table 14 lists the programs that require a port number as part of the InterChange Server installation on UNIX.

Table 14. Programs that require ports

Program Default port number For more information
WebSphere MQ Listener 1414 Configuring the WebSphere MQ Listener
Oracle Listener 1521 Configuring Oracle Server
MS SQL Listener 1433 Configuring database properties using the wizard
SNMP agent 1161 Determining where to install InterChange Server
Remote Agent technology None Appendix B, Installing Remote Agent technology

The following documents are the system files in which UNIX stores information about ports and their associated processes.

Tip:
Before you edit any system file, it is recommended that you create a backup copy of the file, for example, /etc/services_orig. In the event that problems occur during the edit, you can restore the backup file.

Only the root account has permission to modify these files.

You can determine whether a port is in use with the following command:

netstat -n -a | grep port_number

where port_number is the port that you are testing.

Note:
Only the root account can start processes that use a port lower than 1024. Non-root users can typically start processes that use ports higher than that, however.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2004