Creating profiles silently

You can use response files to create profile definitions silently; that is, without using the graphical user interface.

A text file, called a response file, contains the definition of a WebSphere Process Server profile. You can create a profile silently by customizing the profile response file for the profile that you intend to create. The installation program reads this file to determine profile creation option values when you install silently. You can also create additional profiles by using response files after initial installation.

Possible profile types are a stand-alone profile, a deployment manager profile, and a custom profile. An example response file for each type of profile is supplied with WebSphere Process Server. Each response file is shipped with default values: The files are located, as follows:

Before you begin

This topic assumes that you want to create a profile silently. If you instead want to create the profile with an interactive interface, see Creating profiles using the Profile wizard.

If you are creating a profile during silent product installation, ensure that:
  • You have reviewed the prerequisite tasks associated with installing the product silently in Silently installing WebSphere Process Server or the Client.
  • You have reviewed the prerequisite tasks associated with creating a profile in Prerequisites for creating or augmenting profiles.
  • You are installing the product as the root user on a Linux or UNIX system, or as a member of the Administrator group on a Windows system.
    Important: You must be the root user to actually install the WebSphere Process Server product. However, you can add a profile to an existing installation of WebSphere Process Server as a non-root user on a Linux or UNIX system. You must be given write permission to selected directories within the WebSphere Process Server installation before you can create profiles. See Creating and augmenting profiles as a non-root user on Linux or UNIX systems for instructions on how to obtain these permissions.
  • You do not use the -silent option within a response file. Doing so can cause the profile creation to fail.
If you are creating a profile after product installation, ensure that:

Additional considerations when creating a custom profile

Which response file options are related to federating a custom profile to a deployment manager?

A custom profile must be federated into a deployment manager cell to become operational. Because of this strong dependency on being a managed node, the profile is often referred to as a managed profile. Several directives in the profile creation response file for creating a custom profile provide options for how the custom node is federated into the deployment manager cell:
  • -W pctfederationpanelInstallWizardBean.federateLater

    Set this value to true if the deployment manager is not running or is not accessible for any of the reasons in the following description of federation.

  • -W pctfederationpanelInstallWizardBean.hostname

    Specify a value that resolves to the system where the deployment manager is running. Refer to Naming considerations for profiles, nodes, hosts, and cells for host naming considerations.

  • -W pctfederationpanelInstallWizardBean.port

    Specify the value of the deployment manager SOAP port. You must specify the correct value. An incorrect value prevents node federation and results in a total failure with an INSTCONFFAILED indicator. The default SOAP port for the deployment manager is 8879.

Do you federate the node during or after profile creation?

Federate the node at the time that you perform the silent creation of the custom profile if, and only if, all of the following are true:
  • The deployment manager is running.
  • The deployment manager is a WebSphere Process Server profile.
  • Security is not enabled on the deployment manager node.
  • The deployment manager uses the default SOAP JMX connector type and the connector is enabled.
Do not federate the node during silent profile creation if any one of the following is true:
  • The deployment manager is not running or you are not sure if it is running.
  • The deployment manager is a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment profile that has not yet been augmented into a WebSphere Process Server profile.
  • Security is enabled on the deployment manager node.
  • The SOAP connector is disabled.
  • The deployment manager is reconfigured to use the non-default remote method invocation (RMI) as the preferred Java Management Extensions (JMX) connector. (Select System administration > Deployment manager > Administration services in the administrative console of the deployment manager to verify the preferred connector type.)
If any one of these is true, you must federate the node after it is created using the addNode command to enter a user ID and password on the command. See Federating custom nodes to a deployment manager for more information on how to federate a node by using this command.

If you try to federate a custom node when the deployment manager is not running or is not available for other reasons, profile creation will fail and the resulting custom profile will be unusable. You must then move this custom profile directory out of the profile repository (by default, the profiles directory in install_root, where install_root is the WebSphere Process Server installation directory) before creating another custom profile with the same profile name.

Creating a profile silently during a silent product installation

To create a profile during initial silent installation of WebSphere Process Server, do the following:
  1. Copy the response file for the type of profile you want to create from the WBI directory on WebSphere Process Server CD 1 to a place that you can easily identify on your machine and save it with a new name, such as My_New_Profile_1.txt. Available profile response files include the following:
    • responsefile.pcaw.standAloneProfile.txt to create a stand-alone process server profile.
    • responsefile.pcaw.dmgrProfile.txt to create a deployment manager profile.
    • responsefile.pcaw.managedProfile.txt to create a custom profile.
    See the following for example response files:
  2. Edit this profile response file using a flat file editor of your choice, on the target operating system, to customize it with the parameters for your system. Read the directions within the response file to choose appropriate values.
  3. Verify that no -silent option exists in the response file. If the option exists, the profile will not be created.
  4. Save the file.
  5. Copy the product installation response file responsefile.wps.txt from the WBI directory on WebSphere Process Server CD 1 to a place that you can easily identify on your machine and save it with a new name, such as myoptionsfile.
  6. Edit this file using a flat file editor of your choice, on the target operating system, to customize it with the parameters for your system. Read the directions within the response file to choose appropriate values. Refer to Silently installing WebSphere Process Server or the Client for a sample product installation response file.
  7. At the end of your copy of responsefile.wps.txt, change the value of the option -W summaryPanel_InstallWizardBean.launchPCAW to true. For instance,
    -W summaryPanel_InstallWizardBean.launchPCAW="true"
  8. Change the value of the option -W pcawResponseFileLocationQueryAction_InstallWizardBean.fileLocation from "" to identify the absolute file path of the profile response file you have modified. For instance,
    -W pcawresponsefilelocationqueryaction_InstallWizardBean.fileLocation=
    "/opt/IBM/WebSphere/MyOptionFiles/My_New_Profile_1.txt"
  9. Save your changes in your copy of responsefile.wps.txt.
  10. Use one of the following commands to install WebSphere Process Server and create a profile. These commands assume that you have copied the product installation response file responsefile.wps.txt file into a temporary directory and renamed it as myoptions.txt before customizing it.
    • Icon indicating Linux platforms Icon indicating UNIX platforms On Linux and UNIX platforms:
      install -options /tmp/WBI/myoptions.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Windows platforms On Windows platforms:
      install.exe -options "C:\temp\WBI\myoptions.txt" -silent
Verify the success of the installation by examining the WebSphere Process Server log file. If the last line of the file contains the word INSTCONFSUCCESS, the WebSphere Process Server features you selected and WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (if you selected it) were installed successfully. The log file is located as follows:
  • Icon indicating Linux platforms Icon indicating UNIX platforms On Linux and UNIX platforms: install_root/logs/wbi/log.txt
  • Icon indicating Windows platforms On Windows platforms: install_root\logs\wbi\log.txt
where install_root represents the location of the WebSphere Process Server installation.

Note that other terms such as INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS or INSTCONFFAILED can occur on other lines within the file, or even on the last line, but as long as INSTCONFSUCCESS is included in the last line, the installation was successful.

If the installation was not successful, examine other log files to determine why. See the descriptions of relevant log files listed in Log files, of error messages in Error messages: installation and profile creation and augmentation, and check out Troubleshooting installation for tips on troubleshooting your installation. Also refer to Recovering from profile creation or augmentation failure for troubleshooting tips if the profile did not create successfully.

You can also use the installation verification tools to verify your installation. See Using the installation verification tools with WebSphere Process Server for more information.

Creating a profile silently after product installation

To use a profile creation response file to silently create a profile after initial process server installation, do the following:
  1. Copy the response file for the type of profile you want to create from the install_root/bin/ProfileCreator_wbi directory on Linux and UNIX platforms or install_root\bin\ProfileCreator_wbi on Windows platforms to a place that you can easily identify on your machine and save it with a new name, such as My_New_Profile_1.txt. Available profile response files include the following:
    • responsefile.pcaw.standAloneProfile.txt to create a stand-alone process server profile.
    • responsefile.pcaw.dmgrProfile.txt to create a deployment manager profile.
    • responsefile.pcaw.managedProfile.txt to create a custom profile.
    See the following for example response files:
  2. Edit the file to customize the values for your installation. Review the explanatory text in the response file for detailed explanations of each option.
  3. Save the file.
  4. Start profile creation with one of the following commands, as appropriate for your operating system. These commands assume that you have copied the profile creation response file, named the copy My_New_Profile_1.txt , and customized it.
    Important: If you have saved your copy of the profile creation response file in a directory other than install_root/bin/ProfileCreator_wbi on Linux or UNIX platforms or install_root\bin\ProfileCreator_wbi on Windows platforms, you must fully qualify the path name of the commands shown below. These examples assume that the response file is in one of these directories, as appropriate for the operating system.
    • Icon indicating AIX platforms On AIX platforms: ./pcatAIX.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating HP-UX platforms On HP-UX platforms: ./pcatHPUX.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Linux platforms On Linux x86 32-bit platforms: ./pcatLinux.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Linux platforms On Linux x86 64-bit platforms: ./pcat.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Linux platforms On Linux on zSeries 31-bit and 64-bit platforms: ./pcatLinux390.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Linux platforms On Linux Power platforms: ./pcatLinuxPPC.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Solaris platforms On Solaris SPARC platforms: ./pcatSolaris.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Solaris platforms On Solaris x86 64-bit platforms: ./pcatSolarisx86_64.bin -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
    • Icon indicating Windows platforms On Windows platforms: pcatWindows.exe -options My_New_Profile_1.txt -silent
  5. Examine the logs for success. Also refer to Recovering from profile creation or augmentation failure for troubleshooting tips if the profile did not create successfully. Refer to Log files for information about logging.

Last updated: Wed 01 Nov 2006 07:47:12

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