Prepare Linux systems for installation

This topic describes how to prepare a Linux system for installing IBM WebSphere Application Server, V6 products.

 

Before you begin

The installation uses a InstallShield for Multiplatforms (ISMP) wizard. We can use the graphical interface of the wizard. We can also use the wizard in silent mode.

Silent mode is a command line invocation with a parameter that identifies an options response file. Edit the options response file before installing.

If you encounter a problem such as needing more temporary space or missing prerequisite packages on your operating system, cancel the installation, make the required changes, and restart the installation.

 

Overview

Use the following procedure to prepare the operating system for the installation of WAS products.

 

Procedure

  1. Log on as root.

    We cannot install the product correctly as a non-root user.

    If you create a copy of the product CD-ROM, do so as root. Copies made from non-root users do not preserve the correct file attributes and do not work.

    In addition, verify that the umask setting is 022. To verify the umask setting, issue the following command 

    umask

    To set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command 

    umask 022

  2. Optional: Download and install the Mozilla Web browser so that use the launchpad application on the product disc. If you do not have the Mozilla Web browser, download and install the browser from http://www.mozilla.org.

  3. 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.

    For example, if the Mozilla package is in the bin /mozilla directory, use the following command 

    EXPORT BROWSER=/opt/bin/mozilla

  4. Stop all WebSphere Application Server-related Java processes on the machine where you are installing the product.

  5. Stop any Web server process such as the IBM HTTP Server.

  6. Provide adequate disk space.

    Attention:

    The Network Deployment product requires the following disk space:

    730 MB for the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory before creating profiles

    The installation root directory includes the core product files. This size does not include space for profiles or applications. Profiles require 40 MB of temp space in addition to the sizes shown. Profiles have the following space requirements:

    30 MB for the Deployment manager profile

    This size does not include space for Sample applications that you might install. The size also does not include space for applications that you might deploy.

    200 MB for an Application Server profile with the Sample applications

    This size does not include space for applications that you might develop and install.

    10 MB for an unfederated custom profile

    This size does not include space for applications that you might develop and install. The requirement does include space for the node agent. However, federate a custom profile to create an operational managed node.

    After federating a custom profile, the resulting managed node contains a functional node agent only. Use the deployment manager to create server processes on the managed node.

    100 MB for the /tmp directory

    The temporary directory is the working directory for the installation program.

    830 MB total requirement

    This amount is the total space requirement when installing the product from the CD and when not installing service. Installing profiles requires more space.

    The following space is the maximum amount that is required for the Web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server:

    200 MB for the /usr/IBM/WebSphere/plugins directory

    25 MB for the /usr/ibm/gsk7 directory

    The run-time module is gskkm.rte.

    The following space is required for the IBM HTTP Server product:

    110 MB for the /opt/IBMIHS directory

    The IBM HTTP Server product requires this space.

    25 MB for the /opt/ibm/gsk7 directory

    The run-time module is gsk7bas.i386.rpm for Linux distributed platforms and gsk7bas.s390.rpm for Linux for S/390 platforms.

    The following space is required for the IBM WAS Clients:

    150 MB for the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppClient directory

    The amount of space required to install the application clients is actually less than 150 MB. The amount of space depends on the clients that you install as features.

    Attention:

    The following space is required for the Application Server Toolkit:

    550 MB maximum for the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AST directory

    The Application Server Toolkit does not include an integrated test environment.

    Install the WebSphere Application Server product to create a test environment.

    Install the WAS Network Deployment product and configure an application server to create a test environment.

    The Installation wizard for each component displays required space on the confirmation panel before you install the product files and selected features. The Installation wizard also warns you if you do not have enough space to install the product.

    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 application objects:

    • For V4.0.x: The size of EAR files

    • For V5.0.x: The size of EAR files

  7. Verify that prerequisites and corequisites are at the required release levels.

    Although the Installation wizard checks for prerequisite operating system patches with the prereqChecker application, review the prerequisites on the IBM WAS supported hardware, software, and APIs Web site if you have not already done so.

    Refer to the documentation for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to migrate to their supported versions.

  8. Provide necessary prerequisites for Red Hat Enterprise Linux V3.0. A known limitation exists in the prerequisites checker program when examining prerequisite packages on Linux systems.

    You must install the following packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux V3.0 for xSeries platforms:

    • compat-gcc-7.3-2.96.122

    • compat-libstdc++-7.3-2.96.122

    • compat-libstdc++-devel-7.3-2.96.122

    • compat-glibc-7.x-2.2.4.32.5

    • compat-gcc-c++-7.3-2.96.122

    • compat-db-4.0.14-5

    • rpm-build-4.2.1-4.2

    The following package is required for Red Hat Enterprise Linux V3.0 for pSeries platforms: rpm-build-4.2.1-4.2.

    You must install the following packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux V3.0 for S/390 (z/VM and VM/ESA) platforms:

    • compat-db-4.0.14-5

    • compat-pwdb-0.62-3

    • compat-libstdc++-7.2-2.95.3.77

    • rpm-build-4.2.1-4.2

    We can install a later release of any of these packages.

  9. Upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux V3.0 to service level 2 (update 2) or service level 3 (update 3).

    Upgrade the RHEL 3.0 service level by downloading and installing the service updates from Red Hat.

    If you do not upgrade the service level, certain national language issues in the released version of GLIBC included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux V3 might cause Java virtual machine (JVM) failures due to segmentation faults. These failures can occur during installation when the locale is set to anything other than an English locale.

    Do not install, log off, and log back on when you are installing from the operator console attached to the machine. This can produce segmentation faults that cause the installation to fail, as described in Troubleshooting the installation.

  10. Prepare the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.0 - Powered by UnitedLinux 1.0 operating platform for WAS installation.

    1. Install SP3 for the United Linux 1.0 operating platform to let you use the Launchpad.

      It is your responsibility to install this service pack. The prereqChecker function of the installer cannot detect service pack versions definitively on United Linux. Kernel unames and versions between 8.0 and 8.0.3 are identical. No signature RPM denotes a service pack install.

    2. Use the IBM Developer Kit that WAS provides to support the Java 2 SDK on the SuSE SLES 8.0 operating system to avoid potential problems when uninstalling an interim fix or a fix pack. To use the IBM Developer Kit, remove the java2-jre-1.3.1-524 and java2-1.3.1-524 RPMs from the machine before installing WebSphere Application Server.

  11. Correct font problems on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.0 in Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese locales.

    On the Linux for Power platform that SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.0 provides, a missing package causes a font problem. The ttf-hanyi package is not installed during the normal product installation of the SuSE 8.0 operating system. The missing package causes the Installation wizard for WAS products to display garbled characters in the Simplified Chinese locale and in the Traditional Chinese locale.

    Copy the ttf-hanyi-2021016-0.noarch.rpm package on the SuSE 8.0 for i386 CD to the Power PC system. Install the package on the Power PC machine and reboot the machine to solve the problem.

  12. 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.

    1. Type which cp at the command prompt before running the installation program for the WAS product.

    2. 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.

    3. Install the WAS product.

    4. 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 install_root/java directory.

    Missing files can destroy required symbolic links. If you remove the freeware cp command from the PATH, install the Application Server product successfully.

    Perform the following step to verify that the Java 2 SDK is working correctly.

  13. Verify that the Java 2 SDK on your copy of the product CD is functioning correctly.

    If you created your own product CD from an ISO image or by copying the actual CD, perform the following steps to verify that the Java 2 SDK on the product CD-ROM is working correctly.

    1. Change directories to the /mnt/JDK/repository/prereq.jdk/java/bin directory on the product CD-ROM. For example 

      cd /mnt/JDK/repository/prereq.jdk/java/bin

    2. Verify the Java 2 SDK version. Type the following command 

      ./java -version

      The command completes successfully with no errors when the Java 2 SDK is intact.

 

Result

This procedure results in preparing the operating system for installing the product.

 

What to do next

After preparing the operating system for installation, install the WAS product.

See Preparing to install Network Deployment on a Linux system for the next step in the overall procedure, which is selecting the type of installation to perform.