Install and uninstall Liberty on distributed operating systems

IBM Installation Manager is a common installer for many IBM software products. We can use IBM Installation Manager Version 1.8.5 or later to install and manage the product lifecycle of WebSphere Application Server Liberty. Through version 19.0.0.8, the minimum acceptable version of IBM Installation Manager is 1.8.5. The minimum acceptable version of IBM Installation Manager for installing Liberty is 1.9.0 or later.

Installation Manager is a single installation program that can use remote or local software flat-file repositories to install, modify, or update WebSphere Application Server products. It determines and shows available packages - including products, fix packs, interim fixes, and so on - checks prerequisites and interdependencies, and installs the selected packages. We also use Installation Manager to easily uninstall the packages that it installed.

Important:

Java SE 21 is the recommended Java SDK because it provides the latest features and security updates. As an alternative to installing Java SE 21, we can install another supported Java SDK version. Liberty runs on any of the Java SE versions that are listed in the Java SE versions column of the Supported Java Releases table on the Open Liberty website.

  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 8 is October 2026, fix pack 26.0.0.10.
  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 11 is October 2027, fix pack 27.0.0.10.
  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 17 is October 2027, fix pack 27.0.0.10.
  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 21 is October 2029, fix pack 29.0.0.10.

Because Java SE 24 is not a Long-Term-Support (LTS) version of Java, Liberty will not support Java SE 24 after the next version of Java SE is supported.

See Removal notices.


Overview of IBM Installation Manager

IBM Installation Manager is a general-purpose software installation and update tool that runs on a range of computer systems. Installation Manager can be invoked through a command-line interface. We can also create response files in XML and use them to direct the performance of Installation Manager tasks in silent mode.

See IBM Installation Manager product documentation.


Packages and package groups

Each software product that can be installed with Installation Manager is referred to as a package. An installed package has a product level and an installation location. A package group consists of all of the products installed at a single location.

We only need to run Installation Manager on those systems on which we install or update product code. We normally need only one Installation Manager on a system because one Installation Manager can keep track of any number of product installations.


Install Installation Manager

When the installation kit is available on the system, we can create an Installation Manager. An Installation Manager consists of a set of binaries that are copied from the installation kit and a set of runtime data that describe the products that have been installed by this particular Installation Manager. Before creating an Installation Manager, we must decide in which mode the Installation Manager will run as well as where the binaries and runtime data - called agent data or appdata - will reside. Then, you issue the Installation Manager installation command from the appropriate user ID to create the Installation Manager.


Access product repositories

All software materials that will be installed with IBM Installation Manager are stored in repositories. Each repository contains program objects and metadata for one or more packages - that is, software products at a particular level. Repositories can also contain product maintenance, such as fix packs and interim fixes. Whenever we install a new product, we can choose from any of the available product levels in any accessible repository.

Note: When installing an offering using Installation Manager with local repositories, the installation takes a significantly longer amount of time if we use a compressed repository file directly without extracting it. Before we install an offering using local repositories, extract the compressed repository file to a location on the local system before using Installation Manager to access it.

Important: Do not transfer the content of a repository in non-binary mode and do not convert any content on extraction.


Install the product

After we have created an Installation Manager and have access to all necessary product repositories, we can use Installation Manager command-line commands or response files to perform the actual product installations. When installing a product, you provide the package name, optionally the product level to be installed, the product location, and any other optional properties. For example, some products have optional features we can select at installation time or a list of optional supported language packs from which we can select.


Working with installed products

We can use Installation Manager commands to list installed products and product levels. We can also obtain this information for installed copies of WebSphere Application Server Liberty by issuing the versionInfo command from the product file system. We can use Installation Manager commands or response files to install a new product level, roll back to a previous level, or modify the product by adding or removing optional features or language packs.

Tip: Different users can use Liberty using two different methods.

  1. Install a new Liberty instance for each user. Each Liberty installation is a new user profile.

  2. Create multiple servers with different users. Each user should be part of a group that has access to the wlp directory and java_home used.

If we use option two, run the command to create the server as the user who will run the server and create the server in the user's home directory. If we are using Linux, the command is similar to su user1 export WLP_USER_DIR=/home/user1 server create Server1.

Set WLP_USER_DIR in the user's shell profile makes it easy to ensure that all Liberty commands act on the correct user directory.

If we have a beta version of WebSphere Application Server Liberty installed, uninstall it before installing this version.


Install WebSphere Application Server Liberty using Installation Manager

Prepare the system as described in Obtaining installation media and install Installation Manager for Liberty.

Install using one of the following procedures

  1. Install Liberty on distributed operating systems using the GUI or console-mode
  2. Install Liberty on distributed operating systems using the command line
  3. Install Liberty on distributed operating systems using response files
  4. Uninstall Liberty from distributed operating systems using the GUI
  5. Uninstall Liberty from distributed operating systems using the command line
  6. Uninstall Liberty from distributed operating systems using response files


Logging and tracing

  • An easy way to view the logs is to open Installation Manager and go to File > View Log. An individual log file can be opened by selecting it in the table and then clicking the Open log file icon.

  • Logs are located in the logs directory of Installation Manager's application data location. For example:

      /var/IBM/InstallationManager
      /path/to/user_home/var/ibm/InstallationManager

  • The main log files are time-stamped XML files in the logs directory, and they can be viewed using any standard web browser.

  • The log.properties file in the logs directory specifies the level of logging or tracing that Installation Manager uses.


Troubleshooting

  • HP-UX: When attempting to launch Installation Manager from a DVD that was mounted using the CD-ROM file system (CDFS), it might fail to launch and point to a log file containing an exceptions similar to one of the following:

      java.util.zip.ZipException: Exception in opening zip file: org.osgi.framework.BundleException: Exception in org.eclipse.update.internal.configurator.ConfigurationActivator.start() or bundle org.eclipse.update.configurator.

    This issue might be caused by Installation Manager reaching the upper limit of number of descriptors that can be opened on a CDFS-mounted device. This upper limit is determined by the value for the tunable kernel parameter ncdnode, which specifies the maximum number of CDFS nodes that can be in memory at any given time. To resolve the problem, change the ncdnode system kernel setting to 250. If the problem persists, increase the setting.

  • HP-UX: By default, some HP-UX systems are configured to not use DNS to resolve host names. This could result in Installation Manager not being able to connect to an external repository. We can ping the repository, but nslookup does not return anything. Work with the system administrator to configure the machine to use DNS, or use the IP address of the repository.

  • To bypass existing checking mechanisms in Installation Manager.

    • On some network file systems, disk space might not be reported correctly at times; and we might need to bypass disk-space checking and proceed with the installation. To bypass disk-space checking, add...

        cic.override.disk.space=true

      ...to...

        IM_install_root/eclipse/configuration/config.ini

      ...and restart Installation Manager.

    • To bypass operating-system prerequisite checking, add...

        disableOSPrereqChecking=true

      ...to...

        IM_install_root/eclipse/configuration/config.ini

      ...and restart Installation Manager.

    • Contact IBM Support for assistance in developing a solution that does not involve bypassing the Installation Manager checking mechanisms.

  • Review: IBM Installation Manager product documentation.

  • If a fatal error occurs when you try to install the offering, take the following steps:

    1. Make a backup copy of the current installation directory in case IBM support needs to review it later.

    2. Use Installation Manager to uninstall everything that we have installed under the installation location (package group). We might run into errors, but they can be safely ignored.

    3. Delete everything that remains in the installation directory.

    4. Use Installation Manager to reinstall the offering to the same location or to a new one.


Subtopics


Parent topic: Install Liberty using Installation Manager