Install Liberty using downloaded archives

Overview

We can install Liberty by extracting an archive file on all supported platforms except z/OS.

The system must meet the operating system and Java requirements for using Liberty.

To use Liberty in a production environment with guaranteed service levels and IBM support requires purchase of one of the following:

  • WebSphere Application Server Base
  • WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core

Liberty is included with these editions, and can also be downloaded separately, as an edition-specific archive file, from Passport Advantage online. The associated service is available from Fix Central. If we install Liberty from an unsupported JAR or ZIP file, we can later purchase a supported edition and upgrade the license for the existing installation.


Installation archive files

File Content Passport Advantage Online IBM Fix Central
JAR files for installing a supported edition-specific Liberty runtime environment.

Example: wlp-nd-all-16.0.0.x.jar

Runtime: Edition-specific, fix pack 8.5.5.8 or later.
Features: All features that apply to that edition. 		✔ ✔
ZIP files for installing an unsupported Liberty runtime environment with a limited production license. Can be upgraded to a supported edition using the license upgrade JAR file.

Example: wlp-webProfile7-16.0.0.x.zip

Runtime: Fix pack 8.5.5.6 or later.
Features: Optional Java EE 7, Java EE 8, and Jakarta EE 10 feature sets
SDK. Optional IBM Java 8 SDK 		  ✔
JAR files for license upgrades:

  • Upgrade trial or unsupported editions to supported editions
  • Upgrade supported editions to other supported editions with more functions.

Example: wlp-nd-license.jar

No runtime environment or features ✔ ✔

On the z/OS operating system, Liberty can be installed only using Installation Manager.


Install Liberty

  1. Download the archive from one of the following sites.

  2. Extract the archive to your preferred directory. All the application server files are stored in subdirectories of the wlp directory.

  3. Optional: Set the JAVA_HOME for the environment.

    Liberty requires a Java runtime environment (JRE) or Java SDK in which to run. We can specify the Java SDK or JRE location using the JAVA_HOME property in the server.env file, as described in Liberty environment variables. When you set the JAVA_HOME property in the server.env file, Liberty uses the same Java runtime location regardless of the user profile that the Liberty server runs under.

    JAVA_HOME property as a system-level environment variable is not recommended. The IBM i platform is a shared environment, and changing system-level environment variables might affect other applications.

    On Linux or UNIX systems, we can instead set JAVA_HOME in the user .bashrc file, or append the JDK or JRE path to the PATH environment variable. On Windows systems, we can instead set JAVA_HOME as a system environment variable, or append the JDK or JRE path to the PATH system variable. For example, on Windows..

      JAVA_HOME=C:\Progra~1\Java\JDK8
      set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%

    The Liberty runtime environment searches for the java command in this order:

      JAVA_HOME, JRE_HOME, and PATH

    For more info, see Minimum supported Java levels.

We can install Liberty by running a self-extracting Java archive (JAR) file.

We can install Liberty and optional features by extracting a ZIP archive file. We can upgrade the edition or license of Liberty using a self-extracting Java archive (JAR) file. In version 17.0.0.2 and later, we can also apply a license archive to Liberty installations. We can apply a license archive to any version 8.5.5.8 and later. Liberty offers archive-based installation as an alternative to using IBM Installation Manager. If we installed Liberty using a self-extracting Java archive (JAR) file or a ZIP archive file and want to install an interim fix, we can apply an executable JAR file.


IBM i

Liberty on the IBM i platform uses the system-wide version of Java. To install Java on IBM i, follow these guidelines:

See Install Java on your IBM i server.


Parent topic: Install Liberty


Related information