Install silently

This topic describes how to perform a silent installation of the product.

 

Before you begin

This is one of the installation paths available for any platform. Other installation paths include:

• Installing Network Deployment

• Installing additional features on an existing Network Deployment installation

Select the appropriate installation path before you begin the installation.

Before starting the silent installation, see Using the launchpad to start the installation for information about the Installation solutions diagrams. The diagrams show typical topologies for the product. The solutions are also in Planning the installation (diagrams).

 

Overview

Use this procedure to perform a silent installation of the WAS Network Deployment product.

A silent installation uses the Installation wizard to install the product in silent mode, without the graphical user interface. Instead of displaying a wizard interface, the silent installation causes the installation program to read all of your responses from a file that you provide.

 

Procedure

1. Log on as root on a Linux or UNIX operating system, or as a member of the administrator group on a Windows system.

   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
   

   Some steps of the installation on a Windows platform require the administrator group user to have the following advanced user rights:

   • Act as part of the operating system

   • Log on as a service

   For example, on some Windows systems, click Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > User Rights Assignments to see the advanced options. See your Windows documentation for more information.

   The installation wizard grants your Windows user ID the advanced user rights, if the user ID belongs to the administrator group. The silent installation does not grant these rights. If you create a new user ID on a Windows platform to perform a silent installation, restart the system to activate the proper authorizations for the user ID before you can perform a successful silent installation.

   When installing the WAS as a Windows service, do not use a user ID that contains spaces. A user ID with spaces cannot be validated. Such a user ID is not allowed to continue the installation. To work around this problem, install with a user ID that does not contain spaces, or do not choose to install Windows services.

2. Copy the response file as myoptionsfile to your disk drive and customize it, as described in Customizing the options response file for Network Deployment.

   The name of the original file is responsefile.nd.txt.

   You must also create a profile for the Network Deployment product to create an operational environment. We can create a deployment manager profile, an application server profile, or a custom profile that becomes a managed node when you add the node into a deployment manager cell.

   We can create a profile silently by customizing the profile options response file for the profile that you intend to create. The names of the original profile response files are:

   • Deployment manager profile: responsefile.pct.NDdmgrProfile.txt

   • Application server profile: responsefile.pct.NDstandAloneProfile.txt

   • Custom profile: responsefile.pct.NDmanagedProfile.txt

   .

   Do not add an options line to any of the profile creation response files that includes the following parameter

   -silent
   

   The -silent parameter is not required. If it exists in any of the files, the file cannot create a profile during a silent product installation. If you use the Profile creation wizard in silent mode, the additional parameter does not affect the creation of a profile. However, when the silent installation of the Network Deployment product attempts to call a silent profile response file, the parameter prevents the creation of the profile.

3. Issue the proper command to use your custom response file. For example, issue one of the following commands:

   • mnt_cdrom/WAS/install -options /tmp/WAS/myoptionsfile.txt -silent

   • "CD_drive_D:\WAS\install" -options "C:\temp\WAS\myoptionsfile.txt" -silent

   We can find the sample options response file in the WAS directory on the product CD.

 

Result

The Installation wizard and the Profile creation wizard record installation events in the following log files:

Log files for WebSphere Application Server products: The following table shows the installation logs, content, and indicators of success and failure for WAS products for V6.

Table 1. Installation and profile creation logs for WAS products

Log	Content	Indicators
install_root/logs/log.txt	Logs all installation events	INSTCONFFAIL Total installation failure. INSTCONFSUCCESS Successful installation. INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS Installation errors occurred but the installation is still usable. Additional information identifies the errors.
install_root/logs/wasprofile/wasprofile_create_profile.log	Traces all events that occur during the creation of the named profile Created when using the Profile creation wizard or the wasprofile command	INSTCONFFAIL Total profile creation failure. INSTCONFSUCCESS Successful profile creation. INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS Profile creation errors occurred but the profile is still functional. Additional information identifies the errors.
install_root/logs/wasprofile/wasprofile_delete_profile.log	Traces all events that occur during the deletion of the named profile Created when using the Profile creation wizard or the wasprofile command	INSTCONFFAIL Total profile deletion failure. INSTCONFSUCCESS Successful profile deletion. INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS Profile deletion errors occurred but the profile is still deleted. Additional information identifies the errors.
install_root/profiles/profile/logs/pctLog.txt	Logs all profile creation events that occur when using the Profile creation wizard	INSTCONFFAIL Total profile creation failure. INSTCONFSUCCESS Successful profile creation. INSTCONFPARTIALSUCCESS Profile creation errors occurred but the profile is still functional. Additional information identifies the errors.

Log more information when InstallShield for MultiPlatforms (ISMP) cannot start the Installation wizard.

Verify or troubleshoot the installation if the install_root/logs/log.txt file or the profiles_install_root/profile/logs/pctLog.txt file does not contain a record of any problems, but problems exist. If the profiles_install_root/profile directory exists, the pctLog.txt file is in the logs directory. If the error happens early in the installation, look for the logs in the system temporary area. The installation program copies the logs from the system temporary area to the logs directory at the end of the installation.

If the profiles_install_root/profile directory does not exist, the pctLog.txt file is in the USER_HOME directory and is named .$~pctLog.txt. Issue the env command to display the USER_HOME directory on Linux and UNIX systems. See the environment variable settings on Windows system to display the value of the variable.

Certain events can prevent ISMP from starting the Installation wizard. Such an event is not enough disk space to launch the Installation wizard, for example. If your installation fails and there is no information in the installation logs, use the -log parameter to record entries for events that cause the ISMP program to fail to start the installation wizard. The syntax of the install command for logging such events is

install  -options fully_qualified_options_response_file_name               
         -silent
         -log # !fully_qualified_log_file_name  @ALL 

The following example is for AIX systems:

install -options "/usr/IBM/WebSphere/silentFiles/myresponsefile.txt" 
        -silent -log # !/usr/IBM/WebSphere/myOptionFiles/log.txt  @ALL

The following example is for Linux systems, HP-UX systems, and Solaris systems:

install -options "/opt/IBM/WebSphere/silentFiles/myresponsefile.txt" 
        -silent -log # !/opt/IBM/WebSphere/myOptionFiles/log.txt  @ALL

The following example is for Windows systems:

install.exe -options "C:\IBM\WebSphere\silentFiles\myresponsefile.txt" 
            -silent -log # !C:\IBM\WebSphere\silentFiles\log.txt  @ALL

Attention:

The following examples show how to use the -log parameter when creating a deployment manager profile.

pctAIX.bin
  -options /usr/IBM/WebSphere/silentFiles/responsefile.pct.NDstandAloneProfile.txt
  -silent        
  -log # !/usr/IBM/WebSphere/silentFiles/pctlog.txt @ALL