Manually uninstalling on a Linux system

This procedure uninstalls a WAS product from a Linux system. After running the uninstaller program, manual steps remove log files and registry entries that can prevent you from reinstalling the product into the original directory. If you are not planning to reinstall, do not uninstall manually.

 

Before you begin

The uninstaller program removes all profiles, including all of the configuration data and applications in each profile. Before you start the uninstall procedure, back up the config folder, the installableApps folder, and the installedApps folder of each profile, if necessary. See Using command line tools for a description of managing configuration files. Back up all applications that are not stored in another location.

Determine the installation root directory for the product so that you remove the correct product and produce a clean system.

 

Overview

Reinstalling the product into a new directory when files remain from a previous installation can create a coexistence scenario. However, one can delete all files and registry entries to completely remove a WAS product. A clean system lets you reinstall the product into the original directory without coexistence.

Default directories are shown in the following planning table:

Identifier Directory Actual location
install_root /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer  
profiles_install_root /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles  
plug-ins_install_root /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins  
The Installation wizard and the Profile creation wizard let you specify your own locations for installation root directories. Examine the following files to determine the actual locations:

  • The ~/.WASRegistry file identifies the installation root for all installed WAS products.

  • The install_root/logs/wasprofile/wasprofile_create_profile.log file for each created profile identifies the installation location in the stanza with the <method>invokeWSProfile</method> tag.

Uninstalling the product leaves the profiles_root/profile directory with the pctLog.txt file.

Perform the following procedure to produce a clean system.

 

Procedure

  1. Log on as root.

  2. Run the uninstaller program for the Web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server.

    If a Web server is configured to run with the application server, uninstall the plug-ins to remove the configuration from the Web server. See Uninstalling the Web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server.

  3. Issue the uninstall command.

    If you have already run the uninstaller program or if one cannot run the uninstaller program, simply skip this step.

    install_root/_uninst/uninstall
    

    See the description of the uninstall command for more information.

    The Uninstaller wizard begins and displays the Welcome panel.

  4. Use the kill command to kill all Java processes that are running.

    If running Java processes are not related to WAS products and it is not possible to stop them, stop all WAS product-related processes. Use the following command to determine all processes that are running

    ps -ef | grep java
    
    Stop all WebSphere Application Server-related processes with the kill -9 java_pid_1 java_pid_2...java_pid_n command.

  5. Search for related packages. Issue the following command to show packages for the WebSphere Application Server products

    rpm -qa | grep WS
    

    For example, after issuing the command, the following list of packages might display

    WSBAA60CoreRuntimeComponent-6.0-0
    WSBAA60LicenseComponent-6.0-0
    WSBAA60JavadocsComponent-6.0-0
    WSBAA60NDOnlyComponent-6.0-0
    WSBAA60AddBytesNonHP-6.0-0
    WSBAA60LicensingComponent-6.0-0
    WSBAA60SamplesComponent-6.0-0
    WSPAA60
    WSPAA60DefineglobalconstantsComponent
    WSPAA60DefinelocalvariablesComponent
    WSPAA60LicensingComponent
    WSPAA60Webserverplugins
    WSPAA60WebserverpluginsComponent
    WSPAA60AddBytes
    WSPAA60gskit
    WSPAA60gskitComponent
    

    Do not remove packages for WebSphere Application Server products that you are not uninstalling. Version 6 package names have a prefix of WSB or WSP and a suffix of 60. WSC package names do not have a suffix of 60.

  6. If there are packages to delete, type rpm -e packagename to remove any packages for the product that you are uninstalling.

    Alternatively, one can search for packages to verify that everything in the list is something to delete

    rpm -qa | grep WS
    

    If the list contains packages that you intend to delete and no others, remove all of the packages with the following command

    rpm -qa | grep WS | xargs rpm -e
    

    If there is a problem with package dependencies, use the following command to remove the packages

    rpm -e packagename --nodeps --justdb
    
    

    The nodeps option skips the dependency check. The justdb option updates only the package database, and not the file system. Using only the nodeps option can cause a failure in package removal if there is any mismatch in the dependent file system (files and directories).

  7. Type rm -rf /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/ to remove WAS directories in the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer installation root. Do not remove installation root directories for products that you intend to keep. Remove all of the profile directories as well.

  8. Edit the .WASRegistry file.

    The file location is the home directory, ~/.WASRegistry.

    The .WASRegistry file contains a one-line entry for each WAS product installation.

    You can delete the file if there is just one line that identifies the product that you are removing. Otherwise, use a flat-file editor to remove the line that identifies the installation root directory of the product that you are removing. Leave the other lines intact. Do not delete the .WASRegistry file unless you are removing all of the installations listed in the file.

    The following example shows a .WASRegistry file for a system with five installations:

    /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
    /opt/IBM/P1/AppServer
    /opt/V6/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
    /opt/P2/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
    /opt/P3/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
    

 

Result

This procedure results in having a clean system. We can reinstall into the same directories now. A clean system has no trace of a previously deleted installation.

 

What to do next

Go to Task overview: Installing to begin planning a new installation.