Before creating a customized installation package (CIP), set up
the Installation Factory on your system.
Setting up the Installation Factory
To
set up the Installation Factory on your system, perform the followings tasks:
- Download the code from the download page for the IBM Installation Factory
for WebSphere Application Server.
Download the code to the same type
of operating system for which you intend to build a CIP. For example, download
the code to a Windows system if you intend to create a CIP for a Windows system.
Download to a Linux system to create a CIP for a Linux system.
- Unpack the code.
Creating a build definition
Before creating a CIP,
first create a build definition for the CIP. The build definition
is an XML document that defines how the Installation Factory is to customize
the WAS product. The Installation Factory graphical
user interface (GUI) is the easiest way to create a build definition. Launch
the GUI with the ifgui command from the bin directory. You
can save a build definition and use it to generate the CIP directly from the
GUI. Alternately, we can pass the build definition to the command-line interface
through an option on the ifcli command. The alternate approach is useful
when you want to create the build definition interactively on one machine
using the GUI, but then generate the CIP in batch mode, perhaps on a different
machine, and perhaps as part of some larger automated process.
Creating and using a CIP
The overall procedure for
creating and using a CIP is:
- Gather all of the components that you intend to include in the CIP.
Optional
assets can include any of the following components:
- Maintenance packages
- Scripts or Java classes
- Enterprise archive (EAR) files for applications that you intend to deploy
with default deployment options on stand-alone application server profiles
- A configuration archive (CAR) file for cloning a stand-alone application
server profile in the CIP from a previously installed and customized stand-alone
application server
- Additional files (that might include EAR files that you intend to deploy
with customized options included in a script, for example)
The only required asset is the installation image, which is either
the product disc or a downloaded image from the Passport Advantage site.
Make
all of the assets available on the machine where you intend to create your
CIP (which might be a different machine from the one where you create the
build definition.
- Use the Installation Factory console (bin/ifgui)
to create the build definition file. See the ifgui command
for
more information.
Clicking the New build definition icon
starts
the Build Definition wizard. See the Build Definition wizard panels
for
more information.
- Use the option in the GUI to create the CIP if all of the components for
the CIP are available for the GUI operating system platform.
- Or, copy the build definition file to a machine running the target operating
system and use the command-line invocation tool (bin/ifcli) to launch
the processing engine that creates the CIP on the target operating system.
The ifcli command
creates CIPs for all supported operating systems. The ifcli command
runs on a subset of the operating system platforms that the ifcli tool supports.
Therefore, you might have to copy the build definition to the processing engine
machine.
See the ifcli command
for more information.
- Install the CIP using the InstallShield for Multiplatforms (ISMP) Installation
wizard. Panels in the CIP Installation wizard vary according to the product
that you are installing. For example, the Installation wizard for a CIP for
a WAS product is based on the Installation wizard
for WAS V6.x.
Related information
Developing and installing customized installation packages
Installation Factory overview
ifgui command
Build Definition wizard
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