Verifying checksums of installed files
After installing the product or after installing maintenance packages, use the installation verification utility (IVU) to compute checksums of the installed file set to verify the checksum against the checksum in the product bill of materials.
Before you begin
Installing the product also installs the IVU, which is the installver command-line tool.
The installation verification utility is new as of the v6.2 level, which means that install Refresh Pack 2 for v6 of WAS Network Deployment for some operating system platforms, to install the IVU. Only a few operating system platforms were new as of v6.2 and thus, have their own installation disc at the v6.2 level. Refresh Pack 2 is required for all of the other platforms. See Installing V6.0.2 WebSphere Application Server for more information.
About this task
This topic describes using the installver command to compute a checksum on the installed files and compare the checksum to the product bill of materials.
We can also use the IVU to compute a new checksum for a system after you make significant configuration changes. The installver tool computes a new baseline checksum for each file in the inventory of a configured system to use to identify file changes in the later comparisons. Such a comparison is useful for detecting file tampering on the configured system, for example.
Although the most common use of the tool is to compare the product bill of materials to the installed file set after installation or after installing maintenance, other tasks are also possible.
Procedure
- Verify the installed files against the bill of materials.
See Verifying against the bill of materials for more information.
- Create and use a new baseline checksum.
See Computing a new baseline checksum for an inventory of configured files for more information.
- Exclude files and components from the comparison.
See Excluding files from a checksum comparison for more information.
- Include only specific files and components in the comparison.
See Comparing specific file and component checksums for more information.
- Change the default message digest algorithm for computing checksums.
See Changing the default message digest algorithm for more information.
- Handle out-of-memory conditions.
See Handling out-of-memory situations for more information.
- Verify the installver command files.
See Verifying the installver command for more information.
Results
When you are satisfied that your installed or updated file set matches the product bill of materials, you are finished installing and verifying the product or updating and verifying the product.
IBM Support has documents and tools that can save you time gathering information needed to resolve problems. If you detect a problem, before opening a problem report see if the problem is a known problem by checking the Support page:
What to do next
After verifying your installation, we can create profiles or deploy an application on an existing application server profile.
After installing, updating, and verifying, the next step is to use the product. If you created a stand-alone application server or a cell, start the application server, or the deployment manager, nodeagent, and federated application server, to use the administrative console to deploy an existing application. See Fast paths for WebSphere Application Server for more information.
If you have not yet created a cell profile, a deployment manager profile, or a stand-alone application server profile, go to Creating profiles through the graphical user interface to see how to create a profile.
See also
Verifying against the bill of materials
Computing a new baseline checksum for an inventory of configured files
Excluding files from a checksum comparison
Comparing specific file and component checksums
Changing the default message digest algorithm
Handling out-of-memory situations
Verifying the installver command
verifyinstallver command
installver command
Related concepts
Troubleshooting help from IBM Related tasks
Using the installation verification tools