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Manually uninstalling on an AIX system

 

Uninstall a WAS product from an AIX system by running the uninstaller program and performing some manual steps to remove log files and registry entries. Such registry entries can prevent you from reinstalling the product into the original directory. If you are not planning to reinstall, you do not have to uninstall manually.

The uninstaller program removes all profiles by default, 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, or use the -OPT removeProfilesOnUninstall="false" parameter on the uninstall command. See Use 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, you 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
app_server_root /usr/IBM/WAS/AppServer  
profile_root /usr/IBM/WAS/AppServer/profiles  
plugins_root /usr/IBM/WAS/Plugins  

The installation wizard and the Profile Management tool provide an override for your own locations for root directories.

Use the installRegistryUtils command to examine the installation locations for all installed WebSphere Application Server products.

Perform the following procedure to produce a clean system.

 

Procedure

  1. Log on as the same user ID who installed the product.

  2. Use the kill command to kill all Java processes 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 running: 

    ps -ef | grep java
    Stop all WAS-related processes with thekill command. 

    kill -9 java_pid_1 java_pid_2...java_pid_n

  3. Run the uninstaller program for the Web server plug-ins for WAS.

    If a Web server is configured to run with the appserver, uninstall the plug-ins to remove the configuration from the Web server. See Uninstall the Web server plug-ins for WAS.

  4. Issue the uninstall command.

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

    app_server_root/uninstall/uninstall

    See the description of the uninstall command for more information.

    The Uninstaller wizard begins and displays the Welcome panel.

  5. List WAS components that are installed. Type the following command to search for related packages: 

    lslpp -l| grep -i WS

    Do not remove packages for WebSphere Application Server products that you are not uninstalling. V6.1 package names have a prefix of WSB or WSP and a suffix of 61. WSC package names do not have a suffix of 61.

  6. Change directories to the /usr/IBM directory, or the equivalent top directory of your install.

  7. Type rm -rf WebSphere to delete this WebSphere Application Server-related directory, but only if the AppServer directory is the only directory within the WebSphere directory. Delete the directory if the only products contained in the directory are products that you intend to delete.

  8. Use the installRegistryUtils command to examine the installation locations for all installed WebSphere Application Server products and remove the desired products from the install registry.

  9. Edit the vpd.properties file.

    The file is located in the root directory or in the /usr/lib/objrepos directory.

    Do not delete or rename the vpd.properties file because the InstallShield MultiPlatform (ISMP) program uses it for other products that it installs. If the WAS product that you are uninstalling is the only product with entries in the vpd.properties file, you can delete this file.

    At this point, it should be possible to reinstall WAS. If not, run the odmclean.sh and aixclean.sh scripts as described in the next step.

  10. Run the manual complete cleanup scripts on the WebSphere Application Server Support site. Obtain the scripts from the technote document titled, Manual complete cleanup scripts for WebSphere Application Server V5.0, V5.1, V6.0, and V6.1 on AIX and IBM HTTP Server V1.3, V2.0, V6.0, and V6.1 on AIX .

    Carefully review the technote and download one or both of the attached scripts. Note that one of the scripts is intended for cleaning WAS product entries, and the other script is intended for cleaning IBM HTTP Server product entries. The technote contains helpful reference information regarding WAS's use of the AIX ODM.

 

Results

This procedure results in having a clean system. You 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.

 

Related tasks


Uninstall manually

 

Related information


installRegistryUtils command