Prepare Linux systems for installation

 

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Overview

The installation uses an ISMP wizard which can be used in graphical or silent mode.

Silent mode is a command line invocation with a parameter that identifies an options response file which should be edited before installing.

Non-root installation support is introduced in V6.1, for both the Installation wizard and for silent installations.

If you encounter a problem such as needing more temporary space or missing prerequisite packages on your OS, cancel the installation, make the required changes, and restart the installation.

Preparing the OS involves such changes as...

  • Allocating disk space
  • Installing patches to the OS

IBM tests WAS products on each OS platform. Such tests verify whether an OS change is required for WAS products to run correctly. Without the required changes, WAS products do not run correctly.

Specific Linux distros might require additional steps. If your distro is not listed in this topic, but is supported by WAS, check for any post-release technical notes available for your OS. If a technical note is not available for your distro, additional steps might not be required.

When additional steps are required, it is typically because a default installation of the distro does not provide required libraries or OS features. If you install WAS on a customized Linux installation that has installed packages which differ significantly from the packages provided by a default installation of the distro, ensure that your customized installation has the packages required for WAS to run. WAS does not maintain lists of the packages required for each Linux distro or for updates to each distro.

For WAS to run adequately, the Linux installation must have the following items:

  • Kernel and C runtime library
  • Current and all compatibility versions of the C++ runtime library
  • X Windows libraries and runtime
  • GTK runtime libraries

 

Procedure

  1. Log on to the OS.

    You can log on as root or as a non-root installer.

    Select a umask that allows the owner to read/write to the files, and allows others to access them according to the prevailing system policy. For root, a umask of 022 is recommended. For non-root users a umask of 002 or 022 can be used, depending on whether the users share the group. To verify the umask setting,...

    umask

    To set the umask setting to 022,...

    umask 022

  2. Download and install the Mozilla Firefox Web browser so that you can use the launchpad application on the product disc and the Gnome and KDE shortcut menu entries for WAS ND.

    Note that it might be necessary to run...

    >firefox &url

    ...from directories other than the one where Firefox is installed, so ensure that Firefox is in the path. You can add a symbolic link...

    >cd /opt/bin
    >ln -s /locationToFirefox/firefox firefox

     

  3. Optional: Export the location of the supported browser.

    Export the location of the supported browser using a command that identifies the actual location of the browser. For example, if the Mozilla package is in...

    /opt/bin/mozilla

    ...use the following command...

    export BROWSER=/opt/bin/mozilla

  4. Stop all WAS-related Java processes on the machine where you are installing the product.

  5. Stop any Web server process such as the IBM HTTP Server.

  6. Provide adequate disk space.

    • WAS ND requires 730 MB for...

      /opt/IBM/WAS/AppServer

    • Profiles require 40 MB of temp space in addition to the following space requirements:

      • 30 MB for the Deployment manager profile

        This size does not include space for Sample applications that you might install. The size also does not include space for applications that you might deploy.

      • 200 MB for an Application Server profile with the Sample applications

        This size does not include space for applications that you might develop and install.

      • 10 MB for an unfederated custom profile

        This size does not include space for applications that you might develop and install. The requirement does include space for the node agent. However, federate a custom profile to create an operational managed node.

        After federating a custom profile, the resulting managed node contains a functional node agent only. Use the deployment manager to create server processes on the managed node.

      • 100 MB for...

        /tmp

        The temporary directory is the working directory for the installation program.

      • 830 MB total requirement

        This amount is the total space requirement when installing the product from the disc and when not installing service. Installing profiles requires more space.

    • IBM HTTP Server requires 110 MB for...

      /opt/IBM/HTTPServer
      ...and 25 MB for...

      /opt/ibm/gsk7

      IBM Global Security Kit requires...

      Linux distributed gsk7bas.i386.rpm
      Linux for S/390 gsk7bas.s390.rpm

    • Web server plug-ins for WAS requires 200 MB for...

      /opt/IBM/WAS/plugins

      ...and 25 MB for...

      /opt/ibm/gsk7

    • IBM Global Security Kit requires runtime module gskkm.rte.

    • IBM WAS Clients require 150 MB for...

      /app_client_root

      The amount of space required to install the application clients is actually less than 150 MB. The amount of space depends on the clients that you install as features.

    • Update Installer requires 200 MB for...

      /opt/IBM/WAS/UpdateInstaller

    • Application Server Toolkit requires 550 MB maximum for...

      /opt/IBM/WAS/AST

      The Application Server Toolkit does not include an integrated test environment.

      Install the WAS ND product and configure an appserver to create a test environment.

    The installation wizard for each component displays required space on the confirmation panel before you install the product files and selected features. The installation wizard also warns you if you do not have enough space to install the product.

    If you plan to migrate applications and the configuration from a previous version, verify that the application objects have enough disc space. As a rough guideline, plan for space equal to 110 percent of the size of the application objects:

    • For V4.0.x: The size of enterprise archive (EAR) files

    • For V5.0.x: The size of EAR files

  7. Verify that prerequisites and corequisites are at the required release levels.

    Although the installation wizard checks for prerequisite OS patches with the prereqChecker application, also review the prerequisites online.

    Refer to the documentation for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to migrate to their supported versions.

  8. Increase the ulimit setting in the bash command shell profile to prevent addNode and importWasprofile problems.

    • The addNode command script can fail when adding a node

    • The importWasprofile command can fail when importing a configuration archive

    Set a higher ulimit setting for the kernel in the bash shell profile script...

    1. cd ~
    2. vi .bashrc
    3. ulimit -n 8192

  9. Restore the original copy of the etc/issue file if the file is modified.

    The prereqChecker program in the installation wizard uses the file to verify the version of the OS. If you cannot restore the original version, ignore the message...

    Operating System Level Check

    The installation can continue successfully despite the warning.

  10. Verify the system cp command when using emacs or other freeware. If you have emacs or other freeware installed on the OS, verify that the system cp command is used.

    1. Type...

      which cp

      ...at the command prompt before running the installation program for the WAS product.

    2. Remove the freeware directory from the PATH if the resulting directory output includes freeware. For example, assume that the output is similar to the following message:

      .../freeware/bin/cp

      If so, remove the directory from the PATH.

    3. Install the WAS product.

    4. Add the freeware directory back to the PATH.

    If you install with a cp command that is part of a freeware package, the installation might appear to complete successfully, but the Java 2 SDK that the product installs might have missing files in...

    app_server_root/java

    Missing files can destroy required symbolic links. If you remove the freeware cp command from the PATH, you can install the Application Server product successfully.

  11. Complete any distro-specific set up.

    Complete the steps for your distro:

    If you are using a supported distro other than those listed above, examine the WAS support site for any technical notes that are published for your distro. If technical notes have been published, apply the fixes.

  12. Verify that the Java 2 SDK on the installation image disc is functioning correctly, if you created your own disc.

    For example, you might have downloaded an installation image from Passport Advantage, or you might have copied an installation image onto a backup disc. In either case, perform the following steps to verify that the disc contains a valid Java 2 software development kit (SDK).

    1. Change directories to...

      /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin

      ...on the product CD-ROM or DVD. For example...

      cd /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin

    2. Verify the Java 2 SDK version...

      ./java -version

      The command completes successfully with no errors when the Java 2 SDK is intact.

  13. Grant a non-root installer ID the correct file permissions to create menu entries in Gnome and KDE.

    Before the installation, the root user can grant write permission to the non-root installer for...

    /etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged

    Then the Installation wizard creates the menu entries during the non-root installation.

    Otherwise, run scripts to create and remove the menu entries while WAS ND is installed.

 

What to do next

Install the WAS product.

Install Linux packages
Prepare Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 for installation
Prepare Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for installation
Prepare SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 for installation
Prepare SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for installation

 

Related tasks

Prepare to install ND on a Linux system
Prepare the OS for product installation