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installver command

 

The installver command performs two main functions. The tool computes a checksum on the installed files and compares the checksum to the shipped bill of materials for the product. The installver command can also compute a new baseline checksum for each file in the inventory of a configured system to use to identify file changes in later comparisons.

 

Purpose

This topic describes the location of the command file, command syntax, and links to task information about using the tool.

The default log file is the app_server_root/logs/installver.log file. You can redirect the output using the -log parameter and an argument. Use the -log parameter without the file argument to generate the default log file.

Computing the checksum

The installver tool computes a checksum for each installed file in the product. The tool compares each computed checksum to the correct checksum for the file. The correct checksums are shipped in the bill-of-material files. One bill-of-materials file exists for each component.

The tool parses the bill-of-materials file for each component to find the correct checksum value for each file in the component. Each product file has an entry in some bill-of-materials file. The entry for a product file lists the product file path and the correct checksum value.

Shipped bill-of-material files

Each bill-of-materials file is named files.list. Each component has one files.list file. Each files.list file is in one of the app_server_root/properties/version/install/6.1.0.0/backup/component_name directories. A component_name directory exists for each component.

For instance, the files.list file for the activity component is in the app_server_root /properties/version/install/6.1.0.0/backup/activity directory. The file resembles the following example: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<componentfiles componentname="activity">
       <file>
              <relativepath>properties/version/activity.component</relativepath>
              <checksum>1a20dc54694e81fccd16c80f7c1bb6b46bba8768</checksum>
              <permissions>644</permissions>
              <installoperation>remove</installoperation>
       </file>
       <file>
              <relativepath>lib/activity.jar</relativepath>
              <checksum>2f056cc01be7ff42bb343e962d26328d5332c88c</checksum>
              <permissions>644</permissions>
              <installoperation>remove</installoperation>
       </file>
</componentfiles>

Comparing the computed checksum to the correct checksum

As the tool processes each product file in each bill-of-materials file, the tool also computes the actual checksum value of the corresponding installed product file. The tool then compares the checksum of the product file to the correct checksum value in the bill-of-materials file. The tool then reports any differences.

Location of the command file The installver command file is located in the bin directory of the installation root directory:

Change directories to the bin directory to start the installver tool from the command line. The tool runs on any supported operating system except z/OS. [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Use the following command to start the tool on an operating system such as AIX or Linux: 

./installver.sh
See the following topics for more information about the purpose of the command:

 

Syntax for displaying usage information

 

Syntax for listing all components

 

Syntax for comparing product files to the bill-of-material files

Use the following command syntax to automatically check the bill of materials against the installed file system.

See Verifying against the bill of materials for examples of using the command to compare the installed files to the product bill-of-materials files.

 

Example comparisons and command usage

Compare checksums and include specified files only in the comparison:

See Comparing specific file and component checksums for examples of using the command to compare only files or components specified.

Compare checksums and include specified components only in the comparison:

Compare checksums and exclude certain components from the comparison:

See Excluding files from a checksum comparison for examples of using the command to exclude files from the comparison.

Compare checksums and ignore user-excluded files:

Compare checksums and ignore IBM-excluded files:

List all components only:

Create template (for listing excluded files) only:

 

Parameters for comparing checksums against the bill of materials

The following parameters are associated with the command when comparing product file checksums to the correct checksums in the bill of material files.

-componentdir directory_1; directory_2; directory_n

Optional parameter that identifies the names of directories where WebSphere Application Server products store the individual bill-of-material lists for each component.

The default value is the app_server_root /properties/version/install/6.1.0.0/backup directory.

The directory path delimiter can be either a colon (:) or a semi-colon (;).

-createtemplate [file_name ]

Creates a template properties file for excluding files from the checksum comparison. Edit the template properties file to add a line for each file to exclude from verification.

Without a file specification argument, the installver tool creates the profile_root/properties/ivu_user.template file.

If you specify a file name, the installver tool creates the file in the working directory, which is the profile_root/bin directory by default.

  • [AIX] [HP-UX] [Linux] [Solaris] Perform the following procedure:

    1. cd app_server_root/bin

    2. ./installver.sh -createtemplate

  • [Windows] Perform the following procedure:

    1. cd app_server_root\bin

    2. installver.bat -createtemplate

The installver tool creates the template properties file in the properties directory of the default profile.

-exclude file1;file2;file3; ...

Excludes files from verification.

Use a semi-colon (;) or a colon (:) to delimit file names.

-excludecomponent component1;component2;component3; ...

Excludes components from verification.

Use a semi-colon (;) or a colon (:) to delimit component names.

-filelist file_name

Optional parameter that identifies the name of the file that IBM uses to identify the correct checksums of product files in a particular product component.

The default value is files.list.

-help

Display usage information.

-ignoreuserexclude

Ignores the default profile_root/properties/ivu_user.template file, if the file exists and compares the files listed in the template.

If you use the -createtemplate parameter with a file specification to create a template file in another location, the -ignoreusertemplate parameter has no effect.

-ignoreibmexclude

Compares checksums for all of the files in the installation root directory. IBM specifies certain files to exclude from the verification by default. You can cause the installver tool to verify those files as well by using the -ignoreibmexclude parameter.

-include file1;file2;file3; ...

Includes files in the verification and excludes all other files.

Use a semi-colon (;) or a colon (:) to delimit file names.

-includecomponent component1;component2;component3; ...

Includes components in the verification and excludes all other components.

Use a semi-colon (;) or a colon (:) to delimit component names.

-installroot directory_name

Overrides the default installation root directory.

-listcomponents

Display a list of components in the product. Each component must have a files.list file.

-log [file_path_and_file_name_of_log_file]

The default log file is the app_server_root/logs/installver.log file. You can redirect the output using the -log parameter and an argument.

-profilehome directory_name

Overrides the default profiles directory in the installation root directory.

-trace

Provides trace output of what the tool checks and what the tool discovers.

 

Syntax for creating and using a new baseline checksum for an inventory of configured files

Use the following syntax to create and compare an inventory of configured files to the currently installed files.

Create an inventory list of the files that are currently installed in the installation root directory

Compare the inventory list to files that are currently installed in the installation root directory

Compare and display trace results

Display usage information

Compare and exclude specified files from the inventory comparison

Compare and include only specified files in the inventory comparison

 

Parameters for creating and using checksums for a file inventory

The following parameters are associated with this command.

-compare file_path_and_file_name_of_existing_inventory_file

Compares the existing inventory list to the existing files to determine changes.

First use the -createinventory parameter to create an inventory list. Then use the -compare parameter to compare the inventory list to the actual files that exist in the system at the time of the comparison.

The result of the comparison shows changed classes, changed files, missing files, and added files. Such a comparison is very useful for verifying the absence of virus files, for example.

-createinventory directory_name

Creates the new checksum by default in the sys.inv file within the current working directory, such as the profile_root/bin directory. You can specify a file path and file name. Create the file outside of the installation root directory or exclude the file from comparisons.

You can point the installver tool at any directory. The default directory is the installation root directory.

You can exclude files or components from the inventory.

The installver tool computes a checksum for each file. Each file entry in the inventory has the following general pattern: 

checksum|relativepath/file_name|file_size|last_modfiied_time

After creating an inventory list, use the -compare parameter to compare the list to the actual files that exist in the system at the time of the comparison.

-exclude file1;file2;file3;...

Excludes files from comparison.

Use a semi-colon (;) or a colon (:) to delimit file names.

-help

Displays usage information.

-include file1;file2;file3; ...

Includes files in the comparison and excludes all other files.

Use a semi-colon (;) or a colon (:) to delimit file names.

-installroot directory_name

Overrides the default installation root directory.

-log [file_path_and_file_name_of_log_file]

The default log file is the app_server_root/logs/installver.log file. You can redirect the output using the -log parameter and an argument.

-trace

Provides trace output of what the tool checks and what the tool discovers.

 

Example

The following examples show issues that might occur when you run the installver command to compare checksums.

Ignore entries for checksum mismatches that you introduce on purpose, such as might occur when you extend a component The checksums differ for each file that you change: 

I CWNVU0470I: [ivu] Starting to analyze: regularcomponentsample
I CWNVU0440I: [ivu] The following file is different: lib/different.jar
I CWNVU0410I: [ivu] fc19318dd13128ce14344d066510a982269c241b is the checksum in the bill of materials.
I CWNVU0420I: [ivu] 517d5a7240861ec297fa07542a7bf7470bb604fe is the checksum on the file system.
I CWNVU0390I: [ivu] Component issues found : 1
I CWNVU0480I: [ivu] Done analyzing: regularcomponentsample

Ignore issues that are obvious informational (I) messages Some messages indicate deviations from the normally expected result, but are not indicators of a serious issue: 

I CWNVU0360I: [ivu] The following bill of materials issue is found for component nullvaluesample: 
  Hash must not be null or an empty string.

Overlapped files are either a potential product issue or potential tampering with the IBM provided bill of materials 

I CWNVU0470I: [ivu] Starting to analyze: overlapbinarycomponentsample W CWNVU0422W: [ivu] The following file is overlapped: lib/binaryTest.jar W CWNVU0425W: [ivu] The overlap is caused by: _binarycomponentsample
I CWNVU0390I: [ivu] Component issues found : 1
I CWNVU0480I: [ivu] Done analyzing: overlapbinarycomponentsample

Contact IBM support for the following issue If you see any messages with the following format, contact IBM support: 

W CWNVU0280W: [ivu] Component mismatch: expected ... but found ...

For current information available from IBM Support on known problems and their resolution, see this IBM Support page.

IBM Support has documents that can save you time gathering information needed to resolve this problem. Before opening a PMR, see this IBM Support page.

If you do not see a known installation problem that resembles yours, or if the information provided does not solve your problem, contact IBM support for further assistance.

 

Next

After verifying your installation, you can create profiles or deploy an application on an existing appserver profile. After installing, updating, and verifying, the next step is to use the product. If you created a stand-alone appserver or a cell, start the appserver, or the deployment manager, nodeagent, and federated appserver, to use the console to deploy an existing application. See Fast paths for WAS for more information.

If you have not yet created a profile, go to Creating profiles through the graphical user interface to see how to create a profile.

 

Related tasks


Verifying checksums of installed files

 

Related Reference


verifyinstallver command

 

Reference topic