Install fix packs using imcl

We can use imcl to update the product offerings with available fix packs.

To download fixes, go to: Fix Central.

An alternative to this procedure is updateAll command, which searches for and updates all installed packages. Use this command only if we have full control over which fixes are contained in the targeted repositories. If we create and point to a set of custom repositories that include only the specific fixes to install, we can confidently use this command. If we enable searching service repositories or install fixes directly from other live web-based repositories, then we might not want to select this option so that we can select only the fixes to install on the -installFixes option with the install command on the command line or the installFixes attribute in a response file.

Tasks

1. Log on to the system.

2. Choose whether to install from an online or local repository:

   • Download files from Fix Central and extract them to create a local repository

     Each compressed fix-pack file contains an Installation Manager repository for the fix pack and usually has a .zip extension. After we download and extract the fix-pack file, we can use the resulting repository with Installation Manager to update the offering with the fix pack.

     1. Go to Fix Central.

     2. Select...
        Product Group > WebSphere > Product > WAS > product version > operating system > Continue

     3. Select Browse for fixes, and click Continue.

     4. Under And fix type, select Fix pack.

     5. Click More Information under each fix to view information about the fix.

     6. Select your download options, and click Continue.

     7. Agree to the terms and conditions by clicking I agree.

     8. Click Download now.

     9. Transfer the compressed file in binary format to the system on which it will be installed.

     10. Extract the compressed repository files to a directory on the system.

3. Access the online service repository

   1. Determine the URL for the product.

      We can install from the service repositories using the same URLs that we used for the initial product installation. These URLs are based on the following pattern, where offering_ID is the offering ID that we can find in WAS product offerings for supported operating systems:

      http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/offering_ID

      These URLs do not load in a web browser and can be accessed only by Installation Manager.

   2. Optional: Create a master password file to secure credentials.

      The master password file is a text file containing a passphrase such as "This text is the master password." This file is used to secure your authentication credentials. If we create a master password file and use it when we create credentials, specify the master password file. To secure this file, set permissions to restrict access.

   3. Optional: Create a credential storage file containing the IBM software user ID and password...

      imutilsc.sh saveCredential 
                   -secureStorageFile storage_file
                   -userName user_ID 
                   -userPassword user_password
                   -url source_repository 
      

      Tip: When creating a storage file, append /repository.config at the end of the repository URL location if the imutilsc command is unable to find the specified URL.

4. Stop the product installation that we are updating.

5. Start the command line.

6. Verify that we have the necessary permissions to install the fix pack in our chosen directories.

7. Change to the eclipse/tools directory in the directory where we installed Installation Manager.

8. Verify that the product repository is available.
   imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories source_repository

   For console mode run imcl -c

9. Install the fix pack from commandline...

   ./imcl install offering_ID_offering_version,optional_feature_ID \
          -repositories source_repository  \
          -installationDirectory product_installation_location \
          -secureStorageFile storage_file -masterPasswordFile master_password_file \
          -acceptLicense
   

   Optionally install with console mode: imcl -c

   Update offerings with optional features

   When updating a product, specify all optional features that were used in the initial product installation. If we do not specify these features, Installation Manager removes them.

   Offering version information

   The offering_version, which optionally can be attached to the offering ID with an underscore, is a specific version of the offering to install (9.0.0.x_0200 for example).

   • If offering_version is not specified, the latest version of the offering and all interim fixes for that version are installed.

   • If offering_version is specified, the specified version of the offering and no interim fixes for that version are installed.

   The offering version can be found attached to the end of the offering ID with an underscore when running the following command against the repository:

   imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories source_repository

10. Optional: List all installed packages to verify the installation:
    ./imcl listInstalledPackages -long

The offering IDs, optional features for each offering, and default features are shown in the following table:

Offering ID	Optional feature ID	Default features
WAS ND com.ibm.websphere.v90	core.feature: WAS Must specify to specify the following optional subfeatures: samples Sample applications thinclient Standalone thin clients and resource adapters embeddablecontainer Embeddable EJB container ejbdeploy EJBDeploy tool for pre-EJB 3.0 modules We cannot use Installation Manager to modify, update, or rollback functions to later add or remove core.feature. Only the subfeatures can be added or removed.	core.feature thinclient embeddablecontainer ejbdeploy
Application Client for WAS com.ibm.websphere.APPCLIENT.v90	samples: Samples standalonethinclient.resourceadapter.runtime: Standalone Thin Clients Runtime standalonethinclient.resourceadapter.samples: Standalone Thin Clients Samples embeddablecontainer: Embeddable EJB Container	embeddablecontainer
DMZ Secure Proxy Server for IBM WAS com.ibm.websphere.NDDMZ.v90	core.feature: DMZ Secure Proxy Server for IBM WAS This feature must be specified to specify the following optional subfeature: thinclient: Standalone thin clients and resource adapters	No default features
Web Server Plug-ins com.ibm.websphere.PLG.v90	No optional features	N/A
WebSphere Customization Toolbox com.ibm.websphere.WCT.v90	zpmt: Profile Management Tool (z/OS only) zmmt: z/OS Migration Management Tool pct: Web Server Plug-ins Configuration Tool	All optional features are installed by default

See also

1. Update the product on distributed and IBM i operating systems
2. Install fix packs on distributed operating systems using the GUI
3. Install fix packs using response files
4. Uninstall fix packs from distributed operating systems using the GUI
5. Uninstall fix packs using response files
6. Uninstall fix packs using the command line
7. Install and uninstall interim fixes