Install fix packs using response files

Install fix packs using response files

Use the IBM Installation Manager response files to update the product offerings with available fix packs. Fix packs contain bundled service to bring the offerings up to a new product level.

Tip: As an alternative to this procedure, we can use the Installation Manager updateAll command in a response file or on the command line to search for and update 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
Choose whether to install from an online service repository or a local repository containing the fix pack installation files.
Access the online service repository.
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.
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, we must always specify the master password file.

Tip: To secure this file, set permissions to restrict access to this file as appropriate for our operating system.
Create a credential storage file containing the IBM software user ID and password by running the imutilsc saveCredential command.
    ./imutilsc 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.
For more information about storing authentication credentials, see Storing credentials in the Installation Manager documentation.
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 downloading and extracting the fix-pack file, we can use the resulting repository with Installation Manager to update the offering with the fix pack.

Go to Fix Central.
Select WebSphere as the product group.
Select WAS as the product.
Select your installed product version.
Select the operating system as the platform, and click Continue.
Select Browse for fixes, and click Continue.
Under And fix type, select Fix pack.
Click More Information under each fix to view information about the fix.
Select your download options, and click Continue.
Agree to the terms and conditions by clicking I agree.
Click Download now.
Transfer the compressed file in binary format to the system on which it will be installed.
Extract the compressed repository files to a directory on the system.
Create a response file to update the product.
A response file is an XML file containing the data required to update the product, such as the offerings to update and the installation directory.

For a sample response file that updates the WAS offering, see the examples.

Stop the product installation that we are updating.
Start the command line.
(iSeries) On a CL command line, run the STRQSH command to start the Qshell command shell.

Verify that we have the necessary permissions to install the fix pack in our chosen directories.
Change to the eclipse/tools directory in the directory where we installed Installation Manager.
Verify that the product repository is available.
The listAvailablePackages command lists one or more levels of the offering.

./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories source_repository
Run the imcl command with the location of the response file specified on the input parameter.
For example:
(Windows) Administrator or non-administrator:
imcl.exe -acceptLicense 
  input C:\temp\update_response_file.xml 
  -log C:\temp\update_log.xml 
  -secureStorageFile C:\IM\credential.store -masterPasswordFile C:\IM\master_password.txt
(UNIX) Administrator:
./imcl -acceptLicense 
  input /var/temp/update_response_file.xml 
  -log /var/temp/update_log.xml 
  -secureStorageFile /var/IM/credential.store -masterPasswordFile /var/IM/master_password.txt
(UNIX) Non-administrator:
./imcl -acceptLicense 
  input user_home/var/temp/update_response_file.xml 
  -log user_home/var/temp/update_log.xml 
  -secureStorageFile user_home/var/IM/credential.store -masterPasswordFile user_home/var/IM/master_password.txt
(iSeries)
./imcl -acceptLicense 
  input $HOME/WASFiles/temp/update_response_file.xml 
  -log $HOME/WASFiles/temp/update_log.xml
  -secureStorageFile $HOME/WASFiles/temp/credential.store -masterPasswordFile $HOME/WASFiles/temp/master_password.txt 
Example

The following example shows of a response file for updating the WAS ND offering to a later version on the Windows operating system.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<agent-input>
<server>
  <repository location='https://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.ND.v90'/>
</server>
<profile id='IBM WAS V9.0' 
  installLocation='C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer'>
  <data key='eclipseLocation' value='C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer'/>
  <data key='user.import.profile' value='false'/>
  <data key='cic.selector.nl' value='en, fr, it, zh, ro, ru, zh_TW, de, ja, pl, es, cs, hu, ko, pt_BR'/>
</profile>
<install modify='false'>
  <offering profile='IBM WAS V9.0' id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v90' 
    version='9.0.0.20161025_2108' features='core.feature'/>
</install>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.eclipseCache' value='C:\IBM\IMShared'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.connectTimeout' value='30'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.readTimeout' value='30'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.downloadAutoRetryCount' value='0'/>
<preference name='offering.service.repositories.areUsed' value='true'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.ssl.nonsecureMode' value='false'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.http.disablePreemptiveAuthentication' value='false'/>
<preference name='http.ntlm.auth.kind' value='NTLM'/>
<preference name='http.ntlm.auth.enableIntegrated.win32' value='true'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.preserveDownloadedArtifacts'/>' value='true'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.keepFetchedFiles' value='false'/>
<preference name='PassportAdvantageIsEnabled' value='false'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.searchForUpdates' value='false'/>
</agent-input>
Find the profile ID

To find the profile ID...
(<profile...id='profile_ID'....> and <offering...profile='profile_ID'....>)
...from the eclipse/tools subdirectory in the directory where we installed Installation manager:
imcl listInstallationDirectories -verbose

The profile name is the same as the package group name.

Update offerings with optional features

To find the installed offering ID...
(<offering...id='offering_ID'....>)

... run the historyInfo or genHistoryReport command from the app_server_root/bin directory.

When we update a product, the response file must contain the features that were used in the initial product installation. If we do not add these features to the response file, Installation Manager removes them.

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.ND.v90

core.feature: WAS
This feature must be specified 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 roll back 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

Specify an offering version
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 we run the following command against the repository:
imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories source_repository
Install interim fixes

To indicate which interim fixes we want installed with the offering, specify none, recommended or all with the -installFixes argument.

If the offering version is not specified, the -installFixes option defaults to all.
If the offering version is specified, the -installFixes option defaults to none.
Update the product on distributed and IBM i operating systems
Install fix packs on distributed operating systems using the GUI
Install fix packs using the command line
Uninstall fix packs from distributed operating systems using the GUI
Uninstall fix packs using response files
Uninstall fix packs using the command line
Install and uninstall interim fixes

Offering ID	Optional feature ID	Default features
WAS ND com.ibm.websphere.ND.v90	core.feature: WAS This feature must be specified 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 roll back 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