What is new for installers

Installation Manager

IBM Installation Manager Version 1.8.5 or later is required to install all WebSphere Application Server products.

IBM SDK, v8

IBM SDK, v8 is the Java SDK version for WAS v9.0. IBM SDK is no longer embedded with any WAS offerings. The Java SDK is available as a separate offering that must be installed when we install the product. Only the 64-bit IBM Java SDK is supported. WebSphere Java SDKs, which were used by previous product versions, are not supported by WAS traditional v9.0.

Supported architectures

Because only 64-bit Java is supported, WAS traditional product offerings can be installed only on 64-bit operating systems.

Integrated trials and new ILAN offering

All offerings except for the supplements have integrated trial licenses. After purchasing WAS ND v9, we can use the existing trial installation without any changes. Because trial license is included in the main offerings, separate trial offerings are no longer available. The supplements now have ILAN licenses, which means they are unrestricted, non-supported software for WAS we can use at no cost. To receive support, purchase a WAS edition. The new IBM WAS traditional (ILAN) offering supports unlimited development use and deployment for small-scale production of up to a total of 2 GB heap size across all instances of application servers for the licensee.

Composite repositories

The online composite repositories for Installation Manager bundle the content from the individual web-based repositories so that we can install multiple offerings from a single URL. For example, we can use the WAS ND composite repository to install WebSphere Application Server, Network Deployment, IBM HTTP Server, and the Web Server Plug-ins...

http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/V9WASND

Because the product has integrated trial licenses, we can install the product from the composite repository and then continue to use the same URL after we purchase the product.