Connections pre-installation tasks

1. Select type of deployment.

2. Review install process

3. Review release notes

4. Determine SMTP and DNS details of the mail infrastructure.

5. Review restrictions for backed up content:

   • Content only can be restored to the same major/minor release that it was backed up from. For example Code Refresh (CR) releases for Connections 5.0 are considered part of the Connections 5.0 release.

   • Content cannot be restored to Connections 5.0 if it was backed up on Connections 4.5 (CRx).

   • Content cannot be restored to a later release if it was backed up on Connections 5.0 (CRx).

   • The /provision subdirectory in the shared content folder only can be restored to the exact version that it was backed up on. It is generally not safe to restore the /provision subdirectory to a version with a CR or an iFix different from the version the directory was backed up from.

6. Install Installation Manager (IIM) v1.7.1 or higher.

   Use the same user account to install IIM and Connections.

   Create new server instances and clusters. Do not use existing clusters to deploy IBM Connections.

7. Before installing CCM, check the /tmp folder on UNIX/Linux systems or the %TEMP% folder on Windows systems has at least 6 GB

   If there is not sufficient disk space, then set the environment variable IATEMPDIR to point to the location where there is at least 6 GB.

   On Windows:

   1. Navigate to...
      Control Panel | System and Security | System | Advanced System Properties | Advanced tab | Environment variables | System variables section | New
      • Enter IATEMPDIR for the variable name; and then enter the desired location in the variable value field.

      • Click OK twice.

      • Proceed with Connections Content Manager installation.

   On AIX/Linux:

   1. Edit...
      /etc/profile

      ...and add the following line to the end of the file...

      export IATEMPDIR=/path/to/new/location

8. Prepare to configure the LDAP directory

9. Create the Cognos administrator account

10. Install IBM WebSphere Application Server

11. Install WAS fixes

12. Access Windows network shares

13. Set up federated repositories

    When Connections is installed, the installer provides a user name and password for a system user account created by the installer to handle feature-to-feature communication. The Connections installer also creates a J2C authentication alias name connectionsAdmin. This alias is filled with the specified user and maps that user to a set of application roles.

    For many advanced security scenarios (especially Tivoli Access Manager and Siteminder) and in cases where an existing FileNet server is used with Connections Content Manager, the connectionsAdmin user should be located in an LDAP directory or a common directory available to all services.

14. Create databases

15. Populate the Profiles database

16. Install Connections with either root or non-root accounts on AIX and Linux, or administrator account on Windows.

17. Complete pre-install tasks.

    For migrations from IBM Connections 4.5, you need complete only the following tasks:

    • Prepare to configure the LDAP directory

    • If we are installing on the same host as 4.5, Install IBM WAS.

    • Do not complete the pre-installation tasks for creating databases or populating the Profiles database. The migration process handles those tasks separately.

18. On each node, install WAS ND

19. Back up profile_root/Dmgr01

20. Prepare directories to use as content stores.

    Provide shared content stores on network share devices and local content stores on each node. Both shared and local content stores must be accessible using the same path from all nodes and from the dmgr.

21. Set the system clocks on the dmgr and the nodes to within 1 minute of each other.

    If these system clocks are further than 1 minute apart, you might experience synchronization errors.

22. Copy the JDBC files for the database type to the dmgr and then from the dmgr to each node.

    Place the copied files in the same location on each node as their locations on the dmgr.

    If, for example, you copied the db2jcc4.jar file from /opt/IBM/sqllib on the dmgr, place the copy in the C:\IBM\SQLLIB directory on each node.

23. If we are going to use a trusted SSL certificate, ensure available before you begin the installation.

24. If we do not plan to deploy IBM Cognos Business Intelligence now to support metrics, we can still install the Metrics application along with the other Connections applications.

    This enables Connections to begin collecting event data immediately and store it in the Metrics database for use when Cognos is available to provide reports.

25. (Windows) Use an administrator account to install Connections on Windows.

    If we are installing on Windows Server 2008, use a local administrator account. If we use a domain administrator account, the installation might fail.

26. (Linux only) For IIM install additional 32-bit libraries.

    See also: Unable to install Installation Manager on RHEL 6.0/6.1 (64-bit).

27. Ensure the directory paths entered contain no spaces.

28. (AIX and Linux) Set Open File Descriptor limit is 8192.

    See Installation error messages. and search for error code CLFRP0042E.

29. AIX:IIM requires additional libraries for the AIX operating system.

30. AIX:You might need to update the IIM version

31. AIX:If we are downloading IIM, the TAR program available by default with AIX does not handle path lengths longer than 100 characters. Use the GNU file archiving program, distributed through the AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications at the IBM AIX Toolbox website. Download and install the GNU-compatible TAR package. The RPM Package Manager is already installed as part of AIX.

    After installing the GNU-compatible compression program, change to the directory where you downloaded the Connections tar file and extract the files...

    gtar -xvf Lotus_Connections_wizard_aix.tar

    This command creates a directory named after IIM.

32. Establish naming conventions for nodes, servers, clusters, and web servers.

33. Use a worksheet to record user IDs, passwords, server names, etc...

Parent topic:
Installing

Related:
Deployment options
Install as a non-root user
Prepare to configure the LDAP directory
Install WAS
Worksheet for installing IBM Connections