For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.

Install the IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Developer Kit

Before you begin

• You must have IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation V8.0.0.
• You must have computer with a supported OS X, Windows, or Linux operating system installed. See System requirements for more information about supported operating systems.
• To install the IBM MobileFirst Platform Command Line Interface (CLI), we must have Node.js 4.0.0 or later installed. If you do not have internet access, it must be preinstalled. Otherwise, we can install Node.js as part of this procedure, but internet access is required to do so.

Note: If you need to set up your development environment on a computer that has no internet access, we can install components offline. See How to set up an offline IBM MobileFirst development environment.

The IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Developer Kit is available for download as a compressed file for our operating system. You download the file, uncompress it, then install its components.

Procedure

1. Download the IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Developer Kit from the Download page.

   You download one of the following files, depending on your operating system:

   • OS X:mfp-devkit-mac-dddd-tttt.zip
   • Linux: mfp-devkit-linux-dddd-tttt.bin
   • Windows: mfp-devkit-windows-dddd-tttt.exe

   where dddd is a date stamp and tttt is a time stamp.

2. Start the installation program as follows:
   • OS X: Uncompress the mfp-devkit-mac-dddd-tttt.zip file and click or double-click to launch the installation program.
   • Linux: Type ./file_name.bin, where file_name.bin is the file you just downloaded.
   • Windows: Do one of the following:
     • In Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory into which you downloaded the file, and double-click the file.
     • Open a command prompt window and navigate to the directory into which you downloaded the file. Then, type file_name.exe, where file_name.exe is the file you just downloaded.

   This starts the installation program.

3. Follow the installation program prompts. You must accept both IBM® and non-IBM terms of the license agreement to continue.
4. Open a command prompt or terminal window, and navigate to the directory in which you installed the IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Developer Kit. You should find two subdirectories, license and mfp-server , a README.txt file, and the following executable files for managing the MobileFirst Development Server:
   • sh files for OS X and Linux: run.sh, console.sh, stop.sh
   • cmd files for Windows: run.cmdconsole.cmd, stop.cmd

5. From the command prompt or terminal window, start the MobileFirst Development Server:
   • For OS X or Linux, enter

     ./run.sh

   • For Windows, enter

     run

   Starting the server might take a few minutes. When the message The server mfp is ready to run a smarter planet is displayed, the server is up and running.

   Important: Do not close the command prompt or terminal window in which you started the server. If you close the window, the server stops running.

   Tip: We can also launch the server as a background process. To launch the server in the background, use the -bg option. For example, for OS X: run.sh -bg. If you run the server as a background process, we can close the command prompt or terminal window without stopping the server.

6. Start the IBM MobileFirst Platform Operations Console:
   • For OS X or Linux, enter

     ./console.sh

   • For Windows, enter

     console

7. Log in to the MobileFirst Operations Console. Use the following default login credentials:
   • User: admin
   • Password: admin

8. Download and install the IBM MobileFirst Platform Command Line Interface (CLI). To download and install the CLI, follow these steps:
   1. From the MobileFirst Operations Console Dashboard, click Get Starter Code.
   2. From the Downloads page, select the Tools tab.
   3. Under Developer CLI, click Download.
   4. Save the file mfpdev-cli.tgz to your local computer.
   5. (Required only if Node.js is not already installed. If Node.js is already installed, skip this step.) Install Node.js, version 4.0.0 or later. To download and install Node.js, click the link Node.js to be installed in the console. This takes you to the Node.js web site. Follow the download and installation instructions there.

      Note: Alternatively, we can reach the Node.js web site by clicking this link: Node.js web site

   6. Open a command prompt or terminal window and run the following command:

       npm install -g --no-optional path_cli_file

      where path_cli_file is the full path and name of the downloaded file, including extension. For example, if the file is in the current working directory:

       npm install -g --no-optional mfpdev-cli.tgz

9. Optional: We can install the migration assistance tool by repeating step 8 and substituting the filename for the migration assistance tool (mfp-migrate-cli.tgz) for the name of the CLI file (mfpdev-cli).
10. Download the IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation SDK that is appropriate to our target platform. For complete instructions, see Acquiring the MobileFirst SDK from the MobileFirst Operations Console.
11. Optional: Obtain sample starter applications. From the IBM MobileFirst Platform Operations Console, download onre or more sample starter application. For complete instructions, see Getting started with a sample MobileFirst application.

Results

You have a MobileFirst Development Server installed and running. You have the IBM MobileFirst Platform Command Line Interface (CLI) installed, and (optionally) you have one or more starter applications.

What to do next

To get familiar with MobileFirst development, try the starter app. For an example of using the CLI to perform various development tasks, see Getting started with the MobileFirst CLI.

Parent topic: The IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation Developer Kit