Prepare AIX systems for installation of WAS Network Deployment v6.0

 

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Overview

The installation uses an InstallShield for Multiplatforms (ISMP) wizard. We can use the graphical interface of the wizard or we can use the wizard in silent mode.

Silent mode is a command line invocation with a parameter that identifies an options response file. Edit the options response file before installing.

If you encounter a problem such as needing more temporary space or missing prerequisite packages on your operating system, cancel the installation, make the required changes, and restart the installation.

 

Procedure

  1. Log on as root.

    We cannot install the product correctly as a non-root user.

    If you create a copy of the product CD-ROM, do so as root. Copies made from non-root users do not preserve the correct file attributes and do not work.

    In addition, verify that the umask setting is 022. To verify the umask setting, issue the following command

    umask
    

    To set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command

    umask 022
    

  2. Stop all WebSphere Application Server-related Java processes on the machine where you are installing the product.

    If you want the coexistence panel of the installer to detect other instances of WAS, leave the other WAS instance running.

  3. Stop any Web server process such as the IBM HTTP Server.

  4. Use the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) to display packages that are installed to determine whether update packages that are described in the following steps.

  5. Download the most current version of the INFOZIP product to avoid problems with zipped files. Zipped files are primarily used in the service stream.

  6. Install the prerequisite xlC.rte 6.0 run-time code on AIX 5.2 maintenance level 1 before you install the Global Security Kit 7 (GSKit7).

    The GSKit is installed as part of the installation of the IBM HTTP Server and also as part of the installation of Web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server. Download the run-time code as a fix from the AIX Support site.

    If you have AIX 5.2, one can install the xlC.rte 6.0 run-time code from the AIX 5.2 CD.

  7. Provide adequate disk space.

    With the JFS file system on AIX, one can allocate expansion space for directories. If the Installation wizard does not have enough space, ISMP issues a system call for more space that increases the space allocation dynamically. The message you might see when this occurs for the /usr directory is similar to the following example

    Note: The following file systems will be expanded during the installation:
      /usr
    

    Manually verify that the required space for creating a profile is available on AIX. A known problem in the underlying ISMP code prevents proper space checking on AIX systems at the time that the product disc was created.

    The Network Deployment product requires the following disk space:

    730 MB for the /usr/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory before creating profiles

    The installation root directory includes the core product files. This size does not include space for profiles or applications. Profiles require 40 MB of temp space in addition to the sizes shown. Profiles have the following space requirements:

    30 MB for the Deployment manager profile

    The Tivoli Global Security Kit requires this space.

    200 MB for an Application Server profile with the Sample applications

    This size does not include space for applications that you might develop and install.

    10 MB for an unfederated custom profile

    This size does not include space for applications that you might develop and install. The requirement does include space for the node agent. However, federate a custom profile to create an operational managed node.

    After federating a custom profile, the resulting managed node contains a functional node agent only. Use the deployment manager to create server processes on the managed node.

    100 MB for the /tmp directory

    The temporary directory is the working directory for the installation program.

    830 MB total requirement

    This amount is the total space requirement when installing the product from the CD and when not installing service. Installing profiles requires more space.

    The following space is required for the IBM HTTP Server product:

    110 MB for the /usr/IBMIHS directory

    The IBM HTTP Server product requires this space.

    35 MB for the /usr/ibm/gsk7 directory

    The run-time module is gskkm.rte.

    The following space is the maximum amount that is required for the Web server plug-ins for WebSphere Application Server:

    200 MB for the /usr/IBM/WebSphere/plugins directory

    25 MB for the /usr/ibm/gsk7 directory

    The Tivoli Global Security Kit requires this space.

    The following space is required for the WebSphere Application Server Clients:

    150 MB for the /usr/IBM/WebSphere/AppClient directory

    The amount of space required to install the application clients is actually less than 150 MB. The amount of space depends on the clients that you install as features.

    The Installation wizard for each component displays required space on the confirmation panel before you install the product files and selected features. The Installation wizard also warns you if you do not have enough space to install the product.

    If you plan to migrate applications and the configuration from a previous version, verify that the application objects have enough disk space. As a rough guideline, plan for space equal to 110 percent of the size of the application objects:

    V4.0.x size of EAR files
    V5.0.x size of EAR files

  8. Unmount file systems with broken links to avoid java.lang.NullPointerException errors.

    Installation can fail with the following error when broken links exist to file systems:

    An error occurred during wizard bean change notification:
    java.lang.NullPointerException 
      at com.ibm.wizard.platform.aix.AixFileUtils.
         getFileSystemData(AixFileUtils.java:388)
      at com.ibm.wizard.platform.aix.AixFileUtils.
         getPartitionDataWithExecs(AixFileUtils.java:172)
      at com.ibm.wizard.platform.aix.AixFileUtils.
         getPartitionData(AixFileUtils.java:104)
      at com.ibm.wizard.platform.aix.AixFileServiceImpl.
         getPartitionNames(AixFileServiceImpl.java:397)
    ...
    
    

    Use the df -k command to check for broken links to file systems. Look for file systems that list blank values in the 1024-blocks size column. Columns with a value of "-" (dash) are not a problem. The following example shows a problem with the /dev/lv00 file system

    >  df -k
    Filesystem    1024-blocks      Free %Used    Iused %Iused Mounted on
    /dev/hd4          1048576    447924   58%     2497     1% /
    /dev/hd3          4259840   2835816   34%      484     1% /tmp
    /proc                   -         -    -         -     -  /proc
    /dev/lv01         2097152    229276   90%     3982     1% /storage
    /dev/lv00
    /dev/hd2          2097152    458632   79%    42910     9% /usr
    iw031864:/cdrom/db2_v72_eee_aix32_sbcs
    
    

    The /proc file system is not a problem. The iw031864:/cdrom/db2_v72_eee_aix32_sbcs file system is a definite problem. The /dev/lv00 file system is also a likely problem. Use one of the following commands to solve this problem

    >  umount /cdrom/db2_v72_eee_aix32_sbcs
    >  umount /cdrom 
    

    Start the installation again. If the problem continues, unmount any file systems that have blank values, such as the /dev/lv00 file system in the example. If one cannot solve the problem by unmounting file systems with broken links, reboot the machine and start the installation again.

  9. Verify that prerequisites and corequisites are at the required release levels.

    Although the Installation wizard checks for prerequisite operating system patches with the prereqChecker application, review the prerequisites on the IBM WAS supported hardware, software, and APIs Web site if you have not already done so.

    Refer to the documentation for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to migrate to their supported versions.

  10. Verify the system cp command when using emacs or other freeware.

    If you have emacs or other freeware installed on your operating system, verify that the system cp command is used.

    1. Type which cp at the command prompt before running the installation program for the WAS product.

    2. Remove the freeware directory from your PATH if the resulting directory output includes freeware. For example, assume that the output is similar to the following message

      .../freeware/bin/cp

      If so, remove the directory from the PATH.

    3. Install the WAS product.

    4. Add the freeware directory back to the PATH.

    If you install with a cp command that is part of a freeware package, the installation might appear to complete successfully, but the Java 2 SDK that the product installs might have missing files in the install_root/java directory.

    Missing files can destroy required symbolic links. If you remove the freeware cp command from the PATH, install the Application Server product successfully.

    Perform the following step to verify that the Java 2 SDK is working correctly.

  11. Verify that the Java 2 SDK on your copy of the product CD is functioning correctly.

    If you created your own product CD from an ISO image or by copying the actual CD, perform the following steps to verify that the Java 2 SDK on the product CD-ROM is working correctly.

    1. Go to bin directory on the product CD-ROM...

      cd /mnt/JDK/repository/prereq.jdk/java/bin
      

    2. Verify the Java 2 SDK version...

          ./java -version
      

      The command completes successfully with no errors when the Java 2 SDK is intact.

  12. Optional: Install the Mozilla browser if it is not already installed. The Mozilla browser supports the launchpad console.

    1. Use smit to see if the Mozilla 1.4 or 1.7 or later package is already installed.

    2. Download two prerequisites from the AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications (glib & gtk+). Download the packages from the following locations:

    3. Install the packages after downloading them: Use the following command

      rpm -Uvh glib-1.2.10-2.aix4.3.ppc.rpm gtkplus-1.2.10-4.aix5.1.ppc.rpm
      

    4. Download the latest supported version of Mozilla (1.7 or later) for AIX. Download Mozilla for AIX from the following location:

      http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/download/search.jsp?go=y&rs=mozilla

      Download the installp image and install it from smit.

      The Mozilla images distributed on the http://www.mozilla.org Web site are not provided by IBM. IBM has not tested and does not support the download from the non-IBM Web site. Download the Mozilla images from the IBM Web site to verify that the version that you download is tested and supported.

  13. Optional: Export the location of the supported browser.

    Export the location of the supported browser using a command that identifies the actual location of the browser.

    For example, if the Mozilla package is in the bin /mozilla directory, use the following command

    EXPORT BROWSER=/usr/bin/mozilla
    

  14. Silent installation only: Make an allowance for a known ISMP problem that causes a call to the Xwindows service during a silent installation.

    The DISPLAY environment variable on your AIX machine might point to an X server that is not logged in. Two common scenarios can cause this to occur:

    • Your AIX machine has an X server running, but the X server is stuck at the graphical login screen because you have not yet logged in.

    • Your AIX machine is configured to display X Windows applications on a remote X server that is not logged in.

    A silent installation can hang in either case as ISMP calls Xwindows services.

    Two solutions exist:

    • Login to the local X server through the graphical user interface before beginning the silent installation.

    • Export the DISPLAY environment variable to point to null or blank

      EXPORT DISPLAY=null
      

 

Result

This procedure results in preparing the operating system for installing the product.

 

What to do next

After preparing the operating system for installation, install the WAS product.

See Preparing to install Network Deployment on an AIX system for the next step in the overall procedure, which is selecting the type of installation to perform.

 

Configure X Windows Graphical Interface

This procedure relies on cygwin and putty already being installed.

  1. On your Windows box, run...

    /usr/X11R6/bin/startxwin.bat

  2. Set Xll properties in putty

  3. Log on to the UNIX machine

  4. Set DISPLAY

    DISPLAY=localhost:0.0
    export DISPLAY

  5. To test, run "xclock", or any other X windows enabled application.

  6. If you sudo, to retain X Windows functionality, run "sudo su" rather than "sudo su -"