WAS v8.0 > Install the application serving environment > Distributed operating systems > Prepare the operating system for product installation

Prepare Solaris systems for installation

This topic describes how to prepare Solaris systems for the installation of IBM WAS products.

The installation uses Installation Manager. We can use the graphical interface or use a response file in silent mode.

Restriction: There are known issues with using Cygwin/X to run Eclipse-based applications on remote Solaris machines. This affects your use of the Profile Management Yool. With Cygwin/X on remote Solaris, for example, the Profile Management Tool welcome panel appears but no keyboard or mouse input is accepted. For details of existing Bugzilla reports on these issues, see the information at https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=97808. If a different X server (such as Hummingbird Exceed) is used, these problems do not occur.

Prepare the operating system involves such changes as allocating disk space and installing patches to the operating system. IBM tests WAS products on each operating system platform. Such tests verify whether an operating system change is required for WAS products to run correctly. Without the required changes, WAS products do not run correctly.

Procedure

1. Log on to the operating system.

   You can log on as root or as a nonroot installer.

   Select a umask that allows the owner to read/write to the files, and allows others to access them according to the prevailing system policy. For root, a umask of 022 is recommended. For nonroot users a umask of 002 or 022 can be used, depending on whether the users share the group.

   To verify the umask setting, issue the following command:

   umask
   

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

   umask 022
   

2. Make sure that you select the Entire Group option on the Select Solaris Software Group panel when you set up the system.

3. Optional: Download and install the Mozilla Firefox web browser.

   If you do not have the Mozilla web browser, download and install the browser from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox.

4. 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.

   If the Mozilla Firefox package is in the /opt/bin/firefox directory, for example, use the following command:

   export BROWSER=/opt/bin/firefox
   

5. Optional: Configure Hummingbird Exceed to disable Automatic Font Substitution.

   Font changes occur when using the Hummingbird Exceed package and invoke the Profile Management Tool. When you use the Hummingbird Exceed package to connect to a machine running the Solaris operating system, and then invoke the Profile Management Tool, some font sizes and styles display differently than when doing the same operation from the native Solaris display.

   The font sizes and style changes are based on the font selections in the bundled Java SE Runtime Environment 6 (JRE 6).

   To prevent the various font changes, configure Hummingbird Exceed to disable Automatic Font Substitution:

   1. From the Hummingbird Exceed user interface, click Xconfig > Font > Font Database > Disable ( Automatic Font Substitution).

   2. Click OK.

   3. Restart the Hummingbird Exceed package.

6. Stop all Java processes related to WAS on the machine where you are installing the product.
7. Stop any web server process such as the IBM HTTP Server.
8. Provide adequate disk space.

   The amount of disk space required varies with the number of features or products installed. If you are installing the product using Installation Manager, the installation summary panel indicates the approximate amount of disk space required based on the features and products we have selected. Installing all features and products requires approximately 2 GB of disk space. This estimate includes the following products, components, and features:

   • Main application server product installation
   • Profiles
   • Sample applications
   • IBM HTTP Server
   • Web Server Plug-ins
   • Application Client for WAS

   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 applications.

9. Set kernel values to support Application Server. Several Solaris kernel values are typically too small.

   The instructions in this step apply to the Solaris SPARC (32-bit and 64-bit) operating system only. For Solaris x64 processor-based systems, see How to Get Started with IBM WAS on Solaris 10 and Zones. The article was written for Solaris 10 on SPARC but the principles apply equally to x64.

   Before installing, review the machine configuration:

   sysdef -i
   

   The kernel values are set in the /etc/system file, as shown in the following example.

   set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax = 4294967295
   set shmsys:shminfo_shmseg = 1024
   set shmsys:shminfo_shmmni = 1024
   set semsys:seminfo_semaem = 16384
   set semsys:seminfo_semmni = 1024
   set semsys:seminfo_semmap = 1026
   set semsys:seminfo_semmns = 16384
   set semsys:seminfo_semmsl = 100
   set semsys:seminfo_semopm = 100
   set semsys:seminfo_semmnu = 2048
   set semsys:seminfo_semume = 256
   set msgsys:msginfo_msgmap = 1026
   set msgsys:msginfo_msgmax = 65535
   set rlim_fd_cur=1024
   
   

   We can change kernel values by editing the /etc/system file then rebooting the operating system. For more information about setting up the Solaris system, see the Sun Microsystems documentation. For example, the Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual.

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

    Although Installation Manager checks for prerequisite operating system patches, review the prerequisites on the Supported hardware and software website if we have not done so already. Refer to the documentation for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to migrate to their supported versions.

    If your Solaris system does not have sufficient available memory as specified on the supported hardware and software website, you might experience a prerequisite error during installation: "A supported operating system architecture was not detected". If you proceed to the end of the installation, you might also see the following insufficient disk space error:

    java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "sh": error=12, Not enough space
            at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:459)
            at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:593)
            at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:466)
    
    

    Free up additional memory on the machine and retry the installation.

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

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

    1. Type the following command prompt before running the installation program for the WAS product.

       which cp
       

    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...

    WAS_HOME/java

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

12. Verify that the Java SDK on the installation image disk is functioning correctly if you created your own disk.

    For example, you might have downloaded an installation image from Passport Advantage, or you might have copied an installation image onto a backup disk. In either case, perform the following steps to verify that the disk contains a valid Java software development kit (SDK).

    1. Change directories to the /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin directory on the product disk. For example:

       cd /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin
       

    2. Verify the Java version. Type the following command:

       ./java -version
       

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

Results

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

What to do next

After verifying prerequisites, verifying the product disk, and setting your installation goals, you can start installing. Use one of the following links to open the installation procedure that you require.

• Perform an installation using the graphical user interface.

  See Install the product using the GUI.

• Perform a silent installation.

  See Install WAS using Installation Manager response files.

• Install additional features on an existing product.

  See Install and uninstall features.

Prepare the operating system for product installation

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