Category: Websphere installation

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Websphere silent profile creation

Just like for the WAS installation, you can perform a silent creation of your server profiles. This needs a dedicated script which is located under the WAS_ROOT/bin folder and it is named manageprofile.sh (manageprofile.bat for Windows).

The silent profile creation does not require any response file; you just need passing all the profile parameters as in the following example:

For Linux:

./manageprofiles.sh -create -profileName appsrv01 -profilePath   <was_root>/profiles/appsrv01 -templatePath                      <was_root>/profileTemplates/default -cellName appsrv01node01     -hostName node01.waslocal.com -nodeName node01

For Windows:

manageprofiles.bat -create -profileName appsrv01 -profilePath   <was_root>\profiles\appsrv01 -templatePath                       <was_root>\profileTemplates\default -cellName appsrv01node01   -hostName node01.waslocal.com -nodeName node01

The expected outcome of it will be:

INSTCONFSUCCESS: Success: Profile appsrv01 now exists. Please consult /var/apps/was8/profiles/appsrv01/logs/AboutThisProfile.txt for more information about this profile.

Please check the –help parameter of the manageprofiles shell in order to see all the available options for this command. 

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Websphere silent installation

As you learnt, the Websphere installation took quite a while to complete. If you need to perform this task across a large set of machine it can require a significant part of the project budget!

In order to save lots of time, you can perform the “silent installation” which records all installation steps in a special file called response file.

Using response files ensures that each new WAS is installed exactly the same each time. This is critical for production environments to ensure each server is configured the same way.

Step 1: Start recording your Websphere installation

In order to start recording the response file, move to the location where the IIM was installed and enter the eclipse subfolder:

cd eclipse

 Then, launch the following command (Linux):

./IBMIM -record /var/tmp/was_8.5_install.xml -skipInstall /var/tmp/was8.5

 The equivalent for Windows:

IBMIM -record c:\temp\was8.5_install.xml -skipInstall c:\temp\was8.5

The first parameter (was_8.5_install.xml) passed to the IBMIM executable is the XML file where the silent installation is recorded. The –skipInstall parameter is used to record the installation commands without actually installing the IBM product. It requires an additional parameter (in our case “c:\temp\was8.5” which is the folder where you want IIM to store the recorded installation data)

Step 2: Installing WAS using the response file

Once that you have prepared your response file, you can effectively use it to install WAS. The outcome of the silent installation will be an exact new copy of the application server, although you can customize some IIM settings, like the JVM settings to use, as we will see in a minute. Once again, move into the eclipse subfolder of your IIM installation and issue the following commands:

For Linux:

./IBMIM --launcher.ini silent-install.ini -input /var/tmp/was8_5_install.xml -log /var/tmp/was8.5/silent_install_log.xml

For Windows:

IBMIMc.exe --launcher.ini silent-install.ini -input c:\ temp\was8_5_install.xml l -log c:\temp\was8.5\silent_install_log.xml

The parameter –launcher.ini can be used to pass a preferences init file. Typically you would add JVM settings for your installations in this file.

Next, you need to pass using the -input parameter the response file just created. Finally, the installation process will record logs into the folder specified by –log.

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Creating a Websphere Server Profile

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Once completed the IBM Websphere installation process, you will be prompted to install a server profile. A Websphere server profile basically corresponds to an application server configuration.

By using a server profile you are able to keep the WAS base binaries separated from the WAS configuration. Therefore you are allowed to create several custom server configurations without affecting the base WAS binaries.

In the WAS standard installation, there are basically two kinds of profiles which can be selected:

Profile

Description

Application server

Corresponds to a standalone application server configuration. Each standalone application server can optionally have its own administrative console which you can use to manage the application server.

Management

A Management profile defines an administrative agent, which provides a single interface (administrative console) to administer multiple application servers.  This profile is covered in the clustering chapter.

A new profile can be created by launching the pmt.sh/pmt.bat shell command. Example (Linux):

WAS_ROOT/bin/ProfileManagement/pmt.sh

 We will detail in the following picture all the guided steps for creating an Application server Profile which uses a typical configuration:

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The above diagram reflects a Typical profile creation which uses the default configuration settings and assigns unique names to the profile, node and host as well as default server ports.

If you need to assign custom settings to your profile, then you can enter the Advanced profile creation which allows customizing all single elements which are part of the profile creation.

The profile creation tool will automatically suggest the Hostname from the OS hosts file and can be changed using the Advanced Profile creation or at a later time using the Administration console. You can use a hostname, IP address, or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). If you decide to change the hostname in the wizard, ensure that the change is reflected in your host file or DNS as required.

Example (linux) /etc/hosts file

127.0.0.1               node01.was.localhost

 The default profile creation will install for you IBM WAS as a start-up service on your machine, so you can easily manage your application server from your operating system service panel:

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On the other hand, if you are running Linux/Unix environment, the wizard will generate an automatic start/stop script in the init.d directories as required by the Linux run levels.

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Installing Websphere

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The installation of Websphere is essentially broken into two steps:

  • Installation of binaries: the binaries include the executable files and shell scripts which are part of the distribution.
  • Profile Creation: a profile corresponds to an application server configuration: as a matter of fact you can have several profiles for every installation each one corresponding to a different server configuration.

Downloading WAS

In this book we will use the official WAS track, although you can perform the same steps for the WAS for developers. In order to install WAS you need to download first the Installation Manager which is an IBM technology used to install many IBM products, including WAS. Download the Installation Manager from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/downloads/ws/was/

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When you click the Download button, you will be prompted to enter your IBM ID and, after that, you can choose to download the IBM Installation Manager (IIM) for your specific OS. Once downloaded the IIM, uncompress it using a tool available on your OS.

Installing WAS

Installing WAS is a two-step procedure which requires running at first the IBM Installation Manager (IIM) software, which will then guide you through the application server installation.

It is also possible to install WAS using automated silent installation that can be run silently using a special file called response file where we can preset installation settings so that it is not required any user input. Check the section “How to perform WAS silent installation”.

Running the IBM Installation Manager (IIM)

In order to execute the IIM, move to the folder where you have uncompressed it and run it using the following command (on Windows launch “install.exe”):

./install

The installation of the IIM is a wizard guided procedure which just requires accepting the license agreement, specifying the IIM installation directory and reviewing the packages you are going to install. The following diagram summarizes these simple steps:

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Installing the IIM will take some time; once completed move to the next step.

Installing Websphere Application Server

Once that you have installed the IIM, move to the installation directory and issue the following command (On Windows execute IBMIM.exe):

<iim_root>/IBMIM

The following screen will be displayed:

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Choose to Install software packages. In order to install WAS you need to provide your IBM username and password (IBM ID). Once you have entered your IBM ID username and password click OK.

By default the wizard fetches data from the IBM repository. If you are not able to contact the IBM repository then you need to add a repository location by clicking on the Add Repository button. In the Add a repository pop-up dialog, type the following URL in the Repository field: http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/V8WASDeveloperILAN.

At this point the WAS installation will start, guided again by an intuitive wizard. The only inputs expected from the wizard are the Shared Resource directory which is the folder where multiple WAS installation can share data and the WAS installation directory, often referred to as WAS_ROOT in the rest of the book:

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By default, the wizard will select to install the Websphere Full Profile which provides large-scale admin capabilities and full Java EE 6 support. On the other hand you might consider trying the Liberty profile that is included in all the commercial editions of the server, providing a lightweight profile of the server for web, mobile and OSGi applications. It is a functional subset of the full WAS profile with an install size of under 50 MB, a startup time of around 3 seconds and a new XML-based server configuration which can be treated as a development artifact to aid developer productivity.  The Liberty profile does not include all the features contained in the full profile (such as JMS) therefore we will focus on the Websphere Full profile on this book.

At the end of the server installation you will be prompted to start the Profile Management Tool. You can either check the “Profile management Tool to create a profile” option or just move to the next section, where the Profile Management Tool is started from a shell.