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.
