 | Level: Intermediate Gerald McCobb (mccobb@us.ibm.com), Advisory Software Engineer, IBM
Yan Li (liyan@us.ibm.com), Software Developer, IBM
29 Jan 2008 This series covers the dramatic changes in IBM® WebSphere® Business Monitor 6.1—a major release that extends capability, and simplifies how you monitor and manage the performance of your business. In this article, learn how the WebSphere Business Monitor V6.1 Installer provides many improvements in consistency and simplicity. Installation is
now consistent with the WebSphere family of products, and is made easier by a preparation wizard that sets up the
required software. Basic and
advanced installation approaches are still provided (basic involves a
single Monitor Server topology, and advanced installs a distributed
production-style topology). This article walks you through the installation
preparation wizard and a basic installation approach. A future article will cover
the installation of advanced distributed production-style topologies.
Introduction
IBM WebSphere Business Monitor 6.1 (Business Monitor) has exciting new
features and capabilities that were described in Part 1, "What's new in WebSphere Business Monitor 6.1
." Business
Monitor installation has also undergone some major changes.
Installation is
now consistent with the WebSphere family of products, from the Welcome page in the
Launchpad, to the Business Monitor installation wizard, the Profile Management Tool,
and the installation verification tool in the First Steps.
There are fewer prerequisites to install,
and an installation preparation wizard sets up the prerequisite software for
the Business Monitor installer.
| | A future article will cover advanced installation options for distributed production-style topologies. |
|
In this article, get an overview of the
improvements to Business Monitor installation, and a
walk-through of installing a "basic" system topology where all
prerequisite software and Business Monitor components are installed on one
machine.
For a basic installation of Business Monitor, you will need to install the following prerequisite software:
- IBM WebSphere Application Server ND 6.1
- IBM WebSphere Portal 6.0.1.1 (including WebSphere Application Server 6.0.2)
- IBM Aphablox 9.5
This list is much reduced from the previous Business Monitor version (which required
IBM Process Server, DB2® Enterprise Server, and DB2 Cube Views).
Even for a basic installation, there are choices for the prerequisite software
the user wants to install. The minimum basic installation requires only IBM
WebSphere Application Server ND 6.1 and Alphablox 9.5.
Because a basic Business Monitor installation is a simplified out-of-the-box
installation topology, it's generally best used for testing, demonstrations, and
prototype development.
Installer improvements
The following table shows the WebSphere Business Monitor 6.1 Installer GUI components.
| Component | Description |
|---|
| Common Launchpad | Provides initial help and launching of the Installation preparation wizard
and the Installation wizard. |
|---|
| Installation preparation wizard | Sets up the prerequisite software for the Installation wizard. |
|---|
| Installation wizard | Installs the prerequisite software and Business Monitor components. |
|---|
| Profile Management Tool (PMT) | Creates a Business Monitor server profile, or augments an existing server
profile, with Business Monitor components. |
|---|
| First steps, including IVT | A guide for post-install actions and for verifying a successful installation. |
|---|
Consistency with WebSphere Application Server
products
With the exception of the Installation preparation wizard, all the Business Monitor 6.1 GUI
components listed above are WebSphere components, and all have
the consistent look and feel of the WebSphere product family. The Installation
wizard is integrated into WebSphere's Common Install Engine (CIE) framework so
Business Monitor 6.1 can be updated with WebSphere's Update Installer tool (the same tool used with WebSphere Application Server 6.1, for example).
Installation preparation
wizard
Business Monitor 6.1 installation includes an installation preparation wizard. This new utility helps you set up the required software
for the Business Monitor installation. Instead of going through the instructions
step by step to manually set up the required product images in a particular
structure, this utility helps you easily lay down all the product images you
need, in the correct way required by the Business Monitor installation.
This article walks you through an example of running the installation
preparation wizard.
Broader support for operating environments
The Monitor 6.1 Installer supports a basic installation on all operating
system platforms supported by Business Monitor 6.1. | | Previously, Business
Monitor only supported a basic installation on the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems. |
|
The
following operating system platforms are supported:
- Windows 2003
- AIX® 5.2 and 5.3
- HP-UX® Itanium 11i
- Linux® RedHat 5
- Linux SuSe 9 and 10
The basic installation also allows you to configure Business Monitor with any
one of the following database products:
- Derby Embedded (comes with WebSphere Application Server ND 6.1)
- DB2 Universal Database™
- DB2 Universal Database for z/OS® V8
- Oracle 10g
Setting up for WebSphere
Business Monitor installation
The launchpad can serve as a single point of reference for installation. When you insert the WebSphere Business Monitor v6.1 Base Components
CD, the launchpad will start automatically. The startup panel is the
Welcome page. The launchpad also includes: Prerequisite Information, Installation
Diagrams, Documentation, and Migration Information, which will give you background information and help you prepare
for your installation.
To start the installation process, click
WebSphere Business Monitor Installation on the left. This panel contains a link to launch the installation preparation wizard,
and a link to launch the installation wizard for WebSphere Business Monitor, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. WebSphere
Business Monitor Installation
Running the installation
preparation wizard
- From the launchpad WebSphere Business Monitor Installation page, click the
link to Launch the installation preparation wizard as shown above.
The wizard, shown in Figure 2 below, will help you set
up the required software for Business Monitor installation.
Figure 2. Installation preparation wizard
- Click Next.
- The Product selection panel, shown in Figure 3, lets you select the products you will need for Business Monitor
installation.
Figure 3. Product
selection
WebSphere Business Monitor 6.1 is selected by default. You can make
your selections based on the type of installation you'll perform and the
features you plan to install. For example, if you plan to do a basic
installation without Portal Dashboard, you would select WebSphere
Application Server ND 6.1 and Alphablox 9.5. If you plan to do a basic
installation with Portal Dashboard, then you would also need to select WebSphere
Portal 6.0.1.1.
After you make the selections, click Next.
-
The Target directory panel, shown below, asks for the target directory where the product images will be
copied.
Figure 4. Target directory
"Disk space required" tells you how much disk space is
required for copying over the product images you selected in the previous panel.
After you enter a target directory, you will also see "Available disk space"
information, which tells you how much available disk space your system has based
on the partition of your target directory. If Available disk space is greater
than Disk space required, the Next button will be enabled.
Click Next.
- The first time the Source directory panel is displayed, it asks for the source directory where the
WebSphere Business Monitor V6.1 Base Components product image exists. This panel
will be repeated for each product you selected. If you have the product image in
CD, insert the CD and enter the CD drive as the source directory. If you have an
electronic image for the product (.zip, .tar.gz, or .tar file), enter the directory
path that contains the file in its original name or enter the path to the file
directly.
Figure 5. Source directory
Click Next. The tool will first verify the product image, then
start to copy the image if it is valid.
-
While the tool is copying the product image into your
target directory, you should see the following panel.
Figure 6. Copying product image
Once it is done copying, the tool will show the Source directory
panel for the next selected product. This panel flow will repeat until the tool
finishes copying all the products you selected. You will then see the Results panel, as in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Results
- The target directory, and the list of products the tool
copied, are shown. At this point all the products that you will use in your Business
Monitor installation are set up correctly.
Click Finish to exit the tool
and go back to the launchpad.
Installing Business
Monitor using the basic installation path
After the prerequisite software has been set up on the machine, Business Monitor
is ready to be installed. This section walks you through an example basic installation.
- From the launchpad WebSphere Business Monitor Installation panel shown in Figure 1, click
Launch the installation wizard for WebSphere Business Monitorto start the main installation. Figure 8 below shows the welcome for the installation wizard.
If you ran the installation preparation wizard
utility to set up the product images, this will run the Business Monitor
installation wizard from the target directory that you specified in the utility. Otherwise, it will run the Business Monitor installation wizard from your current working directory.
Figure 8. WebSphere Business Monitor 6.1 installation wizard
Click Next.
- You'll see the Software License Agreement. If you accept the terms, select I accept both the
IBM and the non-IBM terms and click Next.
Figure 9. Software License Agreement
-
The System prerequisites check, shown below, has the result of operating system prerequisites checking.
Click Next to continue.
Figure 10. System
prerequisites check
- On the Installation type selection panel, Basic Installation is selected by default.
Click Next.
Figure 11. Installation type selection
-
On the Component selection panel, select the checkbox if you would like to install Portlet-based dashboards with
Alphablox features.
Click Next.
Figure 12. Component selection
If you did not select Portlet-based dashboards option, you'll see the Installation directory panel as shown below.
Figure 13a.
Installation directory
If you selected the Portlet-based dashboards option in the Component selection panel, you'll see the Installation directory panel as shown in Figure 13b .
Figure 13b.
Installation directory
- Enter the installation location for Business Monitor server. If you are on the
panel shown in Figure 13b, also enter the root installation location for
WebSphere Portal and WebSphere Application Server 6.0.2.
Click Next. You
will get a warning message if your root installation location for Portal already
contains PortalServer or AppServer directory.
- On the WebSphere Application Server enable administrative
security panel shown below, enter the User name and Password if you intend to enable Application
Server administrative security. Otherwise, uncheck Enable administrative
security.
Figure 14. WebSphere
Application Server enable administrative security
Click Next.
- If you selected
Portlet-based dashboards earlier, you will see the WebSphere Portal administrative security panel shown below.
Figure 15. WebSphere
Portal administrative security
You are required to enter the user name and password. The user
name and password you provided will be used for both WebSphere Application Server
and WebSphere Portal.
Click Next.
- You should see the Human Tasks configuration panel, as shown in Figure 16. If you want to view human task data in your dashboards, check the Configure
human task monitor model box and enter the host name and port number for
WebSphere Process Server. This will deploy the human task application and
configure the Business Monitor Server to access WebSphere Process Server.
Click Next.
Figure 16. Human Tasks
configuration
- The Screen customizations panel allows you to select the desired screen customizations. If you
selected Portlet-based dashboards earlier, the two Portal checkboxes will be
enabled and selected by default.
Figure 17. Screen
customizations
After you make your selections, click Next.
- On the Database configuration panel you are required to select your database product, choose the
database creation method, and type the database name and schema name for the
Monitor database that will be created.
Figure 18. Database
configuration
If you selected Portlet-based dashboards
earlier, Derby Embedded will not be in the Database product list. The option to "Create a new
local database" requires that the chosen database product is already installed
and configured on the local system.
If you intend to connect to a remote database,
select Use existing database, and you must run the generated scripts manually
after the installation to create the Monitor database if it has not been created
yet.
Click Next after you enter all the information.
- If you selected a database product other than Derby Embedded, you will see the
"Additional database configuration" panel, as shown below.
Figure 19. Additional
database configurations
You must enter the User name and Password for database
authentication.
The field for JDBC™ driver classpath files directory has a default
value for DB2 Universal Database. It's blank for Oracle database, in which
case you need to provide the information.
The JDBC driver type is default to type
4 for DB2 Universal Database, and default to Thin for an Oracle database.
The Database server host name is set to localhost and cannot be modified if you
selected the option to Create a new local database in the previous panel. Otherwise,
you need to provide the server host name or IP address.
Database service port number
is always required.
After you enter all required information, click Next. The installation wizard will try to connect to the database using the information
you provided. If it fails to connect to the database, you'll get an error or
warning message depending on the specific situation. Otherwise, you get an installation summary.
- The Installation summary lists the products and the components under WebSphere Business
Monitor 6.1 that will be installed. If you did not select Portlet-based dashboards
earlier, the product "WebSphere Portal 6.0.1.1" and the component "Portlet-based
dashboards" will not be listed.
Review the summary panel and click Next, which will start the installation process.
Figure 20. Installation
summary
- When installation finishes, you will see
the Installation results panel. If the installation is
successful, you will have an option to launch First steps, which is selected by
default.
Click Finish.
Figure 21. Installation results
Verifying Monitor installation
The First steps console is a new feature, to be used immediately after installation
completes, to verify your Monitor installation. The First steps console is launched after you clicked Finish on the Installation results panel above.
Figure 22. First steps console
Verifying Monitor Server installation
To verify Monitor Server installation, use the Installation
Verification utility in First steps, as shown in Figure 22 above. This utility can help
identify any possible installation problems before continuing with the project.
The utility verifies Monitor server component integrity, installed resources, and
database connections. For stand-alone profile, it actually deploys a monitor
model and processes events through the model to exercise much of the Monitor
server function. If this verification passes successfully, you can then proceed
with installing monitor models and configuring the Monitor Server.
Verifying Portal
Dashboard installation
Unfortunately, the Installation Verification utility cannot be used to verify a
successful Portal Dashboard installation. However, there are two things you can do
using the latest version of your favorite Internet browser:
- If Portal Server is not already started, using a command prompt go to the location of the
portal profile directory on your machine (for example,
C:\IBM\WebSphere\profiles\wp_profile if the operating system is Windows 2003).
Change to the bin directory and enter:
startServer.bat WebSphere_Portal |
Or, if the operating system is HP-UX, Linux, or AIX enter:
./startServer.sh WebSphere_Portal |
If the server is successfully started, you should see
Server WebSphere_Portal open for e-business; |
.
After the server is started, go to the Portal Dashboard Login panel with your Web
browser, located at port 10038 on your host machine. Figure 23 shows the Portal
Dashboard Login.
Figure 23.
Portal Dashboard login
After entering your User ID and Password for Portal Server, and clicking
Log In, the Portal Dashboard Welcome panel should appear. Verify that the
Welcome has references to KPIs, Human Tasks, and a Business Monitor Getting
Started section. Figure 24 shows the Portal Dashboard Welcome.
Figure 24.
Portal Dashboard Welcome
-
The other way to verify a successful Portal Dashboard installation
is to find the Dashboard REST service property listed with the Portal Server's
WebSphere Admin Console.
First, start the Portal Server profile if not already
started. Go to Portal Server's WebSphere Administrative Console (the
/ibm/console Web page located at port 10027 on your host machine). Figure 25
shows the WebSphere Admin Console.
Figure 25.
WebSphere Admin Console
Click Servers -> Application Servers. Figure 26
shows the WebSphere Portal Server panel. Select WebSphere Portal from the list of application servers.
Figure 26.
WebSphere Portal Server
The WebSphere Portal Server's custom properties page should show a Dashboard
REST service target property, as shown below in Figure 27.
Figure
27. Dashboard REST service property
Summary
In this article you learned about the many changes to Business Monitor 6.1 installation. It now integrates into the WebSphere Application Server product family, allowing sharing of useful
GUI components and utilities, including the Common Launchpad, Profile Management
Tool, First steps, and the Update Installer. You walked through a basic
installation of Business Monitor 6.1, and verified the successful
installation and configuration of the Dashboard for both WebSphere Application
Server ND and Portal Server. With a successful basic installation, IBM WebSphere
Business Monitor 6.1 is ready for prototyping and testing of business process
modeling on your machine.
Stay tuned for the next part in this series, which will take you through an advanced installation into a
distributed server topology -- an example of an actual Business Monitor
production environment.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Monitor 6.1 installation team for their
innovation and commitment, without whom this work would not be possible: Aimee
Silva, Lea Leite, Miriam Celi, Nick Metianu, Paritosh Patel, Ron Swan, Soonthorn
Ativanichayaphong, and Xiaoming Wang.
Resources Learn
Get products and technologies
- Download the WebSphere Business Monitor Data
Access Builder from the
IBM SOA Business Catalog.
-
SupportPac IA9V provides a reusable Message Broker sub-flow for sending business events to WebSphere Business Monitor.
About the authors | 
| | Gerald McCobb currently is a Software Engineer working for IBM. He has worked
on WebSphere Business Monitor install since March, 2007. |
| 
| | Yan Li has worked as a software engineer with IBM for the past 6 years on
product development. She has worked on WebSphere Business Monitor installation since March, 2007. |
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