Introduction

What is this tutorial about?

This is the second of two tutorials detailing the installation of IBM WebSphere Portal Enable 4.2. As discussed in Part 10, we chose a two-tier configuration for our implementation. The material that follows outlines the second phase of the installation process -- installing DB2, WebSphere Application Server, and Portal Server. Upon completion of this tutorial, you'll have the skills and background knowledge required to:

• Understand the installation of WebSphere Portal in either a single-tier configuration, or in a multi-tier environment.
• Understand the prerequisites required for a successful installation (both skill set and package sets).
• Install, configure, and verify WebSphere Application Server.
• Install, configure, and verify the components that when put together, make up Portal Server

The introductory section in the first tutorial contains some important notes on system configuration.

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About the MetroSphere project

The MetroSphere project is a series of articles and tutorials based on the following scenario: A team of individuals (an administrator and several developers) was tasked by their employer to implement a portal solution to fit the company's current needs, plus provided future extensibility. After reviewing the many available market offerings, the team chose IBM WebSphere Portal Server.

The material presented details how the project evolved, why Portal Server was selected, how the systems that would run Portal were selected, and how the various pieces of the implementation were put into place. Issues discussed include initial in-house testing, scalability, installation and backup solutions, administrative hurdles, and a multitude of development topics.

You'll find more about the MetroSphere project at the end of this tutorial, in the Further resources section.

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Prerequisites

The material presented in this tutorial is predicated on the following assumptions or prerequisites:

• You ("you" meaning the system administrator or individual(s) tasked with installing Portal Enable) have read the hardware requirements for Portal and are installing the software on a system capable of supporting the product.
• You have administrative or 'root' access to the Linux system.
• You are starting with an existing Red Hat Linux installation that meets Portal Enable's software prerequisites.
• The Portal Enable installer (Setup Manager) must be run from an X-Window environment (KDE, Gnome, or any other desktop manager of your choosing). If X is not installed on the system, you must satisfy this requirement before beginning the installation.
• The base operating system (BOS) is correctly configured and adequately secured.
• You have a fundamental understanding of user/group creation, file permissions, initialization scripts, and filesystem layout.
• You are adept with a text editor like vi or emacs.

To follow along with the procedures outlined in this tutorial, you'll also need to have in hand a copy of WebSphere Portal Enable Version 4.2 and the required software keys.

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Table of contents

• Introduction
• Installation prerequisites and caveats
• Installing HTTP Server and WebSphere Application Server
• Installing Portal Server
• Summary
• Resources
• About the author

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