Installing Installation Manager and preparing to install Liberty

Install Installation Manager and obtain the necessary product repositories before installing WebSphere® Application Server Liberty.

About this task

Procedure

  1. Install IBM® Installation Manager Version 1.8.5 or later.

    You can skip this step if you already have IBM Installation Manager Version 1.8.5 or later installed. If you have a previous version installed, you can update it by following the instructions in the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.

    Through version 19.0.0.8, the minimum acceptable version of IBM Installation Manager is 1.8.5.

    As of version 19.0.0.9, the minimum acceptable version of IBM Installation Manager is 1.9.0.

    1. Obtain the necessary installation files.
      There are three basic options for obtaining Installation Manager.
    2. Change to the location containing the Installation Manager installation files, and run one of the following commands.
      Administrative installation:
      • For Windows platformsinstall.exe
      • For LINUX platformsFor Solaris platformsFor HP UNIX platformsFor AIX platforms./install
      Non-administrative installation:
      • For Windows platformsuserinst.exe
      • For LINUX platformsFor Solaris platformsFor HP UNIX platformsFor AIX platforms./userinst
      Group-mode installation:
      For LINUX platformsFor Solaris platformsFor HP UNIX platformsFor AIX platforms./groupinst
      Notes® on group mode:
      • Group mode allows multiple users to use a single instance of IBM Installation Manager to manage software packages.

        This does not mean that two people can use the single instance of IBM Installation Manager at the same time.

      • For Windows platformsGroup mode is not available on Windows operating systems.
      • If you do not install Installation Manager using group mode, you will not be able to use group mode to manage any of the products that you install later using this Installation Manager.
      • Make sure that you change the installation location from the default location in the current user's home directory to a location that is accessible by all users in the group.
      • Set up your groups, permissions, and environment variables as described in the Group mode road maps in the IBM Installation Manager product documentation before installing in group mode.

      The installer opens an Install Packages window.

    3. Make sure that the Installation Manager package is selected, and click Next.
    4. Accept the terms in the license agreements, and click Next.

      The program creates the directory for your installation.

    5. Click Next.
    6. Review the summary information, and click Install.
      • If the installation is successful, the program displays a message indicating that installation is successful.
      • If the installation is not successful, click View Log File to troubleshoot the problem.
  2. Obtain the product repositories.
    There are three basic options for accessing the product repositories to install the offering.
    • Access the physical media, and use local installation.

      You can access the product repositories on the media.

    • Download the files from the Passport Advantage site, and use local installation.
      Licensed customers with a Passport Advantage ID and password can download the necessary product repositories from the Passport Advantage site.
      Tip: See Download WebSphere Application Server from Passport Advantage Online for a list of the WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation images downloadable from the IBM Passport Advantage Online website and other information.
    • Access the live repositories, and use web-based installation.
      If you have an IBM ID and password, you can access the product repositories and install the offering from the web-based repositories. Use Installation Manager to install the offering from the web-based repository located at
      http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.liberty.ND
      Note: This location does not contain a web page that you can access using a web browser. This is a remote web-based repository location that you must add to your Installation Manager preferences before the Installation Manager GUI can access the files in this repository to install the offering.
      Tip: This live repository is accessed by using Passport Advantage authentication. After you have installed Installation Manager, you can set the Passport Advantage preference to connect to the live repositories. To set Passport Advantage preferences, follow this procedure:
      1. Open Installation Manager.
      2. Open the Passport Advantage preferences page by selecting File > Preferences > Passport Advantage.
      3. Select Connect to Passport Advantage to connect to the Passport Advantage repository.

        The Password Required dialog box opens.

      4. Enter a user name and password for Passport Advantage.
      5. Optional: Select Save password to save the user name and password credentials.

        If you do not save the user name and password credentials, you are prompted for these credentials each time you access Passport Advantage.

      6. Click OK to close the Password Required dialog box.
      7. Click OK to close the Preferences window.
      For more information on setting your Installation Manager preferences, see the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.

      Whenever possible, you should use the remote web-based repositories so that you are accessing the most up-to-date installation files.

    Notes:
    • If you do not have a Passport Advantage ID and password, you must install the offering from the product repositories on the media or local repositories.
    • With the Packaging Utility, you can create and manage packages for installation repositories. You can copy multiple packages into one repository or copy multiple disks for one product into a repository. You can copy packages from Passport Advantage or a web-based repository into a local repository for example. For more information on the Packaging Utility, go to the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.
  3. Optional: Configure an instance of the Liberty Asset Repository Service or a local directory-based repository.
    As part of installing Liberty, you can choose to install assets from the following repositories:
    • The Liberty Repository, a public IBM-hosted repository that is accessible through the internet. For more information, see Liberty Repository.
    • The Liberty Asset Repository Service, an open source service that you can use to create an on-premises repository that is remotely accessible behind the firewall of an enterprise. For more information, see the WASdev/tool.lars project on GitHub.
    • Local directory-based repositories, which you create by using the installUtility download action or by downloading the wlp-featureRepo-<version>.zip file, which contains all applicable features and addons. For more information, see Downloading assets using the installUtility command.

    Access to the Liberty Repository requires internet access. If your system does not have internet access or you want to install customized Liberty assets, set up an instance of the Liberty Asset Repository Service or a local directory-based repository, and then add the repository URL, directory path, or archive path in Installation Manager. For more information about the Liberty repositories, see Installing assets using Installation Manager.

  4. Optional: If you will be using the Installation Manager GUI, add the product repository to your Installation Manager preferences.
    1. Launch Installation Manager.
    2. Click File > Preferences.
    3. Select Repositories.
    4. Perform the following actions:
      1. Click Add Repository.
      2. Enter the path to the repository.config file in the location containing the repository files.
        For example:
        • For Windows platformsC:\repositories\offering_name\local-repositories
        • For LINUX platformsFor Solaris platformsFor HP UNIX platformsFor AIX platforms/var/repositories/offering_name/local-repositories
        or
        http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.liberty.ND
      3. Click OK.
    5. Deselect any locations listed in the Repositories window that you will not be using.
    6. Click Apply.
    7. Click OK.
    8. Click File > Exit to close Installation Manager.
    For more information on setting your Installation Manager preferences, see the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.
  5. Optional: If you will be using the Installation Manager GUI, set your Installation Manager rollback preferences.
    By default, Installation Manager saves earlier versions of a package to roll back to if you experience issues later. When Installation Manager rolls back a package to a previous version, the current version of the files are uninstalled and the earlier versions are reinstalled. If you choose not to save the files for rollback, you can prevent the files from being saved or delete them after they are saved. To set your rollback preferences, perform the following actions before installing a package:
    1. Launch Installation Manager.
    2. Open the Rollback preferences window by selecting File > Preferences > Files for Rollback.
    3. Select or clear the Save files for rollback option to save or to stop saving a copy of files that are required to roll back packages on your computer.

      You can remove any files that have already been saved by clicking Delete Saved Files. If you delete the files and you need to roll back a package later, you must connect to a repository or insert the media to obtain the required files for the previous version of the package.

    4. Click OK to save your rollback preferences.
    For more information on setting your Installation Manager preferences, see the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.

What to do next

Use Installation Manager to install the offering.