Installing Liberty fix packs on IBM i operating systems using the command line

Product fix packs contain bundled service to bring WebSphere® Application Server Liberty up to a new product level. Interim fixes provide corrective service for specific known problems. You can use the IBM® Installation Manager command-line function to update the product with the fixes that are available for your service level of WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation.

Before you begin

Important:

Java™ SE 8 is the recommended Java SDK because it provides the latest features and security updates. An alternative to Java SE 8 is any supported Java SDK version.

Contact the IBM Software Support Center for information about updates for WebSphere Application Server for IBM i. The most current information is available from the IBM Software Support Center and Fix Central.

IBM Installation Manager Version 1.8.5 or later is used to apply product maintenance to WebSphere Application Server for IBM i.

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.

If you want to install Liberty assets from local directory-based repositories or an instance of the Liberty Asset Repository Service, configure the repositories. For more information about the Liberty asset repositories, see Installing assets using Installation Manager.

Tip: As an alternative to the procedure that is described in this article, Installation Manager allows you to use the updateAll command in a response file or on the command line to search for and update all installed packages. Use this command only if you have full control over which fixes are contained in the targeted repositories. If you create and point to a set of custom repositories that include only the specific fixes that you want to install, you should be able to use this command confidently. If you enable searching service repositories or install fixes directly from other live web-based repositories, then you might not want to select this option so that you can select only the fixes that you want to install using the -installFixes option with the install command on the command line or the installFixesattribute in a response file.

About this task

Use this procedure whenever you want to apply a new fix pack to your system.
New: Fix pack 16.0.0.2 is the next Liberty fix pack after 8.5.5.9. For more information about changes in Liberty fix pack numbering and delivery, see What is new in this release of Liberty.

When you install a fix pack, Installation Manager automatically reapplies any installed interim fixes if they apply to the updated fix pack level. Interim fixes that do not apply, such as if the updated fix pack contains the fix, are uninstalled. In some cases, Installation Manager must uninstall an interim fix that you must manually reapply. For example, you might update to a fix pack that does not contain the fix and requires an updated interim fix level. Installation Manager notifies you if any interim fixes must be manually reapplied. You can verify which interim fixes are installed by running the productInfo version --ifixes command.

Tip: You can also install fix packs using response files with Installation Manager. For information on creating and using response files, read Installing Liberty fix packs on IBM i operating systems using response files and the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.

Procedure

  1. For a list of fixes that are available for WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation and specific information about each fix, perform the following actions.
    1. Go to Fix Central.
    2. Click Find product.
    3. Select WebSphere Liberty as the product group.
    4. Select the version of the product to be updated.
    5. Select IBM i as the platform, and click Continue.
    6. Select Browse for fixes, and click Continue.
    7. Select Fix pack as the fix type, and click Submit.
    8. Click More Information under each fix to view information about the fix.
    9. Recommendation: Make a note of the name of the fix pack that you would like to install.
  2. Update WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation with the fix pack using one of the following procedures.
    • Access the live service repository that contains the fix pack, and use web-based updating.
      Use Installation Manager on your local system to update WebSphere Application Server Liberty with the interim fixes from the live web-based service repositories.
      • For the live service repositories, use the same URLs as those used for the generally available product-offering repositories during installation. These URLs are listed in Online product repositories for Liberty offerings.
      • These locations do not contain web pages that you can access using a web browser. They are remote web-based repository locations that you specify for Installation Manager so that it can maintain the product.
      To install a fix from a service repository, perform the following actions:
      1. If you do not already have Installation Manager credential-storage and master-password files containing your IBM software user ID and password, create files that will allow you to access the repository.
        Note: These are the credentials that you use to access protected IBM software websites.
        For information on creating credential-storage and master-password files for Installation Manager, read the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.
        Tip: When creating a credential-storage file, append /repository.config at the end of the repository URL location if the imutilsc command is unable to find the URL that is specified.
      2. Sign on to the IBM i system with a user profile that has *ALLOBJ and *SECADM special authorities.
      3. Stop all servers and applications on the WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation that is being updated.
      4. On a CL command line, run the STRQSH command to start the Qshell command shell.
      5. Make sure that the umask is set to 022.
        To verify the umask setting, issue the following command:
        umask
        To set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command:
        umask 022
      6. Change to the Installation_Manager_binaries/eclipse/tools directory, where Installation_Manager_binaries is the installation root directory for the Installation Manager.

        On IBM i systems, the root directory for the Installation Manager is /QIBM/ProdData/InstallationManager.

      7. Install the fix pack.
        ./imcl install offering_ID_offering_version,optional_feature_ID
          -repositories repository_URL_or_path 
          -installationDirectory offering_installation_location
          -secureStorageFile storage_file -masterPasswordFile master_password_file
          -acceptLicense
        
        Tips:
        • New: When you update Liberty, all installed Liberty addons and features are also updated.
          You can install additional addons and features by specifying them on the user.addon and user.feature properties, as shown in the following example. Note that the feature short names or symbolic names are separated by double commas:
          ./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.liberty.ND,embeddablecontainer             
          -properties user.addon=extendedPackage-1.0,user.feature=portlet-2.0,,portletserving-2.0
          -installationDirectory /QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/Liberty/ND -acceptLicense
          -repositories /QIBM/LibertyProductRepo,https://your_onprem_asset_repo_url,/QIBM/LocalAssetRepo,/QIBM/LocalAssetRepo2.zip
          -sharedResourcesDirectory /QIBM/UserData/InstallationManager/IMShared
          -showProgress
          You can install assets from instances of the Liberty Asset Repository Service or local directory-based repositories with or without internet access. Add the repository URL, directory path, or archive file path on the -repositories parameter. These repositories are accessed in the order that they are specified. For more information about these asset repositories, see Installing assets using Installation Manager. To install assets from the IBM WebSphere Liberty Repository, you must have access to the internet. To enable access to the Liberty Repository, on the -properties parameter, set the user.useLibertyRepository option to true. The Liberty Repository is the last of the repositories that are accessed during installation.
        • The offering_ID is the offering ID that is listed in Liberty product offerings for supported operating systems.
        • The offering_version, which optionally can be attached to the offering ID with an underscore, is a specific version of the offering to install (16.0.2.20160503_0200 for example).
          • If offering_version is not specified, the latest version of the offering and all interim fixes for that version are installed.
          • If offering_version is specified, the specified version of the offering and no interim fixes for that version are installed.
          The offering version can be found attached to the end of the offering ID with an underscore when you run the following command against the repository:
          ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories repository_URL_or_path
        • You can also specify none, recommended or all with the -installFixes argument to indicate which interim fixes you want installed with the offering.
          • If the offering version is not specified, the -installFixes option defaults to all.
          • If the offering version is specified, the -installFixes option defaults to none.
        • To install the embeddable EJB container and JPA client, specify the optional embeddablecontainer feature after the offering ID, separated by a comma.

          The embeddable EJB container is a Java archive (JAR) file that you can use to run enterprise beans in a standalone Java Platform, Standard Edition (SE) environment. You can run enterprise beans by using this embeddable container outside the application server. The embeddable EJB container is a part of the EJB 3.1 specification and is primarily used for unit testing enterprise beans business logic.

          The JPA client can be used with the embeddable EJB container to provide Java Persistence API capability in a Java SE environment.

        • If you obtained the fix pack by installing the WebSphere Application Server group PTF, you can use the local fix-pack repositories to install the fix pack.

          For information about the local fix-pack repositories, see file /QIBM/WAS/WASFixpacks/Readme.html or /QIBM/WAS/WASFixpacks/Readme.txt.

      8. Optional: List all installed packages to verify the installation:
        ./imcl listInstalledPackages -long
    • Download a file that contains the fix pack from Fix Central, and use local updating.
      You can download a compressed file that contains the fix pack from Fix Central. Each compressed fix file contains an Installation Manager repository for the fix pack and usually has a .zip extension. After downloading the fix file, you can use Installation Manager to update WebSphere Application Server Liberty with the fix pack.
      1. To download the fix pack, perform the following actions:
        1. Go to Fix Central.
        2. Click Find product.
        3. Select WebSphere Liberty as the product group.
        4. Select the installed version.
        5. Select your operating system as the platform, and click Continue.
        6. Select Browse for fixes, and click Continue.
        7. Select the fix pack that you want to download, and click Continue.
        8. Select your download options, and click Continue.
        9. Click I agree to agree to the terms and conditions.
        10. Click Download now to download the fix pack.
        11. Transfer the compressed fix file in binary format to the IBM i systems on which it will be installed.
        12. Extract the compressed repository file to a directory on your system.
      2. To install a fix pack from a downloaded file, perform the following actions:
        1. Sign on to the IBM i system with a user profile that has *ALLOBJ and *SECADM special authorities.
        2. Stop all servers and applications on the WebSphere Application Server Liberty installation that is being updated.
        3. On a CL command line, run the STRQSH command to start the Qshell command shell.
        4. Make sure that the umask is set to 022.
          To verify the umask setting, issue the following command:
          umask
          To set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command:
          umask 022
        5. Change to the Installation_Manager_binaries/eclipse/tools directory, where Installation_Manager_binaries is the installation root directory for the Installation Manager.

          On IBM i systems, the root directory for the Installation Manager is /QIBM/ProdData/InstallationManager.

        6. Install the fix pack.
          ./imcl install offering_ID_offering_version,optional_feature_ID
            -repositories location_of_expanded_files
            -installationDirectory offering_installation_location
            -acceptLicense
          
          Tips:
          • New: When you update Liberty, all installed Liberty addons and features are also updated.
            You can install additional addons and features by specifying them on the user.addon and user.feature properties, as shown in the following example. Note that the feature short names or symbolic names are separated by double commas:
            ./imcl install com.ibm.websphere.liberty.ND,embeddablecontainer             
            -properties user.addon=extendedPackage-1.0,user.feature=portlet-2.0,,portletserving-2.0
            -installationDirectory /QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/Liberty/ND -acceptLicense
            -repositories /QIBM/LibertyProductRepo,https://your_onprem_asset_repo_url,/QIBM/LocalAssetRepo,/QIBM/LocalAssetRepo2.zip
            -sharedResourcesDirectory /QIBM/UserData/InstallationManager/IMShared
            -showProgress
            You can install assets from instances of the Liberty Asset Repository Service or local directory-based repositories with or without internet access. Add the repository URL, directory path, or archive file path on the -repositories parameter. These repositories are accessed in the order that they are specified. For more information about these asset repositories, see Installing assets using Installation Manager. To install assets from the IBM WebSphere Liberty Repository, you must have access to the internet. To enable access to the Liberty Repository, on the -properties parameter, set the user.useLibertyRepository option to true. The Liberty Repository is the last of the repositories that are accessed during installation.
          • The offering_ID is the offering ID that is listed in Liberty product offerings for supported operating systems.
          • The offering_version, which optionally can be attached to the offering ID with an underscore, is a specific version of the offering to install (16.0.2.20160503_0200 for example).
            • If offering_version is not specified, the latest version of the offering and all interim fixes for that version are installed.
            • If offering_version is specified, the specified version of the offering and no interim fixes for that version are installed.
            The offering version can be found attached to the end of the offering ID with an underscore when you run the following command against the repository:
            ./imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories repository_URL_or_path
          • You can also specify none, recommended or all with the -installFixes argument to indicate which interim fixes you want installed with the offering.
            • If the offering version is not specified, the -installFixes option defaults to all.
            • If the offering version is specified, the -installFixes option defaults to none.
          • To install the embeddable EJB container and JPA client, specify the optional embeddablecontainer feature after the offering ID, separated by a comma.

            The embeddable EJB container is a Java archive (JAR) file that you can use to run enterprise beans in a standalone Java Platform, Standard Edition (SE) environment. You can run enterprise beans by using this embeddable container outside the application server. The embeddable EJB container is a part of the EJB 3.1 specification and is primarily used for unit testing enterprise beans business logic.

            The JPA client can be used with the embeddable EJB container to provide Java Persistence API capability in a Java SE environment.

          • If you obtained the fix pack by installing the WebSphere Application Server group PTF, you can use the local fix-pack repositories to install the fix pack.

            For information about the local fix-pack repositories, see file /QIBM/WAS/WASFixpacks/Readme.html or /QIBM/WAS/WASFixpacks/Readme.txt.

        7. Optional: List all installed packages to verify the installation:
          ./imcl listInstalledPackages -long