IBM Support

Key Features and Troubleshooting Tips for Corrupted IBM Installation Manager Agent Data and IMShared Issues

Technical Blog Post


Abstract

Key Features and Troubleshooting Tips for Corrupted IBM Installation Manager Agent Data and IMShared Issues

Body

 

 

 

IBM Installation Manager (IM) is used to install IBM products such as WebSphere Application Server (WAS) v8.x. Once you use IM to install WAS v8.0 or above, you must maintain IM’s agent data and IMShared in good shape, or there would be an issue once you plan to upgrade WAS to a higher fixpack level, install other products on top of WAS, or downgrade WAS later.

 

These are the design features of using Installation Manager (IM):

- IM can be used to install individual software packages on your local machine, or in conjunction with the IBM Packaging Utility to perform installations from an enterprise repository.
- IM can be used to install multiple separate installs at once
- IM offers more options such as IM GUI, IMCL command line, or a IM response file, which can be used to install, update, or uninstall IBM products.
- IM is bundled with many IBM software products and provides the core installation capability.
- IM agent data and IMShared locations cannot be changed or modified after you installed IBM products with the IM
- IM agent data and IMShared folders cannot be modified or removed
- IM cannot be downgraded once it is installed, it must always be upgraded

 

Let’s examine how Installation Manager (IM) is used. When IM is installed, a directory called Agent Data is created.  At the time of the first offering install, a directory called IMShared is created. For more details on this please review the blog: 

What are the IMShared and Agent data directories created by the IBM Installation Manager?
/support/pages/node/1081113

 

BEST PRACTICE: Put your Agent Data and IMShared directories on your backup cycle.

 

Here are some tips for troubleshooting some common corrupted IM agent data and IMShared issues:

Problem Scenario 1:

If you originally installed IM 1.6.2 using non-Admin mode, later, you would like to run IM using Admin mode.

 

Solution 1:
To resolve this issue you have to uninstall all offerings and IM.  Then install a new IM in admin mode and the offerings. 
Once IM is installed with a specific ID, then all offerings are installed using that ID.
In UNIX, if WebSphere is installed as root, you could do a chown to a non-root ID to run WebSphere as non-root.  You have to remember with all updates to change the owner recursively to the non-root ID.

 

 

Problem scenario 2:

You have installed WAS 8.5.5.4 with IM 1.6.x using root or non-root. You would like to have the IM at a higher version such as 1.8.4. You install a new IM 1.8.4 using Group mode on the same machine. You tried to use the new IM 1.8.4 to upgrade the existing WebSphere from 8.5.5.4 to 8.5.5.9, but IM is not showing that you have any products installed. You run “imcl listAvailablePackages...” with the new IM 1.8.4, but it only shows that IM is installed.


Solution 2:
Once you use the IM 1.6 to install WAS 8.5.5.4, it will generate its own IM agent data and IMShared directories. A different IM such as new IM 1.8.4 will not retrieve the original IM agent data and IMShared data, and the new Group mode IM would have its own unique agent data and IMShared directories. 
When upgrading IM you should use the “update” option instead of “install” option. Then run the updated IM 1.8.4 to upgrade WebSphere from 8.5.5.4 to 8.5.5.9.

 

 

Problem scenario 3:

You installed WAS 8.5.5.2 with IM 1.8. You removed this IM by mistake, but the IM agent-data and IMShared folders are not corrupted, so what should you do when you need to run this IM to upgrade WAS from 8.5.5.2 to 8.5.5.4?

 

Solution 3:
Using the -reinstallIM option to reinstall IM. You must use the installation files from the same version or a later version of the installed version of IM. The command lines to run to reinstall installation manager varies based on user roles and operating systems. See the below for command line examples. Run the command to reinstall IM from the directory that contains the extracted files.

 

At the end of these commands add -acceptLicense -showProgress:
 
Windows:
Administrator: install.exe -reinstallIM
Nonadministrator: userinst.exe -reinstallIM
Group: (Not available)      
  
Linux, and UNIX:
Administrator: ./install -reinstallIM
Nonadministrator: ./userinst -reinstallIM
Group: ./groupinst -dataLocation /user_home_directory/var/ibm/InstallationManager_Group -reinstallIM     
 
NOTE: The -reinstallIM option is available only for IM 1.5.2 or above

 

 

Problem Scenario 4:

When you tried to launch the Installation Manager, you received the error:

ERROR [main] com.ibm.cic.agent.core.AgentInstall getImLocationFromCurDataLoc
Error parsing "/var/ibm/InstallationManager/installed.xml"
70391:57: XML document structures must start and end within the same entity.
    org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: XML document structures must start and end within the same entity.
    org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: XML document structures must start and end within the same entity.
ERROR [main] com.ibm.cic.agent.internal.ui.AgentUI reportStatus
    The Installation Manager's registry information is inconsistent wit its installation information.
   The registry information at "/etc/.ibm/registry/InstallationManager.dat" indicates that
Installation Manager 1.8.0 (internal version: 1.8.0.20140902_1503) is installed at location "/opt/IBM
    /InstallationManager/eclipse" and is using "/var/ibm/InstallationManager" for its data location. However, the information at the data location indicates that the Installation Manager is not installed.

 

The installed.xml file is corrupt because many lines in the xml file are missing.

 

Solution 4:
To resolve the problem 4, there are two options below. One is if you have a backup, restore the installed.xml file from the backup. 
Second option is if you do not have a backup but have a sister machine that has the same IM level and same products and their fix packs, you can copy the installed.xml file from the IM agent data folder there, and paste it into this machine that has the problem. But, if you do not have a backup or a sister machine with the same installs and levels, we will explain the other options in the next paragraphs after the two options.

Option 1:
If you already have a backup, restore the installed.xml file from the backup. Please ensure this backup is in sync with currently installed offerings version and fixpack level.

Option 2:

If you do not have a backup but have a sister machine with the same IM level and same products and same fix packs, copy the installed.xml file from the IM agent data in the sister machine and paste it into this machine in question.

 

 

References:

Install or Update InstallationManager: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSDV2W_1.8.5/com.ibm.cic.agent.ui.doc/topics/r_install_im_overview.html

Agent data location: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSDV2W_1.8.3/com.ibm.silentinstall12.doc/topics/r_app_data_loc.html
What are the IMShared and Agent data directories created by the IBM Installation Manager?: /support/pages/node/1081113
Directory paths for IBM Installation Manager: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSYGQH_5.5.0/admin/install/r_directory_paths_installation-manager.html

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ibm11081137