Preparing Solaris systems for installation

Before you can install IBM® WebSphere® Application Server products on Solaris operating systems, you must take steps to prepare the operating system.

Important: On 30 September 2022, the WebSphere Application Server family of products discontinued support for the Solaris operating system. You can purchase extended support for this operating system. For details about the end of support, extended support, and suggested migration options, see the Software support discontinuance announcement.

Before you begin

The installation uses Installation Manager. You can use the graphical interface, the command line, or a response file.

If you want to install 32-bit WebSphere Application Server on a 64-bit operating system, you must install the appropriate 32-bit libraries on your system.

Restriction: There are known issues with using Cygwin/X to run Eclipse-based applications on remote Solaris machines. This affects your use of the Profile Management Tool. With Cygwin/X on remote Solaris, for example, the Profile Management Tool welcome panel appears but no keyboard or mouse input is accepted. For details of existing Bugzilla reports on these issues, see the information at https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=97808. If a different X server (such as Hummingbird Exceed) is used, these problems do not occur.

Tip: Installation Manager is based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform architecture. This architecture requires specific graphical libraries and versions to work properly. Read Installation Manager graphical environment issues on Solaris, Linux, AIX for information about specific system requirements.

Important: On the Solaris platform, remote IBM Installation Manager graphical user interface (GUI) processing is only supported with VNC because of problems with X servers.

About this task

Preparing the operating system involves such changes as allocating disk space and installing patches to the operating system. IBM tests WebSphere Application Server products on each operating system platform. Such tests verify whether an operating system change is required for WebSphere Application Server products to run correctly. Without the required changes, WebSphere Application Server products do not run correctly.

Procedure

Log on to the operating system.
You can log on as root or as a nonroot installer.
Select a umask that allows the owner to read/write to the files, and allows others to access them according to the prevailing system policy. For root, a umask of 022 is recommended. For nonroot users a umask of 002 or 022 can be used, depending on whether the users share the group. To verify the umask setting, issue the following command:
```
umask
```
To set the umask setting to 022, issue the following command:
```
umask 022
```
Make sure that you select the Entire Group option on the Select Solaris Software Group panel when you set up your system.
Optional: Download and install the Mozilla Firefox web browser.
Optional: Export the location of the supported browser.
Export the location of the supported browser using a command that identifies the actual location of the browser.
If the Mozilla Firefox package is in the /opt/bin/firefox directory, for example, use the following command:
```
export BROWSER=/opt/bin/firefox
```
Optional: Configure Hummingbird Exceed to disable Automatic Font Substitution.
Font changes occur when using the Hummingbird Exceed package and invoke the Profile Management Tool. When you use the Hummingbird Exceed package to connect to a machine running the Solaris operating system, and then invoke the Profile Management Tool, some font sizes and styles display differently than when doing the same operation from the native Solaris display.

The font sizes and style changes are based on the font selections in the bundled Java™ SE Runtime Environment 6 (JRE 6).

To prevent the various font changes, configure Hummingbird Exceed to disable Automatic Font Substitution:
1. From the Hummingbird Exceed user interface, click Xconfig > Font > Font Database > Disable ( Automatic Font Substitution).
2. Click OK.
3. Restart the Hummingbird Exceed package.
Stop all Java processes related to WebSphere Application Server on the machine where you are installing the product.
Stop any web server process such as the IBM HTTP Server.
Provide adequate disk space.
The amount of disk space required varies with the number of features or products installed. If you are installing the product using Installation Manager, the installation summary panel indicates the approximate amount of disk space required based on the features and products you have selected.
Installing all features and products requires approximately 2 GB of disk space. This estimate includes the following products, components, and features:
- Main application server product installation
- Profiles
- Sample applications
- IBM HTTP Server
- Web Server Plug-ins
- Application Client for WebSphere Application Server
If you plan to migrate applications and the configuration from a previous version, verify that the application objects have enough disk space. As a rough guideline, plan for space equal to 110 percent of the size of the applications.

Set kernel values to support Application Server.

Several Solaris kernel values are typically too small.

The instructions in this step apply to the Solaris SPARC (32-bit and 64-bit) operating system only. For Solaris x64 processor-based systems, see How to Get Started with IBM WebSphere Application Server on Solaris 10 and Zones. The article was written for Solaris 10 on SPARC but the principles apply equally to x64.

Before installing, review the machine configuration:

sysdef -i

The kernel values are set in the /etc/system file (for Solaris 8 or 9) or /etc/project file (for Solaris 10 and 11).

The resource controls are set in the /etc/system project file (for Solaris 10 and 11. Resource controls are new for Solaris 10 and 11 and are replacing the use of some kernel values. Resource controls do not apply to Solaris 8 or 9.

An example of some settings for kernel values and how they have changed for Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 and 11 is shown in the following example.

set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax = 4294967295 (a resource control in Solaris 10 and 11)
set shmsys:shminfo_shmseg = 1024       (obsolete in Solaris 9, 10, and 11)
set shmsys:shminfo_shmmni = 1024       (obsolete in Solaris 9, 10, and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semaem = 16384      (obsolete in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semmni = 1024       (a resource control in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semmap = 1026       (obsolete in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semmns = 16384      (removed in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semmsl = 100        (a resource control in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semopm = 100        (a resource control in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semmnu = 2048       (removed in Solaris 10 and 11)
set semsys:seminfo_semume = 256        (obsolete in Solaris 10 and 11)
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmap = 1026       (obsolete in Solaris 10 and 11)
set msgsys:msginfo_msgmax = 65535      (obsolete in Solaris 10 and 11)
set rlim_fd_cur=1024

The Solaris 10 and 11 operating systems use the following resource controls to replace the /etc/system kernel values:

                              Old             Old       New        New  
    Resource control          tunable         default   Max        default
                                                        Value           
    ----------------------    -------------   -------   ---------  -----
                                                                        
    process.max-msg-qbytes    msginfo_msgmnb  4096      ULONG_MAX  65536
    process.max-msg-messages  msginfo_msgtql  40        UINT_MAX    8192
    process.max-sem-ops       seminfo_semopm  10        INT_MAX     512 
    process.max-sem-nsems     seminfo_semmsl  25        SHRT_MAX    512 
    project.max-shm-memory    shminfo_shmmax  0x800000  UINT64_MAX  1/4*
    
    * (New default is 1/4 of physical memory)                         
                                                                        
    project.max-shm-ids       shminfo_shmmni  100       2**24       128 
    project.max-msg-ids       msginfo_msgmni  50        2**24       128 
    project.max-sem-ids       seminfo_semmni  10        2**24       128

The following tunables are now obsolete in the Solaris 10 and Solaris 11 operating systems:

    Shared Memory        Semaphores             Message-Queue           
    --------------       --------------         ---------------         
    shminfo_shmseg       seminfo_semmns         msginfo_msgmax          
    shminfo_shmmin       seminfo_semvmx         msginfo_msgssz          
    shminfo_shmmax*      seminfo_semmnu         msginfo_msgmni*         
    shminfo_shmmni*      seminfo_semaem         msginfo_msgtql*         
                         seminfo_semume         msginfo_msgmnb*         
                         seminfo_semusz         msginfo_msgmap          
                         seminfo_semmap         msginfo_msgseg          
                         seminfo_semmsl*                                
                         seminfo_semopm*                                
                         seminfo_semmni* 

values ending in * are technically obsolete, but if they are present    
in the /etc/system file then at system boot, the kernel will translate the   
values into global resource controls.

The following are important resource controls:

*project.max-shm-ids:      Maximum shared memory IDs for a project.
Replaces shmmni                                                                  
                                                                        
*project.max-sem-ids:      Maximum semaphore IDs for a project.
Replaces semmni                                                                  
                                                                        
*project.max-msg-ids:      Maximum message queue IDs for a project.
Replaces msgmni                                                                  
                                                                        
*project.max-shm-memory:   Total amount of shared memory allowed for a project.
Replaces shmmax                                                
                                                                        
*process.max-sem-nsems:    Maximum number of semaphores allowed persemaphore set.
Replaces semmsl                                           
                                                                        
*process.max-sem-ops:      Maximum number of semaphore operations allowed persemop.
Replaces semopm                                                   
                                                                        
*process.max-msg-qbytes:   Maximum number of bytes of messages on a message queue.
Replaces msgmnb                                          
                                                                        
*process.max-msg-messages: Maximum number of messages on a message queue.
Replaces msgtql

For more complete and detailed information in setting kernel values and resource controls see the following:

Note: For specific recommendations for tuning Solaris to work with WebSphere Application Server, see the topic Tuning Solaris systems.

You can change kernel values by editing the /etc/system file (for Solaris 8 or 9) or /etc/project file (Solaris 10 and 11) then rebooting the operating system. For more information about setting up the Solaris system, see the Sun Microsystems documentation. For example, the Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual.

Verify that prerequisites and corequisites are at the required release levels.
Although Installation Manager checks for prerequisite operating system patches, review the prerequisites on the Supported hardware and software website if you have not done so already. Refer to the documentation for non-IBM prerequisite and corequisite products to learn how to migrate to their supported versions.
Note: If your Solaris system does not have sufficient available memory as specified on the supported hardware and software website, you might encounter the following prerequisite error message during installation: A supported operating system architecture was not detected. If you proceed to the end of the installation, you might also see the following insufficient disk space error:
```
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "sh": error=12, Not enough space
        at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:459)
        at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:593)
        at java.lang.Runtime.exec(Runtime.java:466)
```
Free up additional memory on the machine and retry the installation.
Verify the system cp command when using emacs or other freeware.
If you have emacs or other freeware installed on your operating system, verify that the system cp command is used.
1. Type the following command prompt before running the installation program for the WebSphere Application Server product.
```
which cp
```
2. Remove the freeware directory from your PATH if the resulting directory output includes freeware. For example, assume that the output is similar to the following message: .../freeware/bin/cp. If so, remove the directory from the PATH.
3. Install the WebSphere Application Server product.
4. Add the freeware directory back to the PATH.
If you install with a cp command that is part of a freeware package, the installation might appear to complete successfully, but the Java 2 SDK that the product installs might have missing files in the app_server_root/java directory.

Missing files can destroy required symbolic links. If you remove the freeware cp command from the PATH, you can install the application server product successfully.
Verify that the Java SDK on the installation image disk is functioning correctly if you created your own disk.

For example, you might have downloaded an installation image from Passport Advantage®, or you might have copied an installation image onto a backup disk. In either case, perform the following steps to verify that the disk contains a valid Java software development kit (SDK).
1. Change directories to the /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin directory on the product disk.
  For example:
```
cd /JDK/jre.pak/repository/package.java.jre/java/jre/bin
```
2. Verify the Java version.
  Type the following command:
```
./java -version
```
  The command completes successfully with no errors when the SDK is intact.

Results

This procedure results in preparing the operating system for installing the product.

What to do next

After verifying prerequisites, verifying the product disk, and setting your installation goals, you can start installing. Use one of the following links to open the installation procedure that you require.

Perform an installation using the graphical user interface.
See Installing the product on distributed operating systems using the GUI.
Perform a silent installation.
See Installing the product on distributed operating systems using response files.
Install additional features on an existing product.
See Installing and removing features on distributed operating systems.
Upgrade a trial to the WebSphere Application Server product.
After installing a trial, you can install the actual product to upgrade the trial to the real product.

See Upgrading from a trial or Express offering on distributed operating systems using the GUI.
Upgrade the Express product to the base WebSphere Application Server product.
You can install the base product on a system where the Express product is installed. The installation upgrades the Express product to the base product.

See Upgrading from a trial or Express offering on distributed operating systems using the GUI.

After the installation, you can examine the following setup script for information concerning initial settings for Solaris 11.

echo "V2014-06-20"
echo "master version -> https://rtpmsa.raleigh.ibm.com/msa/projects/t/testappbinaries/OS/ossetup.zip"
echo ""

#
#
### check if the .txt file exists
if [ ! -f "hostlist.txt" ]; then
   echo "-- hostlist.txt file does not exist. cp hostlist.txt.TEMPLATE hostlist.txt and add your hosts"
   echo "-- Processing halted"
   exit 1
fi

for hostName in `cat hostlist.txt` 
 do
  echo "checking: $hostName"

  ssh $hostName 'grep "ulimit -n 20000" /etc/profile'
  if [ $? != 0 ]; then
    ssh $hostName 'echo "ulimit -n 20000" >> /etc/profile'
    echo "set the ulimit on $hostName"
  fi

  ssh $hostName 'grep "semsys:seminfo_semopm = 200" /etc/system'
  if [ $? != 0 ]; then
    ssh $hostName 'echo "semsys:seminfo_semopm = 200" >> /etc/system'
    echo "set the seminfo_semopm on $hostName"
  fi

  ssh $hostName 'ipadm set-prop -p _conn_req_max_q=8000 tcp'
  ssh $hostName 'ipadm set-prop -p  _time_wait_interval=30000 tcp'
  ssh $hostName 'ipadm set-prop -p _fin_wait_2_flush_interval=67500 tcp'
  ssh $hostName 'ipadm set-prop -p _keepalive_interval=300000 tcp'

 done