[Solaris]

Installing a client silently on Solaris

You can perform a non-interactive installation of the IBM® MQ client using the installation script silent.sh. A non-interactive installation is also known as a silent, or unattended installation.

Before you begin

  • Before you start the installation procedure, make sure that you have completed the necessary steps outlined in Preparing the system on Solaris.
  • This procedure is for the installation of a standard IBM MQ client, from the location of the installation file. The location might be the mount point of the DVD, a network location, or a local file system directory.
  • This procedure is for the installation of a standard IBM MQ client, from the client DVD. If you are installing an IBM MQ client on a system that is already running an IBM MQ server, are therefore using a server DVD to install the client, follow the steps in Installing IBM MQ server on Solaris, and select the appropriate client components in step 8.

About this task

You can perform a silent installation of IBM MQ. A sample script file called silent.sh is supplied in the silent directory on the DVD. You can use this script to perform a non-interactive installation that requires no input and shows nothing on the screen. It must be run as root.

The installation script silent.sh uses an admin file and a response file, both of which are supplied in the silent directory. You can use these files as supplied to perform a silent installation of all the components, including all the national language features, to the default location.

Note: If you are installing on the Solaris 11 operating system, ensure that the IPS package (package/svr4) that supports pkgadd and equivalent utilities is installed.

Procedure

  1. Copy the silent.sh script into a writeable directory.
  2. If this installation is not the first installation on the system, run crtmqpkg to create a unique set of packages to install on the system:
    1. Enter the following command: 
      
./crtmqpkg suffix
      where suffix is a name of your choosing, that will uniquely identify the installation packages on the system. suffix is not the same as an installation name, although the names can be identical. suffix is limited to 16 characters in the ranges A-Z, a-z, and 0-9.
    2. Set your current directory to the location specified when the crtmqpkg command completes.
      This directory is a sub-directory of /var/spool, in which the unique set of packages is created. The packages have the suffix value contained within the filename.
    Once a new package has been generated for the second installation the silent.sh script needs to have its MQ_PACKAGE_NAME variable modified so that its value is not mqm but the new package name.

    Also the MQ_PACKAGE_LOCATION variable needs to be modified so that its value is not $MQ_MEDIA_LOCATION but the location of the new package (which by default is /var/spool/pkg ).

  3. Optional: If you want to change where the IBM MQ client DVD is mounted, you must update the values in the silent.sh script. By default, the script assumes that the DVD has been mounted at /CD7FVML.
  4. Optional: If you want to change where the output and logs are written to, update the values in the silent.sh script.
    By default, output and logs are written to the file /var/tmp/mq.install.
  5. Optional: If you want to install to a non-default location, update the MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH variable in the silent.sh script.
    Note:
    • The installation path specified must either be an empty directory, the root of an unused file system, or a path that does not exist. The length of the path is limited to 256 bytes and must not contain spaces.
    • If the directory you specified does not exist, the installation script creates that directory.
  6. Optional: If you want to change the components that are installed, edit the response file.
    A list of all the installable IBM MQ components can be found at: IBM MQ components and features.
    Solaris does not check, during a silent installation, that prerequisite components are installed. You can use the following procedure to create a response file interactively, before using it to install the product. pkgask prompts you for the names of the components to install.
    1. Run the mqlicense.sh command to accept the license agreement for the product.
    2. pkgask -d path_to_install_image -r response_file mqm
    The inputs to pkgask are the same as those inputs documented for pkgadd, but instead of the product being installed a response file is created.
  7. Optional: If you have edited the response file, you must then edit the silent.sh to use your custom response file.
  8. To start the installation, run silent.sh.
  9. Check the log file for any errors.

What to do next

  • If you have chosen this installation to be the primary installation on the system, you must now set it as the primary installation. Enter the following command at the command prompt: 
    
 MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/bin/setmqinst -i -p MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH
    You can have only one primary installation on a system. If there is already a primary installation on the system, you must unset it before you can set another installation as the primary installation. For more information, see Changing the primary installation.
  • You might want to set up the environment to work with this installation. You can use the setmqenv or crtmqenv command to set various environment variables for a particular installation of IBM MQ. For more information, see setmqenv and crtmqenv.
  • For instructions on how to verify your installation, see Testing communication between a client and a server on Solaris.