Basic isolated engine tier and parallel engine installation checklist

Use this checklist to complete a new installation of a configuration in which the engine tier is built on a dedicated server with a separate computer to serve as a parallel processing compute node.

Complete the following steps:

  1. Plan and build your topology
  2. Prepare to install the software
  3. Install and configure the repository tier and the services tier on one computer
  4. Install and configure the engine tier on a separate computer
  5. Install and configure the client tier on each client workstation
  6. Test the installation
  7. Configure the parallel processing engine
  8. Perform post-installation configuration tasks

To complete these steps, use the task lists in the following sections.

Plan and build your topology

To plan and build your topology, follow the steps in the following task list.

Table 1. Topology planning and building tasks
Description For more information Record your information
Review the system requirements. Reviewing system requirements and release notes  
Learn about tiers and components. Tiers and computers  
Design the topology of your installation. Designing an installation topology  
Determine whether to preinstall your database system. Options for installing the database software  
Determine whether to preinstall IBM® WebSphere® Application Server or preconfigure an existing installation of WebSphere Application Server. Options for installing the application server software  
Build and test the hardware infrastructure. Refer to the hardware documentation.  

Prepare to install the software

To prepare your computers to install the product software, complete the steps in the following task list.

Table 2. Software planning tasks
Description For more information Record your information
Obtain the InfoSphere Information Server software and any applicable fix packs. Obtaining IBM InfoSphere Information Server software  
On all tier computers, verify name resolution, and open TCP ports for InfoSphere Information Server across any applicable firewalls. Configuring your network  
AIX®

Update the kernel parameters and user limits on each computer.

Modifying kernel parameters and user limits  
Linux®

Update the kernel parameters and user limits on each computer.

Modifying kernel parameters and user limits  
Prepare each computer to run the InfoSphere Information Server installation program, and back up any critical data on the computers. Preparing to run the installation program  

Install and configure the repository tier, the services tier, and the client tier

For each tier, complete the computer preparation tasks. Then install IBM InfoSphere Information Server components, and perform post-installation tasks.

Install and configure the tiers in this order:

  • Repository tier
  • Services tier
  • Engine tier
  • Client tier
  • Parallel processing engine

Complete the planning and preparation tasks for the repository tier and services tier on a single computer. Then, run the installation program on that computer to install both of these tiers. You can then perform the planning, preparation, and installation tasks for the engine tier on a separate computer. Then complete the post-installation tasks for the tiers on the computer.

For example, if the repository tier and services tier components are installed on computer Host1, the engine tier is installed on computer Host2, the client tier is installed on separate client computers, and the parallel processing engine is installed on Host3, complete the tasks in the following order.

  1. Repository tier and services tier preparation tasks on computer Host1.
  2. Installation of repository tier and services tier components on computer Host1 by using the installation program.
  3. Engine tier preparation tasks on computer Host2.
  4. Installation of engine tier components on computer Host2 by using the installation program.
  5. Client tier preparation tasks on each client computer.
  6. Installation of client tier components on each client computer by using the installation program.
  7. Parallel processing engine preparation tasks on computer Host 3.
  8. Installation of parallel processing engine on Host 3 by using the installation program.

Not all product modules require an engine tier. IBM InfoSphere FastTrack, IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog, and IBM Glossary Anywhere do not require an engine tier.

Repository tier installation task list

Complete the steps in the following task list to prepare and install the repository tier.
Table 3. Planning tasks: repository tier
Description For more information Record your information
Create the following administration accounts on the repository tier computer. Log in to each account to confirm that it functions properly:
  • Owner of the metadata repository
  • (If installing InfoSphere Information Analyzer) The owner of the analysis database
  • If installing the Db2® database system:
    Windows
    Db2 administrator user
    AIX Linux
    Db2 instance owner
    Db2 fenced user
Setting up administrator and owner accounts  
If you decide to preinstall Db2 or another supported database system, install the database system and configure the databases by using scripts. Pre-installing the metadata repository database  
Run the InfoSphere Information Server installation program if necessary. Run the InfoSphere Information Server installation program for this tier in either of the following situations:

If you preinstall the Db2 database system or another database system and create the databases within it by using scripts that are provided with the InfoSphere Information Server software, do not run the installation program for this tier.

 

Services tier installation task list

To configure the services tier, complete the steps in the following task list.

Table 4. Installation tasks: services tier
Description For more information Record your information
Preinstall WebSphere Application Server, if you decide not to use the InfoSphere Information Server installation program to install it.

When creating a profile during the installation, make sure to disable administrative security.

Preinstalling WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment  
Preconfigure an existing WebSphere Application Server installation if necessary. Setting up an existing non-clustered installation of WebSphere Application Server  
Run the InfoSphere Information Server installation program. Installing IBM InfoSphere Information Server software  

Install the engine tier on a separate computer

Complete the following task list to plan, configure, and install the engine tier. Do not create a parallel engine configuration yet. Parallel engine configuration is completed at the end of the installation procedure.

Note: If you are creating a configuration with more than one server engine, repeat these steps for each server engine.
Table 5. Installation tasks: engine tier
Description For more information Record your information
AIX

For non-English locales, make sure that the locale and encoding are set correctly.

Setting the locale and character encoding for the engine tier target computer  
Linux

For non-English locales, make sure that the locale and encoding are set correctly.

Setting the locale and character encoding for the engine tier target computer  
Create an administrator account for the InfoSphere Information Server engine. Log in to the account to activate the password. Setting up administrator and owner accounts  
Run the InfoSphere Information Server installation program. Installing IBM InfoSphere Information Server software  

Install the client tier on each client workstation

To configure your client tier, follow the steps in the following task list.

Note: If you are creating a configuration with more than one client computer, repeat these steps for each client computer.
Table 6. Installation tasks: client tier
Description For more information Record your information
Run the installation program. In the Tier Selection page, choose Client only. Installing IBM InfoSphere Information Server software  

Test the installation

After you install the software, complete the following tasks to test and validate your installation.

Table 7. Testing the installation tasks
Description For more information Record your information
Test the IBM InfoSphere Information Services Director installation (if installed). Testing the IBM InfoSphere Information Services Director installation  
Run the IBM Support Assistant Lite for InfoSphere Information Server tool to verify the installation. Running the ISALite tool to verify the installation and troubleshoot  

Configure the parallel processing engine

Configure the parallel processing engine for IBM InfoSphere DataStage® and IBM InfoSphere QualityStage®.

Table 8. Post-installation configuration tasks (all tiers)
Description For more information Record your information
  • Add computers to share engine processing
  • Set up a C++ compiler
  • Set up environment variables for the parallel engine
  • Configure the parallel engine
  • Configure database connectivity for the parallel engine
Configuring a parallel processing environment  

Perform post-installation configuration tasks

After you run the InfoSphere Information Server installation program for each tier, perform these tasks:

Table 9. Post-installation configuration tasks (all tiers)
Description For more information Record your information
Windows

If necessary, set up explicit firewall exceptions for client-side executable files that require network access.

Setting up firewall exceptions  
Configure security within InfoSphere Information Server:
  1. Choose a user registry and configure it for InfoSphere Information Server.
  2. Create users and groups in the user registry.
  3. Assign security roles to users and groups.
  4. Configure InfoSphere Information Server engine security. Map credentials if necessary.
  5. Assign project roles if required by the installed suite components.
Optionally, also:
  • Configure IBM WebSphere Application Server for non-root administration.
  • Configure InfoSphere Information Server agents for non-root administration.
  • Configure the Auditing service.
Configuring security for IBM InfoSphere Information Server  
Configure IBM InfoSphere DataStage and IBM InfoSphere QualityStage (if installed):
  1. If you installed globalization support (NLS), ensure that IBM InfoSphere DataStage users have the correct settings specified for localization.
  2. Configure access to ODBC data sources.
  3. For systems that have large numbers of simultaneously connected users or large numbers of simultaneously running jobs, tune the server engine.
Optionally, also:
  • Migrate jobs that you created in an earlier version of InfoSphere DataStage to the current version.
  • Configure the IBM InfoSphere QualityStage Match Designer.
  • Set up the application server to run SQA or investigation reports.
  • Test the installation.
Configuring IBM InfoSphere DataStage and IBM InfoSphere QualityStage  
Configure IBM InfoSphere Information Analyzer (if installed). Configuring IBM InfoSphere Information Analyzer  
Configure IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog (if installed). Configuring IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog