Installing Liberty on distributed operating systems by using the GUI

You can use the Installation Manager GUI to install WebSphere® Application Server Liberty.

Before you begin

Important:

Java™ SE 17 is the recommended Java SDK because it provides the latest features and security updates. As an alternative to installing Java SE 17, you can install another supported Java SDK version. Liberty runs on any of the Java SE versions that are listed in the Java SE versions column of the Supported Java Releases table on the Open Liberty website.

  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 8 is October 2026, fix pack 26.0.0.10.
  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 11 is October 2026, fix pack 26.0.0.10.
  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 17 is October 2027, fix pack 27.0.0.10.
  • The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 21 is October 2029, fix pack 29.0.0.10.

Because Java SE 22 is not a Long-Term-Support (LTS) version of Java, Liberty will not support Java SE 22 after Java SE 23 is released.

For more information, see Removal notices.

Prepare your system as described in Installing Installation Manager and preparing to install Liberty.

As part of installing Liberty, you can choose to install assets from the following repositories:
  • The Liberty Repository, a public IBM®-hosted repository that is accessible through the internet. For more information, see Liberty Repository.
  • The Liberty Asset Repository Service, an open source service that you can use to create an on-premises repository that is remotely accessible behind the firewall of an enterprise. For more information, see the WASdev/tool.lars project on GitHub.
  • Local directory-based repositories, which you create by using the installUtility download action or by downloading the wlp-featureRepo-<version>.zip file, which contains all applicable features and addons. For more information, see Downloading assets using the installUtility command.

Access to the Liberty Repository requires internet access. If your system does not have internet access or you want to install customized Liberty assets, set up an instance of the Liberty Asset Repository Service or a local directory-based repository, and then add the repository URL, directory path, or archive path in Installation Manager. For more information about the Liberty repositories, see Installing assets using Installation Manager.

Procedure

  1. Start Installation Manager.
    For LINUX platformsFor Solaris platformsFor HP UNIX platformsFor AIX platformsTip: You can start Installation Manager in group mode with the ./IBMIM command.
    • Group mode allows multiple users to use a single instance of IBM Installation Manager to manage software packages.
    • For more information on using group mode, read the Group mode road maps in the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.
  2. Click Install.
    Note: If you are prompted to authenticate, use the IBM ID and password that you registered with on the program website.

    Installation Manager searches its defined repositories for available packages.

  3. Perform the following actions.
    1. Select the product offerings that you want to install.

      If WebSphere Application Server Liberty offering is already installed on your system in the installation location, a message displays indicating that the product is already installed. To create another installation of the offering in another location, click Continue.

      Tip: If the Search service repositories during installation and updates option is selected on the Installation Manager Repository preference page and you are connected to the Internet, you can click Check for Other Versions and Extensions to search for updates in the default update repositories for the selected packages. In this case, you do not need to add the specific service-repository URL to the Installation Manager Repository preference page.
    2. Select the fixes to install.

      Any recommended fixes are selected by default.

      If there are recommended fixes, you can select the option to show only recommended fixes and hide non-recommended fixes.

    3. Click Next.
    Important: If IBM WebSphere SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 6 package is selected, the installation fails. You must clear the selection of IBM WebSphere SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 6 package and restart the installation.
    Note: Installation Manager might prompt you to update to the latest level of Installation Manager when it connects to the repository. Update to the newer version before you continue if you are prompted to do so. For information about automatic updates, see the IBM Installation Manager product documentation.
  4. Accept the terms in the license agreements, and click Next.
  5. Select a shared resources directory, which contains resources that can be shared by multiple installation packages, and click Next.
    Important: You can select the shared resources directory only the first time you install a package with Installation Manager. The shared resources directory is where installation artifacts are located that can be used by one or more package groups. It is also used as a staging area for the product payload during installation operations. By default, this content is cached so that it can be used for rollback. Consider setting your rollback preferences to save these files as described in Installing Installation Manager and preparing to install Liberty. For best results, select a location with enough available space for the shared resources of future packages. You cannot change the directory location until after you uninstall all packages.
  6. Specify the installation root directory for the product binaries, which are also referred to as the core product files or system files, and click Next.

    The panel also displays the shared resources directory and disk-space information.

    Installation Manager automatically chooses the installation package architecture based on the operating system. On 64-bit systems that support the 32-bit offerings, you can optionally choose to install a 32-bit installation package.

    Restrictions:
    • Deleting the default target location and leaving an installation-directory field empty prevents you from continuing.
    • Do not use symbolic links as the destination directory.

      Symbolic links are not supported.

    • Do not use a semicolon in the directory name.

      WebSphere Application Server Liberty cannot install properly if the target directory includes a semicolon.

      For Windows platformsA semicolon is the character that is used to construct the class path on Windows systems.

  7. Select the features that you want to install, and click Next.

    Some features might be selected by default.

  8. If you are installing the Liberty product offering, install Liberty addons and features.

    To learn more about the Liberty Repository and the assets it contains, see Liberty Repository.

    Select one of the following options:
    • Recommended: Install all product features that apply to this Liberty runtime environment.
    • Custom: Choose individual addons and features to install.

      To install assets from the Liberty Repository, you must have access to the internet.

      If you choose not to connect to the Liberty Repository, you can still install assets from configured directory-based repositories or an instance of the Liberty Asset Repository Service.

    If you select a custom installation, complete the following steps:

    1. Select whether you want to install assets from the Liberty Repository, and click Next.
    2. Select addons to install, and click Next.

      Addons are collections of features.

    3. Select features to install, and click Next.

      If you selected an addon, features that the addon contains are selected.

      Some features might depend on other features to function. Any required features are automatically selected.

    4. Accept the license agreement, and click Next.
    5. Review the addon and feature summary information, and click Next.
  9. Review the installation package summary information, and click Install.
    • If the installation is successful, the program displays a message indicating that installation is successful.
      Note: The program might also display important post-installation instructions as well.
    • If the installation is not successful, click View Log File to troubleshoot the problem.
  10. Click Finish.
  11. Click File > Exit to close Installation Manager.