Installation of IBM HTTP Server V8.0 fails during postinstall configuration

Symptom

The installation process for IBM HTTP Server V8.0 completes with a warning message. Although the product installation is complete, one of the post-install configuration actions encounters an error in the Installation Manager log which is located in the /var/ibm/InstallationManager/logs directory. The log is named using the timestamp.xml format, similar to something like 20140725_1114.xml.

Review of the 20140725_1114.xml log indicates that a configuration error occurred during the postinstall process of IBM HTTP Server and instructs the user to look at the logs in the /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/logs/postinstall directory.

A snippet of the error message from the 20140725_1114.xml log is:

<entry num='161' time='1402312502758' elapsed='00:55.81' level='WARNING' thread='Worker-0'>
<logger>com.ibm.cic.common.logging.LogManager</logger> <class>org.eclipse.core.internal.jobs.JobManager</class>
<method>endJob</method>
<message>Configuration errors were detected during the installation. You should view the log files(s) under the /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/logs/postinstall directory to investigate the severity of the errors.
</message>
</entry>

Review of the /postinstall directory logs does not provide a specific cause of the error that occurred during installation.

However you also notice one important detail in the 20140725_1114.xml install log that during the postinstall action the -SERVER_NAME parameter is missing the hostname value (there will be no value after the equals sign).

A snippet from the 20140725_1114.xml log is shown below:

<entry num='190' time='1403721662686' elapsed='05:11.46' level='INFO' thread='Thread-265'>
 <logger>global</logger>
 <class>com.ibm.ws.exec.command.Exec</class>
 <method>exec</method>
 <message>com.ibm.ws.exec.command.Exec
Command: /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin/postinstall.sh /opt/IBM/HTTPServer -WS_CMT_CONF_DIR /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/properties/postinstall/ -MASTER_ACTION_REGISTRY
/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/properties/postinstall/masterRegistry.xml -SUB_ACTION_REGISTRY /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/properties/postinstall/cacheRegistry.xml -WS_PI_ACTION_REGISTRY_EXTENSION /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/properties/postinstall/registryExtension.xml -WS_CMT_LOG_HOME /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/logs/postinstall/ -POSTINSTALL_LOG_FILE /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/logs/postinstall/postinstall.log -WS_CMT_HIDE_KEYS ADMIN_AUTH_PASSWORD -IHS_HOME /opt/IBM/HTTPServer -SERVER_ROOT /opt/IBM/HTTPServer -SERVER_NAME = <-- notice the hostname is missing for this parameter
-HTTP_PORT 80 -ADMIN_PORT  -JAVA_DIR /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/java/jre -RUN_SETUPADM false
-CREATE_ADMUSER false -ADMUSER  -ADMGRP  -WEBSERVER_DEFINITION  -CREATE_ADMIN_AUTH false
-ADMIN_AUTH_USER  -ADMIN_AUTH_PASSWORD -IHS_SERVICE_NAME "none" -ADMIN_SERVICE_NAME ""
-CREATE_IHS_SERVICE false -CREATE_ADMIN_SERVICE false
Description : Running post install actions
Return code : 1
StdOut :
StdErr :
</message>
</entry>

Also when trying to start the IBM HTTP Server, the 'apachectl start' command fails with an error:

Example:
[root@testserver ]# /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin/apachectl start

/opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin/apachectl: line 80: @@SERVERROOT@@/bin/httpd: No such file or directory

At this point the IBM HTTP Server will not start.