How To Restore Your IBM Installation Manager and WebSphere Application Server Installation Data on the IBM i?

Answer

At some point, you might encounter a situation where your IBM Installation Manager or WebSphere Application Server installation data becomes corrupted or is unusable. If this occurs, you can restore your Installation Manager or WebSphere Application Server installation data from a previous save/backup if one is available. An example of a scenario that might cause your Installation Manager or WebSphere Application Server data to become corrupted is when an IBM WebSphere Application Server product or fix pack installation ends unexpectedly preventing an Installation Manager rollback operation to complete successfully.

NOTE: This process assumes you have previously saved/backed up/exported a known-working version of your Installation Manager and WebSphere Application Server installation data to save files using the information in the document, "How and When To Export/Backup Your IBM Installation Manager AND WebSphere Application Server Installation Data on the IBM i?"

If you do not have a previous backup/export of the Installation Manager's and WebSphere Application Server's installation data, you might need to uninstall and reinstall all packages that were installed into the Installation Manager in order to fix your Installation Manager issues. The WebSphere Application Server software application is considered a package at V8.0 and later. Please consult IBM for further assistance.

Steps to restore your IBM Installation Manager and WebSphere Application Server installation data:

NOTE: Make sure the QWASx subsystem is ended before beginning the restore process.

1) Identify your WebSphere Application Server installation path and library.

STRQSH
/QIBM/WAS/bin/queryWASinstalls

The output of the command should look something like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
WebSphere Edition:      EXPRESS                                        
Version:                8.5.5.12                                        
Installation Location:  /QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express  
Installation Library:   QWAS85A                                         
Default Profile Location: /QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the example above, the installation location is defined as "/QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express". This would be the directory you would use in place of the <INSTALL_LOCATION> variable.

<INSTALL_LOCATION> = Installation Location

In the example above, the default profile location is defined as "/QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express". This would be the directory you would use in place of the <PROFILE_DATA> variable.

<PROFILE_DATA> = Default Profile Location

In the example above, the installation library is defined as "QWAS85A". This would be the library you would use in place of the <INSTALL_LIBRARY> variable.

<INSTALL_LIBRARY> = Installation Library
<PROD_LIBRARY> = The Installation Library minus the letter. i.e. QWAS85

2) Delete your existing, bad installation data.

3) Locate the WASIFSDTA, WASLIB, and Installation Manager save files or another backup of your Installation Manager and WebSphere Application Server installation data.

• Restore Only the WebSphere Application Server Product data.
  • RST DEV('/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/WASIFSDTA.FILE') OBJ(('<INSTALL_LOCATION>')) PVTAUT(*YES)
  • i.e.
    • RST DEV('/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/WASIFSDTA.FILE') OBJ(('/QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express')) PVTAUT(*YES)

• (Optional) Restore the WebSphere Application Server Product and User data.
  • RST DEV('/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/WASIFSDTA.FILE') OBJ(('<INSTALL_LOCATION>') ('<PROFILE_DATA>')) PVTAUT(*YES)
  • i.e.
    • RST DEV('/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/WASIFSDTA.FILE') OBJ(('/QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express') ('/QIBM/UserData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express') PVTAUT(*YES)

• RSTLIB SAVLIB(<INSTALL_LIBARAY>) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/WASINSTLIB) PVTAUT(*YES)
• i.e.
  • RSTLIB SAVLIB(QWAS85A) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/WASINSTLIB) PVTAUT(*YES)
• RSTLIB SAVLIB(<PROD_LIBRARY>) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/WASPRDLIB) PVTAUT(*YES)
• i.e.
  • RSTLIB SAVLIB(QWAS85) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(QGPL/WASPRDLIB) PVTAUT(*YES)
• RST DEV('/QSYS.LIB/QGPL.LIB/IM.FILE') OBJ(('/QIBM/UserData/InstallationManager') ('/QIBM/ProdData/InstallationManager') ('/QIBM/InstallationManager') ('/QIBM/UserData/IMShared')) PVTAUT(*YES)

5) Verify the installed packages are correct within the Installation Manager.

Example Output:

/QIBM/ProdData/InstallationManager/eclipse : com.ibm.cic.agent_1.8.7001.20170920_1141 : IBM® Installation Manager : 1.8.7.1
/QIBM/ProdData/WebSphere/AppServer/V85/Express : com.ibm.websphere.EXPRESS.v85_8.5.5011.20161206_1434 : IBM WebSphere Application Server - Express : 8.5.5.11
$

If you see all of your installed packages listed, the restore of the Installation Manager installation data was successful. NOTE: You will only see the packages and their respective versions that were installed when the Installation Manager and WebSphere Application Server installation data was saved/backed up.

If you experience issues with or have questions about this process, please open an IBM Support Case with IBM here or call 1-800-IBM-SERV.