IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager continues to adopt IBM Prerequisite Scanner

IBM Prerequisite Scanner is a stand-alone prerequisite checking tool that analyzes system environments before the installation or upgrade of a Tivoli product or IBM solution. Tivoli Provisioning Manager uses this tool to check the target environment for Tivoli Provisioning Manager prerequisites.

This FAQ applies to the Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.1.1.9 and to all subsequent releases, modifications, and service refreshes, until otherwise indicated in a new Prerequisite Scanner Download document or Tivoli Provisioning Manager Version 7.2.1 Technote.

There are two separate Prerequisite Scanner packages available to download from IBM Fix Central to support Windows and UNIX platforms.

• The Windows package (version_num-Tivoli-PRS-Windows-fp0001.zip) supports Windows Server, XP, Vista, and Windows 7.
• The UNIX package (version_num-Tivoli-PRS-Unix-fp0001.tar.gz) supports the AIX, HP-UX, Linux, SLES, Solaris, and zOS platforms.

For example, the Windows package name for Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.1.1.9 is 1.1.1.9-Tivoli-PRS-Windows-fp0001.zip.

When you extract the contents of the compressed file that you download, the core files are in the root directory, such as the Prerequisite Scanner script and product code configuration file.

See the Readme.html file in the platform package for a summary of the enhancements to prerequisite properties, new configuration files, and changes to documentation in Prerequisite Scanner.

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Downloading and installing Prerequisite Scanner

The latest platform packages for Prerequisite Scanner are available for download from IBM Fix Central.

Alternatively, you can browse for the latest version as follows:
1. Open your web browser and enter the URL to IBM Fix Central. Ensure that you sign into IBM.com or IBM Support Portal.
2. From the Product Group list, select Tivoli.
3. From the Product list, select IBM Prerequisite Scanner.
4. From the Installed Version list, select the version that you want to download.
5. From the Platform list, select the platform on which you want to install Prerequisite Scanner.
6. Click Continue. The Identify Fixes page opens.
7. Use the default option, Browse for fixes, and click Continue.
8. On the Select fixes page, select the platform package, and click Continue.
9. On the Download option page, select the download option, and click Download now.
10. Extract the contents of the compressed files to your preferred location on the computers on which you want to run Prerequisite Scanner.

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Running Prerequisite Scanner

When you run Prerequisite Scanner, it scans for the specified prerequisites and detects any missing ones before the actual product installation or upgrade takes place; thus, the scan can enable remediation without impacting the deployment schedule.

You can use a command-line interface to run the IBM Prerequisite Scanner. The Prerequisite Scanner script, prereq_checker, takes a set of required and optional parameters and a command flag for additional optional parameters.

To run Prerequisite Scanner, review the script parameters described in the prereq_chkr topic in the Prerequisite Scanner User's Guide that is shipped with the Prerequisite Scanner packages.

Note: You can also view the documentation online for the latest version of Prerequisite Scanner. For more information, see the Prerequisite Scanner page in Tivoli Documentation Central.

The script requires individual product codes to identify the product or component against which to run the prerequisite checks. The product code for Tivoli Provisioning Manager is TPM.

For example, to run the tool for Tivoli Provisioning Manager 7.2.1 and output the results to the command-line window, enter the following command:

./prereq_checker.sh "TPM 07210000" detail

Important: Previous versions of Prerequisite Scanner provided support for Tivoli Provisioning Manager Version 7.2 as several product codes and configuration files for Windows, UNIX, and Linux systems. In Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.1.1.9, there is one configuration file for all platforms. For more information about the previous configuration files, see Configuration files for Tivoli Provisioning Manager 7.2.

You can also extend the Prerequisite Scanner to scan for prerequisites not originally supplied with the tool. For more information about extending it to meet your additional prerequisite needs, see the Extending Prerequisite Scanner topics in the Prerequisite Scanner User's Guide.

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Reading Prerequisite Scanner results

Possible results from running Prerequisite Scanner on the target computer are as follows:

• FAIL: If the target computer does not meet any of the prerequisite checks, as specified by the values for the prerequisite properties in the TPM_07210000.cfg configuration file, Prerequisite Scanner returns an overall FAIL result for the environment. The tool also displays the scan results for the individual prerequisite properties in the command-line window.

  To ensure the environment meets the Tivoli Provisioning Manager requirements, take the appropriate actions; for example, install the missing operating system packages, increase disk space for the file systems, and so on.

• PASS: If the target computer meet all prerequisite checks in the configuration file, Prerequisite Scanner returns an overall PASS result for the environment.
  If Prerequisite Scanner returns an overall PASS result for the environment, you can install Tivoli Provisioning Manager on the target computer.

In the TOTAL ALL SPECIFIED COMPONENTS section of the output, Prerequisite Scanner displays the aggregated disk space of the file systems for the following prerequisite properties:

• os.space.home
• os.space.opt
• os.space.tmp
• os.space.usr
• os.space.var

However, if opt, usr, and var have not been defined as file systems on the target computer, Prerequisite Scanner does not display the expected values for them. However, it does include their disk space values in the aggregation calculation of their parent disk system, for example, root. The tool displays the aggregate for that parent file system and scan result in this section.

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Known issues

The following table list the known issues in IBM Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.1.1.9, which concern customers of Tivoli Provisioning Manager Version 7.2.1.

Defect	Description
22470	On SUSE Linux only: Checking the os.package.package_name prerequisite properties return the correct package but not a valid scan result when the short name of the package name is specified in the configuration file. Prerequisite Scanner does not currently support short package names for the values of these prerequisite properties.
22478	On Solaris platforms only: Checking the os.space.home prerequisite property returns the correct disk space for the /export/home file system and the valid PASS or FAIL scan result. However, the Expected Result value in the TOTAL ALL SPECIFIED COMPONENTS section incorrectly displays 0 MB for the /export/home file system. This value can be ignored.
22579	On Red Hat Linux 5.* distributed environments only: Checking the os.package.package_name prerequisite properties return the correct package name, but not a valid scan result when both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the package are installed. The following prerequisite properties are impacted by this known issue: os.package.libX11-devel.i386 os.package.compat-libstdc++-33.i386 os.package.compat-libstdc++-33.x86_64
22581	On AIX only: Checking the os.space.dir_name (where dir_name is the file system) prerequisite properties returns the correct disk space for the file systems and the valid PASS or FAIL scan result in the TOTAL ALL SPECIFIED COMPONENTS section. However, it returns the wrong scan results for these file systems in the main section of the output when the actual available disk space is less than the expected disk space.

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Configuration files for Tivoli Provisioning Manager 7.2

In Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.1.1.9, all prerequisite properties from the existing configuration files for Tivoli Provisioning Manager Version 7.2 have been collated into the TPM_07210000.cfg configuration file and modified for Tivoli Provisioning Manager Version 7.2.1 prerequisites.

The following table outlines the set of configuration files for Tivoli Provisioning Manager 7.2:

Configuration file	Product and platform
COA_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for UNIX
COB_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for AIX
COC_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for AIX V5.3.0.0 {64 bit}
COD_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for AIX 6.1
COE_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Linux
COF_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Red Hat
COG_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 x86 64bit
COH_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 System z 64bit
COI_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for SUSE 10
COJ_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for Solaris V10 [SPARC]
COK_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for HP-UX
COL_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for SUSE zSeries 10
COM_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager {TPM} for SUSE 11
CON_07200000.cfg	IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager for SUSE 11
COX_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Windows (2008)
COY_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Windows (2003)
COZ_07200000.cfg	Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Windows

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Technical support

Customers can contact IBM Support should they require assistance on the products that IBM Prerequisite Scanner supports. To ensure that the request is routed correctly, all PMRs must be reported against the product being scanned.

The following sites contain troubleshooting information:

• Go to IBM Prerequisite Scanner page on the IBM Support Portal.
• Go to the IBM Prerequisite Scanner topics at Service Management Connect.