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Download the ISALite for InfoSphere Information Server tool

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Abstract

The tool provides automatic data collection, diagnostic testing, symptom analysis, and prerequisite checking for IBM InfoSphere Information Server installations.

Download Description

The IBM Support Assistant Lite for InfoSphere Information Server supports installations of:

  • InfoSphere Information Server, Version 11.3.x through Version 11.7.x on
    • AIX, Solaris, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE), Windows, and Linux for IBM System z platforms.
  • InfoSphere Information Server, Version 8.5.x through Version 9.1.x on
    • AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE), Windows, and Linux for IBM System z platforms.


In particular:

  • Use Version S11.7.1.4 to support installations of InfoSphere Information Server Versions 11.3.x through 11.7.x on all platforms.
  • Use Version S9.1.007.7 (also known as Version 7.7) to support installations of InfoSphere Information Server Versions 8.5.x through 9.1.x.
  • Use Version S9.1.007.4z (also known as Version 7.4z) to support installations of InfoSphere Information Server Version 8.5.x through 9.1.x on zLinux systems (IBM System z platforms).


The tool benefits customers by:

  • Providing diagnostic testing and health verifications of installations of any tiers of InfoSphere Information Server and its components
  • Providing automatic gathering and collection of diagnostic data and log files and FTP to IBM Customer Support
  • Graphically documenting the installation topology and highlighting communication channels
  • Performing symptom analysis and log analysis to help streamline the problem determination process
  • Validating the prerequisites of the installation
  • Repairing or removing broken InfoSphere DataStage projects


IBM Support Assistant Lite collects data transparently. All collected data and HTML analysis reports are available in a .zip file local to your disk, for your inspection. Use the tool to automatically FTP the compressed files to IBM Customer Support when your IBM Customer Support representative requests further analysis and diagnostics.



Where to install and run the tool:

Install the tool on any of the tiers of InfoSphere Information Server (Engine, Services, Repository, or Client). The tool analyzes and collects artifacts from the InfoSphere Information Server installation on the local machine where the tool is running. Not all tasks and functions of the tool can run on all the tiers.

Install the tool on a system without an installation of InfoSphere Information Server to ensure that your (local) computer meets the system requirements before an installation.
Check the User's Guide document attached for more details on the installation procedure.

You can run the tool in either GUI windows mode or in console mode, on either Windows or UNIX systems. You need an X Window System in order to run the GUI windows mode in UNIX.



What's new in Version S11.7.1.4 (Release: 11-January-2024):

The following internal fixes and enhancements are included in version S11.7.1.4:

  • HC: Linux test now reports ulimit values found in /etc/systemd/system.conf
  • HC: Fixed issue on AIX where "Verify processes and ports used" test reports "Unable to find the PID"
  • HC: New ISD Tests report the runtime properties of the deployed ISD Services
  • HC: A New test to report ISD Connections now provides a WARNING when no connections are found
  • HC: Fixed issue where invocation of istool.sh reports an OutOfMem error but still PASSES the test
  • HC: Moved the Agent Handlers check to its own test for clarity
  • HC: Upgraded health checker to use JDBC 4.0 when found installed
  • HC: Test for kernel limits now shows description of kernel parameters
  • HC: New test to report on all ports used by processes with their description
  • HC: Fixed issue with Tests to validate Zookeeper, Kafka, and Solr as they were skipped if zookeeper server was remote
  • HC: Added link to new configuration documentation in the Kafka tests
  • PX Runtime: added HC test to verify the limits and environment of the PXRuntime process
  • PX Runtime: added HC test to report on jobs stored/run/compiled in new PX stack
  • PX Runtime: added HC test to verify and report on projects in the new PXEngine stack
  • PX Runtime: Enhanced Collector to collect new PXEngine stack logs
  • Collector: Removed collection of not needed .xml files from InformationServer\logs
  • PreReq: Upgraded Prerequisite checker to 11.7.1.1 specs

The following internal fixes and enhancements are included in version S11.7.1.0 SP1 and SP2:

  • 8066 HC: On clustered WAS ND, sometimes JVM heap size settings are not found
  • 7963 HC: WebSphere Security Domain test in a cluster fails when multiple inbound trusted authentication realms exist
  • 6021 HC: HC: update Kernel setting test to verify 11.7 config needs
  • 5848 HC: IMAM test updated to Include link to Metadata Interchange Server doc
  • 6160 HC: The Test to check the WebSphere JVM Heap Size now shows reason for failing
  • Multiple fixes and enhancements for inclusion of ISALite in Cloud Pods
  • 4661 ISALite HC: Add new DS test cases to report on dsrpcd PID and systems limits
  • 5458 HC: ReportingAdmin test fails when no installed Reporting Templates are found
  • 5056 HC: report SuiteHealthChecker-Failures.html does not include Information Governance Catalog Health test results that failed or reported a warning
  • 5051 HC Test on disk space now includes URL to System requirements
  • 5029 HC: SOS Test veries that the value of IIS registry key com.ibm.iis.sos.mode is correct
  • 4961 HC: Test "Verify DB privileges of XMeta and XMETASR users" reports any missing privileges
  • 4765 HC: Verify the C/C++ compiler used by PXEngine test fails but HC test still passes
  • 4662 HC & SYS-SUM: add the 'df -i' output to verify Inodes usage in Linux & AIX
  • 4586 HC: Some IS commands where the password contains the '(' char fail for some HC tests
  • 4454 HC: failed test for DB access indicates the xmeta user ID used by the test
  • 4356 "Detect issues with DS projects" documents incorrect behavior of SyncProject
  • 3966 XMeta HC: include the invocation of the AutoFix tool in ISALite and the FASTPASS logic
  • 4371 runUGDiagnostics.sh: add the "kubectl top nodes" and "top pods" commands to the diagnostics
  • 5383 Update use of ant-1.8.2.jar to ant-1.8.4.jar (ThirdParty jar changes found in [Security] open source scan)
  • 4472 collector: include in the file listing <WAS profile>/classes and <WAS profile>/lib/iis directories (recursively)
The following internal fixes and enhancements are included in version S11.7.1.0:
  • 4080 HC: Test for IGC Duplicate Terms passes even when duplicate Rules are found 
  • 4015 HC: The test to display active sessions does not return the correct value for 'check inactive sessions frequency'
  • 4014 HC: WAS test to verify Security Protocols displays a table of protocols supported 
  • 4013 HC: Test of connection to the QSSRDDB repository includes a documentation URL 
  • 3968 HC: test for Java JVM HeapSize indicates a URL with instructions 
  • 3922 HC: New test to verify consistency of Apps/lib jars files with ones deployed in WAS 
  • 3869 HC: New test to verify possible presence of JAR backup files that could possibly be used by the loader 
  • 3936 HC: When a certificate is issued, the command ReportingAdmin.sh/bat can hang the health checker 
  • 3407 HC: On Windows, the disk space check miscalculates the used disk space % 
  • 3302 HC: new health check test case for Shared Open Source for activiti in 11.7.1 
  • 3088 HC: Compatibility issues with the older version of commons-lang3-3.1.jar present under ASBNode/lib/java 
  • 3303 PreReq: Update Suite.jar to 1171 level 
  • 4119 ISALite.swtag file is copied to <IS_HOME>/iso-swid rather than ISHOME/properties
  • 3711 ISALite payload contains a dummy.txt file in root - remove 
  • 3367 doc: update ISALite User Guide PDF to 11.7.1 level


Functionality of the tool (Version S11.7.x):

There are 22 menu options in the ISALite for Information Server tool menu, divided in 6 sub-menus.
Refer to the Functionality of the tool here for general details on the tasks, or check the User's Guide attached.

image 8099

The tool for Linux on System z platforms (version 7.7) has a reduced set of menu items and functionality. Check the User's Guide for Linux on System z document attached for more details on the functionality available on that platform. Previous versions of the tool available for download might also offer slightly different menu items and functionality.

Common Functionality of the tool:

Depending on the diagnostic activity you need to do, invoke one or more of the options, as follows:
 

  1. Data Collection Options (Main menu): the top of the main menu has links to the recommended and most used tasks: the General Diagnostic Health Checker, the Information Server Collector, and the DataStage Job Logs Collector.
    The General Diagnostic Health Checker is the most comprehensive tool as it performs about 90 tests and verifications across all the tiers and Information Server components found on the local system. Run the General Diagnostic Health Checker in any situation, primarily on the Services and Engine tier machines, as it gives you a snapshot of the current health of the system.
    The InfoSphere Information Server Collector is comprehensive, and collects all Information Server logs and support files, including all the important WebSphere Application Server log and configuration files.
    The InfoSphere DataStage Job Logs Collector gathers debugging data, logs, FFDC logs, and additional information useful to debug DataStage jobs runs and environment.

    image 8101
  2. Additional Collectors: the collection tasks do not perform any diagnostic tests, they collect files, log events, and configuration data. Use the collectors when you have a problem you need to debug and you need the support of log files and configuration data to debug the situation. If you know that the problem is within a specific component (DB2, SAP, and so on) you might want to run that specific collector.
    If you have a clustered installation of IBM WebSphere Application Server, you can use the "Collection of remote cluster nodes" options to collect artifacts and logs. Run the ISALite for InfoSphere Information Server tool on a machine that hosts the remote cluster node.

    Note: Any ISALite menu option creates and includes the Basic System Summary report. You do not need to run the System Summary by itself when you already run some other ISA Lite task. The System Summary does not perform any diagnostic tests. It simply reports what it finds installed.

    image 8103
  3. Additional Diagnostic Tools: use the diagnostic tools to find out about the health of the system or a specific InfoSphere Information Server component. They perform tests and configuration verifications, and report issues found. No log files or log events are collected by the diagnostic tools. Use the Collectors to gather those logs.

    image 8104
  4. System Requirements: This option provides the invocation of the prerequisite checkers. Invoke these tools before an installation of InfoSphere Information Server, or before an upgrade of Information Server 11.3 to 11.5 or 11.7. The tool ensures that your computer meets the system requirements. You can select the tiers and Information Server components to verify for prerequisites.
    Note: these prerequisite checkers are the same tools invoked by the InfoSphere Information Server Installer, Versions 11.5 or 11.7.

    image 8105
  5. Utilities: This utility helps you view issues and attempts to repair a corrupted DataStage project.

    image 8106
  6. Help: This section includes quick links to the About-Box and Help contents for the tool

image 8108



Use the tool in different situations:

  • Before a fresh installation:
    • Analyze system requirements by using the Prerequisite checkers under the System Requirements menu
  • For problem determination:
    • Use the General Diagnostics Health Checker and other health checkers tools under the top menu and Additional Diagnostic Tools menu
    • For analysis: collect and gather log files, log events, and data by using the Collectors
    • Analyze log files by using the Symptom Analysis tools
  • Before migrating from InfoSphere Information Server:
    • Verify the installation by using the General Diagnostic Health Checker under the main menu.
    • Run other health checkers under the Additional Diagnostic Tools menu for specific InfoSphere Information Server components when you have issues with those components.
    • Invoke the Collectors when you have issues to resolve and you need logs and other data for analysis
  • Before and after an append or a patch installation, or after a fresh installation:
    • Verify the installation by using the General Diagnostic Health Checker under the main menu.


Note: An alternative to the automated data collection is a manual method that uses a MustGather document. Refer to the following document for details on gathering this same data manually. http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=14&uid=swg21383312

Contact your IBM Support representative for any assistance required.



User's Guide:

The User's Guide is included in the download package (under the ISALite\doc folder) and is also included here for convenience.

  • User's Guide (version S11.7.1.2 for IS 11.3-IS 11.7)UserGuide.pdf (All platforms)

Previous versions:
  • User's Guide (version S9.1.007.7 for IS 8.5-IS 9.1): UserGuide-77.pdf (Windows and UNIX platforms)
  • User's Guide for zLinux platforms for IS 8.5-IS 9.1: UserGuide-Z.pdf (Windows on System z platform only)

Prerequisites

Supports:

  • InfoSphere Information Server: Versions 8.5.x through Version 11.7.x.
  • Operating systems: AIX, Solaris, Linux (RedHat and SUSE), HP-UX, Windows, and Linux on System z platform, where the InfoSphere Information Server product is supported.
  • Collectors and prerequisite checkers support DB2 and Oracle databases only.

Installation Instructions

This installation is a complete replacement for previously installed versions of the tool.
Consult the User's Guide for information on how to verify the version currently installed, replace an older version, or download and install a new version. The document helps you get started and use the tool.

For More Information: You must have an IBMid and password to download the packages. Register here if you do not have an IBMid and password. Click the following link to go to the ISA home page. http://www.ibm.com/software/support/isa


Off
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Document Information

Modified date:
23 January 2024

UID

swg24022700