Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.2.0.3

Prerequisite Scanner supports all hardware and operating systems of the specified product or IBM solution for which you are running Prerequisite Scanner.

Ensure that you have the following utilities installed or enabled in the target environments.

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Prerequisite Scanner can run on 32-bit or 64-bit Windows systems. It can also run on 32-bit or 64-bit variants of AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems. You can download Prerequisite Scanner from IBM Fix Central. See the Download package section below for download links if not accessing this Download document from Fix Central.

There are two separate packages available to download from Fix Central to support Windows and UNIX platforms as follows:

• The Windows package (version_num-Tivoli-PRS-Windows-fp0001.zip) supports different Windows platforms including Windows 2012.
• The UNIX package (version_num-Tivoli-PRS-Unix-fp0001.tar.gz) supports the AIX®, HP-UX, Linux, Linux for System z®, and Solaris platforms.

After you download your platform package, extract the contents of the compressed file to a preferred location as specified by ips_root and on each target system that you intend to install the product or component.

Important: You must have write permissions to the root directory in which you extract the contents of the compressed file.

After you extract the contents of the compressed file, you are ready to run Prerequisite Scanner.

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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 window to run 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.

Before you begin

The script requires individual product codes as required parameters that identify the product or component against which to run prerequisite checks. Review the set of predefined product codes outlined in the Product code reference section of this Download document.

Ensure that the Bash binary or a symbolic link to its location is in the /bin directory and specified in the PATH environment variable.

Attention: When you run Prerequisite Scanner, it first checks for the Bash binary, for example, /bin/bash, in the /bin directory. If the binary or the symbolic link to its location does not exist, the tool displays an error message and exits.

Determine whether your offering uses environment variables that indicate to the tool which set of prerequisites to scan for based on the offering’s component being installed the target system. The following table outlines the offerings that use environment variables and those environment variables.

Procedure

1. Ensure that you check your product’s installation documentation or Technotes for any additional steps that must be performed before running Prerequisite Scanner. For example, you might need to set the environment variable that indicates to Prerequisite Scanner which components or features are being installed on the target computerand consequently, which prerequisites to check.
2. Open a command window and change to the ips_root directory.
3. If your offering uses environment variables to indicate to Prerequisite Scanner which component is planned for installation on the target computer, set the value for relevant environment variable to True, for example:

   Windows

   set ENV_NAME=True

   UNIX

   export ENV_NAME=True

4. Run the Prerequisite Scanner script file, prereq_checker, with the relevant parameters.

   Windows

   prereq_checker.bat "Product_Code [Product_Version][,Product_CodeN [Product_VerN]]..." [outputDir="ips_output_dir"] [xmlResult]

   UNIX

   ../prereq_checker.sh "Product_Code [Product_Version[,Product_CodeN Product_VerN]..." [outputDir="ips_output_dir"] [xmlResult]

Example

This example runs Prerequisite Scanner for Tivoli zEnterprise® Monitoring Agent using product code KZE. It also sets the location of the results and log files to ips_output_dir by using the optional outputDir parameter.

Important: You must use the ips_output_dir parameter to specify a location, if you choose to run Prerequisite Scanner from a CD, DVD, or read-only network drive. You must have write permissions to write to ips_output_dir; otherwise, Prerequisite Scanner fails.

Windows

prereq_checker.bat "KZE 06020300" outputDir="%TEMP%\ips"

UNIX

./prereq_checker.sh "KZE 06020300" outputDir="/tmp/ips"

The tool outputs the result.txt file and precheck.log files to the following locations:

• On Windows systems: %TEMP%\ips where TEMP is environment variable for the temporary folder.
• On UNIX systems: /tmp/ips

Example

You can run the tool to check prerequisites for multiple offerings, for example, Tivoli Business Service Manager and Tivoli Netcool/Impact, by specifying multiple product codes.

Windows

prereq_checker.bat "BSM 06010100,NCI 06010100"

UNIX

./prereq_checker.sh "BSM 06010100,NCI 06010100"

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 Extending Prerequisite Scanner in the Prerequisite Scanner Version 1.2.0.2 Information Center .

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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 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 window.
  To ensure the environment meets the product's 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 the product on the target computer.

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The IBM Prerequisite Scanner uses a multicharacter code, product_code, to identify the product, individual supported platform and version of operating system. The ips_root/codename.cfg file contains the name value pairs to represent the product code for the product, its supported platform, and the version of the operating system.

Restriction: IBM Tivoli® Monitoring and Tivoli Composite Application Manager have predefined product codes that Prerequisite Scanner considers as reserved. These codes must not be used as Prerequisite Scanner product codes unless they refer to their associated IBM Tivoli Monitoring and Tivoli Composite Application Manager agents. For more information about the product codes, see the ITM 6.X Product Codes Technote.

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Prerequisite Scanner currently supports the following products and components:

• IBM Connections Version 4.0 (requires Prerequisite Scanner from the IBM Connections Bill of Materials)
• Jazz for Service Management Version 1.1
• Maximo® Asset Management 7.5 (requires Prerequisite Scanner from the Tivoli Process Automation Engine Bill of Materials)
• Security Access Manager Version 7.0
• Tivoli Autonomic Deployment Engine Version 1.4
• Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed Versions 7.2 and 7.2.2
• Tivoli Business Service Manager Versions 4.2.1, 6.1, and 6.1.1
• Tivoli Common Reporting Versions 2.1.1 and 3.1
• Tivoli Enterprise Portal Versions 6.2 and 6.2.2
• Tivoli License Compliance Manager Version 2.3
• Tivoli License Metric Tool Versions 7.2 and 7.2.2
• Tivoli Monitoring Versions 6.1, 6.2, 6.2.1, and 6.2.2
• Tivoli Monitoring Version 6.2.3 (requires Prerequisite Scanner from the Tivoli Monitoring Bill of Materials)
• Tivoli Monitoring for Databases: DB2 Agent Versions 6.1 6.2, 6.2.1 and 6.2.2
• Tivoli Monitoring for Databases: Oracle Agent Version 6.2.2
• Tivoli Netcool/Impact Versions 6.1 and 6.1.1
• Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Probe Components Version 7.4
• Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Server Components Versions 7.3.1 and 7.4
• Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Desktop Components Versions 7.3.1 and 7.4
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager Agent for WebSphere MQ Version 7.1
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager Agent for WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition Version 7.1 (Windows only)
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager Agent for WebSphere Message Broker Version 7.1
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Applications: DB2 Version 6.2.2
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Internet Service Monitoring Versions 7.2 and 7.3
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Transaction Reporter Versions 7.2.2 (Windows only) and 7.3 (UNIX/Linux Systems)
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Transaction Collector Versions 7.2.2 (Windows only) and 7.3 (UNIX/Linux Systems)
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Application Management Console Version 7.3
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Client Response Time Version 7.3
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Web Response Time Version 7.3
• Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Transactions: Robotic Response Time Version 7.3
• Tivoli Provisioning Manager Versions 7.2 and 7.2.1

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You can often find solutions to problems by searching IBM knowledge bases. The following sites can contain troubleshooting information:

• Go to the IBM Prerequisite Scanner page on the IBM Support Portal.
• Go to the IBM Prerequisite Scanner Transparent Development community at Service Management Connect.
• Use the IBM Prerequisite Scanner discussion forum at Service Management Connect.

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.

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Customers can submit or review product request enhancements for Prerequisite Scanner in the Tivoli RFE Community.

Customers can collaborate and provide feedback on the development of the Prerequisite Scanner. Go to the IBM Prerequisite Scanner transparent development project dashboard at Service Management Connect. Customers require an IBM ID and password to sign in.

Customers can also provide feedback by using the IBM Prerequisite Scanner discussion forum at Service Management Connect.

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