Installing WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Liberty

The product code for all Liberty offerings is installed by using IBM® Installation Manager.

Before you begin

Important: Liberty on z/OS supports Java™ SE 8.

As of version 22.0.0.9, Liberty on z/OS supports Java SE 11.

As of version 23.0.0.12, Liberty on z/OS supports Java SE 17.

When support ends for your Java SE version, you must upgrade to a supported version.

• The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 8 is October 2026, fix pack 26.0.0.10.
• The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 11 is October 2026, 26.0.0.10.
• The Liberty end of support date for Java SE 17 is October 2027, 27.0.0.10.

For more information, see Removal notices. After support is removed, the Liberty kernel is recompiled and can no longer run with the removed Java version.

Create an Installation Manager on your z/OS® system. You must know the location of the binaries directory for the Installation Manager and have access to a user ID that can invoke the Installation Manager. See Installing Installation Manager on z/OS.

Obtain the product repository for WebSphere® Application Server Liberty. See Accessing product repositories on z/OS.

If you want to install Liberty assets from local directory-based repositories or an instance of the Liberty Asset Repository Service, configure the repositories. For more information about the Liberty asset repositories, see Installing assets using Installation Manager.

1. Choose an installation location for this copy of Liberty.

   This copy of the product must be mounted at this location every time Installation Manager accesses it to install, uninstall, or modify it. This location does not have to be the same location at which the product will be mounted when used in production. Installation Manager requires that every installed product or group of products have its own installation location.

   The following location is recommended, where level indicates either the service level of the Liberty runtime environment or the purpose for this copy of the product, such as test:

   /InstallationManager/products/WebSphere/Liberty/level

2. Create and mount a file system for this Liberty installation by editing and submitting sample job BBO2CFS.
3. Install Liberty by editing and submitting one of the following sample installation jobs.
   • BBO2INS: Install Liberty from the web-based product and service repository.
   • BBO2INSL: Install Liberty from local repositories.
4. Optional: Install an IBM Java SDK.
   You can run Liberty with any compliant Java runtime environment (JRE) or Java software development kit (SDK). To install IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 8, edit and submit one of the following sample installation jobs:

   • BBO5INS: Install IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 8 from the web-based product and service repository.
   • BBO5INSL: Install IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 8 from local repositories.
5. When product installation is complete, unmount the product file system and remount it read-only for use by Liberty servers.

   Product installation is complete when the jobs complete without error messages. Logs for the installation can be found in the logs subdirectory of the Installation Manager runtime data location.

   The product documentation and configuration tools assume that the product file system is mounted for use at the /usr/lpp/WebSphere/Liberty location.