Installation overview

IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation provides the following installable components: MobileFirst Studio, MobileFirst Server, and IBM MobileFirst Platform Test Workbench. This section gives an overview of the installation process.

Installing MobileFirst Studio on Eclipse with a P2 update site

You install MobileFirst Studio into an existing installation of Eclipse by using its P2 install and update features. For actual instructions, see Installing MobileFirst Studio.

After the MobileFirst Studio installation, you must also install extra software development kits (SDKs) and Eclipse plug-ins for each mobile environment that you are developing for (for example, the Android Development Toolkit).

Installing MobileFirst Platform Command Line Interface (CLI)

You install the CLI by downloading the CLI .zip file and decompressing it on your computer. Then, you must run the installer in the correct platform.

Installing MobileFirst Test Workbench on Eclipse with a P2 update site

You must install IBM MobileFirst Platform Test Workbench into an existing, properly configured installation of MobileFirst Studio by using the Eclipse P2 install and update feature. For actual instructions, see Installing and configuring IBM MobileFirst Platform Test Workbench.

Installing MobileFirst Server with IBM Installation Manager

To ensure the correct installation of MobileFirst Server, see Installation prerequisites.

You must install IBM® Installation Manager 1.6.3 or later separately before installing IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation. For more information, see Running IBM Installation Manager.

Note: IBM Installation Manager is sometimes referred to as IBM Rational® Enterprise Deployment on the eXtreme Leverage, Passport Advantage® sites, and on the distribution disks. The file names for the images take the form IBM Rational Enterprise Deployment <version number><hardware platform> <language>; for example, IBM Rational Enterprise Deployment V1.6.3.1Windows Multilingual.

You then use IBM Installation Manager to install MobileFirst server-side components on your application server, and to create databases on your database management system. Some application server and database configuration is required. For actual instructions, see Installing MobileFirst Server.

Upgrading from earlier versions

The preceding sections provide an overview of IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation "first time" installations. For information about upgrading existing installations of MobileFirst Studio and MobileFirst Server to a later version, see Upgrading to IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation V7.1.0.

Consider compatibility with earlier releases before you decide what version of each product component to install. For more information about compatibility between releases, see Version compatibility.