Preinstallation on AIX systems

You must complete the required preinstallation tasks before you install agents on AIX® systems. Some preinstallation tasks are agent-specific and other tasks apply to multiple agents.

Note: These requirements are in addition to the requirements identified in the Software Product Compatibility Reports for your agent: For the current version requirements and dependencies for your agent, see the IBM® Cloud Application Performance Management Software Product Compatibility Report for agents on AIX.

All agents

The following preinstallation tasks are applicable to all agents:

Test connectivity

Before you install agents, ensure that your system can communicate with the Cloud APM server. For information about checking connectivity to the Cloud APM server, see Network connectivity.

Non-root user installation

You must have read, write, and execute permissions for the installation directory. Otherwise, the installation is canceled. For more information about non-root user installation, see Installing agents as a non-root user.

70-character limitation for installation path

The installation directory and the path to it must be no more than 70 characters.

100-character limitation for .tar file names

The default tar command on AIX systems cannot handle file names that are longer than 100 characters. To avoid installation issues, complete the following steps:

Download and install the GNU version of the tar command from the AIX Toolbox for Linux® Applications website.
Make the GNU version your default tar command. Complete one of the following steps:
- Add /opt/freeware/bin to the beginning of the current PATH environment variable. For example:
```
export PATH=/opt/freeware/bin:$PATH
```
  where /opt/freeware/bin is the directory of GUN bin.
- Replace /bin/tar with a symbolic link to /opt/freeware/bin/tar as below:
```
ln -s /opt/freeware/bin/tar /bin/tar
```

Alternatively, upgrade to the latest version of AIX to receive the code fix for handling file names longer than 100 characters. For details, see the TAR command Technote for AIX V6.1 or the TAR command Technote for AIX V7.1.

Setting the CANDLEHOME environment variable

If you used the ITM Agent Converter to install and configure an agent on the same managed system before, the CANDLEHOME environment variable changed to that directory where you installed the agent with the Agent Converter. Before you install and configure a native Cloud APM agent, you must set the CANDLEHOME environment variable to a different directory, otherwise, the native Cloud APM agent cannot start.

Specific agents

The following preinstallation tasks are applicable to the specified agents:

DataPower® agent

Before the agent is installed, the prerequisite checker checks that ulimit is set to unlimited on AIX. You must run the ulimit -d unlimited command to ensure that the max data segment size system environment variable is set to unlimited. This agent cannot be installed on the same machine as the DataPower appliance that you want to monitor.

HMC Base agent

If you plan to install the agent as a root user, you must ensure that system TL07 is installed. If you plan to install the agent as a non-root user, you must ensure that system TL08 is installed for AIX version 6 only.

HTTP Server agent

Install and run this agent as a root user. Use the same user ID to install and run the agent. If you install and run the agent as a non-root user, the non-root user must have the same user ID as the user who started the IBM HTTP Server. Otherwise, the agent has problems with discovering the IBM HTTP Server.

The installation fails on AIX because on the AIX system the default .tar command truncated a long path. For more information, see the 100-character limitation for .tar file names section in this topic.

AIX only: Install the lynx utility or the curl application.

Oracle Database agent

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5 and version 6 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 11 and version 12 x64, if the Oracle Database agent monitors the Oracle database remotely, you must install the Oracle instant clients first. Install the Oracle instant clients from Oracle Technology Network - Instant Client Downloads.

The instant client v10.x, v11.x, and v12.x are supported by the Oracle Database agent.

Response Time Monitoring Agent

Before you install the Response Time Monitoring agent, review the installation planning section here: Planning the installation.

SAP HANA Database agent

Install SAP HANA database client HDBSQL version 1.00.102.06 or later on the AIX system.
Run the following command to add the path of the installation directory to the LIBPATH environment variable:
export LIBPATH=$LIBPATH:install_directory_path

Example: export LIBPATH=$LIBPATH:/usr/sap/hdbclient, where /usr/sap/hdbclient indicates the installation path of the SAP HANA database client.

Important:

If the installation path of the SAP HANA database client is not added to the LIBPATH environment variable, the prerequisite scanner returns the FAIL result.

The environment variable that you added by using the export command persists only for a particular session of the terminal. Therefore, ensure that you run the agent installation script from the same terminal that was used for adding the environment variable.

WebSphere® Applications agent

Before the agent is installed, the prerequisite checker checks that ulimit is set to 524000 on the AIX system. You must run the ulimit -d 524000 command to ensure that the max data segment size system environment variable is set to 524000.