Directories that must be present on all tier computers before installation

The IBM® InfoSphere® Information Server installation program requires certain directories be present on all tier computers before you run it.

The temporary directories will contain temporary files that are required by the installation program. The files are not needed after installation and can be removed safely.

Temporary directories

You do not have to back up temporary directories.

The root user, the user who runs the installation program, and all other InfoSphere Information Server users must have read, write, and execute permissions to the temporary directories. Also, the sticky bit must be unset:
chmod -t temp_dir_path

Put the temporary directories on a file system that has high-speed read-write performance.

The following table provides operating system-specific information about the temporary directories.

Table 1. Temporary directories: operating system-specific information
Operating system Default directory path Additional requirements
AIX®Solaris Linux /tmp
/var/tmp
 The file system that contains the temporary directory must meet the system requirements for temporary space on its physical partition. Use the df command to see the amount of available disk space per file system. If the command results do not list the directory or its parent directory, use the amount on the root file system (/).
Windows The directory specified by the TEMP environment variable. This directory is typically the %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp directory, where %USERPROFILE% is the home directory of the user doing the installation. The total number of characters in the temporary directory path and the path of the files that the installation program extracts into the path cannot exceed 256 characters. Long path names might cause the installation to fail.
Home directory for user IDs

The home directory contains existing user IDs and (by default) the IDs that the installation program creates.

The Administrator ID or the root user ID that performs the installation must be able to write to the home directory and all subdirectories.

Unlike temporary directories, these directories should be backed up regularly.

The following table provides operating system-specific information about the home directory.

Table 2. Home directory: operating system-specific information
Operating system Default directory path Additional requirements
AIX Solaris /home/user_name Owners must have at least 755 permissions for their directories and parent directories, and have read/write/execute access to all subdirectories.

If the home directory is on a network file system (NFS), export the file system with the no_root_squash option enabled and the nosetuid option off.
Linux /home/user_name Owners must have at least 755 permissions for their directories and parent directories, and have read/write/execute access to all subdirectories.

If the home directory is on a network file system (NFS), export the file system with the no_root_squash option enabled and the nosetuid option off.
Windows %USERPROFILE%, typically C:\Users\user_name None
Solaris zones
Solaris zones allow you to divide a Solaris computer into multiple logical computers. You can install InfoSphere Information Server into a global zone or a non-global zone. You cannot install InfoSphere Information Server into a Sparse Zone. When installing into a global zone or a non-global zone, the root user must have write access to the following files and directories on all logical computers:
  • / (root)
  • /etc
  • /etc/services
  • /etc/inittab
  • /etc/rc
  • /tmp
  • /var
  • /var/tmp
  • /usr/local/bin