Installing the product on distributed operating systems using response files

You can install WebSphere® Application Server Version 8.5 using Installation Manager response files.

1. Optional: Record a response file to install the product.

   On one of your systems, perform the following actions to record a response file that will install the product.

   1. From a command line, change to the eclipse subdirectory in the directory where you installed Installation Manager.
   2. Start Installation Manager from the command line using the -record option.
      For example:

      • Administrator or non-administrator:

        IBMIM.exe -skipInstall "C:\temp\imRegistry" 
          -record C:\temp\install_response_file.xml

      • Administrator:

        ./IBMIM -skipInstall /var/temp/imRegistry 
          -record /var/temp/install_response_file.xml

      • Non-administrator:

        ./IBMIM -skipInstall user_home/var/temp/imRegistry 
          -record user_home/var/temp/install_response_file.xml

      Tip: When you record a new response file, you can specify the -skipInstall parameter. Using this parameter has the following benefits:

      • No files are actually installed, and this speeds up the recording.
      • If you use a temporary data location with the -skipInstall parameter, Installation Manager writes the installation registry to the specified data location while recording. When you start Installation Manager again without the -skipInstall parameter, you then can use your response file to install against the real installation registry.

        The -skipInstall operation should not be used on the actual agent data location used by Installation Manager. This is unsupported. Use a clean writable location, and re-use that location for future recording sessions.

      For more information, read the IBM Installation Manager documentation.

   3. Follow the instructions described in Installing the product on distributed operating systems using the GUI.
2. Optional: If you are using an authenticated remote repository, create a keyring response file for installation.
   Note: In a keyring file, you can store credentials for URLs that require authentication, such as your remote repositories.

   1. From a command line, change to the eclipse subdirectory in the directory where you installed Installation Manager.
   2. Start Installation Manager from the command line using the -record option.
      For example:

      • Administrator or non-administrator:

        IBMIM.exe -skipInstall "C:\temp\imRegistry" 
          -keyring C:\IM\im.keyring 
          -record C:\temp\keyring_response_file.xml

      • Administrator:

        ./IBMIM -skipInstall /var/temp/imRegistry 
          -keyring /var/IM/im.keyring 
          -record /var/temp/keyring_response_file.xml

      • Non-administrator:

        ./IBMIM -skipInstall user_home/var/temp/imRegistry 
          -keyring user_home/var/IM/im.keyring 
          -record user_home/var/temp/keyring_response_file.xml

   3. When a window opens that requests your credentials for the authenticated remote repository, enter the correct credentials and save them.
   4. Click File > Exit to close Installation Manager.

   Supported configurations:

   Starting in Installation Manager Version 1.6.2, the -keyring and -password options that were used to access credentials in a key ring file are deprecated. For Installation Manager Version 1.6.2 and later, use the -secureStorageFile and -masterPasswordFile options to store credentials in a credential storage file.

   In Version 1.7, the format of the secure storage file is revised, and is no longer compatible with versions of Installation Manager before version 1.7. Update Installation Manager to version 1.7 or higher and then re-create and replace any secure storage files that you created with earlier versions.

   There is no migration path from key ring files to storage files because of the differences in the file structures. You must create a storage file to replace a key ring file. For more information about using the -secureStorageFile and -masterPasswordFile options to store credentials in a credential storage file, see the IBM Installation Manager documentation.

3. Use the response files to install the product.
   1. Optional: Use the response file to install the keyring file.

      Go to a command line on each of the systems on which you want to install the product, change to the eclipse/tools subdirectory in the directory where you installed Installation Manager, and install the keyring file.

      For example:

      • Administrator or non-administrator:

        imcl.exe -acceptLicense 
          input C:\temp\keyring_response_file.xml 
          -log C:\temp\keyring_log.xml

      • Administrator:

        ./imcl -acceptLicense 
          input /var/temp/keyring_response_file.xml 
          -log /var/temp/keyring_log.xml

      • Non-administrator:

        ./imcl -acceptLicense 
          input user_home/var/temp/keyring_response_file.xml 
          -log user_home/var/temp/keyring_log.xml

   2. Use the response file to install the product.

      Go to a command line on each of the systems on which you want to install the product, change to the eclipse/tools subdirectory in the directory where you installed Installation Manager, and install the product.

      For example:

      • Administrator or non-administrator:

        imcl.exe -acceptLicense 
          input C:\temp\install_response_file.xml 
          -log C:\temp\install_log.xml 
          -keyring C:\IM\im.keyring

      • Administrator:

        ./imcl -acceptLicense 
          input /var/temp/install_response_file.xml 
          -log /var/temp/install_log.xml 
          -keyring /var/IM/im.keyring

      • Non-administrator:

        ./imcl -acceptLicense 
          input user_home/var/temp/install_response_file.xml 
          -log user_home/var/temp/install_log.xml 
          -keyring user_home/var/IM/im.keyring

      Notes:

      • The relevant terms and conditions, notices, and other information are provided in the license-agreement files in the lafiles or product_name/lafiles subdirectory of the installation image or repository for this product.
      • The program might write important post-installation instructions to standard output.

Example

The following is an example of a response file for installing the product.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<agent-input clean="true" temporary="true">
<server>
<repository location="https://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85" /> 
</server>
<install modify='false'>
<offering id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85' 
  profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5'
  features='core.feature,ejbdeploy,thinclient,embeddablecontainer,com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit' installFixes='none'/>
</install>
<profile id='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5' 
  installLocation='C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer'>
<data key='eclipseLocation' value='C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer'/>
<data key='user.import.profile' value='false'/>
<data key='user.wasjava' value='java8'/>
<data key='cic.selector.nl' value='en'/>
</profile>
</agent-input>

Tip: See Sample response file: Installing IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment for an annotated sample of a response file for performing this procedure.

Important: If you are installing on a 64-bit system, you must include one of the options for an IBM Software Development Kit.

• If you want to use the 32-bit IBM Software Development Kit, include com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit as a feature in the response file.
  For example:

  <offering profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5' 
      features='core.feature,com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit' id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85'/>

• If you want to use the 64-bit IBM Software Development Kit, include com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit as a feature in the response file.
  For example:

  <offering profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5' 
      features='core.feature,com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit' id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85'/>

Follow these guidelines:

• Include this feature only if you are installing on a 64-bit system; do not include it if you are installing on a 32-bit system.
• This does not apply to Solaris x86 64-bit systems.
• You must include one of the two options if you are installing on a 64-bit system.
• You cannot modify this installation later and change the selection.

Tip: To disable remote searches for updates in the response file, set the following preferences to false:

• offering.service.repositories.areUsed

  Used for searching remote repositories for updates to installed offerings

• com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.searchForUpdates

  Used for searching for updates to Installation Manager

For example:

<preference value='false' name='offering.service.repositories.areUsed'/>
<preference value='false' name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.searchForUpdates'/>

You can find more details on silent preference keys in the IBM Installation Manager documentation.

Here are some examples of changes that you could make to manipulate this response file to perform alternative actions.

• To install multiple copies of this product, specify a different installation location and a new package group for each installation. For example, to install a second copy of the product into the C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer_2 directory and create the IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5_2 package group:
  1. Replace

     <profile id='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5' 
       installLocation='C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer'>

     with

     <profile id='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5_2'
       installLocation='C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer_2'>

  2. Replace

     <data key='eclipseLocation' value='C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer'/>

     with

     <data key='eclipseLocation' value='C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer_2'/>

  3. Replace

     <offering id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85' 
       profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5'
       features='core.feature,ejbdeploy,thinclient,embeddablecontainer,com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit' installFixes='none'/>

     with

     <offering id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85' 
       profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5_2'
       features='core.feature,ejbdeploy,thinclient,embeddablecontainer,com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit' installFixes='none'/>

• To add the optional features, add each desired feature in the offering as an entry in a comma-separated list. For example, to install all of the optional features (except for the optional IBM Software Development Kit on 64-bit systems):
  Replace

  <offering id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85' 
    profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5'
    features='core.feature' installFixes='none'/>

  with

  <offering id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85' 
    profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5'
    features='core.feature,samples,ejbdeploy,thinclient,embeddablecontainer' installFixes='none'/>

  where:
  • core.feature indicates the full WebSphere Application Server profile
    • samples indicates the sample applications feature
    • thinclient indicates the standalone thin clients and resource adapters
    • embeddablecontainer indicates the embeddable EJB container
    • ejbdeploy indicates the EJBDeploy tool for pre-EJB 3.0 modules
  • com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit allows you to choose a 32-bit Software Development Kit if you are installing on a 64-bit system
  • com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit allows you to choose a 64-bit Software Development Kit if you are installing on a 64-bit system
  Notes:

  • As of version 8.5.5.11 and higher, you must specify the default Java™ SDK version by using the user.wasjava property.
    • To install the Java 8 SDK, specify -properties user.wasjava=java8.
    • To install the Java 6 SDK, specify -properties user.wasjava=java6.
    Note: Java 8 is the recommended Java SDK because it provides the latest features and security updates. You can continue to use Java SE 6, but no service can be provided after the end of support in April 2018, which could expose your environment to security risks.
  • The features samples, thinclient, embeddablecontainer, and ejbdeploy are subfeatures of core.feature.
  • If no features are specified, the default features (core.feature, ejbdeploy, thinclient, and embeddablecontainer) are installed. To install only the features that you want, specify the list of features explicitly.
  • You must install core.feature.
• Installation Manager can save earlier versions of a package to roll back to if you experience issues later. When Installation Manager rolls back a package to a previous version, the current version of the files are uninstalled and the earlier versions are reinstalled. If you choose not to save the files for rollback, you can prevent the files from being saved by changing the following preference in your response file:

  <preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.preserveDownloadedArtifacts' value='true'/>

  to this:

  <preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.preserveDownloadedArtifacts' value='false'/>

  For more information on setting your Installation Manager preferences, see the IBM Installation Manager documentation.

  Tip: Even if you choose not to preserve files locally for rollback with this option, you can still roll back to any previously installed level by accessing the appropriate product repository.