[Linux]

Preparing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for installation

You must complete additional steps to prepare a Red Hat Enterprise Linux® Version 7 system for a WebSphere® Application Server installation.

Before you begin

Complete all steps in Preparing Linux systems for installation. Those steps are common to installing WebSphere Application Server on any Linux system.

About this task

After you complete the common steps that are required to install any Linux system, you must also complete extra system-specific steps that are required for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7.

Verify that the prerequisite packages are installed. A Linux package registration limitation prevents the prerequisites checker program from examining prerequisite packages on Linux systems. For more information, see Installing and verifying Linux packages.

Consider the following points if you have enabled Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7 operating system:
  • If SELinux is enabled and enforced while you are installing the product from the disk, mount the disk with the following option:
    -o context=system_u:object_r:textrel_shlib_t:s0
    Important: If you are using RedHat Multi Level Security (MLS), review the final s0 parameter.
  • After you install the product, if you enable SELinux while SELinux is disabled, the file labels are reset when the system is rebooted. In this scenario, you must run the relabel_linux.sh script that is located in the app_server_root/properties/install/script/ directory to relabel the product runtime files. Running the relabel_linux.sh command is not necessary if you made security mode changes with the command setenforce, which does not require a system restart.

Procedure

  1. On all hardware platforms, install all required packages and their dependencies by running the following yum command:
    yum install gtk2 libXtst xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 psmisc

    The gtk2, libXtst, and xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 packages are required for graphical IBM Installation Manager and Profile Management Tool support. The psmisc package provides support for basic installation and profile creation.

  2. Install the required 32-bit packages on 64-bit kernels.

    By default, this operating system installs only 64-bit runtime support. However, various applications that are included with WebSphere Application Server Version require 32-bit runtime packages, including WebSphere Customization Toolbox (WCT).

    These packages do not apply to POWER® Little Endian (LE), which supports only 64-bit.

    Note: The compat-libstdc++33 package is required only for IBM® Edge Caching Proxy.
    1. Enable the optional RPM repository, which is required to install the compat-libstdc++-33 package.
      $ yum-config-manager --enable rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
    2. Install the following packages and their dependencies.
      ARCH32=$(uname -m | sed -e 's/ppc64/ppc/g' -e 's/s390x/s390/g' -e 's/x86_64/i686/g')
      yum install glibc.$ARCH32 gtk2.$ARCH32 libXtst.$ARCH32 libXft.$ARCH32 libXtst.$ARCH32 compat-libstdc++-33.$ARCH32 libstdc++.$ARCH32 libnsl.$ARCH32
  3. On POWER systems, ensure that the kernel level is set to a minimum of 3.10.0-123.6.3.el7. Run the following command:
    uname -r
  4. For POWER LE, review the following platform-specific limitations:
    • IBM Installation Manager Version 1.8.0 or later is required.
    • WebSphere Configuration Tools, including the Profile Management Tool, are supported in command-line only mode.
    • Before V8.5.5.19, Java™ 7.1 is the default SDK.

      [8.5.5.19 or later]Java 8.0 is the default SDK.

    • Edge Caching Proxy is not supported on this architecture.
    • Load Balancer for IPv4 and IPv6 components Content Based Routing (CBR) and Site Selector are not supported.
    • IBM HTTP Server and the WebSphere web server plug-in do not have a Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 certified implementation. To use these components in uncertified FIPS 140-2 mode, set the native environment variable ICC_IGNORE_FIPS to yes.

Results

If you do not install all of the required packages, the installation does not complete correctly. Error messages indicate missing libraries, the inability to load graphical interfaces, or other errors that occur during the installation.

What to do next

After verifying prerequisites, verifying the product disk, and setting your installation goals, you can start installing WebSphere Application Server by choosing one of the following installation procedures: