Applying a fix pack to a Liberty Java archive installation

Liberty offers a self-extracting Java archive-based installation as an alternative to using IBM® Installation Manager. If you installed Liberty by using the self-extracting archive, and want to upgrade to the latest fix pack version, you can apply a new fix pack archive to a new location, then move any required user files and server configuration data.

1. Install the new runtime environment.
   1. Copy or download the new fix pack archive onto the target system.
   2. Launch the archive by using a Java™ command.
      You must use a Java command because the archive is an executable JAR file. Run the following command:

      java -jar <downloaded_archive_location>/<downloaded_archive_file_name>

      For more information about using a Java command to launch an archive, see the instructions in Installing Liberty by extracting a Java archive file.
   3. Review the license terms, and accept them to continue with the installation.
   4. Select the installation location.
      Use a different location to where the previous version is installed.
2. Move any user data and server configurations.
   Liberty defines two locations for storing user-generated content and server configurations:

   • WLP_USER_DIR; The location of server configuration files, including shared resources.
   • WLP_OUTPUT_DIR; The location of resources generated by the server. For example, log files and temporary disk storage.

   If the WLP_USER_DIR environment variable has been set on your system, then the new runtime environment will continue to use the same location. This results in no backup of server configuration data. To ensure that your server configuration is backed up, copy the directory referenced by WLP_USER_DIR to a new location on your file system. To protect the original environment, change the value of WLP_USER_DIR to point to the new location. During uninstallation, reset the value of WLP_USER_DIR to the location of the original server configuration.

   If WLP_USER_DIR has not been set, the server configuration and shared resources are stored in the usr directory at the root of the server's runtime environment (for example, <liberty_server_runtime_root>/usr). During uninstallation of the runtime environment, you can reset the WLP_USER_DIR environment variable.

   If the WLP_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable is set on your system, the new server also uses this location. This can result in old log files being overwritten. To ensure that old log files are protected, either update or unset the WLP_OUTPUT_DIR environment variable. During uninstallation, reset this value to its original value.

   If the WLP_OUTPUT_DIR value is not set, the default location is in the server root directory (for example <liberty_server_runtime_root>/usr/servers/<serverName>). If the new runtime environment is installed to a new location, no updates are required during installation or uninstallation because logs continue to appear under the usr/servers/<serverName>/logs directory of each respective installation.

   Note: If the server.xml file, or any included XML configuration file, references another resource outside the server configuration directory, these resources must also be copied across, or the references will need to be updated. This also applies to any resources that the application references directly, such as references to hardcoded paths on file systems. During uninstallation of the fix pack, these values can be manually reset to their original values.
3. Start the new server. Run <liberty_VX+>/bin/server start <server_name>.