The Installation Manager command line tool (imcl) has two different commands that can be used to install one or more packages.
- install
- input (this article)
When using the install command, all of the parameters must be used on the command line. When using the input command, most of the parameters are put in an XML file and then the XML file is used on the command line.
Install Installation Manager
If you have not yet installed IBMs Installation Manager, check out my articles:
- Install Installation Manager on Linux using the installc or userinstc command
- Install Installation Manager on Linux using the imcl install command
- Install Installation Manager on Linux using the imcl input command
-prompt vs. -secureStorageFile and -masterPasswordFile
When installing or updating an IBM product, you will need to provide your IBM username and password. One way to provide your username and password is by using the -prompt, which will prompt you to provide your username and password. Another option is to storage your username in a secure storage file and to storage your password in a master password file, and to then using the -secureStorageFile and -masterPasswordFile options on the command line.
IBM repository vs. local repository
One of the command line options is -repositories. There are two types of repositories. One is known as an "IBM service repostiory" and the other is known as a "local repository". An IBM service repository is an HTTP URL that contains the installation files for a product, such as http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90. A local repository is where you download a zip file from Fix Central or using the Packaging Utility and then extract the contents of the zip to a directory on the server that you want to install the product on.
List the Available Packages / Interim Fix
Before installing one or more packages, you will want to list the packages and/or interim fixes that can be installed.For example, the imcl listAvailablePackages command can be used to list the packages that can be installed and could return something like this.
~]# /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages -repositories /tmp/was90base
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.0.20160526_1854
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.1.20160906_0049
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.2.20161108_1719
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.3.20170217_1945
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.4.20170523_1327
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.5.20170918_1844
com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.6.20171205_1311
And the imcl listAvailableFixes command can be used to list the interim fixes that can be installed can could return something like this.
~]# /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailableFixes com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5021.20220202_1245 -repositories /usr/local/ibm/interimfix/43148
8.5.5.10-WS-WASProd-IFPH43148_8.5.5010.20220221_0811
The imcl (Installation Manager command line tool) with the input option can be used to install one or more packages, such as a Fix Pack and Interim Fixes, where the packages to be installed will be listed in an XML file.
You will start by downloading the packages you want to install from IBM Fix Central. Let's say you have downloaded Fix Pack 8.5.5-WS-WAS-FP021 and Interim Fix 8.5.5.10-ws-wasprod-ifph43148.zip from Fix Central. For WebSphere, you may want to also use https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/recommended-updates-websphere-application-server to know when each Fix Pack has or will be released.
You will typically want to create a directory that will contain the contents of the packages you have downloaded.
mkdir -p /opt/IBM/FixPacks/8.5.5.21
mkdir -p /opt/IBM/InterimFixes/43148
The unzip command can be used to unzip the Fix Packs and Interim Fixes.
unzip 8.5.5-WS-WAS-FP021.zip -d /opt/IBM/FixPacks/8.5.5.21
unzip 8.5.5.10-ws-wasprod-ifph43148.zip -d /opt/IBM/InterimFixes/43148
Create an XML file.
touch response.xml
Following is an example XML file.
- In the <server> block, "repository location" should be the path to your repository.config file.
- In the <offering> block:
- profile = the package group returned by the listInstalledPackages command with the -verbose option
- id = the ID returned by the listAvailablePackages command
- version = the version.release.modification.fixpack returned by the listAvailablePackages command
- feature = the features by the listAvailablePackages command with the -features flag. If you are updating an existing installation, you may want to use the versionInfo.sh command to ensure the package includes the features that are already being used.
AVOID TROUBLE
If you don't include one or more features that were installed in the prior version of the product, the features will be removed when the fix pack is installed.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<agent-input>
<server>
<repository location='/opt/IBM/FixPacks/9009/repository.config'/>
</server>
<profile id='IBM WebSphere Application Server V9.0'
installLocation='/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer'>
<data key='eclipseLocation' value='/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer'/>
<data key='user.import.profile' value='false'/>
<data key='cic.selector.nl' value='en, fr, it, zh, ro, ru, zh_TW, de, ja, pl, es, cs, hu, ko, pt_BR'/>
</profile>
<install modify='false'>
<offering id='com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85'
version='8.5.5021.20220202_1245'
profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 64bit'
features='com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit,core.feature,ejbdeploy,embeddablecontainer,thinclient'
installFixes='none'/>
<!-- interim fix 43148 (see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6557298) -->
<offering id='8.5.5.10-WS-WASProd-IFPH43148'
version='8.5.5010.20220221_0811'
profile='IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.5 64bit'
features='-'/>
</install>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.eclipseCache' value='/opt/IBM/IMShared'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.connectTimeout' value='30'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.readTimeout' value='30'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.downloadAutoRetryCount' value='0'/>
<preference name='offering.service.repositories.areUsed' value='true'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.ssl.nonsecureMode' value='false'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.http.disablePreemptiveAuthentication' value='false'/>
<preference name='http.ntlm.auth.kind' value='NTLM'/>
<preference name='http.ntlm.auth.enableIntegrated.win32' value='true'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.preserveDownloadedArtifacts' value='true'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.keepFetchedFiles' value='false'/>
<preference name='PassportAdvantageIsEnabled' value='false'/>
<preference name='com.ibm.cic.common.core.preferences.searchForUpdates' value='false'/>
</agent-input>
AVOID TROUBLE
If you have a WebSphere deployment manager (dmgr) with nodes federated into the deployment manager, install the packages on the deployment manager BEFORE installing the packages on the nodes being managed by the dmgr.
If you are installing packages on an already installed IBM product, you will probably need to stop the product before you can install the packages. If you are installing packages on a WebSphere deployment manager, you will need to stop each node that has been federated into the deployment manager and then also stop the deployment manager.
Here is how you would install the packages listed in response.xml using the icml input command.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl input response.xml
-log log.xml
-acceptLicense
-showprogress
If the packages are successfully installed, something like this should be displayed.
Installed 9.0.0.7-WS-WASProd-IFPH01368_9.0.7.20180810_1256 to the /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer directory.
Likewise, listing the installed packages should show that the packages have been installed.
~]# /opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listInstalledPackages -long
/opt/WebSphere/AppServer : com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5019.20210118_0346 : IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment : 8.5.5.21
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer : 9.0.0.7-WS-WASProd-IFPH01368_9.0.7.20180810_1256 : 9.0.0.7-WS-WASProd-IFPH01368 : 9.0.7.20180810_1256
After the packages have been installed, you can then start the product that the packages were installed on.
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