
The Installation Manager command line tool (imcl) has two similar commands that can be used to list packages / interim fixes that can be installed.
- listAvailablePackages (this article)
- listAvailableFixes
Install Installation Manager
If you have not yet installed IBMs Installation Manager, check out our 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
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.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories <repository location>
One option is to use the IBM HTTP URL that contains the installation files for a product. This is known as an "IBM service repostiory". Additionally, when using an IBM service repository, you will need to provide your IBM username and password to. One option 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 store your username in a secure storage file and to store your password in a master password file, and to then using the -secureStorageFile and -masterPasswordFile options on the command line. Here are commonly used IBM service repositories.
- WebSphere Application Server version 9.0 - http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90
- WebSphere Network Deployment Manager version 9.0 - http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.ND.v90
- IHS web server version 9.0 - http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.IHS.v90
- Web server plugin version 9.0 - http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.PLG.v90
- IBM Java version 8.0 - http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v80
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v80
-prompt or -secureStorageFile /path/to/secure_storage.txt and -masterPasswordFile /path/to/master_password.txt
Another option is to download the installation files from Fix Central or using the Packaging Utility. This is known as a "local repository". In this example, the installation files are in the /tmp/WebSphere directory on the local server.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories /tmp/WebSphere
In this example, we will check to see the packages that are available in the http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90 repository.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90
-prompt or -secureStorageFile /path/to/secure_storage.txt and -masterPasswordFile /path/to/master_password.txt
listAvailablePackages will produce output like this. In this example, com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90 is the offering ID. Following the offering ID is the version.release.modification.fixpack, such as 9.0.0.20160526_1854.
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
-long
The -long flag can be used to include additional output, like this.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories /tmp/WebSphere
-long
Something like this should be returned.
/tmp/WebSphere : com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90_9.0.0.20160526_1854 : IBM WebSphere Application Server v9.0 : 9.0.0.1
features
The -features flag can be used to list the features that are included in each package.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories /tmp/WebSphere
-features
Something like this should be returned.
com.ibm.websphere.ND.v85_8.5.5020.20210708_1826 : core.feature,ejbdeploy,thinclient,embeddablecontainer,samples,com.ibm.sdk.6_32bit,com.ibm.sdk.6_64bit
Show Platforms
It is typically a good idea to include the -showPlatforms options, which will include the platforms that the product can be installed on.
/opt/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse/tools/imcl listAvailablePackages
-repositories http://www.ibm.com/software/repositorymanager/com.ibm.websphere.BASE.v90
-prompt
-showPlatforms
Which will produce something like this.
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v80_8.0.2010.20160224_1829 : aix.ppc,aix.ppc64,hpux.ia64,linux.ppc,linux.ppc64,linux.ppc64le,linux.s390,linux.s390x,linux.x86,linux.x86_64,solaris.sparc64,solaris.sparcv9,solaris.x86_64,win32.x86,win32.x86_64,zos.s390x
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v80_8.0.3000.20160720_1754 : aix.ppc,aix.ppc64,hpux.ia64,linux.ppc,linux.ppc64,linux.ppc64le,linux.s390,linux.s390x,linux.x86,linux.x86_64,solaris.sparc64,solaris.sparcv9,solaris.x86_64,win32.x86,win32.x86_64,zos.s390x
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v80_8.0.3020.20161124_1304 : aix.ppc,aix.ppc64,hpux.ia64,linux.ppc,linux.ppc64,linux.ppc64le,linux.s390,linux.s390x,linux.x86,linux.x86_64,solaris.sparc64,solaris.sparcv9,solaris.x86_64,win32.x86,win32.x86_64,zos.s390x
com.ibm.websphere.IBMJAVA.v80_8.0.4005.20170626_0627 : aix.ppc,aix.ppc64,hpux.ia64,linux.ppc,linux.ppc64,linux.ppc64le,linux.s390,linux.s390x,linux.x86,linux.x86_64,solaris.sparc64,solaris.sparcv9,solaris.x86_64,win32.x86,win32.x86_64,zos.s390x
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