WebSphere Process Server 7 and WebSphere Portal 6.1.5

I had a requirement for WebSphere Portal 6.1.5 on WebSphere Process Server 7 (a common scenario) and so I tried this on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10.

It just worked. The following should help for a quick non-supervisor development environment with no need to perform platform tweaking.

Preparation

Increase the maximum number of files that can be open to 10240 or bigger (or else WebSphere Portal installation will fail):

echo “bjfletcher hard nofile 10240″ >> /etc/security/limits.conf

echo “limit -n 10240″ >> ~/.profile

Remove AppArmor (or else there may be some security issues, unnecessary for a development environment):

/etc/init.d/apparmor stop
update-rc.d -f apparmor remove

WebSphere Process Server 7

To install:

IM/userinst

During the installation, ask to be installed non-root/supervisor.  Ask for Samples and the WPS profile to be created if desired.  The Installation Vertification should succeed.

WebSphere Portal 6.1.5

To install, on the “IL-Setup” media:

dist/linwpinstall

and, during the installation, ask to:

• install on top of an existing WebSphere Application Server (the one installed by WebSphere Process Server)
• change default location from /opt/IBM/WebSphere to /home/bjfletcher/IBM/WebSphere (as non-supervisor installation)
• change host to bjfletcher-vmware.ibm.com (else comes the error: “EJPIC0067E: WebSphere Portal and Lotus Content Management requires a fully-qualified host name that is recognized by the DNS Server. Short names, loopback addresses, IP addresses and illegal characters such as blanks are not allowed. Enter the host name again”)
• separately, append bjfletcher-vmware.ibm.com to the 127.0.1.1 line in /etc/hosts (for a fully qualified host that is also DNS-able)

The installation asked to supply paths to the 5 different installation folders. Installation uses names like “IL-3″, here’s the mapping to download codes:

• IL-Setup > CZ8G7ML
• IL-3 > CZ8I4ML
• IL-4 > CZ8I5ML
• IL-5 > CZ8I6ML
• IL-5A > CZ8I7ML

Understand that the 5th final step takes a long time.

It all worked.  The usual preparation steps (under “Preparation”) apply.  In a previous attempt, the 5th final step of the installation failed – the media was on a path containing spaces (in my experience, this is a common reason with IBM middleware software).

Ben

WebSphere Integration Developer 7.0 on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

WebSphere Integration Developer 7.0, there is a single media for Windows and Linux.

It worked great on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10. Some notes:

The installation files must be in a folder whose path doesn’t contain any spaces. See the Technote regarding this.

To install as non-supervisor (my preference for my personal environment) simply run:

disk1/IM_linux/userinst

This will suggest installing IBM Installation Manager (if not installed already with another product) to:

/home/bjfletcher/IBM/InstallationManager/eclipse

and IBM WebSphere Integration Developer to:

/home/bjfletcher/IBM/WID7

where bjfletcher is my system username. See this page, which is also referred to by the launchpad application, regarding non-supervisor installation.

I didn’t need a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) as the installation used its bundled JRE.

To test, I asked the installer to install every package that was offered. All installed fine.

The installer added launchers to the Applications menu on the Ubuntu desktop – one for IBM Installation Manager if not installed before, and one for WebSphere Integration Developer.

It all worked great. No issues. There are some general 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 changes (the ”Preparation” section) and Eclipse 3.4.2 fixes that should be in place (e.g., to fix user interface issues).

Updating to 7.0.0.1

I updated to 7.0.0.1 (consult the list for what fixes it has) using IBM Installation Manager’s updates facility. There was an issue during the prerequisite stage where it complained that libstdc++.so.5 wasn’t in the system library path. The solution I used was to make the library visible on /usr/lib (which is actually /usr/lib64) as well as /usr/lib32:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.5 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5

and then click “Recheck Status”. The complaint went and WebSphere Integration Developer was updated with 124 MB worth of downloads to 7.0.0.1.

Ben

iWidgets on IBM Mashup Center via WebSphere Portlet Factory

WebSphere Portlet Factory (or WPF for short) 6.1.5 can be used to develop widgets (or iWidgets as they are also known) and sent to IBM Mashup Center (or IMC for short) 2.0 for end users to use in their mashups.

All on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 (also known as Karmic) using 32-bit Eclipse and the same 32-bit Java 6 as used by IMC’s application server.

Develop widgets

A previous post explained how to get setup with WPF. A good test is to start with the samples:

1. start Eclipse
2. ensure WebSphere Portlet Factory is the perspective
3. go File > New > WebSphere Portlet Factory Project
4. enter “TestKarmic” as the Project Name, and click Next
5. expand Tutorials and Samples, tick Widgets, and click Finish

Send widgets (deploy, or publish) to IBM Mashup Center

1. go Window > Preferences, expand WebSphere Portlet Factory, select Widgets
2. enter username and password that IMC was set up with (this step is optional)
3. enter 9080 as the port (as the IMC is installed non-supervisor, otherwise this step is not necessary as the default is 80)
4. click OK
5. right-click on the “TestKarmic” project, go Widgets > Publish Widgets to Lotus Mashups toolbox
6. select the widgets to send, and click OK

Test widgets

1. go to the Lotus Mashups page: http://localhost:9080/mum/resources/bootstrap/login.jsp
2. click on “Go to edit” on the top-right
3. click the Favourites drop-down list, and there the widgets should show for the end users to drag onto pages

No issues – it’s a brilliant integration that works well on 64-bit (and presumably 32-bit) Ubuntu 9.10.

Ben

VMware Tools on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

Background (VMware experts can skip)

With VMware, it is useful that the host and the guest operating systems work well with each other – e.g., for a better screen resolution, to share folders, to make the mouse cursor smarter, and some others. In this case, between Snow Leopard on my MacBook as the host, and 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 (also known as Karmic) as the guest, using VMware Fusion 3.0.1.

VMware and 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

There is support for Easy Install with 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 as long as VMware Fusion is 3.0.1 and not 3.0.0.

Build VMware Tools on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

VMware Tools can be built and installed very quickly (a couple of minutes). Steps:

1. install building tools “build-essential” (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager or sudo apt-get install build-essential)
2. go Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools (this will make the VMware Tools package available on the CD drive on Ubuntu but see below about some unexpected behaviour)
3. copy and extract the package (right-click and extract or, e.g., tar xzvf VMwareTools-8.2.4-215242.tar.gz)
4. ensure that the VMware screen is not in fullscreen mode (or GDM logon will fail with X server issues)
5. in a terminal, sudo vmware-install.pl - say yes to all defaults (or automate this using sudo sh -c ‘yes “” | ./vmware-install.pl’)
6. run vmware-user (no need to restart with Ubuntu 9.10)
7. fullscreen the screen to confirm a higher screen resolution works
8. run vmware-toolbox to confirm the executables have been properly installed
9. lsmod | grep vmhgfs to confirm the modules have been properly installed
10. check /mnt/hgfs to confirm shared folders works

All worked fine however I found that, with Easy Install, after a reboot, before the log in screen, in the console, there was some text saying Vmware Tools is being installed (“PLEASE WAIT! VMware Tools is currently being installed on your system”), which was undocumented behaviour to me and seemed harmless but I’d like some more clarity on this (e.g., on this page perhaps?) explaining, for example, whether manually building/installing was necessary, why I wasn’t told I would need to reboot for VMware Tools to be installed after selecting VMware Tools Install, etc. Easy Tool also incorrectly selected Los Angeles as my location.

If I was to do this process again, I wouldn’t use Easy Install, and manually copy VMware Tools package onto Ubuntu in Step 3 above. This is for better control.

Remove VMware Tools

sudo vmware-uninstall-tools.pl worked in my testing

Open Source VMware Tools

Ubuntu has open source VMware tools available that can be used instead.

sudo apt-get install vm-tools

I prefer VMware’s in my limited experience with the open source alternative not having every capability properly working out of the box. I’ll however be happy to revisit this someday.

Log-in failure in non-fullscreen mode

At a later time, I experienced log-in failures in non-fullscreen mode as well as fullscreen. I found a solution by accident which I’ve since used:

1. do a graphical log-in (using GDM), which would fail
2. do a virtual terminal log-in (CTRL + ALT + SPACEBAR, release SPACEBAR while holding CTRL+ALT, press F1 – which I learnt from this post – and then enter the log-in details)
3. log out (“exit”)
4. do a graphical log-in again, which would work

I’m not sure what it is that virtual terminal log-in does that seems to reset something for the graphical log-in to work, but would love to revisit this someday also.

Ben

WebSphere Portlet Factory 6.1.5 on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

I used 64-bit Eclipse 3.4.2 and 64-bit Java 6 from IBM on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10.

It just works. I had the following changes in place:

• the general 64-bit Ubuntu 6.10 additions as outlined in the “Preparation” section
• the 64-bit Eclipse 3.4.2 fixes

before proceeding with the installation of WebSphere Portlet Factory (or WPF for short) 6.1.5.

I would note also the following.

In preparation:

• consult the Detailed system requirements – WebSphere Portlet Factory 6.1.5 page to ensure the system has:
  • a compatible Eclipse environment to install WPF into (for me, Eclipse 3.4.2 – the 64-bit Java EE version, which had the pre-required web stuff)
  • a compatible Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for the Eclipse environment (for me, I used IBM’s 64-bit Java 6 for Linux – alternative option for me was to use Mashup Center 2.0 ’s 32-bit Java 6 in /opt/ibm/MashupCenter/2.0/AppServer/java which I found to work also)
  • optionally, a compatible application server to publish widgets to (for me, Mashup Center 2.0’s)
• understand that the installer does not present options to install an application server or an Eclipse environment – have to be installed separately
• understand that the application server doesn’t have to be installed before the WPF installation – can be done at a later time as the installer doesn’t touch or need it
• understand that the installation can be done without supervisor privileges (i.e., no sudo is needed) if this is the case with the existing Eclipse environment

During installation:

• when asked to set install folder for WebSphere Portlet Factory Designer 6.1.5, understand that the whole WFP stuff would be installed under a “Designer” directory under this folder – i.e., with the default /home/bjfletcher/IBM where bjfletcher was my system username, it would be /home/bjfletcher/IBM/Designer
• when asked to specify Eclipse location, understand that the installation simply places a link in the existing Eclipse (in Eclipse folder, it is links/com.bowstreet.designer.link) that references to the installed WPF stuff from above – ingenuity
• understand the “Bowstreet” reference is because WPF was initially developed by Bowstreet until it was acquired by IBM in December 2005
• understand that the installation process is very quick, it was about 10 seconds after prompts

WebSphere Portlet Factory 6.1.5 can then be accessed in the Eclipse environment through the “WebSphere Portlet Factory” perspective.

Ben

P.S. easiest way to try different JRE’s with Eclipse is to start Eclipse with the -vm argument pointing to the Java installation’s bin folder

64-bit Eclipse 3.4.2 on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 using 64-bit IBM Java 6

Eclipse on Java – the base for much of IBM’s software.

The 64-bit Eclipse 3.4.2 - why 3.4.2 and not 3.5? 3.4.2 was a pre-requirement for some software I intended to install, namely WebSphere Portlet Factory 6.1.5 – I used the Java EE version (as the EE stack is a typical pre-requirement for IBM software):

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/release/ganymede/sr2

The 64-bit Java – a requirement for Eclipse – I used IBM’s Java 6 64-bit for Linux, obtained internally. If you’re not from IBM or a customer, you may find it from Oracle or elsewhere.

It worked – with two changes in additions to the changes outlined under “Preparation” here.

Chnage #1

Ubuntu 9.10’s embedded web browser was too new for the old 64-bit Eclipse 3.4.2, causing a startup bug to occur.  3.4.2 was however no longer in maintenance (3.4.2 was final) and hence the bug would never be fixed except in 3.5 and beyond. The solution I used was to add the following line to eclipse.ini file in the Eclipse folder:

-Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.XULRunnerPath=/usr/lib/xulrunner

or else, when the Java is installed and the Eclipse is started, the workspace location specified, it may crash, with the log (from the workspace folder, .metadata/.log) containing:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Widget disposed too early!

and, later in the log:

org.eclipse.swt.SWTError: XPCOM error -2147467262

32-bit Eclipse 3.4.2 and 64-bit Eclipse 3.5 didn’t have this problem on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 using 64-bit IBM Java 6, they just worked without any change.

Change #2

Ubuntu 9.10’s graphical framework for Gnome was also too new for the old Eclipse 3.4.2 causing a bug with user interface issues – clicking on a perspective or going through a dialog can appear stalled.  The solution I used was to start Eclipse with the following set:

GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1

(i.e., run in terminal: GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1 ./eclipse – wrap applications in scripts, or set it in $HOME/.bashrc – understand that .bashrc works only for applications launched from the terminal, and that setting it in $HOME/.profile or $HOME/.gnomerc will crash X server.)

My observation using Eclipse-based applications was that they were also more responsive with the change.

At time of writing, Eclipse 3.5.2’s plan is to have this problem fixed (subscribe to the bug if you like) meaning this solution should not be needed for Eclipse 3.5.2 and beyond.

Ben

IBM Mashup Center 2.0 on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

Getting IBM Mashup Center (or IMC for short) 2.0 to run on 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 (also known as Karmic) VMware image involved at least one of the following and it worked with VMware Fusion 3.0.1 on Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro:

Prepration

• ensure Ubuntu 9.10 is fully updated (good practice)
• ensure VMware image has memory that’s maybe twice than the default 512 MB (else the installation and IMC can be slow)
• ln -sf /bin/bash /bin/sh (Ubuntu uses /bin/dash which is known to cause issues with some IBM software – I don’t know whether this is the case with IMC)
• apt-get install ia32-libs (some IBM software depends on 32-bit libraries – again, I don’t know whether this is necessary for IMC)
• install libstdc++5 (9.10 has 6, not 5, and IMC’s JRE needs 5) by executing a set of commands as explained on http://bootstrapping.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/missing-libstdc-so-5-in-ubuntu-9-10-karmic/

VMware Problem – Beware

If VMware Tools are installed, and the VMware image starts fullscreen, then GDM logon will fail with X server issues – workaround is: start VMware image in a non-fullscreen mode, once logged on, enter fullscreen mode if desired.

Installation

• install IMC by running installer.bin using user account (don’t sudo) and install to home folder, e.g., /home/bjfletcher/MashupCenter, and it’ll work just fine (else it gets hairy with root and user accounts getting involved)
• monitor installation by tailing the following logs in particular, in the logs folder: installCommandWASlog.txt and HubConfiglog.txt (they take a while)

Usability

A couple of steps to improve usability for IMC on Ubuntu (optional, and are of personal preference):

Add the following launchers to the desktop panel from the Applications menu (Applications > IBM WebSphere (1) > Application Server V7.0 > Profiles > mm_profile):

• Start the server
• Stop the server

Add the following bookmarks to Firefox:

• Lotus Mashups: http://localhost:9080/mum/resources/bootstrap/login.jsp
• InfoSphere MashupHub: https://localhost:9443/mashuphub/client/auth/login.jsp
• WebSphere Application Server: https://localhost:9043/ibm/console/logon.jsp

These three are the three important aspects of the IMC. The first two have their UI using the same branding, go under the same name “IBM Mashup Center”, and they run on the Application Server.

Running

When 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 starts up, assuming First Steps above have been taken:

1. click on the “Start the server” launcher
2. understand that once launched and seemingly complete, it still takes a while before the server is all started up – give it a minute or two
3. start Firefox
4. click on the Lotus Mashups bookmark (or InfoSphere MashupHub, or WebSphere Application Server)
5. when not using, click on the “Stop the server” launcher

Ben