First download the latest version of Ubuntu Server 7.10

Select the minimal installation, but selecting SSH and SAMBA support could proof practical for later. During installation you need to specify the HOSTNAME (wps610) and the USER ACCOUNT (user name = wpsadmin, user password = wpsadmin)

IBM doesn’t officially support Ubuntu for hosting WebSphere Portal.

Virtual Machine

Get VMware Fusion software. After installation you can create a virtual machine (see instructions)

Install the Ubuntu Server software as part of the setup.

After completion create the temporary WebSphere Portal installation folder /setup in the ROOT. Check your IP address using IFCONFIG e.g. 192.168.x.y

Install WebSphere Portal 6.1

Get the trial software from the IBM website to your local folder /Users/Home/Documents/setup on your MAC (similar action on Microsoft Windows desktop). You will need to UNZIP the files later using the following shell script, the script creates the correct folders

The following steps are required after successfully installing Ubuntu.

Get the necessary libraries and tooling (Midnight Commander and UNZIP):

1. apt-get -y install libstdc++5
2. apt-get -y install mc
3. apt-get -y install unzip

To be safe set the maximum number of files with ulimit -n 10240

Edit the HOSTS file in /etc directory. Using Midnight Commander you can select and edit the file. Add the following 127.0.0.1 wps610.domain.com wps610. The line maps the localhost (127.0.0.1) to domain name (wps610,domain.com) and host name (wps610). You will need this definition during the installation of WebSphere.

Transfer the IBM files from your local harddisk to the UNIX directory. Copy the files using either SSH or FTP from your workstation to temporary ~/setup directory in the root dir (~) e.g. use scp Home@192.168.a.b:/Users/Home/Documents/setup/* ~. in addition copy the extract.sh file to the same directory. After the copy has completed you should extract the ZIP files. Goto the ~/setup directory and extract the files using the extract.sh e.g. the different files are extracted to directories names IL-Setup and IL-1, …, IL-6. The naming of the directories is important as the WebSphere Portal Express setup expects these specific names.

For installation and for fix pack upgrades you need to link BASH to SH. Use rm /bin/sh ; ln -sf /bin/bash /bin/sh

Now run the WebSphere Portal Express setup from the command line e.g. sudo ~/setup/IL-Setup/PortalExpress/install.sh -console

Post Installation

To correct the situation re-link DASH to the SH. Use rm /bin/sh ; ln -sf /bin/dash /bin/sh

To be sure modify the WebSphere scripts to use BASH in the future. Enter the following commands:

1. sudo perl -p -i -e “s/\/sh$/\/bash/” /opt/IBM/PE/AppServer/bin/*.sh
2. sudo perl -p -i -e “s/\/sh$/\/bash/” /opt/IBM/PE/PortalServer/bin/*.sh

Up And Running

After the installation the WebSphere Portal 6.1 will be running.

Check the IP address of the virtual machine e.g. enter IFCONFIG and find the IP address 192.168.x.y

Return to your MAC and start the web browser. Enter HTTP://192.168.x.y:10040/wps/portal and the logon screen should appear.

Shutdown & Restart

At any time you can shutdown or restart the WebSphere Portal Server:

1. sudo ~/opt/IBM/PE/AppServer/bin/startServer.sh WebSphere_Portal
2. sudo ~/opt/IBM/PE/AppServer/bin/stopServer.sh WebSphere_Portal