8.1 Supported Configurations: IBM AIX 5.3 on pSeries

IBM AIX 5.3 on pSeries with 8.1 SP5

Provides full support for WebLogic Server and run-time support for WebLogic Workshop, WebLogic Integration, and WebLogic Portal. See below for Design and Development Tools support.

This section provides the following information:

Related Information

For information about supported database configurations, Web servers, and browsers, plus support for interoperability tools and WebLogic Platform product support information, see WebLogic Platform 8.1 Supported Configurations.
For information about IBM AIX 5.3, visit IBM's Web site: http://www.ibm.com.
For information about known issues with the Azul Virual Machine, see http://www.azulsystems.com.

Configuration Requirements

Table 2-1 Requirements for 8.1 SP5 on IBM AIX 5.3 on pSeries

Operating System Version and Patches	AIX 5L v5.3-ML2
Chip Architecture and Minimum Processor Speed	POWER3 (450 MHz) POWER4 (1.1 GHz) POWER5 (1.5 GHz)
SDK	1.4.2 SR3—IBM SDK 1.4.2 32-bit Java^TM 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2) Classic VM (build 1.4.2, J2RE 1.4.2 IBM AIX build ca142-20050929a (SR3) (JIT enabled: jitc))	The IBM SDK is not delivered with WebLogic Platform; you must download it from the IBM Web site and install it, manually, before installing WebLogic Platform. For instructions, see Download and Installation Instructions. Use of JVM debug mode with IBM JVMs significantly degrades application performance and debugging effectiveness. The JVM debug mode is enabled by default on WebLogic Platform; BEA strongly recommends that you manually disable it when running WebLogic Platform on AIX. For instructions, see JVM Debug Mode Impact.
SDK	Azul Virtual Machine 2.2.1.0 and later patches
Design and Development Tools	The WebLogic Workshop IDE and WebLogic Integration Format Builder are not supported on IBM AIX systems. IBM AIX is supported for the production deployment of applications developed in the WebLogic Workshop IDE. Debugging of applications developed in the WebLogic Workshop IDE, for deployment on AIX, should be accomplished to the extent possible on the Workshop development system; use of JVM debug mode with the IBM JVM significantly degrades application performance and debugging effectiveness. IBM AIX is also supported for the development and production deployment of WebLogic Server applications developed with other tools. Weblogic Platform 8.1 SP5 with the Azul Virtual Machine does not support any development tools.
RAM	512 MB required; 1 GB recommended
Performance Pack	Included	`lib/aix/libmuxer.so`
Node Manager	Included	Native
BEA jDrivers for Oracle	For this Oracle client version:	The following shared libraries are provided:
BEA jDrivers for Oracle	Oracle 9.2.0.5	`lib/aix/oci920_8/libweblogicoci39.so` `lib/aix/oci920_8/libweblogicoxa39.so`

Known Issues

This section lists known issues pertaining to WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5, and where available, provides workarounds:

For more information about known issues with this release, see the Release Notes for WebLogic Platform 8.1 or the appropriate product component of WebLogic Platform. For a list of available Release Notes documents, see:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/interm/relnotes.html

IBM JVM Updates For DST

IBM has released a Timezone Update Utility to update DST data without the need to upgrade Java. See IBM Time Zone Update Utility for Java^TM.

Azul Virtual Machine Support-Related Issues

The Azul Virtual Machine supports only Type 4 JDBC (thin) drivers.
The default number of open file descriptors allocated for the JDK may be insufficient for the Azul Virtual Machine.

In most circumstances, the number of open file descriptors allocated for the SDK, in the proxy machine, should be at least three times the number of file descriptors allocated for IBM JVM. If you are going to run file-intensive operations, be sure to allocate seven to eight times the existing value for the number of open file descriptors in the proxy machine. If no value has been set, set the value to 8192.
To change the specified number of open file descriptors, enter the ulimit -n command. For example, if the number of file descriptors allocated for IBM JVM is 1024, raise that number to 8192 by entering the following command:
ulimit -n 8192

Note: Keep in mind that the BEA WebLogic jDriver has been deprecated in WebLogic Platform 8.1. BEA does not support the use of the WebLogic jDriver with WebLogic Server 8.1 SP5 with the Azul Virtual Machine.

IIOP Thin Client Not Supported

The IIOP thin client is not supported on AIX due to dependencies on the JVM. Only thin-client applications are affected by this issue.

To work around this issue, run WebLogic Server on AIX and your thin client on another operating system.

Insufficient Buffer Size for UDP_SENDSPACE

The default size of the buffer for UDP_SENDSPACE is 9216 (9 KB), but WebLogic Server sends fragments, up to 32 KB in size, to UDP_SENDSPACE. As a result, use of a buffer size smaller than 32 KB may cause an I/O exception.To prevent such I/O exceptions:

Set the buffer size to 32 KB:

no -o udp_sendspace=32768

Reboot WebLogic Server.

GUI-based Installation Fails Due to FileSystemPreferences

If your system does not include a directory called /etc/.java, GUI-mode installation fails with one of the following error messages:

ERROR-WARNING: Could not create system preferences directory. System preferences are unusable.
ERRORjava.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences checkLockFile0ErrorCode
ERROR>WARNING: Could not lock System prefs. Unix error code 1103701049.

To work around this problem, implement one of the following steps:

Before installing WebLogic Platform, log in as root and create a directory called /etc/.java.
Specify the following option when you enter the java command to install WebLogic Platform:
-Djava.util.prefs.userRoot=$HOME/temp_directory

Note: If you enter the latter option on the java command line, make sure the value of temp_directory is a directory for which you have full permissions.

JVM Debug Mode Impact

Use of the JVM debug mode with the IBM JVM significantly degrades application performance. Therefore, whenever you run WebLogic Platform on an AIX configuration, BEA strongly recommends that you disable the JVM debug mode (which, by default, is enabled by WebLogic Platform). Disabling debug mode is recommended for all domains, both existing ones and domains created using the Configuration Wizard.

If you would still like to enable JVM debug mode, see How to Enable JVM Debug Mode for the procedure.

How to Disable JVM Debug Mode

To disable JVM debug mode, you have a choice of two methods, which are described in the following sections.

Method 1

Go to the target domain directory.

In the setDomainEnv.sh file, find the first occurrence of debugFlag=true.

Change it to: debugFlag=false.

If you are going to use QuickStart, repeat steps 2 and 3 in the setDomainEnvQS.sh file.

Note: If you are going to perform this procedure, you must do so before launching QuickStart.

Method 2

Pass the 'nodebug' command-line argument to the server startup script. For example:

$ ./startWebLogic.sh nodebug

How to Enable JVM Debug Mode

Note: Enabling debug mode is not recommended because this mode affects server performance.

In a text editor, open the setDomainEnv.sh script and comment the following line:

JAVA_OPTIONS="${JAVA_OPTIONS} -ea -da:com.bea... -da:javelin ... -da:weblogic ..."

Save your changes. Then start (or restart) the WebLogic domain.

JAXP Incompatibility Causes Portability Issues with WebLogic Server 8.1 SP5

Note: This limitation is reported, in CR135846, in the "Known Limitations" section of the WebLogic Platform 8.1 Release Notes.

Because the Xalan transformer shipped with the IBM SDK 1.4.2 is JAXP 1.2-compliant, but WebLogic Server only supports applications based on JAXP 1.1, you must set the Transformer Factory to weblogic.apache.xalan.processor.TransformerFactoryImpl.

To set the XML Transformer and Parser Factories, you have a choice of three methods:

A procedure for each method is provided in the following sections.

Method 1: Edit setDomainEnv.sh

In a text editor, open the setDomainEnv.sh script.

Append the following values to JAVA_OPTIONS:

"-Djavax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory=weblogic.apache.xalan.processor.TransformerFactoryImpl
-Djavax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=weblogic.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl
-Djavax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=weblogic.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl"

Method 2: Uncomment JAXP Properties Lines for JAXP 1.1 Parser and Transformer Factories

Copy the $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/jaxp.properties.sample file to $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/jaxp.properties.

Uncomment the last three lines so that they point to JAXP 1.1 parser and transformer factories. The JAXP 1.1 parser and transformer factories provided by WebLogic Platform are:

javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory=weblogic.apache.xalan.processor.TransformerFactoryImpl
javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory=weblogic.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl
javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory=weblogic.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl

Method 3: Create the XML Registry

If WebLogic Server boots successfully, create the XML Registry, using the WebLogic transformer and parser factories for the required values.
If WebLogic Server fails to boot and you cannot create an XML Registry, you can manually add the XML Registry to the config.xml file. In a text editor, open config.xml and make the following changes:

Change the Server Tag to the following format:

<Server Name="Server_Name"

XMLRegistry="SampleXMLRegistry">

Add the XML Registry entry for SampleXMLRegistry, as follows:

<XMLRegistry Name="SampleXMLRegistry" 
TransformerFactory="weblogic.apache.xalan.processor.TransformerFactoryImpl" 
SAXParserFactory="weblogic.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserFactoryImpl" 
DocumentBuilderFactory="weblogic.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl"/>

For more information, see:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13222_01/wls/docs81/ConsoleHelp/xml.html

Upgrade to WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5 Requires Library Cleanup

Before you can upgrade your WebLogic Platform system from a pre-8.1 SP5 version to 8.1 SP5 on AIX, you must clean out any unused libraries manually. If you have not done such a cleanup

before trying to upgrade your system, the upgrade installation may fail with the following message:

Fatal error. Cannot move libmuxer.so which is in use.

To perform a proper memory cleanup, log in as root and run slibclean, an AIX utility. Then re-start the upgrade procedure. For more information, see the instructions for upgrading from SP1 to SP3 in the Release Notes for WebLogic Platform 8.1:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/relnotes/relnotes.html#cr206782

Note: The instructions provided in the Release Notes were originally written to explain how to upgrade from SP1 to SP3, but they are also valid for performing an upgrade to 8.1 SP5 from any pre-SP5 version of WebLogic Platform 8.1.

Download and Installation Instructions

Complete the following procedures:

Downloading and Installing IBM SDK 1.4.2

Complete the following procedure to download and install the IBM SDK 1.4.2 on IBM AIX (32-bit) build ca1420-20040626:

Go to the IBM download site:

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/aix/service.html

Download the GA version of the IBM SDK 1.4.2.

Install the IBM SDK 1.4.2 on your system.

Downloading and Installing IBM SDK 1.4.2 SR3

Note: This SDK patch is optional for existing applications based on IBM SDK 1.4.2 GA.

To download and install IBM SDK 142SR3 (IY75003) on an AIX system, complete the following procedure:

Verify that the GA version of the IBM SDK 1.4.2 for AIX is installed on your system:

If it is already installed, skip to step 2.
If it is not installed, download it from the IBM SDK download site and install it on your system. For instructions, see the previous section, Downloading and Installing IBM SDK 1.4.2.

Go to the following IBM download site:

https://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/aix.fdc
Set the search criteria to the following:

Server: From the drop-down list, select the following entry:

eServerp5, pSeries, OpenPower, and bladeCentre JS20

Product or fix type: From the drop-down list, select the following entry:

AIX operating system, cluster software and Java

Click Continue.
Quick links for AIX fixes: Under "Specific Fixes" select the appropriate OS level, such as "AIX 5.3."
Search by: Specify an APAR number or abstract
Search string: Specify "IY75003."

Following the instructions displayed on the screen, make the selections necessary to download and install the specified APAR.

To verify that the required SDK fix is now installed on your system, run the following command:

/usr/java14/bin/java -version
Make sure the following output is displayed:
java version "1.4.2" Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2) Classic VM (build 1.4.2, J2RE 1.4.2 IBM AIX build ca142-20050929a (SR3) (JIT enabled: jitc))

Downloading and Installing WebLogic Platform or WebLogic Server 8.1 SP5

To install WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5 on an IBM AIX 5.3 configuration:

Go to the BEA download site:

http://commerce.bea.com

From the list of installers for WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5 or WebLogic Server 8.1 SP5, select "IBM AIX (5.1, 5.2, 5.3)."

Download the IBM AIX 5.3-specific package installer for the appropriate product:

For WebLogic Platform: pj_platform815_generic.jar
For WebLogic Server: pj_server815_generic.jar

Install WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5 or WebLogic Server 8.1 SP5, using the instructions provided for .jar installation files, as described in Installing WebLogic Platform. For example, if you are installing in console mode, enter the following on the command line:

$ java -jar pj_platform815_generic.jar -mode=console
For detailed instructions, see "Starting Console-Mode Installation on UNIX Systems" in Installing BEA WebLogic Platform:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/install/console.html#instcon003

Note: When using an Asian version of an installer (such as an installer for Japanese, Korean, or Simplified Chinese), you need to increase the maximum heap size to 256 MB by specifying the -Xmx256m argument on the command line. For example, if you are using a Japanese installer, enter the following command:
$ java -Xmx256m -jar pj_platform815_ja_generic.jar -mode=console

For more information, see Installing BEA WebLogic Platform.

Downloading and Installing WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5 with Azul Virtual Machine

Download and install IBM JDK 1.4.2 SR3 as described in Downloading and Installing IBM SDK 1.4.2 and Downloading and Installing IBM SDK 1.4.2 SR3.

Download Azul Virtual Machine from http://www.azulsystems.com.

Install Azul Virtual Machine following the instructions provided in the Azul Virtual Machine installation documents.

Set the AZUL_JAVAHOME to Azul Virtual Machine installation path.

From AZUL_JAVAHOME, run domain_specify script. The script prompts for the Azul domain and policy server host: specify appropriate values.

Follow the installation instructions provided under Downloading and Installing WebLogic Platform or WebLogic Server 8.1 SP5 for installing WebLogic Platform 8.1 SP5.