8.1 Supported Configurations: Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 on IBM zSeries

Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 on IBM zSeries with WebLogic Server 8.1 SP4

Provides full support for WebLogic Server. WebLogic Workshop, WebLogic Integration, and WebLogic Portal are not supported. 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 running Novell's SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server (SLES) 9 for IBM zSeries, see:

Configuration Requirements

Table 1-1 Requirements for WebLogic Server 8.1 SP4 on Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 on IBM zSeries

Operating System Version and Patches	Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server (SLES) 9 for IBM zSeries with Kernel 2.6.5-7.97-s390x #1 SMP and later SUSE service packs and errata
Chip Architecture and Minimum Processor Speed	IBM zSeries
SDK	IBM SDK 1.4.2_Sr1a	This SDK must be downloaded from the IBM Web site. For instructions, see Downloading and Installing the IBM Developer Kit for 31-bit zSeries (S/390).
Design and Development Tools	Supports WebLogic Server development tools.
RAM	512 MB required; 1 GB recommended
Performance Pack	Included	`lib/linux/s390/libmuxer.so`
Node Manager	Included	Native
BEA jDrivers for Oracle	None

Known Issues

This section provides workarounds for the following limitations:

SDK Tool Exception with UTF-8 Encoding

When UTF-8 encoding is used, some SDK tools throw a sun.io.MalformedInputException.

To avoid this exception, remove the UTF-8 suffix from all locale-specific environment variables. For example, if the default locale setting for your system is en_US.UTF-8, then complete the following steps:

In a text editor, open the following script:

$WL_HOME/common/bin/commEnv.sh

At the beginning of the script, set the LANG variable as follows:

export LANG="en_US.ISO8859_1"

For more information, see:

$JAVA_HOME/docs/sdk/sdkguide.lnx.htm

JAVA_HOME is the directory in which the SDK is installed on your machine.

WebLogic Server Stops Responding

If WebLogic Server stops responding after working properly for some time, there may be a problem with running IBM SDK 1.4.2_Sr1a on SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9. This disruption may be caused by an SDK problem related to the return() function from the finally block.

To avoid this situation, complete the following procedure:

In a text editor, open the $WL_HOME/common/bin/commEnv.sh script.

At the beginning of the script, check whether the JITC_COMPILEOPT environment variable is set as follows:

JITC_COMPILEOPT=NQCOPYPROPA{weblogic/socket/MuxableSocketDiscriminator}{isMessageComplete}

If it is not already set as shown here, set JITC_COMPILOPT now:

export JITC_COMPILEOPT=NQCOPYPROPA{weblogic/socket/MuxableSocketDiscriminator}{isMessageComplete}

Restart WebLogic Server.

Limitations on Use of setuid

The setuid function does not work with the IBM SDK, due to the way the current Linux thread model works. When you use ports lower than 1024, you cannot use the setuid function to switch from the root ID to a non-privileged user ID.

IIOP Thin Client Is Not Supported

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

To work around this limitation, run:

WebLogic Server on Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 on IBM zSeries
Your thin client on a different operating system configuration

Note: wlkeytool is not supported for Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 on IBM zSeries.

For more information about known issues with any components of this release, see the appropriate Release Notes document. For a complete list of Release Notes supporting WebLogic Platform 8.1, see:

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

Download and Installation Instructions

This section provides instructions for the following procedures:

Downloading and Installing the IBM Developer Kit for 31-bit zSeries (S/390)

Before you can install and run WebLogic Server 8.1 SP4 on your Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 configuration, you must obtain an IBM Developer Kit for 31-bit zSeries (S/390) from IBM. To download this kit, complete the following procedure:

Go to the following IBM download site:

https://www6.software.ibm.com/dl/lxdk/lxdk-p

Select "IBM SDK for 31-bit zSeries (S/390), Version 142 SR1a."

The IBM Developer Kit for Linux, Java 2 Technology Edition for 31-bit zSeries (S/390) download page is displayed.

Follow the instructions displayed to download and install the SDK.

Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to the directory in which IBM SDK 1.4.2 SR1a is installed, and export JAVA_HOME. For example:

export JAVA_HOME=/opt/IBMJava2-s390-142Sr1a

Make sure that your PATH variable includes $JAVA_HOME/bin. For example:

export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin;$PATH:.

Downloading the WebLogic Server 8.1 SP4 Installer

Go to the BEA downloads site:

http://commerce.bea.com/index.jsp

Find your WebLogic Server release and Service Pack on the downloads page.

Select "SUSE LINUX 9.0 ES for IBM zSeries."

Download the WebLogic Server installer: pj_server814_generic.jar.

Download the supplemental JAR file: wls81sp4_zlinux_supp.jar.

Installing WebLogic Server 8.1 SP4

Set the WL_HOME environment variable to the pathname for the weblogic81 directory in your WebLogic Server installation directory. For example:

export WL_HOME=/home/bea/weblogic81

Install WebLogic Server 8.1 SP4 by running the following command:

$ java -Djava.io.tmpdir=temp_dir -Dos.name=linuxs390 -jar pj_server814_generic.jar -mode=console

Note: The -Djava.io.tmpdir argument is optional. BEA recommends that you include this argument when the amount of space available in /tmp is insufficient.

For a detailed procedure for installing WebLogic Server with .jar files in console-mode, see Installing WebLogic Platform: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs81/install/console.html
Copy the wls81sp4_zlinux_supp.jar file to $WL_HOME/server/lib.

Go to the $WL_HOME/server/lib directory:

$ cd $WL_HOME/server/lib

Remove old native objects from the $WL_HOME/server/lib/linux/s390 library:

$ rm linux/s390/*

Extract the contents of the wls81sp4_zlinux_supp.jar file to $WL_HOME/server/lib:

$ jar -xvf wls81sp4_zlinux_supp.jar

Change the permissions on the files: $ chmod -R 755 $WL_HOME/server/lib/linux/s390/*

In a text editor, open the $WL_HOME/common/bin/commEnv.sh script and make the following changes:

Add two lines to the beginning of the script:

export LANG="en_US"
export JITC_COMPILEOPT=NQCOPYPROPA{weblogic/socket/MuxableSocketDiscriminator}{isMessageComplete}

For more information, see Known Issues.

In the LINUX/Linux case, set the arch variable to s390 (arch=s390), as shown in the following example:

LINUX|Linux)
arch=`uname -m`
if [ "${arch}" = "x86_64" ]; then
arch=i686
fi
arch="s390"