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e-docs > WebLogic Platform > Installing WebLogic Platform > Preparing to Install WebLogic Platform |
Installing WebLogic Platform |
Preparing to Install WebLogic Platform
BEA WebLogic Platform 7.0 includes application infrastructure technology from proven BEA products that are used by thousands of customers worldwide, including BEA WebLogic ServerTM, BEA WebLogic PortalTM, and BEA WebLogic IntegrationTM. WebLogic Server now includes BEA WebLogic WorkshopTM, a new visual development environment for building enterprise-class Web services. In BEA WebLogic Platform 7.0 SP2 and higher, the BEA WebLogic JRockitTM SDK is bundled with Windows and Linux platforms. The WebLogic JRockit SDK was developed and optimized for server-side applications and supports Intel architectures. Together, these technologies offer a single, unified, easy-to-use infrastructure platform for application development, deployment, and management.
The following sections provide information that you need to know before installing the BEA WebLogic Platform software:
About BEA WebLogic Platform Installation
BEA WebLogic Platform 7.0 is distributed and installed using the BEA Installation and Distribution System, which provides a complete framework for the following:
You can also use the WebLogic Platform installation program to install the BEA WebLogic ExpressTM solution, which is the entry-level Web application server offered by BEA. For additional information about WebLogic Express, see Introduction to BEA WebLogic Server and WebLogic Express at the following URL:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13222_01/wls/docs70/intro/index.html
The BEA installation program supports the following methods for installing the BEA WebLogic Platform software:
Graphical-mode installation is an interactive, GUI-based method for installing WebLogic Platform. It can be run on both Windows and UNIX systems. For installation procedures, see Installing WebLogic Platform Using Graphical-Mode Installation.
Note: To run graphical-mode installation, the console attached to the machine on which you are installing the software must support a Java-based GUI. All consoles for Windows systems support Java-based GUIs, but not all consoles for UNIX systems do. If you attempt to start the installation program in graphical mode on a system that cannot support a graphical display, the installation program automatically starts console-mode installation.
Console-mode installation is an interactive, text-based method for installing WebLogic Platform from the command line on both UNIX and Windows systems. For installation procedures, see Installing WebLogic Platform Using Console-Mode Installation.
Silent-mode installation is a noninteractive method of installing WebLogic Platform that uses an XML properties file for selecting installation options. You can run silent-mode installation as part of a script or from the command line. Silent-mode installation is a way of setting installation configurations only once and then using those configurations to duplicate the installation on many machines. For installation procedures, see Installing WebLogic Platform Using Silent-Mode Installation.
WebLogic Platform Software Components
WebLogic Platform consists of the following software that can be installed on your system:
For additional information about:
WebLogic Server and WebLogic Workshop
WebLogic Server is an application server that provides a solid foundation for rapidly developing, deploying, and managing e-business applications. It includes WebLogic Workshop, which provides a complete framework for easily building Web services that automatically leverage the power, reliability, and scalability of WebLogic Server. If you select the entire WebLogic Server component, the installation program installs the WebLogic Server program files, the WebLogic Workshop program files, and the server and Workshop examples.
WebLogic Server consists of the following components:
Note: The WebLogic Workshop visual development environment and associated JRE are not installed on Solaris and HP-UX systems.
WebLogic Integration offers business process management, application integration, B2B integration, data integration, and optional Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) integration functionality. If you select the entire WebLogic Integration component, the installation program installs the server program files, the client design and development tools, and the samples.
WebLogic Integration consists of the following components:
In previous 7.0.x releases, these components were available as separate downloads. The plug-ins are pre-deployed in any WebLogic Integration domain created using the Configuration Wizard. The RDBMS adapter must be deployed manually. For more information, see the WebLogic Integration Release Notes at:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13214_01/wli/docs70/relnotes/index.htm
The optional EDI integration functionality of WebLogic Integration consists of the following components:
WebLogic Portal provides a framework for building portals in an enterprise that can have campaign, commerce, and personalization functionality. If you select the entire WebLogic Portal component, the installation program installs the server program files, the E-Business Control Center, and the samples. WebLogic Portal consists of the following components:
WebLogic Platform Samples and Utilities
Platform Samples and Utilities apply to all components of WebLogic Platform. These components require a complete installation of the WebLogic Platform components. The following samples and utilities are available:
WebLogic Integration Complementary Products
Contivo Analyst is an intuitive, graphical tool that allows business analysts to complete and customize data transformation maps as a visual documentation exercise. Once a map is completed, the Contivo Analyst software generates a file, which is subsequently used to perform a data transformation in a run-time environment. Contivo Analyst generates XLST style sheet maps for XML-to-XML transformations within WebLogic Integration. It is provided on the WebLogic Platform product CD and is available for download from the BEA Web site.
Contivo Analyst, supported on Windows systems only, is not installed with the WebLogic Platform software. You must install it separately. Installation instructions, release notes, and user documentation are included in the installation file and extracted during the execution of the installation program.
Note: The Contivo Analyst software needs to be configured to work with the WebLogic Integration repository. If you install Contivo Analyst after you install WebLogic Server 7.0 and WebLogic Integration 7.0, the Contivo installation program detects your BEA Home directory and prompts you to select the directory that contains the latest version of the BEA software. It then configures the WebLogic Integration repository accordingly.
If, however, Contivo Analyst was installed on your system before you installed WebLogic Server and WebLogic Integration, you need to integrate the Contivo Analyst software with the repository. Instructions are provided in the installation section of the Contivo-BEA Release Notes, which you can access from the Start menu as follows: Start
WebLogic Platform Distribution Methods
WebLogic Platform is distributed on both the BEA Web site and CD-ROM.
Web Distribution of WebLogic Platform
You can download the WebLogic Platform 7.0 software from the following BEA Web site:
http://commerce.bea.com/downloads/weblogic_platform.jsp
Two methods are available for download:
During the installation process, the installation program prompts you to select the components that you want to install on your system. If you are using the net installer, only the components that you choose to install on your system are downloaded. Before the download begins, you are prompted to provide the following information:
The net installer supports standard resume processing in the case of interrupted downloads. If the download is interrupted for any reason, either manually or by an unplanned network interruption, you can resume the download from the point at which it was interrupted. When the download is complete, the installation program performs an integrity check on the archive files that were downloaded to your system to verify that the files downloaded correctly.
CD-ROM Distribution of WebLogic Platform
If you purchased WebLogic Platform from your local sales representative, you will find the following items in the WebLogic Platform product box:
If you purchased the product, in most cases a license file is sent to you as an e-mail attachment. The name of the input license file can vary. The names of most license files are prefixed with the BEA sales order record (SOR). When you install the software from the CD-ROM, an evaluation license is installed. You can update this evaluation license with the license you received via e-mail as described in Installing and Updating WebLogic Platform License Files.
Web Distribution of Service Packs and Rolling Patches
Service packs and rolling patches, if any, are included in the latest distribution of WebLogic Platform 7.0, which you can download as described in Web Distribution of WebLogic Platform. If you do not have WebLogic Platform 7.0 installed, you should install this distribution.
If you already have WebLogic Platform 7.0 installed, with no service pack, and if you have a BEA eSupport account, you can upgrade your software in one of the following ways:
Note: Smart Update upgrades your Windows installation to use the Sun Java 2 SDK and your Linux installation to use the WebLogic JRockit SDK. If you want to use a different SDK, you should use a WebLogic Platform upgrade installer that is bundled with the appropriate SDK or change the SDK, as described in "Switching JVMs in WebLogic Platform" in the WebLogic Platform Release Notes, at the following URL:
Details about installing WebLogic Platform service packs and rolling patches are provided in Installing Service Packs and Rolling Patches.
If you do not have a BEA eSupport account go to the following URL to get one:
http://support.bea.com
About BEA WebLogic JRockit 7.0
BEA WebLogic JRockitTM was developed and optimized for server-side applications and supports Intel architectures. In BEA WebLogic Platform 7.0 SP2 and higher, the WebLogic JRockit 7.0 SDK is packaged with the WebLogic Platform software.
Note: WebLogic JRockit 7.0 is certified with Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE), version 1.3.1.
The WebLogic Platform/JRockit software packages are available for download at http://commerce.bea.com/downloads/weblogic_platform.jsp and on CD-ROM in the BEA WebLogic Platform product box.
To install the WebLogic Platform/JRockit packages, you can use the installation procedures described in the following chapters:
Note: The net installer is not available with the WebLogic Platform packages that include the WebLogic JRockit SDK.
When you install a WebLogic Platform 7.0/JRockit package, two JVMs are installed on your system: the WebLogic JRockit JVM, optimized for server-side applications, and the Sun Hotspot Client JVM, provided for optional use by client-side applications. Some of the samples provided with WebLogic Platform heavily exercise a client-side GUI or other application for which client-oriented JVMs, such as the Sun Hotspot Client JVM, are more appropriate. In WebLogic Platform 7.0 SP2 and higher, a convenient script, commEnv, is installed that defines environment variables that determine whether a client or server JVM should be run. For additional information, see "Specifying JVM Options in WebLogic Platform 7.0 SP2 and Later" in the BEA WebLogic Platform Release Notes at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs70/relnotes/relnotes.html.
If you install WebLogic Platform 7.0 with the Sun Java 2 SDK and you want to change your installation to use the WebLogic JRockit 7.0 SDK, see "Using WebLogic Platform with the WebLogic JRockit SDK" in the BEA WebLogic Platform Release Notes for instructions at: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs70/relnotes/relnotes.html.
For more information about WebLogic JRockit, see the JRockit documentation at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13188_01/jrockit/docs70/index.html.
Note: The installation instructions provided in BEA WebLogic JRockitTM 7.0 SDK Installation and Migration Guide describe how to install JRockit as a standalone SDK. These instructions do not apply to the WebLogic Platform/JRockit packages.
The following sections provide installation prerequisites for a WebLogic Platform installation:
The system requirements for WebLogic Platform are given in the following table.
A platform configuration that is supported by BEA WebLogic Platform. See the Supported Platforms page at the following URL: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs70/support/index.html This page includes the recommended Java run-time environment versions and other prerequisites or recommendations. |
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A full WebLogic Platform installation requires approximately 525 MB of disk space, including 35 MB for the SDK and 142 MB for the examples. For a list of the disk drive requirements for the individual components, see the Supported Platforms page at the following URL: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs70/support/index.html |
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Full WebLogic Platform installation—512 MB of RAM, 1 GB recommended WebLogic Server—256 MB of RAM minimum, 512 MB or more recommended |
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For graphical user interface (GUI) mode installation, 8-bit color depth (256 colors). For console-mode and silent-mode installation, there is no color bit depth requirement. |
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The WebLogic Platform installation program requires a Java run-time environment (JRE) to run. A Java 2 Software Development Kit (SDK), which includes a JRE, is bundled in the Windows installation program, and in some UNIX installation programs (those with filenames ending in .bin). For other UNIX platforms, the WebLogic Platform installation program does not include the Java 2 SDK. Filenames for these installation programs end in .jar. To run the .jar installation programs, you must have the appropriate version of the Java 2 SDK installed on your system, and include the bin directory of the SDK at the front of the PATH variable. It is important that you use an SDK because the installation process sets the JAVA_HOME and related variables to point to this directory. For procedures, see one of the following: |
Temporary Disk Space Requirements
The BEA installation program uses a temporary directory in which it extracts the files necessary to install WebLogic Platform on the target system. During the installation process, your temporary directory must contain sufficient space to accommodate the compressed Java run-time environment (JRE) bundled with the installation program and an uncompressed copy of the JRE that is expanded into the temporary directory. The extracted files are deleted from the temporary directory at the end of the installation process. As a general rule, installation programs require approximately 2.5 times the amount of temporary space the installed files require.
By default, the installation program uses the following temporary directories:
Note: If there is not enough temporary space to run the installation program, you are prompted to specify an alternate directory or exit the installation program.
To ensure there is adequate temporary space, you may want to allocate an alternate directory for use as a temporary directory for the installation. To do so, follow the instructions provided in the following table.
If you choose to run the Configuration Wizard at the completion of a custom installation to create user domains, you are prompted (in some templates—such as the WLS Domain template) to specify if you want the server installed as a Windows service. When a server is installed as a Windows service, it starts automatically each time you boot your Windows system.You must have Administrator privileges to install the server as a Windows service.
For additional information, see "Setting Up a WebLogic Server as a Windows Service" in "Starting and Stopping WebLogic Servers" in the BEA WebLogic Server Administration Guide at the following URL:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13222_01/wls/docs70/adminguide/startstop.html#SettingUpServerAsWindowsService
The WebLogic Platform software cannot be used without a valid license. When you install WebLogic Platform, the installation program installs an evaluation license with access for up to 20 client connections. The evaluation license is a full license, enabling all of the component features of WebLogic Platform.
You can purchase licenses for the entire WebLogic Platform product, or for individual components. For information about the licenses available for WebLogic Platform, see the Licensing page on the e-docs Web site at the following URL:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs70/interm/license.html
Licenses for pre-7.0 versions of the WebLogic Platform components will not work with WebLogic Platform 7.0. You must upgrade this license to a 7.0 license.bea format. Procedures for upgrading a license file and installing permanent licenses are provided in Installing and Updating WebLogic Platform License Files.
Secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption software is available with two levels of encryption: 56-bit and 128-bit. Licenses for the 128-bit client version of SSL are available in the United States and Canada. With proper authorization, customers outside the United States and Canada may also acquire licenses with 128-bit encryption enabled.
A WebLogic Platform license comes with 56-bit encryption enabled by default. Enabling 128-bit encryption for SSL requires that a 128-bit encryption license be present in the license.bea file of the target BEA Home directory before you install the WebLogic Platform software.
For instructions about how to install the 128-bit encryption license, see Enabling 128-Bit Encryption.
Choosing the Type of Installation
The WebLogic Platform installation program provides two types of installation:
In a typical installation, all the software components provided with WebLogic Platform, including sample files, are installed on your system. For a description of the software components provided with WebLogic Platform, see WebLogic Platform Software Components. Sample domains for all the components, as well as the WebLogic Platform Tour, are preconfigured for use with the PointBase database, allowing you to execute the samples when the installation is complete.
To assist first-time users in evaluating, learning, and using WebLogic Platform, the WebLogic Platform QuickStart application is presented at the completion of a typical installation or a full, custom installation. QuickStart provides quick access to the WebLogic Platform tour and other samples, useful tools for accomplishing specific development tasks, and the online documentation.
Note: The QuickStart application is launched only when you have installed the software using graphical-mode installation. It is not invoked for console or silent-mode installations.
A custom installation allows you to choose exactly which components you want installed on your system. We recommend this option for advanced users. After the selected files are installed on your system, you are presented with the option to run the BEA WebLogic Platform Configuration Wizard. The Configuration Wizard provides the capability to configure WebLogic domains using preconfigured domain templates to facilitate domain creation for the target environment. The templates that are available for you to use with the Configuration Wizard are based on the components you install on your system. Sample domains preconfigured to use the PointBase database are created for the installed components only. The WebLogic Platform QuickStart is not available unless all components are installed.
Selecting Directories for the WebLogic Platform Installation
During installation of WebLogic Platform, you need to specify locations for the following directories:
When you install WebLogic Platform, you are prompted to specify a BEA Home directory. The BEA Home directory is a repository for common files that are used by multiple BEA products installed on the same machine. For this reason, the BEA Home directory can be considered a central support directory for the BEA products installed on your system.
The files in the BEA Home directory are essential to ensuring that BEA software operates correctly on your system. They perform the following types of functions:
The structure of a sample BEA Home directory created by the WebLogic Platform installation program that includes a bundled SDK is shown in the following illustration.
This illustration depicts only the files and directories required in the BEA Home directory. If you choose the default product installation directory, you will see additional directories in the BEA Home directory, such as weblogic700 and user_projects. Although the default location for the product installation directory is within the BEA Home directory, you can select a different location outside the BEA Home directory.
Note: For some UNIX platforms, the WebLogic Platform installation program does not install the SDK.
During installation of WebLogic Platform, you are prompted to choose an existing BEA Home directory or specify a path to create a new BEA Home directory. If you choose to create a new directory, the WebLogic Platform installation program automatically creates the directory for you.
Note: For a BEA Home directory, you are allowed to install only one instance of each version of a BEA product that uses the BEA Home directory convention. For example, you can install only one instance of WebLogic Server 7.0 in a BEA Home directory, but that BEA Home directory may also contain an instance of WebLogic Server 6.1.
Understanding the Functions of the BEA Home Directory
The files and directories in the BEA Home directory are described in the following table.
Contains the software for the Java 2 SDK installed with WebLogic Platform. The SDK provides the Java run-time environment (JRE) and tools for compiling and debugging Java applications. Options include:
Note: SDK options vary by hardware platform. For some UNIX platforms, the WebLogic Platform installation program does not include an SDK. |
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Contains a history file of installation and uninstallation for the BEA Home directory. |
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Contains utilities that are used to support the installation of all BEA WebLogic Platform products. The utils.jar file contains code that supports the UpdateLicense utility. |
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An XML-format license file that contains the license keys for all BEA WebLogic products installed on your system. The format of this license has changed in WebLogic Platform 7.0. To convert a pre-7.0 license.bea file to a WebLogic Platform 7.0 license.bea file, refer to the procedures in Upgrading Licenses from Pre-7.0 Releases of WebLogic Platform Products. To add a non-expiring (permanent) license or to update a license file for additional functionality, you must update the license.bea file using the UpdateLicense utility. For details, see Updating Your license.bea File Note: Do not edit this file manually. Doing so may cause operating problems for the currently installed BEA products. |
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A registry file that contains a persistent record of all BEA products installed on the target system. This registry contains product-related information, such as version number, service pack number, and installation directory. Note: Do not edit this file manually. Doing so may cause operating problems for the currently installed BEA products, or result in installation problems when installing future BEA products or maintenance upgrades. |
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A command file (Windows NT/2000) or a shell script (UNIX) that updates the current license.bea file with new license sections. The result is a merged license that contains both the existing and new license sections. For details about using the UpdateLicense utility, see Updating Your license.bea File. |
Creating Multiple BEA Home Directories
Although it is possible to create more than one BEA Home directory, we recommend that you avoid doing so. In almost all situations, a single BEA Home directory is sufficient. There may be circumstances, however, in which you prefer to maintain separate development and production environments, each containing a separate product stack. With two directories, you can update your development environment (in a BEA Home directory) without modifying the production environment until you are ready to do so.
Choosing a Product Installation Directory
The product installation directory contains all the software components that you choose to install on your system, including program files and examples. You are prompted, during the initial installation of WebLogic Platform, to choose a product installation directory. If you accept the default, the WebLogic Platform software is installed in the following directory:
BEA_HOME\weblogic700
where BEA_HOME is the BEA Home directory containing the support information for this installation and weblogic700 is the product installation directory. However, you can specify any name and location on your system for your product installation directory; there is no requirement that you name the directory weblogic700, or create it under the BEA Home directory.
The installation program uses the product installation directory as the WL_HOME directory and installs the software components under this directory. If, on your initial installation, you choose to install individual components of WebLogic Platform and not the full complement of products, and later decide to install additional components (using the same BEA Home directory), you are not prompted on the subsequent installations to provide a product installation directory. The installation program detects the WL_HOME directory and installs the additional components under that same directory.
A description of the WebLogic Platform directory structure is provided in Understanding the WebLogic Platform Product Directory Structure.
Choosing a User Domain Directory
In previous releases of the WebLogic Platform component products, domains were created within the directory structure of the product installation, including application code for each domain. With the Configuration Wizard provided in WebLogic Platform 7.0, you can, and are encouraged to create domains in their own directory structure within the domain container folder (user_projects, by default). You can create a domain container to store all of your user domain directories, or create each domain in its own domain container. A domain container can be located anywhere you choose.
This new directory structure provides for greater flexibility when storing application code and configuring server systems. It also promotes best practices for application development. That is, application code should not be stored with the product software.
Note: Directories created using the Configuration Wizard are not removed when you uninstall the software, or overwritten during subsequent installations. If you want to remove these directories, you must delete them manually.
Complete details on creating domains are described in Using the Configuration Wizard.
Generating a Verbose Installation Log
If you launch the installation from the command line or from a script, you can specify the -log option to generate a verbose installation log. The installation log stores messages about events that occur during the installation process, including informational, warning, error, and fatal messages. This type of file can be especially useful for silent installations.
Note: You may see some warning messages in the installation log. However, unless a fatal error occurs, the installation program completes the installation successfully. The installation user interface indicates the success or failure of each installation attempt, and the installation log file includes an entry indicating that the installation was successful.
To create a verbose log file during installation, include the -log=full_path_to_log_file option in the command line. For example:
platformXXX_win32.exe -log=C:\logs\platform_install.log (Windows)
platformXXX_solaris.bin -log=/home/logs/platform_install.log (UNIX)
In these filenames, XXX represents the version number of the software you are installing.
The path must specify a file. You cannot create a folder simply by including a name for it in a pathname; your path should specify only existing folders. If your path includes a nonexistent folder when you execute the command, the installation program does not create the log file.
Where to Find Upgrade and Migration Information
Information about upgrading your WebLogic Platform installation with the latest service pack is provided in Installing Service Packs and Rolling Patches.
Upgrade and migration information for WebLogic Platform components is available at the following URL:
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13196_01/platform/docs70/interm/migrate.html
WebLogic Platform 7.0 includes the Smart Update feature which provides the capability to quickly and easily upgrade your software with service packs, rolling patches, and subsequent releases of the software.
Note: Smart Update upgrades your Windows installation to use the Sun Java 2 SDK and your Linux installation to use the WebLogic JRockit SDK. If you want to use a different SDK, you should use a WebLogic Platform upgrade installer that is bundled with the appropriate SDK or change the SDK, as described in "Switching JVMs in WebLogic Platform" in the WebLogic Platform Release Notes, at the following URL:
When you start Smart Update, either from the Windows start menu or from the command line, it checks the version numbers of the products installed (associated with the current BEA Home directory), and then connects to the BEA Web site to check for available updates. For details about using Smart Update, see Installing Service Packs and Rolling Patches.
You can also use Smart Update to revert your system installation to an earlier version of the release. For additional information, see Uninstalling Maintenance Upgrades Using Smart Update.