WebLogic Frequently Asked Questions: Installation

 

• Installation password

• WebLogic service packs

• Problems with WebLogic XML licenses

• Common problems with CLASSPATH

• Help! Some of the WebLogic classes are missing from the distribution!

• Why am I getting a LicenseException?

• I get a LicenseException on Solaris... in a cluster on Solaris

• How do I transfer my permanent license to another IP number?

• How can I debug a problem in connecting to the database?

Installation password

I forgot the password I created during installation. How can find out what my password is?

Your password is stored in the weblogic.properties file under the entry "weblogic.password.system". The weblogic.properties file is located in the home directory of your WebLogic Server installation.

WebLogic service packs

What's a service pack and how do I use it?

Service packs are used to provide a safe, easy and convenient way for users to incorporate resolved issues into their current release.

Safe: You can view the list of changes that are contained in the service pack and decide whether or not to apply these changes. If you do decide to apply the Service Pack, and something goes wrong, you can safely back it out by following the uninstall instructions.

Easy: An addition to the classpath used to start WebLogic Server is normally all that is required to apply a service pack.

Convenient: The latest service pack is available on our website from the download page for the Server. Service packs are cumulative, which means that the latest service pack includes all of the changes in the previous service packs.

How do I download a service pack?

They are available for download from our website, located on the same page as where you downloaded the official release.

How are they packaged?

They are packaged as a zip file. For example, weblogic4 51sp1.zip is "Weblogic 4.5.1 - Service Pack 1". The contents of the zip will vary slightly between service pack releases depending on the resolved issues, but for the most part each service pack will include the following files:

• README.html: Release notes and instructions for applying the service pack in an HTML version

• README.txt: Release notes and instructions for applying the service pack in an ASCII text version

• weblogicXXXspX.jar: Jar file containing the Java classes related to the issues resolved by this Service Pack; the jar file for WebLogic 4.5.1 Service Pack 1 is weblogic451sp1.jar

• images/*: images used by the service pack documentation

How do I apply them to my release?

Unzip the zip file into a temp directory and then read the README.html or README.txt. (These README files have the same contents but are in different formats.) The README files contain detailed instructions on how to apply the service pack to your release.

How do I check to see if the service pack has been applied?

Make sure your CLASSPATH is set for your release and then check your server version with the command:

  $ java weblogic.Admin t3://Host:Port VERSION

This will output version information similar to:

  WebLogic Build: 4.5.1 Service Pack 1 ...

How do I remove a Service Pack?

The README files contain instructions for uninstalling a service pack. Basically, you remove any references to the service pack in the classpath used to start WebLogic Server.

How often do they come out?

Service Packs will be provided following every major release on an as-needed basis. For example; WebLogic 4.5.1 was released on 10/01/1999; service pack 1 was released on 10/26/1999.

Problems with WebLogic XML licenses

I'm having trouble getting my WebLogic licenses to work. What should I do?

With WebLogic 4.0, we introduced a new XML-format license. In order for WebLogic Server to find your license, place the license in the weblogic/license directory, which must be included in the CLASSPATH that starts WebLogic Server. See Setting up and starting WebLogic Server . You can convert an older-style license to the new XML-format license using the licenseConverter conversion utility.

For additional information about WebLogic licenses, see Installing a WebLogic license .

Common problems with CLASSPATH

Why am I getting classpath errors?

One of the most common problems encountered when installing WebLogic Server is failing to correctly set your CLASSPATH. For complete information, see Setting the classpath in the Installation Guide.

Here are some error messages you may encounter if your CLASSPATH is incorrect:

• Java says "Can't find class ..." when you try to run a program.

• You get one of these messages when you compile your code:
  Package weblogic.common not found in import
  Class weblogic.common.T3Client not found in type declaration
  

• You get a java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError when you run a Java program.

• You get a java.lang.ClassNotFoundException when you run a Java program. (The typical cause of this exception, as opposed to the NoClassDefFoundError, is that the code does a Class.forName() on a class that can't be found.)

• WebLogic Server fails to start and prints a LicenseException message. This means that either your license file is not in the CLASSPATH or there is something wrong in the license file, for example expired dates or incorrect IP numbers.

For more information, see Setting the classpath in the Installation Guide.

Help! Some of the WebLogic classes are missing from the distribution!

I get an error message saying that an internal WebLogic class cannot be found. I've searched my disk for the missing class file, but it doesn't seem to exist. What am I doing wrong?

Usually, a missing WebLogic class file on a Windows NT machine is due to having unpacked the distribution with a 16-bit unzip program. The WebLogic classes have long file names that get truncated with a 16-bit program. You can use any 32-bit unzip program that can handle long file names. WinZip offers evaluation copies of their popular winzip32.exe by download.

Why am I getting a LicenseException?

I installed the WebLogicLicense file according to your instructions, but I'm still getting LicenseExceptions.

Here are some things you should check if you are having trouble with your license file:

1. If you have an old style WebLogicLicense.java license, read the instructions for compiling and installing the WebLogicLicense.class file in Installing a WebLogic license.

2. Make sure the WebLogicLicense.class that you compiled is actually in your CLASSPATH.

   Verify that your license for the product has not expired, by checking the date for each product in your WebLogicLicense.java or weblogiclicense.xml file.

3. Make sure there is one and only one WebLogicLicense.class or weblogiclicense.xml in your CLASSPATH. Java may not find the file you have edited and compiled if an older version exists earlier in your CLASSPATH. You can type java utils.showLicenses -a at a command prompt to view all of the licenses installed on your machine. If the output is different from your WebLogicLicense.java file, then you probably have an older license file somewhere else in your CLASSPATH.

4. If the IP number of your computer is not in the license file, you will get an exception. Run java utils.myip to see the IP numbers that WebLogic Server finds for your computer. If you have changed your network, you may need to have your license altered to include the new IP numbers. Or there may be a problem with network configuration that causes the myip utility to discover the wrong IP number. If you are running on Solaris, see the next FAQ for a specific known problem with IP numbers.

I get a LicenseException on Solaris...
in a cluster on Solaris

I am getting a LicenseException, but I am absolutely certain that my CLASSPATH is set correctly and my license is installed because utils.showLicenses shows the licenses.

I have a WebLogic cluster set up. An HTTP client makes a successful request to a web server or WebLogic HttpClusterServlet. On a second request, however, the client times out.

I am running on a Solaris machine. What could be wrong?

Both of these situations are symptoms of the same problem. There is a bug in some Solaris JDKs that causes Java applications to find the wrong IP number for the computer. You can run the command java utils.netAddresses to see what IP number Java applications find for the computer. If your output is:

  localhost is assigned IP number: 127.0.0.1

then you are experiencing the problem. 127.0.0.1 is often the first IP number in the /etc/hosts file. The workaround is to edit /etc/hosts and move the IP number you have a license for to the top.

How do I transfer my permanent license to another IP number?

We're upgrading WebLogic to another machine on our network. We're keeping the older machine, so we can't transfer its IP address to the new machine. How can I move my permanent WebLogic license file to the new machine? It has a different IP address.

First of all, the keys you have will work with any version, but you must follow the BEA standard procedure for transferring the license to a different machine. Please contact your account representation for more information.

How can I debug a problem in connecting to the database?

I'm having problems getting my application to get past the first step, just connecting to the database. How can I tell if it is a database networking problem, or a problem with my application?

You will find a utility program in the distribution (utils.dbping) with which you can verify that the connection to the database is functioning. See the Administrators Guide document called Testing connections for specific instructions for all supported vendor databases.