The Four Hundred - Admin Alert: Lessons from My WebSphere Express Installation Diary

I recently started playing with IBM's new WebSphere Application Server Express middleware in one of my iSeries partitions. Although I was new to the product, I had reasonable experience in installing and configuring WebSphere Express. To help other readers get started with Express, here are some impressions and notes from my first go-around with the product.

If possible, make sure you're using IBM's minimum OS/400 configuration for WebSphere Express. I run a number of partitions in my environment, and didn't want to use one of my production partitions to experiment with the product. So I loaded Express on a smaller OS/400 V5R1 partition that had 386 MB of memory and .25 CPU. As you might imagine, this isn't optimal for any WebSphere product, since IBM recommends using at least a 300 CPW and 120 CIW machine with 512 MB of main memory, and an iSeries PowerPC or Power4 processor with at least 2 MB of L2 cache, within a machine running OS/400 V5R1 or V5R2. Under IBM specifications, my puny partition was only running at about 77 percent of the recommended CPW (231 CPW), and the memory was about 75 percent of the recommendation. The good news is that Express did install and run in this environment, but it ran extremely slowly and maybe even introduced some time-out errors into my WebFacing deployment. The lesson is, if you've got the recommended requirements, use them, but you may still be able to experiment on lower-powered machines in a test environment.

Load Java Developer Kit 1.3 (5722-JV1, Option 5) on your partition. This is a requirement that you can't get around. You can check if your system has JDK 1.3 by entering the Work with License Programs menu (GO LICPGM), from a green screen, and selecting option 10, Display Installed Licensed Programs.

Order all the appropriate PTFs, including the latest cumulative CD and the WebSphere Application Server group PTFs. Even though my partition was current as of January, I found I couldn't even load the HTTP Server WebSphere Application Server's Express for iSeries Administrative GUI until I had these PTFs loaded. Once they were on, the GUI ran fine, but slowly. The WebSphere group PTF numbers are SF99270 for OS/400 V5R1 and SF99271 for OS/400 V5R2. The WebSphere PTFs also include other group and single PTFs for the IBM HTTP Server for iSeries group PTF (SF99098), the Java group (SF99169), DB2 Universal Database for iSeries group (SF99502), and some single PTFs for other products.

Make sure that your iSeries Host Table contains an entry for the complete host and domain of your installed partition. As I was creating my first WebSphere Express server, I received machine error MCH6902: "The requested heap space operation is invalid." Working with IBM support, we found that the Administrator GUI was looking for a host table entry for my partition's complete host and domain name. While IBM may have PTFs to handle these problems in a Java environment, it had a different solution for this problem. Technical support had me go into the Configure TCP/IP menu (GO CFGTCP on the green screen) and look at option 12, Change TCP/IP Domain Information, to retrieve the complete TCP/IP host and domain name for my partition. I then added an entry to the partition's host table for the complete host and domain name, and that solved the problem. Go figure, but it worked.

Download the Redpaper WebSphere Application Server-Express V5.0 for iSeries. This book is easy to use, and it walked me through the initial steps in setting up and configuring a WebSphere Express session. Using this book for configuration is a must.

Loading WebSphere Express and testing it with IBM's WebFacing Tool was a long process, but it wasn't overwhelming. Using a sufficiently powered machine helps, but sometimes you have no choice but to use a test partition. If you use some of these tips, along with IBM's documentation and technical support, you'll have WebSphere Express up and running--perhaps not as fast as you need it to run in production--in no time.