Chapter 2. Installing WebSphere Application Server

To learn how to administer IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS), we first need to know how to install the product. As we discussed in Chapter 1, WebSphere Application Server 8.0: Product Overview WAS v8 is based on JEE 6 and can run on many platforms from Windows through to UNIX and even mainframes.

For the remainder of this book, we will discuss WAS Administration mostly from a Linux/Unix standpoint using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.0 Update 6 as our Linux distribution. By learning to install and administer WAS using Linux, you will be well-prepared and equipped to work with WAS. The skills learned in this book are useful for all WAS installations and configurations on all certified versions of Unix; for example, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX, the SUSE Linux distribution and also Windows.

Since you may have a requirement to install WAS in a Windows environment, equivalent Windows commands are included for reference throughout the book.

This chapter explains the topics in detail, so if you want to read this chapter in one sitting, you may want to get comfortable. We have many topics to cover, as mentioned in the following list: