DataStage Server

Overview of InfoSphere DataStage

IBM has been providing users with SPCR (Software Product Compatibility Reports) tool where you can position and look at entire lists of compatible OS, essentials of a system, pre-requisites and possible supported software for Infosphere Information Server versions.

InfoSphere Information Server

Minimum System Requirements:

For Windows

• Windows 8.1 with Intel Processor (or equivalent) with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2
• Windows 8 64 bits (x86 64) Standard, Professional and Enterprise Edition Supports all the Client tier & base operating systems
• Virtual Machine Monitors: HP Integrity Virtual Machines (IVM) 4.1, KVM in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11, Red Hat KVM as brought with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) also its RHEV equivalent 6.0, VMware ESX 4.1, VMware ESXi 4.1, VMware ESXi 5.0
• A minimum of 2GB memory is required for installing InfoSphere Information Server Client tier.
• Minimum of 4GB memory is required for installing Infosphere Server Services and Engine tiers either on the same or a separate computer.
• Disk Space of 2.6 GB for InfoSphere Application Server, 1GB for IBM DB2, 1.4GB for InfoSphere Information Server components, 2.5GB for the metadata repository database and 2GB of temporary space during installation is required.
• C++ Compiler
• On development systems, for parallel transformers, C++ is essential for compiling
• Microsoft Visual C++ .NET 2003
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 C++ Professional Edition
• Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005 C++ Express Edition
• Embedded MKS OEM
• This MKS Framework offers UNIX-style friendly runtime libraries, script, and utilities.

For UNIX and LINUX

• The release 8.1 supported by platforms,
• IBM AI X 5.3, 6.1
• HP-UX (PA-RISC) 11i v2, HP- UX(Itanium) 11i v2(11.23), 11iv3
• Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server 4 & Platform 5 on AMD or Intel.
• Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 on AMD or Intel or on IBM System z.
• Sun Solaris 9 and 10
• 3GB memory per processor is preferred for 4-16 processors
• For 16 or more processors, less than 2GB of memory per processor suffices in cases where there are no large lookups or hash aggregators or complex jobs are required.
• Disk space of 2.6 GB for InfoSphere Application Server, 1 GB for DB2, 1.4 GB for InfoSphere Information Server components, 2.5 GB for metadata repository database, 1.5 GB for InfoSphere Information Analyzer database, 2 GB temporary space during installation, 100 MB per project designing metadata and logs, 25 MB free space in /var and extra space for temporary data storage is required.
• C++ Compilers are required for parallel transformation to compile jobs.

InfoSphere Information Server Installation

Prerequisites

• First, read the above System Requirements
• If you are doing a new installation of IBM InfoSphere Information Server, backup all your critical data or if you are an adding additional module for the product, backup all your current InfoSphere Information Server components. Also backup the below items:
  • For Unix/Linux, Backup /etc/services, /etc/group, and /etc/password
  • For windows, Backup Windows registry and the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc directory. Make sure installation or upgrade does not fail, as this might result in a non-operational state.
• Save XML license file which you received during purchase onto file system that can be accessed by the installation program.
• For windows, during installation of the InfoSphere Information Server, if there is any previous version of MKS Toolkit, the installation program attempts to upgrade to 9.1P1 MKS Toolkit. But in some cases, it might fail or produce an unexpected error.
• Before installing this version 9.1, you have to uninstall IBM InfoSphere Fast Track version client only installation.
• If you want to use an existing database on a different system as your metadata repository, make sure that service tier is linked to the network.
• Optical drive or flash drive should not be used for installation because a minor connection results in interruption which finally results in installation failure. So, the proper practice is to copy to the local file system and then install it.
• Disable firewall and antivirus software for uninterrupted installation.
• For Linux, If Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is enabled, disabling it helps proper installation.

About the Installation Order

Run the installation program on every computer  that will host the InfoSphere Server tiers. If you install on two or more computers, install tiers in the below order:

• Metadata Repository
• Services
• Engine

Client tier can be installed at any time.

Procedure for New Installation

• Log on to Computer
  • For Linux/UNIX, log on as a root user
  • For Windows, log on as a local admin or as a domain or a local user who has direct contact with the local admin group.
• For Linux/UNIX, File creation mask to be set to 022: umask 022
• For Linux/UNIX, Be sure that enough system resources are allocated for installation. Set a file descriptor limit to higher than 102400 or unlimited. Also, check the recent setting for NOFILES kernel parameter. This parameter should be set to a value that is at least same as the limit specified for ulimit.
• For Linux/UNIX, make certain that Lock Daemon is up and running. If not running, refer to your OS documentation for the best method of starting daemon services
• Start or run the installation program either by a wizard or by a console or a silent mode.
• When the installation begins, select the tiers to install. For choosing tiers, refer topologies associated with the Architecture component.
• During installation, the products to be installed must be selected as one or more tiers of installation                       
• If you are using a remote installation of DB2 server or having Microsoft SQL or Oracle Server used for metadata repository database, don’t install metadata repository tier. Install it only when you are using DB2 database that comes with InfoSphere Information Server installation program or a local preexisting DB2 Server.
• For Linux/Windows, make sure that when installation location is prompted by the program for InfoSphere Information server, WebSphere App Server or DB2 server are installed in a different directory which is writable and has enough space.
• When You are prompted for user information, ensure that you use IDs and passwords that you created earlier during planning or during pre-requisites are added.
• If you are prompted to select Datastage project, you should select any one.
• If you are using non-English environment, the installation program will enable National Language Support automatically; but for safety, leave the Install NLS and IBM Websphere Datastage server selected unless you are sure about your server non-ASCII characters supportability. As this can’t be changed after installation.
• Click Install to start the installation. After successful installation, the zip file will be generated which includes installation log files which are saved to InfoSphere Information Server directory. The name of the file is isdump-operating_system-system_timestamp.zip.
• In windows, if you installed client tier, ensure that the Microsoft .NET Framework you are using is the proper version.
• Repeat the steps for every computer in your installation process.

After you are done with the installation, start an InfoSphere Information Server Console and organize it for required clients.

If the installation is unsuccessful or failed, with the help of installation logs, resolve issues. Remove installation directory structure and the log file.

For windows restart the computer and then Run the installation program again.