Installing HCL Connections 6.5

Install HCL Connections.

Before you begin

Ensure that you complete all the prerequisite tasks that are relevant for your environment. For more information, see the Before installing topic.

About this task

To install HCL Connections, run the IBM® Installation Manager wizard on the system where the Deployment Manager is installed.

To install HCL Connections, complete the following steps:

Procedure

  1. Start WebSphere® Application Server Network Deployment Manager.
  2. Start all the federated nodes using the startNode command. Repeat these steps for each node:
    1. Log in to a node.
    2. From a command line, change to the profile_root/bin directory.
    3. Enter the startNode command for your operating system:
      • AIX® or Linux™: ./startNode.sh
      • Windows™: startNode.bat
  3. Copy the installation files to the system that hosts the Deployment Manager.
    Note: Ensure that the directory path that you enter contains no spaces.
  4. From the Installation Manager directory, run the file to start the Installation Manager and add the repository to it as follows:
    • AIX® or Linux™: IBMIM
    • Windows™: IBMIM.exe
    Repository:
    • AIX® or Linux™: Connections set-up\HCL_Connections_Install\HCLConnections\repository.config
    • Windows™: Connections set-up\HCL_Connections_Install\HCLConnections\repository.config
    Note: Installation Manager might ask you to upgrade the Installation Manager. Connections bundles only the 64-bit, version 1.8.5.1 Installation Manager.
  5. When IBM® Installation Manager is launched, in the Select packages to install window, select the packages that you want to install, and then click Next to continue.
    Notes:
    • Accept the default setting for Show all versions.
    • If you are using an earlier version of IBM® Installation Manager than 1.8.5.1, the 1.8.5.1 package is selected in this window.
    • Click Check for Other Versions and Extensions to search for updates to IBM® Installation Manager.
  6. Review and accept the license agreement by clicking I accept the terms in the license agreements. Click Next.
  7. Specify the location of the installation directory for HCL Connections. You can accept the default directory location, enter a new directory name, or click Browse to select an existing directory. Click Next.
    Note: The path must consist of letters (a-z, A-Z), numbers (0-9), and an underscore (_).
  8. Confirm the applications that you want to install and click Next. You can select from the following options:
    Important:
    • The wizard always installs the Home page, News, and Search, Common, Files, Push Notification, Rich Text Editors, and Widget Container applications, which are core features.
      Note: If you install Communities and want users to be able to add the Rich Content app in a community, you must also install Wikis now.
    • Install Metrics now so that your application data is captured from the moment that HCL Connections is deployed. If you install Metrics at a later stage, you will not have any data reports for the period before you installed Metrics.
    OptionDescription
    HCL Connections 6.5 Install all HCL Connections applications.
    Activities Collaborate with colleagues.
    Blogs Write personal perspectives about projects.
    Communities Interact with people on shared projects.
    Bookmarks Bookmark important websites.
    Forums Discuss projects and exchange information.
    Metrics Identify and analyze usage and trends.
    Mobile Access HCL Connections from mobile devices.
    Moderation Forum and community owners can moderate the content of forums.
    Profiles Find people in the organization.
    Wikis Create content for your website.
  9. Enter the details of your WebSphere® Application Server environment:
    1. Select the WebSphere Application Server installation location that contains the Deployment Manager.
      Note the default path to the WebSphere® Application Server installation:
      • AIX®: /usr/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
      • Linux™: /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer
      • Windows™: C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer
    2. Enter the properties of the WebSphere® Application Server Deployment Manager (DM):
      Deployment Manager profile
      Name of the DM to use for HCL Connections. The wizard automatically detects any available DMs.
      Host name
      Name of the host DM server.
      Administrator ID
      The administrative ID of the DM.
      Note: This ID is set to the connectionsAdmin J2C authentication alias, which is mapped to the following Java™ EE roles: dsx-admin, widget-admin, and search-admin. It is also used by the service integration bus. If you plan to use security management software such as Tivoli® Access Manager or SiteMinder, the ID that you specify here must exist in the LDAP directory. For more information, see the Switching to unique administrator IDs for system level communication topic.
      Note: This user account can be an LDAP or local repository user.
      Administrator Password
      The password for the administrative ID of the DM.
    3. Click Validate to verify the DM information that you entered and that application security is enabled on WebSphere® Application Server. If the verification fails, IBM® Installation Manager displays an error message.
      Note: (AIX® and Linux™) The validation process checks the number of open files that are supported by your system. If the value for this parameter, which is known as the Open File Descriptor limit, is too low, a file open error, memory allocation failure, or connection establishment error could occur. If one of these errors occurs, exit the installation wizard and increase the open file limit before restarting the wizard. To set the file limit, refer to the Installation error messages topic and search for error code CLFRP0042E. The recommended value for HCL Connections is 8192. For more information about the Open File Descriptor limit, see the documentation for your operating system.
    4. When the verification test is successful, click Next.
    The wizard creates a dmInfo.properties file under WebSphere® Application Server to record details of the cell, node, and server.
  10. Configure your topology. For more information about each option, see the Deployment options topic.
    Note:

    If you return to this page from a later page in the installation wizard, your settings are still present but not visible. If you want to change any settings, you must enter all of the information again. If you do not want to change your initial settings, click Next.

    • Small deployment:
      1. Select the Small deployment topology.
      2. Enter a Cluster name for the topology.
      3. Select a Node.
      4. Click Next.
    • Medium deployment:
      1. Select the Medium deployment topology.
      2. Select the default value or enter a Cluster name for each application or for groups of applications. For example, use Cluster1 for Activities, Communities, and Forums.
        Note: IBM® Installation Manager creates servers and clusters when required.
      3. Select a Node for each cluster. Accept the predefined node or select a different node.
        Note: These nodes host application server instances that serve HCL Connections applications. You can assign multiple nodes to a cluster, where each node is a server member of that cluster.
      4. Enter a Server member name for the selected node. Choose the default or enter a custom name.
        Note: If you enter a custom server member name, the name must be unique across all nodes in your deployment.
      5. Click Next.
    • Large deployment:
      1. Select the Large deployment topology.
      2. Enter a Cluster name for each application.
        Note: IBM® Installation Manager creates servers and clusters when required.
      3. Select a Node for each cluster. Accept the predefined node or select a different node.
        Note: These nodes host application server instances that serve HCL Connections applications. You can assign multiple nodes to a cluster, where each node is a server member of that cluster.
      4. Enter a Server member name for the selected node. Choose the default or enter a custom name.
        Note: If you enter a custom server member name, the name must be unique across all nodes in your deployment.
      5. Click Next.
  11. Enter the database information:
    1. Use the same database server or instance: Select Yes or No.
      Note: If allowed by your database configuration, you can select multiple database instances as well as different database servers.
    2. Select a Database type from one of the following options:
      • IBM® DB2 Universal Database™
      • Oracle 12c Enterprise
      • Microsoft™ SQL Server Enterprise Edition
    3. Enter the Database server host name. For example: appserver.enterprise.example.com

      If your installed applications use different database servers, enter the database host name for each application.

    4. Enter the Port number of the database server. The default values are: 50000 for DB2®, 1521 for Oracle, and 1433 for SQL Server.

      If your installed applications use different database servers or instances, enter the port number for each database server or instance.

    5. Enter the JDBC driver location. For example:
      • AIX®:

        /usr/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/lib

      • Linux™:

        /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/lib

      • Windows™:

        C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\lib

    6. Ensure that the following JDBC driver libraries are present in the JDBC directory:
      DB2®
      db2jcc4.jar and db2jcc_license_cu.jar
      Note: Ensure that your user account has the necessary permissions to access the DB2® JDBC files.
      Oracle
      ojdbc8.jar
      SQL Server
      Download the SQL Server JDBC 4 driver from the Microsoft™ website to a local directory and enter that directory name in the JDBC driver library field.

      The directory must not contain the sqljdbc.jar file, only the sqljdbc42.jar file. An exception occurs if both files are present in the same directory.

    7. Enter the User ID and Password for each database.
      If each database uses the same user credentials, select the Use the same password for all applications check box and then enter the user ID and password for the first database in the list.
      Note:

      If your database type is Oracle, you must connect to the database with the user ID that you used when you created the application database.

    8. Click Validate to verify your database settings. If the validation fails, check your database settings. When the validation succeeds, click Next.

      IBM® Installation Manager tests your database connection with the database values that you supplied. You can change the database configuration later in the WebSphere® Application Server Integrated Solutions Console.

      Note: Usually you can continue even if the validation failed because you can change the database settings from WebSphere Application Server® Integrated Solutions Console afterward.
  12. Select a Notification solution. Notifications are email messages to users about new information and events in your HCL Connections deployment.
    • Enable Notification only.

      Use notifications but without the ReplyTo capability.

    • Enable Notification and ReplyTo.

      Use notifications and the ReplyTo capability. To use ReplyTo, your mail server must be able to receive all the replies and funnel these replies into a single inbox. IBM® Connection connects to the mail server using the IMAP protocol.

    • None.

      Do not use a notification solution in your HCL Connections deployment. You can configure notifications after installation. Refer to Configuring notifications for more information.

  13. Select and specify a mail server solution and then click Next.

    • WebSphere® Java™ Mail Session: Use a single mail server for all notifications. Select this option if you can access an SMTP server directly using the host name.

      Complete the following fields to identify the mail server to use for sending email:
      Host name of SMTP messaging server
      Enter the host name or IP address of the preferred SMTP mail server.
      This SMTP server requires authentication
      Select the check box to force authentication when mail is sent from this server.
      User ID
      If the SMTP server requires authentication, enter the user ID.
      Password
      If the SMTP server requires authentication, enter the user password.
      Encrypt outgoing mail traffic to the SMTP messaging server using SSL
      Select this check box if you want to encrypt outgoing mail to the SMTP server.
      Port
      Accept the default port of 25, or enter port 465 if you are using SSL.

    • DNS MX Records: Use information from DNS to determine which mail servers to use. Select this option if you use a Domain Name System (DNS) server to access the SMTP messaging server.

      Messaging domain name
      Enter the name or IP address of the messaging domain.
      Choose a specific DNS server
      Select this check box if you want to specify a unique SMTP server.
      DNS server for the messaging servers query
      Enter the host name or IP address of the DNS server.
      DNS port used for the messaging servers query
      Enter the port number that is used for sending queries using the messaging server.
      This SMTP server requires authentication
      Select the check box to force authentication when notification mail is sent from this server.
      User ID
      If SMTP authentication is required, enter the administrator user ID for the SMTP server.
      Password
      If SMTP authentication is required, enter the password for the administrator user of the SMTP server.
      Encrypt outgoing mail traffic to the SMTP messaging server using SSL
      Select the check box if you want to use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) when connecting to the SMTP server.
      Port
      Specify the port number to use for the SMTP server connection. The default port number for the SMTP protocol is 25. The default port number for SMTP over SSL is 465.
    • If you click Do not enable Notification, IBM® Installation Manager skips the rest of this step. You can configure notification later.
  14. If you selected the Notification and ReplyTo option, configure the ReplyTo email settings. HCL Connections uses a unique ReplyTo address to identify both the person who replied to a notification and the event or item that triggered the notification.
    1. Enter a domain name. For example: mail.example.com.
      Note: This domain name is used to build the ReplyTo address. The address consists of the suffix or prefix, a unique key, and the domain name.
    2. The reply email address is given a unique ID by the system. You can customize the address by adding a prefix or suffix, using a maximum of 28 characters. This extra information is useful if the domain name is already in use for other purposes. Select one of the following options:
      None
      Use the ID generated by the system.
      Prefix
      Enter a prefix in the Example field.
      Suffix
      Enter a suffix in the Example field.

      As you select an option, the wizard creates an example of the address, combining your selection with the ID generated by the system.

      For example:
      • unique_id@domain
      • prefix_unique_id@domain
      • unique_id_suffix@domain -
    3. Specify the details of the mail file to which ReplyTo emails are sent:
      Server
      The domain where your mail server is located. For example: replyTo.mail.example.com.
      User ID
      The user account for the mail server. The user ID and password are credentials that HCL Connections will use to poll the inbox on the mail server to retrieve the replies and process the content. HCL Connections connects to the mail server using IMAP.
      Password
      Password for the user account. The user ID and password are credentials that HCL Connections will use to poll the inbox on the mail server to retrieve the replies and process the content. HCL Connections connects to the mail server using IMAP.
    4. Click Next.
    Note: You can modify the ReplyTo settings after installation. To edit the domain name and prefix or suffix, edit the news-config.xml file. To edit the server and authentication details, log in to the WebSphere® Application Server Integrated Solutions Console and navigate to the Mail Sessions page, where you can edit the configuration.
  15. In the Role Mapping window, you can add administrative users. Enter the LDAP user names to map them to the admin role. If that role is empty, the Application server administrative user is mapped to the role by default.
  16. In the Role Mapping window, you can add Global Moderator Users. Enter the LDAP user name to the global-moderator role. If that role is empty, the Application server administrative user is mapped to the role by default.
  17. Review the information that you have entered. To revise your selections, click Back. To finalize the installation, click Next.
  18. Review the result of the installation. Click Finish to exit the installation wizard.
  19. Optional: If you are migrating databases, follow the instructions in Migrating data from HCL Connections 5.0 or 5.5 databases to 6.5. The Highway configuration is included in this step, which is a set of defaults and organizational settings. The defaults are settings included with this configuration are required.
  20. Clear the server cache. This needs to be done when the Node is not running. Delete the contents of the cache under the App Server. For example, C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\temp.
  21. Restart the Deployment Manager:
    • AIX® or Linux™: Open a command prompt and change to the app_server_root/profiles/Dmgr01/bin directory. Enter the ./stopManager.sh command and then enter the ./startManager.sh command.
    • Windows™: Stop and restart the Deployment Manager service.

      Run C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Dmgr01\bin\startManager.bat and change directory to

      C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\Dmgr01\bin using stopManager.bat -username WASadmin -password WAS_password.
  22. Log in to the Integrated Solutions Console on the DM to perform a full synchronization of all nodes.
    1. Go to System administration > Nodes.
    2. Select the nodes and click Full Resynchronize.
    Note: Wait until the DM copies all the application EAR files to the installedApps directory on each of the nodes. This process can take up to 30 minutes.

    To verify that the DM has distributed the application EAR files to the nodes, check the SystemOut.log file of each node agent. The default path to the SystemOut.log file on a node is profile_root/logs/nodeagent.

    Look for a message such as the following example: ADMA7021I: Distribution of application application_name completed successfully. where application_name is the name of an HCL Connections application.

  23. Configure the HTTP Server plugin with Connections

    If you chose to configure the WebServer during the install, the settings and configuration for Connections will use the IBM HTTP Server URL for communication. Ensure the HTTP Server plugin is configured to access the different Connections components.

    Note: The following examples are only for Unix. If WebSphere Application server is enabled then trust the HTTP Server certificate
    1. If not already open, open a browser to the Integrated Solutions Console and login.
    2. Click Servers, Server Types, and Web servers.
    3. Select the webserver and click Generate Plug-in.
    4. Select the webserver and click Propagate Plug-in.
    5. Open /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/conf/httpd.conf in notepad.
    6. At the bottom of the file find the following line: LoadModule was_ap22_module /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/bin/64bits/mod_was_ap22_http.so WebSpherePluginConfig /opt/IBM/WebSphere/Plugins/config/webserver1/plugin-cfg.xml.
      Note: Make sure the value for WebSpherePluginConfig matches where the plugin-cfg.xml was propagated. If they don't match, either manually copy the plugin-cfg.xml to the location specified in httpd.conf, or updatehttpd.conf to look in the correct location.
    7. Close the httpd.conf.
    8. Restart the IBM HTTP Server 8.5 service by running ./apachectl stop from /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin ./apachectl start from /opt/IBM/HTTPServer/bin.
  24. Restart the Deployment Manager.
  25. Start all your HCL Connections clusters:
    1. Log in to the Integrated Solutions Console on the DM.
    2. Navigate to Servers > Clusters > WebSphere Application server clusters.
    3. Select the HCL Connections clusters and click Start.
    Note: If some applications do not start, the file-copying process might not have completed. Wait a few minutes and start the applications. In case the Connections applications are installed on different clusters, the cluster start order should start with the core features, then move to the other features:
    • Hompage cluster
    • News cluster
    • Search cluster
    • Common cluster
    • Files cluster
    • Push Notification cluster
    • Rich Text Editor cluster
    • Widget Container cluster

    The other features include.

    • Activities cluster
    • Blogs cluster
    • Bookmarks cluster
    • Communities cluster
    • Forums cluster
    • Metrics cluster
    • Moderation cluster
    • Profiles cluster
    • Wikis cluster

Results

If an error occurs during installation, IBM® Installation Manager cancels the installation and rolls back the installation files. Installation errors are usually caused by environment problems such as insufficient disk space, privilege issues, or corruption of a WebSphere® profile. If your installation is canceled, complete the following steps:
  1. Identify and resolve the error that caused the cancellation. After canceling the installation, IBM® Installation Manager displays an error message with an error code. You can look up the error code in the Installation error messages topic or check the log files.
  2. Restore the Deployment Manager profile from your backup.
  3. Delete the connections_root directory.
  4. Start this task again.

What to do next

Complete the post-installation tasks that are relevant to your installation. For more information, see the Post-installation tasks topic.

Accessing network shares:

If you installed WebSphere® Application Server on Microsoft™ Windows™ and configured it to run as a service, ensure that you can access network shares. For more information, see the Accessing Windows™ network shares topic.