Installing as a non-root or non-admin user

Non-root users (Linux™) or non-administrative users (Windows™) can install IBM Docs and other components. Users must follow this procedure to grant sufficient permissions.

Before you begin

Before installing as a non-root or non-admin user, you must ensure to add the account to system Administrator group because the deployment scripts will use Job Manager provided by WebSphere for remote deployment. Related limitations can be accessed at Requirements for using Remote Execution and Access

See the following non-root installation procedures to install WebSphere® Application Server, HTTP Server, and IBM® Connections as a non-root or non-administrative user:

Procedure

  • To install IBM Docs:
    1. Confirm that a non-root user exists, and that there is a related home directory.
      For example, there is a non-root user named nonroot.
    2. Create the IBM Docs database after the non-root user gives the IBM DB2® administrator (for example, db2inst1) read, write, and run permissions for DB scripts.
    3. Make sure that the non-root user is granted read, write, and run permissions to the following directories:
      • Installer root source, for example: /home/nonroot/software/
      • Extracted installer root, for example: /home/nonroot/software/Concord/
      • WebSphere Application Server installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/
      • IBM Docs installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/IBMDocs/
      • IBM Docs shared directory for data store, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/shared/data/
      • Database Driver location, for example:/opt/ibm/db2/V9.7/java/
    4. Follow the procedure in Installing the Editor Application.
  • To install the Document Format Conversion server (Windows):
    1. Confirm that a standard user (non-administrator) exists.
      For example, there is a standard user named nonroot.
    2. Follow the procedure in Installing the Document Format Conversion Application.
    3. If the task scheduler scripts are not started, you must manually run the task scheduler scripts with administrator permission: [install_root]/symphony/symphony_monitor/start_task.bat
      Note: Before uninstalling, you must remove the kill_timeout and sym_monitor tasks in the task scheduler with administrator permissions.
  • To install the IBM Docs extension plug-in on IBM Connections:
    1. Confirm that a non-root user exists, and that there is a related home directory.
      For example, there is a non-root user named nonroot.
    2. Make sure that the non-root user is granted read, write, and run permissions to the following directories:
      • Installer root source, for example: /home/nonroot/software/
      • Extracted installer root, for example: /home/nonroot/software/ConcordConnectionUIExtension/
      • WebSphere Application Server installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/
      • Connections installation root, for example:/home/nonroot/IBM/Connections/)
    3. Follow the procedure in Installing Editor Extension for IBM Connections.
  • To install File Viewer:
    1. Confirm that a non-root user exists, and that there is a related home directory.
      For example, there is a non-root user named nonroot.
    2. Make sure that the non-root user is granted read, write, and run permissions to the following directories:
      • Installer root source, for example: /home/nonroot/software/
      • Extracted installer root, for example: /home/nonroot/software/Viewer/
      • WebSphere Application Server installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/
      • File Viewer installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/Viewer/
      • File Viewer shared directory for the data store, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/data/shared/
    3. Follow Installing Viewer Application.
  • To install the File Viewer extension plug-in on IBM Connections:
    1. Confirm that a non-root user exists, and that there is a related home directory.
      For example, there is a non-root user named nonroot.
    2. Make sure that the non-root user is granted read, write, and run permissions to the following directories:
      • Installer root source, for example: /home/nonroot/software/
      • Extracted installer root, for example: /home/nonroot/software/ViewerConnectionUIExtension/
      • WebSphere Application Server installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/
      • Connections installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/Connections/)
    3. Follow the procedure in Installing Viewer Extension on IBM Connections .
  • To install the WebSphere proxy server filter for IBM Docs:
    1. Confirm that a non-root user exists, and that there is a related home directory.
      For example, there is a non-root user named nonroot.
    2. Make sure that the non-root user is granted read, write, and run permissions to the following directories:
      • Installer root source, for example: /home/nonroot/software/
      • Extracted installer root, for example: /home/nonroot/software/ConcordProxyFilter/
      • WebSphere Application Server installation root, for example: /home/nonroot/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/
    3. Follow the procedure in Installing Editor Proxy Filter.
    Note: There are several ways to grant non-root users read, write, and run permissions. One option is to change the group of the target directory to a non-root group, and then grant the group the permissions. Here is an example:
    chgrp -R <non-root_user_group> <app_server_root>
chmod -R g+wrx <app_server_root>
    Where non-root_user_group is a user group that contains the non-root user account andapp_server_root is the target directory.