Problem with installing fixes for Connections

Posted on by

The other day I installed Connections 7 on a CentOS 8-stream environment. The latter is not officially supported by HCL, but the installation worked just fine and Connections 7 started. I suspected it would work as WebSphere 8.5.5.19 (current supported WAS version for Connections 7) is supported on RHEL 8. Where I got into problems however, was installing the cumulative fixpack for Connections 7. I feared it had to do with my OS, but HCL helped to fix my problem. It was completely unrelated to my OS and hopefully this article will help someone who’s running into the same problem.

The error I got was:

./updateSilent.sh -fix -installDir /appl/Connections -fixDir /appl/Connections/updateInstaller/fixes -install -fixes CFIX.70.2105 -wasUserId wasadmin -wasPassword <waspassword> -featureCustomizationBackedUp yes
Start of [ ./updateSilent.sh ]
Build 20210424_1321

Attempting to locate setupClient.sh

**** WAS_CELL = ConnectionsCell
**** USER_INSTALL_ROOT = /appl/was/profiles/node
Unknown Linux Architechture: x86_64. Native file libraries will not be loaded.
Fix update specified
Fix directory: /appl/Connections/updateInstaller/fixes
Installation specified
Fix: CFIX.70.2105
Target product directory: /appl/Connections
Copyright (c) IBM Corporation 2007, 2015; All rights reserved.
IBM Connections
Update Installer Version 7.0.0.0, Dated 4/24/21

Customer has backed up the customization for IBM Connections applications.
installingFeature=news
Task 1 out of 16; Begin com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prefix.efix.installcom.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prepare.update.install
Task 1 out of 16; End com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prefix.efix.installcom.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prepare.update.install
Task 2 out of 16; Begin com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prefix.efix.installcom.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:component.update.install
Quiet Mode: Logging to /appl/Connections/version/log/20210607_102920_CFIX.70.2105_activities_install.log
os.name=Linux
platformList=Windows
os.name=Linux
platformList=NonWindows
variables.xml file [/appl/was/profiles/node/config/cells/ConnectionsCell/variables.xml] can be loaded.
symbolicName=CONNECTIONS_PROVISION_PATH
value=/data/shared/Connections/provision


user_install_root =/appl/was/profiles/node
was_home =/appl/was
was_cell=ConnectionsCell
cell_Path=/appl/was/profiles/node/config/cells/ConnectionsCell
lcc_home=/appl/was/profiles/node/config/cells/ConnectionsCell/LotusConnections-config
provision_path=/data/shared/Connections/provision
removeWorkFolder=true


Task 2 out of 16; End com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prefix.efix.installcom.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:component.update.install
Task 3 out of 16; Begin com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prefix.efix.installcom.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:complete.update.install
Task 3 out of 16; End com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:prefix.efix.installcom.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:complete.update.install
Fix installation has failed. Consult /appl/Connections/version/log/20210607_102920_CFIX.70.2105_install.log for error details.
UpdateInstaller.puiReturnCode is 9
End of [ ./updateSilent.sh ]

The error logs threw me completely off track:

2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Post Configuration - Start
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 ---install---
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 ['install', '/appl/Connections', '/appl/was/profiles/node']
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 []
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 WASX7017E: Exception received while running file "/appl/Connections/efix/activities/work/../config/CFIX.70.2105_activities_post_update.py"; exception information: com.ibm.bsf.BSFException: exception from Jython:
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Traceback (innermost last):
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 File "<string>", line 109, in ?
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 File "<string>", line 85, in postConfigInstall
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 ImportError: no module named connectionsConfig
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 ExecCmd::launch returns 105
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Post Update: Failed by Result Code
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Result Code: 105
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Copy file= /appl/Connections/efix/activities/work/../config/CFIX.70.2105_activities_updateResultPattern.txt To: /appl/Connections/version
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 finish to update for iFix :: CFIX.70.2105
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 fail to update applcation
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 BUILD FAILED
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Error 112 -- Return code (1) differs from the expected code (0).
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Product File Update is not active; skipping update step.
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Input Jar File : /tmp/efixes/CFIX.70.2105/components/activities/update.jar
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Target Directory : /appl/Connections
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Backup Jar File : /appl/Connections/version/backup/20210512_222927_CFIX.70.2105_activities_undo.jar
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Warnings Issued : 0
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Log File : /appl/Connections/version/log/20210512_222927_CFIX.70.2105_activities_install.log
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Errors were noted: 1
2021-05-12T18:30:11-04:00 Extractor functionality may be compromised!

and this part in the install log:

Completed processing extractor command line arguments.
Performing extraction.

Failed to perform extraction.

Exception: com.ibm.websphere.update.ptf.InstallerNLS:WUPD0235E

I’ve highlighted in bold in the first and second log what the actual error was. The installer was trying to perform the installation in /appl/was/profiles/node. On a default installation this would point to /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01 and that’s not where we want the updateInstaller to go. We need it to go to the Deployment Manager. The solution for this is easy if you know what to do. In my case it was this command:

cd /appl/was/profiles/dmgr
. ./setupCmdLine.sh

With defaults paths that would be /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/Dmgr01. That first . is very important (it’s short for the source command). Afterwards, my silent update command ran fine.