Preparing the Information Server node

Before you install IBM® InfoSphere® Information Server, you must prepare the Information Server node of your cluster.

1. Configure the Message Limits settings if they are less than the recommended minimum values.
   1. Check the Message Limits settings by running the following command:

      ipcs -lq

   2. If the max size of message (bytes)value is less than 65536, append the following line to the file /etc/sysctl.d/42-message-queue.conf:

      kernel.msgmax=65536

   3. If the default max size of queue (bytes) value is less than 65536, append the following line to the file /etc/sysctl.d/42-message-queue.conf:

      kernel.msgmnb=65536

   4. If either configuration was less than the recommended minimum values, run the following command to update the Message Limits settings:

      sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/42-message-queue.conf

2. Configure the Semaphore Limits settings if they are less than the recommended minimum values.
   1. Check the Semaphore Limits settings by running the following command:

      ipcs -ls

   2. Check to see if any of the following Semaphore Limits settings have the indicated values. The numbers that are listed are the recommended minimum values.
      • The max number of arrays is less than 1024.
      • The max semaphores per array is less than 250.
      • The max semaphores system wide is less than 256000.
      • The max ops per semop call is less than 32.

      If any of the Semaphore Limits settings have values less than the recommended minimum, append the following line to the file /etc/sysctl.d/44-semaphore.conf:

      kernel.sem=250 256000 32 1024

   3. If the configuration was less than the recommended minimum values, run the following command to update the Semaphore Limits settings:

      sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/44-semaphore.conf

3. Install the following packages if missing.
   • Required:
     • glibc
     • libXp
     • libXau
     • libXext
     • libX11
     • libxcb
     • libXmu
     • nss-softokn-freebl
     • bc
     • ed
     • unzip
     • perl
     • wget
     • less
     • net-tools
     • ipcs
     • sed
     • grep
     • fgrep

     To install these required packages, run the following command. You can run this command even if one or more of the packages is already installed.

     yum install -y glibc libXp libXau libXext libX11 libxcb libXmu nss-softokn-freebl bc ed unzip perl wget less net-tools ipcs sed grep fgrep

   • Required for IBM WebSphere® Application Server Network Deployment:
     • libXtst
     • elfutils

     To install these required packages, run the following command. You can run this command even if one or more of the packages is already installed.

     yum install -y libXtst elfutils

   • Required for Db2:
     • libaio
     • libstdc++-devel
     • pam.i686

     To install these required packages, run the following command. You can run this command even if one or more of the packages is already installed.

     yum install -y libaio libstdc++-devel pam.i686

   1. To check if a package is installed, run the following command:

      yum list installed <Package name>

   2. To install a package if it is missing, run the following command:

      yum install -y <Package name>

4. Configure Host lookup for Enterprise Search node if this is a Service Tier node.
   1. To check if you can perform Host lookup for Enterprise Search node, run the following command:

      nslookup <Enterprise Search Node>

   2. If not configured, append the following line to the file /etc/hosts:

      <IP Address> <Enterprise Search Node> <Short Host Name>

5. Version 11.7.0.2 and earlier: Set up a root passwordless SSH connection to the Enterprise Search node.
   1. If the file /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub does not exist, you must create the SSH Keys by running the following command:

      ssh-keygen -f /root/.ssh/id_rsa -q -N ""

   2. Copy the SSH public key to the Enterprise Search node by running the following command:

      ssh-copy-id -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub root@<Enterprise Search Node>

   3. Validate the root passwordless SSH connection to the Enterprise Search node by running the following command:

      ssh root@<Enterprise Search Node> hostname

      Note: This step is optional for 11.7.1. However, if you set up passwordless SSH login, you can set it up for root or any other user with sudo access. If you decide not to preconfigure passwordless SSH connections, you have to provide credentials for the SSH connections during the installation.