Preparing to remove software

Before you run the software removal program to remove an installation or to remove product modules or tiers, back up critical data on your computers and make sure that the computers are ready for the removal process.

Before you begin

If you are running the software removal program in graphical mode, configure your browser so that the program runs correctly.
For an installation that involves WebSphere® Application Server clustering, perform the following tasks before you begin the software removal process:
  1. Start management processes, including node agents. To ensure that sufficient file descriptor resources are allocated to the processes use the ulimit command.
  2. Verify that you can start and stop the cluster and that you can restart the node agents. See Administering IBM® InfoSphere® Information Server and IBM WebSphere Application Server services.
  3. Verify that you can stop and start the Web server.

Procedure

Follow this procedure for each target computer:

  1. Back up the following directories, your components, and critical data.
    Operating system Directory
    AIX®
    • /etc/services
    • /etc/inittab
    • /etc/passwd
    • /etc/group
    Linux®
    • /etc/services
    • /etc/inittab
    • /etc/passwd
    • /etc/group
    Windows
    • MicrosoftWindows registry
    • C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

    See Backing up and restoring IBM InfoSphere Information Server for more information on how to back up your current IBM InfoSphere Information Server installation.

  2. Microsoft Windows: The software removal program requires the Windows Script Engine to operate.
    To test your Windows Script Engine installation, see the script engine troubleshooting topic.
  3. Disable all scheduled jobs, scheduled tasks, scheduled reports, and enabled IBM InfoSphere Information Services Director applications before running the software removal program.
  4. Disable firewall software and antivirus software during the software removal session.
  5. Microsoft Windows: When you run the software removal program in graphical mode, the message, The publisher cannot be verified might be displayed in the browser. You can safely ignore the message and continue the software removal. This message does not indicate a security risk when it appears during InfoSphere Information Server installation or software removal.
  6. Microsoft Windows: Ensure that the following directories are in your system path:
    • %SystemRoot%
    • %SystemRoot%\system32
    • %SystemRoot%\system32\wbem
  7. If the WebSphere Application Server processes or node agents are currently running under a non-root user, there is no longer a need to change them to run as root before running the installation or uninstallation program. However, after running the program, the application server will have been switched to run as root. Therefore, if you want to run it as non-root again, you will need to switch it to run as the non-root user afterward.