Installing Liberty by extracting a ZIP archive file

You can install Liberty and optional features by extracting a ZIP archive file. These ZIP files are designed to help you quickly get started with Liberty.

Before you begin

Your system must meet the operating system and Java™ requirements for using Liberty. See WebSphere Application Server detailed system requirements.

Note:

Liberty on the IBM i platform uses the system-wide version of Java. To install Java on IBM i, follow these guidelines:

Install the minimum supported Java level or later.
Although you can install WebSphere® Liberty from a ZIP file on IBM i, you cannot install Java from a ZIP file on IBM i.
Ensure that you installed the latest Java group PTF. For more information, see Java products and options on IBM i

For more information, see Installing Java on your IBM i server.

About this task

Installing Liberty from the ZIP files enables no-charge unsupported unlimited use of Liberty in development environments and unsupported limited use in small-scale test and production environments. For more information, see the license information and license agreement files in the wlp\lafiles directory. For access to IBM® support and unlimited test and production use, you can later purchase and upgrade to a supported edition from your existing installation.

You can choose from several ZIP files to fit your needs:

Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 8 technologies: Install the Liberty runtime environment plus features that support the Java EE 8 full platform, Web Profile, or application client
IBM Java 8: Install the Liberty runtime environment, features that support the Java EE 8 Web Profile, and IBM SDK Java Technology Edition Version 8
Liberty kernel only: Install only the Liberty runtime environment

For a list of the available ZIP archive files, see List of installation ZIP archive files.

Multimedia Watch: Video: Installing Liberty from a ZIP file shows how you can quickly install Liberty from a ZIP archive file, start the server and add applications, and upgrade to a supported installation [Installing Liberty from a ZIP file]

Procedure

Download the ZIP file of the distribution image from Fix Central.
Extract the distribution image to your preferred directory.
All of the application server files are stored in subdirectories of the wlp directory.
Optional: Set the JAVA_HOME property for your environment.
Liberty requires a Java runtime environment (JRE) or Java SDK in which to run. You can specify the Java SDK or JRE location by using the JAVA_HOME property in the server.env file, as described in Customizing the Liberty environment. When you set the JAVA_HOME property in the server.env file, Liberty uses the same Java runtime location regardless of the user profile that the Liberty server runs under. To download an IBM Java SDK, see IBM Java SDKs for WebSphere Liberty.

On the IBM i platform, setting the JAVA_HOME property as a system-level environment variable is not recommended. The IBM i platform is a shared environment, and changing system-level environment variables might affect other applications.
On Linux® or UNIX systems, you can instead set JAVA_HOME in the user .bashrc file, or append the JDK or JRE path to the PATH environment variable. On Windows systems, you can instead set JAVA_HOME as a system environment variable, or append the JDK or JRE path to the PATH system variable. For example, on Windows systems you can use the following commands to set the JAVA_HOME property, and to add the Java /bin directory to the path:
```
set JAVA_HOME=C:\Progra~1\Java\JDK8
set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
```
Note: The Liberty runtime environment searches for the java command in this order: JAVA_HOME property, JRE_HOME property, and system PATH property.

For more information about supported Java environments and where to get them, see Minimum supported Java levels.
Optional: Upgrade your Liberty installation to an unlimited production edition.
Upgrading your license gives you full access to IBM support in an unlimited test or production environment. For more information, see Applying a license to Liberty installations.

What to do next

After you install Liberty from a ZIP file, you can further customize your environment by installing additional assets; see Installing Liberty Repository assets.

For IBM i platforms On the IBM i platform, after you extract the distribution image, you can configure all servers to run as jobs in the batch subsystem under the QEJBSVR user profile that is provided with the product. For more information, see Configuring the Liberty server to start as a job in the QWAS9 subsystem on IBM i .