IBM Support

WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 or above requirements for using Remote Execution and Access (RXA)

Troubleshooting


Problem

The WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 or above documentation regarding requirements for using Remote Execution and Access (RXA) with Centralized Installation Manager (CIM) on Windows targets does not adequately list the major set up requirements for targets on Windows operating systems.

Resolving The Problem

CIM is available in WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment version 7.0 and later.  CIM can remotely install and maintain WebSphere Application Server installations on target machines.  The following information contains the updated setup requirements for different operating system targets.

RXA is supported on WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 and later. WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment provides management features, such as initiating installations of product packages and maintenance from the administrative console. The product uses the Tivoli RXA toolkit to access your remote workstations.

Ensure that the following requirements are met when using RXA with CIM on Windows targets.




Windows target requirements
Several RXA operations require access to resources that are not generally accessible by standard user accounts. Therefore, the account names that you use to log in to remote Windows targets must have administrative privileges.

Simple file sharing
Microsoft Windows XP system targets must have simple file sharing disabled for RXA to function properly. Simple networking requires that you log in as a guest. A guest login does not have the authorization necessary for RXA to function properly.

To disable Simple File Sharing:
  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Click Tools > Folder Options > View > Use Simple File Sharing.
  3. Uncheck the Use Simple File Sharing check box.
  4. Click Apply.
  5. Click OK.


UAC(User Account CONTROL) On Microsoft Windows 2008/VISTA/7
In order for RXA to connect to a user on a host on Microsoft Windows 2008/Vista/7, User Account Control (UAC) must be disabled. If UAC is not disabled, the connection fails.
To Disable UAC, follow these steps:

Microsoft Windows 2008/Vista

    1. Open User Accounts. Click Start > Control Panel.
    2. Click User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts. If you are connected to a network domain, click User Accounts from the control panel.
    2. Click Turn User Account Control on or off. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, enter the password or provide confirmation.
    3. To turn off UAC, uncheck the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer check box. Click OK.

Microsoft Windows 7
    1. Open the Control Panel from the start panel.
    2. Click System and security.
    3. Click Action Center.
    4. Click Change User Account Control settings.
    5. To set User Account Control to Never Notify, click and drag the bar to the bottom of the window.


Firewalls
Microsoft Windows XP systems include a built-in firewall called the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), which is disabled by default. For Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 systems, the Windows firewall is enabled by default. If either firewall is enabled on a Windows target workstation, RXA cannot access the target workstation. To allow access on Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, go to the Exceptions tab of the Windows Firewall configuration. Check the File and Printer Sharing check box. Do not block port 445.


File sharing and printer sharing
RXA cannot establish a connection unless file sharing and printer sharing are enabled. To enable file sharing and printer sharing, follow these steps:

Microsoft Windows XP
    1. Open Windows Network Connections in the Start menu and right-click My Network Places.
    2. Right-click all connected connections. Click Properties.
    3. Verify that the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks check box is selected.

Microsoft Windows Vista
    1. Click Network in the Start menu.
    2. Under Sharing and discover, enable file sharing and printer sharing.

Microsoft Windows 2008
    1. Select the Control Panel from the Start menu.
    2. Click Network and Sharing center.
    3. Enable file and printer sharing.

Microsoft Windows 7
    1. Select the Control Panel from the Start menu.
    2. Click Network and internet.
    3. Click Network and sharing center.
    4. Click Change advanced sharing settings.
    5. Enable file and printer sharing.


Remote Registry
You must enable the remote registry administration, which is the default configuration, on the target workstation for RXA to run commands and scripts. To verify that the remote registry is enabled and started, follow these steps:

Microsoft Windows XP/2008/Vista/7
    1. On Control panel, click Run.
    2. Enter "services.msc". Click OK.
    3. Scroll down. Click Remote Registry.
    4. To enable Remote registry, right-click Remote Registry > All Tasks > Start.
    5. To enable the Remote registry service to start during system start up, right-click Remote Registry > Properties. Change the start up type to Automatic.


Administrative sharing
You must enable administrative sharing to use RXA to connect to your Windows systems targets. Examples of the default administrative disk share are C$ and D$. If you disable sharing, the following message is displayed:

XCIM0009E: Error connecting to remote target <host_name>. Exception: java.io.FileNotFoundException:
CTGRI0003E The remote path name specified cannot be found: file_or_directory_path>.
Cause: com.starla.smb.SMBException: The network name is incorrect.

Follow these steps to enable administrative sharing:
    1. Click My Computer.
    2. Right-click the disk drive that you are enabling for administrative sharing.
    3. Click Sharing and Security.
    4. Click Share this folder.
    5. Specify the share name, such as C$ or D$. Click OK.





Back to top



Linux and UNIX target requirements
The centralized installation manager, through RXA, uses SSH Version 2 to access UNIX and Linux target workstations. This usage requires either OpenSSH 3.6.1 or, if accessing AIX targets, OpenSSH 4.7, or Sun SSH 1.1 on the target hosts.

Use the latest version of OpenSSH (Version 3.7.1 or higher).

Avoid trouble: OpenSSH Version 4.7.0.5302 for IBM AIX Version 5.3 is not compatible with Remote Execution and Access Version 2.3. If your target systems are running AIX Version 5.3 with OpenSSH Version 4.7.0.5302 installed, the file transfer might stop in the middle of the transfer. To avoid this problem, revert the OpenSSH version from Version 4.7.0.5302 to Version 4.7.0.5301.


Using Secure Shell (SSH) protocol
Remote Execution and Access does not supply SSH code for UNIX operating systems. You must ensure SSH is installed and enabled on any target that you want to access using CIM.

In all UNIX environments, except Solaris, the Bourne shell (sh) is used as the target shell. On Solaris targets, the Korn shell (ksh) is used due to problems encountered with sh.
To communicate with Linux and other SSH targets using password authentication, you must edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file on the targets and set the following property:

PasswordAuthentication yes

The default value for the PasswordAuthentication property is No.
After changing this setting, stop and restart the SSH daemon using the following commands:

/etc/init.d/sshd stop
/etc/init.d/sshd start


IBM i targets
SSH public and private key authentication to IBM i targets is not supported.

Back to top

[{"Product":{"code":"SSEQTP","label":"WebSphere Application Server"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud & Data Platform"},"Component":"Install","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"},{"code":"PF010","label":"HP-UX"},{"code":"PF012","label":"IBM i"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF027","label":"Solaris"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"},{"code":"PF035","label":"z\/OS"}],"Version":"8.5.5;8.5","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB45","label":"Automation"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
15 June 2018

UID

swg21597243

Page Feedback