FileNet P8 CPIT

One thing that shocks newcomers to FileNet is the effort involved in installing the software. Any seasoned computer user would normally expect that it entails nothing more onerous than running setup.exe, with a shiny new application available within a few minutes. How wrong they are! An experienced engineer will do well to get the base system established in under a day. But for the complete P8 suite, spanning multiple environments, I’ve known this to take weeks, and frequently, months.

With version 5 of FileNet P8, IBM have introduced a new tool for installing the software. The CPIT, or Composite Platform Installation tool, allows implementers to deploy P8 within a single-server, and removes all the hassle that we’ve come to expect in installations. Under no circumstances should this be used in Production scenarios – with the constraint of running on a single machine it is intended for demonstration systems, development machines, and testing situations. For everything else, we’re back to the tried and trusted approach.

The tool is supported on Windows, AIX and Linux. It has to be said that it’s somewhat fussy – disk space requirements are adhered to religiously, permissions are not to be neglected, previous installation attempts must be wiped off, and even then, failures can occur for no obvious reason. But once you’ve adapted to its fussy demands, it really is a boon to be able to deliver a system in under 3 hours.

There is a downside though. I can’t speak for the rest of the FileNet community, but I’m not aware of any of my current or previous P8 customers who rely on the DB2 database, or Tivoli Directory services. But if you use CPIT, you’d better get used to them. One of the caveats of DB2 that I’ve recently found is that I had to acquire a Licence file; without it, DB2 refused to start up. No mention of that in the CPIT documentation. Reluctantly, I’ve had to start learning snippets of DB2 & TDS, so that I can manage the system, no choice really.

But then, I guess that was IBM’s intention when they introduced CPIT.

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23 Responses to FileNet P8 CPIT

  1. momochii says:

    Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!

  2. saad sayad says:

    thank you very much, it’s very helpful for me

  3. I have installed Filenet 5.1 using the CPIT. Websphere is running using local host.

    however i am unable to get to know the cepit_server parameter in the following URL:
    http://cpit_server:9080/P8CE/Health
    I tried with Local host it says page cannot be found.

    How do i figure out the cpit_server name?
    Please help

  4. ianw says:

    Fahd,

    The name of the server is not controlled by the CPIT installer, it’s simply the Computer name of the machine you prepared before installing CPIT. But you should also be able to use “localhost”, or the machine’s IP Address, or 127.0.0.1.

    You don’t mention whether you can login to WorkplaceXT, or if you can connect using FEM, so I don’t know if your installation was successful.

    It’s been a while since I used CPIT. I’m not sure if it uses a single WebSphere profile, or whether there are a couple of them: one for WorkplaceXT and one for the Content Engine. If there are two, then there will be different ports in use, and you may have selected the wrong one. You can quickly try this: http://localhost:9081/P8CE/Health

    Also, are you completely sure that WebSphere is running? And have you tried the CE ping page at: http://localhost:9080/FileNet/Engine

    If none of these suggestions help you, I think you should raise a PMR with IBM.

  5. Sergey says:

    I’m sorry for my english, my country is not a native english-speaking.
    I’ve tried to install IBM Filenet 5.2 using CPIT for demonstration purposes and got error “/opt/IBM/ldap/V6.3/sbin/idsldif2db not found”. Error appears after TDS installation.
    Also, I’ve tried to install version 5.1 and got same error.
    All packages for installation I downloaded using part numbers from official documentation, and I can’t understand why idsldif2db utility does not installs with TDS.
    I do not have suggestions what I’m doing wrong.
    May be you can assume what reason can cause such problem?
    Thank you very much.

  6. ianw says:

    Sergey,

    The first thing I would check is whether that file (or folder) actually exists or not, and investigate further.

    Maybe the Tar/Gzip file was corrupted during download – I’ve had that happen to me a couple of times in the past.

    Are you sure you fulfilled all the pre-requisites before commencing the CPIT? CPIT is very sensitive, and is well-known for failing at the slightest issue.

    Have you looked at the full CPIT logs? Was there any suggestion of other warnings or errors earlier in the preceding steps?

    Hope this help, Ian

  7. Sergey says:

    Thanks for reply, Ian.

    File (this is utility for ldif importing) really not exists. As I understand, this file must be created during TDS installation, because TDS install script is first installation script, and it’s running immediately after unpack.sh. Also, I’ve tried to install TDS using it’s own installation script, installation completing succesfully, but file do not exists.
    TDS, which I using for installation, downloaded from Software Catalog, using part number from official documentation, and package is not corrupted.
    Of course, I’ve looked at the full CPIT logs, there are no errors except this one.
    All prerequisistes from documentation I’ve fullfilled.

    May be you can post here (or send to my email) part numbers of packages, which you’ve used for your installation?

  8. ianw says:

    Sergey: TDS part number: CZKG4ML

  9. John says:

    I have the exact same problem as Sergey. I tried this a year ago with CPIT 5.1 and had the exact same problem. Tonight the problem is still there with CPIT 5.2. The downloaded files are not corrupted.

    The idsldif2db executable just flat out does not exist anywhere on the sytem when the following error occurs:

    OUTPUT>ERROR: /opt/IBM/ldap/V6.3/sbin/idsldif2db not found. TDS installation failed.
    Process completed with exit code: 1
    ERROR in InvokeScripts-function – Terminate the remaining scripts.
    ***Aborting InvokeScripts-Install function.

    This is quite frustrating.

  10. John says:

    Sergy, I have good news for you!

    I have successfully used CPIT 5.2. This took a very long time, but in the end is simple.

    cd /opt; mkdir IBM; ln -s IBM ibm

    Yes, that’s all it took to get past the missing file error. Do this before starting the tool. The tool appears to use the dir names /opt/ibm and /opt/IBM indiscriminately.

    The other thing I had to do was comment out the line in /etc/services that had reserved port 3737. Here are the lines that, after success, were added to /etc/services:

    DB2_dsrdbm01 60000/tcp
    DB2_dsrdbm01_1 60001/tcp
    DB2_dsrdbm01_2 60002/tcp
    DB2_dsrdbm01_END 60003/tcp
    dsrdbm01svcids 3737/tcp
    dsrdbm01svcidsi 3766/tcp

    When the installation was complete, I made sure to go into the WebSphere console and set the min/max for the JVM to 512m/1024m. The default was *much* too small, and even these number may not be high enough.

    Good luck to you! I feel like I solved the riddle of the Sphinx!

    – John

  11. John says:

    Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water… The notes below assume you are using Linux.

    Apparently IBM has done some re-branding, and now this tool is called the IBM Content Foundation Composite Platform Installation Tool, and they have improved it a bit. It is down to 26 tasks instead of 28. It also solves the missing file problem, doing away with the need to create that dir and links I mentioned in a previous response, so you need only comment out that line in /etc/services. Lastly, it shows that you would be installing Content Navigator 2.0.2, so you’ll need to download that (part CIN6XML).

    It does require downloading the new tool (part CIKW2EN), and new copies of the Content Engine and Content Engine Client (parts CIV1PML and CICV1UEN).

    Here’s a link to the list of packages/files needed:
    http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24034845

    I’ll come back here and post my results as soon as I can.

  12. John says:

    Another update. The IBM link in my last post has incorrect information, as it specifies using Cont Nav 2.0.2, but the tool only handles 2.0.1. Nor will it install Workplace XT. I am sticking with the non-Content Foundation version of the tool, despite having to do that minor link workaround – and that problem sure seems to have baffled both of us.

    Hope this helps,
    John

  13. Ivan says:

    Hello
    When you install IBM Case Manager V5.2 tool “IBM Case Manager V5.2 Platform Installation Tool Components” error occurs:
      (5/36) installTDS63.bat
      [INFO] Processing …
      [INFO] Process completed with exit code: -1
                               Status: ERROR
                               Additional Notes: [ERROR] ERROR in InvokeScripts-function – Terminate the remaining scripts.
                               Status: ERROR
                               Additional Notes: [ERROR] *** Aborting InvokeScripts-Install function.

    Archive data element imeetsya.Ya understand he sets en Tivoli?

  14. Joyanta Karmakar says:

    I have faced similar problem like Sergey and John faced. Here is the text copied from log file:
    OUTPUT>====================
    OUTPUT>Fri May 16 16:06:32 IST 2014
    OUTPUT>Update Status from PROCESSED_3=NO to PROCESSED_3=YES
    OUTPUT>Done updating.
    OUTPUT>Fri May 16 16:06:32 IST 2014
    OUTPUT>====================
    Process completed with exit code: 0

    Install-InvokeDescription: (4/28) installTDS63.sh
    invokeScript: /opt/IBM/cpit/install-scripts/installTDS63.sh

    Cmd: /opt/IBM/cpit/install-scripts/installTDS63.sh /opt/IBM/cpit/install-scripts /opt/IBM/cpit/decompressed /home/wbctapp1/DEMOIBM/ 32

    OUTPUT>==========================================
    OUTPUT>Begin installTDS63.sh
    OUTPUT>Fri May 16 16:06:32 IST 2014
    OUTPUT>==========================================
    OUTPUT>Setting Directories…
    OUTPUT>Fri May 16 16:06:32 IST 2014
    ERROR>chmod: cannot access `/opt/ibm’: No such file or directory
    OUTPUT>/opt/IBM/cpit/decompressed/TDS/tdsV6.3/tds
    ERROR>./install_tds.bin: line 1956: warning: here-document at line 1956 delimited by end-of-file (wanted `/dev/null’)
    OUTPUT>ERROR: /opt/IBM/ldap/V6.3/sbin/idsldif2db not found. TDS installation failed.
    Process completed with exit code: 1
    ERROR in InvokeScripts-function – Terminate the remaining scripts.
    ***Aborting InvokeScripts-Install function.
    ————-
    I could not understand whether instalation completed or not. Please advise what is to be done to get it solved.

  15. Joyanta Karmakar says:

    I have assignment to install IBM PIE product on RHEL 6.5. There are 6 servers installed among these 2 for Web Server, 2 for App Server 2 for DB Server. How do I install IBM PIE product in these servers. I assumed that ICN will be installed in 2 webservers and DB2 will be installed in 2 database server. Please guide me step by step or please provide the source of info for installation. I have gone through online Filenet Info center but didn’t understand about the installation process, order and steps. Please help me.

  16. WJCarpenter says:

    ERROR>./install_tds.bin: line 1956: warning: here-document at line 1956 delimited by end-of-file (wanted `/dev/null’)
    OUTPUT>ERROR: /opt/IBM/ldap/V6.3/sbin/idsldif2db not found. TDS installation failed.

    This one had me baffled for a long time. TDS has a tech note about it, saying in part how to work around it, and that they have never seen it on their supported platforms. Well, that irritated me because it is very plainly a syntax error in their “here” script.

    The cure, though, is to install ksh. bash treats it as an error, but ksh treats it as a warning and does the right thing. ksh is a documented pre-req for CPIT, but I don’t have handy the link where I found that fact.

  17. Yogesh says:

    I am new to filenet.
    I don’t know from where to download filenet software , so that i can learn installtion,can some one send me the essesntial softwares need to install filenet on CPIT.

    Thanks in Advance

  18. Marna says:

    Hi

    In my installation, I am also getting the dreaded “line 1956” error when it gets to the TDS part.

    Here is a checklist:
    – Using IBM Content Foundation CPIT
    – I have run “ln -s /bin/ksh /usr/bin/ksh”
    – I have run “mkdir /opt/IBM” and “ln -s /opt/IBM /opt/ibm”
    – ksh is installed

    In addition, all libraries (as described on http://www.notonlyanecmplace.com/install-filenet-p8-with-composite-platform-installation-tools/) are in place.

    After all of this, that error still comes up.

    I have no more ideas! Can anybody perhaps help?

    Thanks in advance.

  19. John Wong says:

    Hi, I have got past “line 1956? by running the installer within KSH.

  20. Petra says:

    Hi
    we have just created a singlebox image with CPIT Version 5.2.1.
    I have two questions:
    1. Why are two WAS Profiles created? ICN is deployed separately from CPE.
    2. Why is the new V 5.2.1 feature “Domain Type = Master Domain” not used. I wanted to try out the tenant domain configuration which is not possible with domain type “Standalone”.

    Thanks for reply

  21. Amit says:

    While trying to execute the file – “5.2.1-CPIT-LINUX.BIN”
    getting below error message –

    Could not display “/media/Extra_Space/FileNet 5…LINUX_EN/5.2.1-CPIT-LINUX.BIN”.
    The file is of unknown type

  22. Afif says:

    Hello
    I have the exact same problem as Sergey. I tried install IBM Case Manager 5.2.1 using CMPIT 5.2.1 for Windows
    The downloaded files are not corrupted.

    The idsldif2db executable just flat out does not exist anywhere on the sytem when the following error occurs:

    OUTPUT>====================
    OUTPUT>Start installTDS63.bat
    OUTPUT>23:09
    OUTPUT>setdirs running
    OUTPUT>Start setdirs.bat
    OUTPUT>Installing IBM Tivoli Directory Server from “C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\cmpit\decompressed\TDS\tds” …
    OUTPUT>(this will include installation of IBM DB2)
    OUTPUT>23:09
    OUTPUT>ERROR: TDS installation failed!
    OUTPUT>End installTDS63.bat
    OUTPUT>====================
    Process completed with exit code: -1

    Any help please

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