Rational Developer for System z

Distributing product updates

Rational® Developer for System z® provides tools for system administrators to create product installation updates and prompt client workstations to install the updates when they connect to a remote system.
This topic explains how to distribute product updates after Rational Developer for System z has been installed and configured on a remote system. To complete the tasks explained in this topic, the Rational Developer for System z pushtoclient.properties file must have been configured to distribute product updates. For information about push-to-client configuration, refer to the IBM® Rational Developer for System z Host Configuration Guide (SC23-7658).
While completing the tasks described in this topic, you might need to create or update the following files. The procedures in this topic explain how to update the files.
  • An IBM Installation Manager response file. This file enables workstations to complete an unattended product installation. For instructions for creating a response file, refer to the IBM Rational Developer for System z Installation Guide (GI11-8297).
  • An IBM Installation Manager product activation kit file. Product updates might require an activation kit for major version updates. If the product update requires a product activation kit, you can place the activation kit in a network location and refer to the location from the response file.
  • A key mapping file. This file defines the location of other files, such as installation response files and configuration files, that are distributed automatically to client workstations. The key mapping file is called keymapping.xml. Its default location on the z/OS® system is /var/rdz/pushtoclient.
  • An installation configuration file. This file defines the product offering IDs, a range of versions of Rational Developer for System z, and the name of the response file needed to install the product update. Rational Developer for System z scans the installation configuration file for an applicable product offering ID and installed version. If found, it launches Installation Manager with the specified response file. The installation configuration file is called installconfig.xml and is located in the path indicated by the <fileId>com.ibm.ftt.resources.zos.install.configuration</fileId> tag of the key mapping file.
  • A push-to-client properties file, called pushtoclient.properties. This file defines the location of the key mapping file. The default location of the pushtoclient.properties file on the z/OS system is /etc/rdz/. Refer to the IBM Rational Developer for System z Host Configuration Guide (SC23-7658) for more information about the pushtoclient.properties file.
When a client workstation connects to a remote system that has been configured to distribute product updates, Rational Developer for System z compares the client product version with a range of versions defined in the installation configuration file. If the installed version is in this range, Rational Developer for System z shuts down the workbench and starts IBM Installation Manager using a response file downloaded from the remote system.

This topic explains how to update the installation configuration file and key mapping file for distributing product updates.

To create and distribute product updates:

  1. Create an IBM Installation Manager response file for the product installation that you want to distribute. For instructions for creating a response file, refer to the IBM Rational Developer for System z Installation Guide (GI11-8297).
    Important: If user authentication is required to access the code repository for the update, then users must save their user ID and password in IBM Installation Manager.
  2. Create or update the installation configuration file to indicate the range of product versions that will trigger an update and the response file for installing the update. For instructions for creating or updating the installation configuration file, see Updating the installation configuration file in this topic.
  3. Update the key mapping file to point to the installation configuration file and the response file. For instructions for updating the key mapping file, see Updating the key mapping file in this topic.

Updating the installation configuration file

To create or update the installation configuration file:

  1. Create or edit the installconfig.xml file. If this file already exists, you can add entries for the installation to this file. If the file does not already exist, you can copy the sample installation configuration file shown at the end of this procedure, modify it for your installation, and save it to the z/OS server. The installation configuration file is a UTF-8 encoded XML file.
  2. Specify the following values for the tags:
    <installedOffering id="installedOfferingID">
    Specify the offering ID of the product you want to distribute updates for. You can specify an offering ID for any product installed in the same package group as Rational Developer for System z. The offering ID is stored in the <offering> tag of the response file. The following is an example of this tag:
    <offering id='com.ibm.rational.developer.systemz.v80' version='8.0.1.20101014_0505' profile='IBM Software Delivery Platform' features='listOfInstalledFeatures'/>
    Specify the value in the id attribute of the offering tag for the id attribute in <installedOffering id="installedOfferingID">.
    <install installedVersion="[minimumVersionInclusive, maximumVersionInclusive] | (minimumVersionExclusive, maximumVersionExclusive)" responsefile="fileName">
    Specify a range of product versions to be updated and the name of the response file needed to install the product update.

    You can specify the value for installedVersion as an inclusive, exclusive, or mixed range:

    • To specify a range of product versions that includes the minimum and maximum versions, use square brackets. installedVersion="[8.0.1, 8.0.2]" prompts an installation update for product versions 8.0.1, 8.0.2, and all versions between this range.
    • To specify a range of product versions that excludes the minimum and maximum versions, use parentheses. installedVersion="(8.0.1, 8.0.2)" prompts an installation update for product versions greater than 8.0.1 but less than 8.0.2.
    • You can mix brackets and parentheses to specify a range that includes one end of the range but excludes the other:
      • installedVersion="(8.0.1, 8.0.2]" prompts an installation update for product versions greater than 8.0.1 but less than or equal to 8.0.2.
      • installedVersion="[8.0.1, 8.0.2)" prompts an installation update for product versions greater than or equal to 8.0.1 but less than 8.0.2.
    If the version currently installed on a client workstation is within the installedVersion range, Rational Developer for System z launches Installation Manager using the response file specified in the responseFile attribute.
    The version numbers must include at least the major version number. It optionally can include minor version, micro version, and qualifier: major[.minor[.micro[.qualifier]]] The following examples show valid version numbers for the installedVersion attribute:
    8
    8.0
    8.0.0
    8.0.0.20100607_1333
  3. Place the installation configuration file and the response file on the z/OS server and point to that location in the key mapping file.
The installation configuration file is a UTF-8 encoded XML file that contains one or more sets of <installedOffering> tags that define a target product offering ID and one or more pairs of installed version ranges and response file names. Rational Developer for System z processes the following sample installation configuration file as follows:
  • Scans the file until it finds a product offering ID that matches the ID of any product installed in the same package group as the currently-running version of Rational Developer for System z. For example, if a client has installed and is running Rational Developer for System z in the same package group as Rational Team Concert™, then the matching offering ID can be either com.ibm.team.install.rtc.client.eclipse or com.ibm.rational.developer.systemz.java.v80.
  • If the current product version of the matching offering ID falls within the range provided in any of the pairs of <installedVersion> and <responseFile> attributes, Rational Developer for System z launches Installation Manager using the response file. If the Rational Team Concert version, for example, is greater than or equal to 3.0.0 and less than 3.0.1, Rational Developer for System z launches Installation Manager using the response file update_rtc_from_300_to_301.xml.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<installConfig>
   <installedOffering id="com.ibm.rational.developer.systemz.java.v80">
      <install
         installedVersion="[8.0.1, 8.0.2)"
         responseFile="update_rdzjava_from_801_to_802.xml">
      </install>
      <install
         installedVersion="[8.1.0, 8.1.1)"
         responseFile="update_rdzjava_from_810_to_811.xml">
      </install>
   </installedOffering>
   <installedOffering id="com.ibm.team.install.rtc.client.eclipse">
      <install
         installedVersion="[3.0.0, 3.0.1)"
         responseFile="update_rtc_from_300_to_301.xml">
      </install>
   </installedOffering>
   <installedOffering id="com.ibm.teamz.rdz.ext">
      <install
         installedVersion="[3.0.0, 3.0.1)"
         responseFile="update_rtcrdzext_from_300_to_301.xml">
      </install>
   </installedOffering>
</installConfig>

Updating the key mapping file

You can update the key mapping file by using the export wizard or by editing it manually. For instructions for using the export wizard see Exporting push-to-client configuration files. To update the key mapping file by editing it manually, do these steps:

  1. Create or edit the /var/rdz/pushtoclient/keymapping.xml file. If this file already exists, you can add entries for the product update to this file. If the file does not already exist, you can copy the sample key mapping file shown at the end of this procedure and save it to the location indicated by the pushtoclient.folder property of the pushtoclient.properties file. The key mapping file is a UTF-8 encoded XML file.
  2. Include one set of <location> tags for each installation configuration file and each response file you want to point to.
  3. Specify the following values for the tags:
    <fileId>
    Specify com.ibm.ftt.resources.zos.install.configuration for the installation configuration file and com.ibm.ftt.resources.zos.install.response for the response file.
    <containerPath>
    Specify the location of the installation configuration file or response file on the z/OS server.
    <fileMask>
    Specify the name of the installation configuration file or response file.
    <encoding>
    Specify the encoding of the installation configuration file or response file.
  4. Save the key mapping file to the location indicated by the pushtoclient.folder property of the pushtoclient.properties file.

The key mapping file is a UTF-8 encoded XML file that stores the names, locations, and character encodings of configuration files used in a Rational Developer for System z push-to-client configuration environment. In the following sample key mapping file, the administrator has placed installconfig.xml in the /var/rdz/pushtoclient/install directory and the response files in the /var/rdz/pushtoclient/install/responsefiles directory of the z/OS server.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <configuration-system>
   <location-list>
	   <location>
   		<fileId>com.ibm.ftt.resources.zos.install.configuration</fileId>
  		<containerPath>/var/rdz/pushtoclient/install</containerPath>
  		<fileMask>installconfig.xml</fileMask>
  		<encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
   	</location>
	  <location>
		  <fileId>com.ibm.ftt.resources.zos.install.response</fileId>
		  <containerPath>/var/rdz/pushtoclient/install/responsefiles</containerPath>
		  <fileMask>update_*.xml</fileMask>
		  <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
	  </location>
   </location-list>
 </configuration-system>

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