Preinstallation Tasks for the Server Installation

Learn what to do before you begin the server installation.

  1. Verify that the operating system meets the version-level, RAM, and network protocol requirements for your platform.
  2. Read the release bulletins for the latest information on the products (Adaptive Server, Monitor Server, and so on) that you are installing. Check for any special installation instructions in the “Special Installation Instructions” section of the release bulletin.
  3. Install operating system patches, if required.
  4. Ensure that the account used to start the server has read and write permissions over the directory in which you are installing the server. You may need to create non-administrative logins to install the server into personal directories.
  5. If you are installing on a Linux system and unset the LD_ASSUME_KERNEL variable before installing the server.
  6. Ensure you have the required operating system patches for the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 6.

    Information about the required operating system patches is available from the IBM Java Web site.

  7. Review the SySAM procedures and plan your server configuration using the configuration guide for your platform. If you are installing the Cluster Edition, configuration information is in the installation guide for your platform. See the Cluster Users Guide for detailed information on configuration options.
  8. Create a “sybase” account on your system to perform all installation tasks.

    The “sybase” user must have permission privileges from the top (or root) of the disk partition or operating system directory down to the specific physical device or operating system file.

  9. Log in to the machine as the “sybase” user.

    Maintain consistent ownership and privileges for all files and directories. A single user—the Sybase system administrator with read, write, and execute permissions—should perform all installation, upgrade, and setup tasks.

  10. If you are installing Adaptive Server 15.5 over an existing Adaptive Server 15.0.x version, and the Java in the database feature is enabled, perform these steps:
    1. Create the sybpcidb database, which stores configuration information for the Pluggable Component Interface (PCI) and all Pluggable Component Adapter (PCA) components. This database is used by the installpcidb script. For example:
      1> disk init
      2> name = “sybpcidb_dev”,
      3> physname = “${SYBASE}/data/sybpcidb_dev.dat”,
      4>size = '24MB'
      5>go
      6> create database sybpcidb on sybpcidb_dev = 24
      7> go

      • The device and database sizes depend on the Adaptive Server page size:
        • 2k page size – 24MB

        • 4k page size – 48MB

        • 8k page size – 96MB

        • 16k page size – 192MB

    2. If you are upgrading from a 15.0.x Adaptive Server, disable the Java feature before you upgrade, and reenable it after you have finished the upgrade. To disable the Java feature, use:
    1> sp_configure 'enable java',0
    2> go
  11. Decide where to install the software. Ensure there is sufficient available disk space. There cannot be any spaces in the path name of the directory.
  12. Know the product edition you are installing. The options are:

    • Enterprise Edition — no license type needed

    • Small Business Edition — license type needed

    • Developers Edition — license type needed

    For more information about license types, see the Getting and Using your License section of the Sybase Software Asset Management Users Guide.
    Note: Sybase recommends that you specify license types at the time of installation. However, you may choose to specify the product edition and license type later using sp_lmconfig. For information on sp_lmconfig, see Reference Manual:Procedures.
  13. You must decide if you want licensing events to trigger e-mail alerts and the severity of the events that generate e-mail messages.

    If you choose to have e-mail notifications for license events, you must know the:


    • SMTP server host name

    • Port number for an SMTP server

    • E-mail return address

    • Recipients of the notifications

    • Severity level of an event that triggers mail. Your choices are:


      • None

      • Informational

      • Warning

      • Error

  14. Verify that your network software is configured.

    Sybase software uses network software even if Adaptive Server and Sybase client applications are installed on a machine that is not connected to a network.

    If you are having connection problems, or to verify your network configuration, ping the host.

  15. To optimize asynchronous I/O and to prevent the paging of shared memory, you must grant MLOCK permissions before you install Adaptive Server. To grant MLOCK permissions to a group, enter:
    /etc/privgrp add mlock <group name>
    or:
    /etc/setprivgrp <group name> MLOCK
  16. The operating system shared memory default, for most Linux releases is 32MB. The minimum required by Adaptive Server is 64MB for default Server with 2K pages. A higher value is required if you plan to increase Adaptive Server’s total memory. Set the stack size to unlimited to avoid shared memory attachment problems. Set this using ulimit -s unlimitedon Bourne Shell, or limit stacksize unlimited on C-Shell.
  17. Use the sysctl(8) method to check and adjust the operating system shared memory parameter: To check the current shared memory size, enter:
    # /sbin/sysctl kernel.shmmax
    To adjust the shared memory size at runtime, enter the following, where nnn is 1073741824 for 1GB of shared memory:
    # /sbin/sysctl -w kernel.shmmax=nnn
    Note: The default operating system shared memory for some older Linux releases is 32MB. The minimum required by Adaptive Server is 64MB for a default server with 2K pages. A higher value is required if you plan to increase the Adaptive Server total memory.
  18. To guarantee that the minimum operating shared value is applied every time the system is started, edit the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
  19. On Linux RHEL Update 4.0 and greater, Adaptive Server version 15.x running on multiple engines requires the security feature Exec-Shield to be disabled. To disable Exec-Shield:
    1. Add the following lines in /etc/sysctl.conf:
      kernel.exec-shield=0
      kernel.exec-shield-randomize=0
      On RHEL Update 5.0
      kernel.exec-shield=0
      kernel.randomize_va_space=0
    2. As super user (root), for the action to take effect, enter:
      /sbin/sysctl -P

      For additional information, see the Red Hat website.