I’ve started experimenting with the new IBM WebSphere Portal 8 (Enable version).  My first adventure that I’d like to share with you was downloading and installing this new version.  I’ve installed previos versions of Portal many, many times starting with version 5.0.  So I jumped onto the IBM website, found the install images and started up the download.

First, the download is bigger than in previous versions.  In previous versions, I downloaded 6 images for a total of around 4gb.  With this version, I had to download 10 images (2 for IBM Installation Manager, 3 for WebSphere, and 5 for Portal Enable) that took up almost 7gb.  I uncompressed all the files into one directory as required, which I called Portal8.

I was installing this on a VMWare server running Windows 2003, which I previously used.  That server had 20gb allocated to it. Well, with Windows taking several gb and the downloaded images expanding to over 8gb, I was under the recommended available disk size for the installation (8gb).  As you’ll see in reading the rest of this port, at this point I should have gone back and checked the system requirements closer.  But I was too excited to start the installation, and unfortunately it takes longer to request a change to VM disk space than I was willing to wait.  I knew that I could run the install from a network drive, but our network seemed really slow for these VMs.

To try to get enough disk space for the install, I decided to install just IBM Installation Manager (IIM) first (146mb on disk), then remove the IIM installation software, which included zip files for all the supported operating systems. On a side note, it would be nice to not have to download all that extra software for Linux, Solaris, zOS, etc. when all I want is a Windows version!  I ended up deleting just enough to get me the available space I needed.

After installing IIM, I had to point to the repository configurations for WebSphere, Portal, and Enable using IIM’s preferences dialog.  Each repository configuration is in a file in the main directory for these components.

I started the installation through IIM, selected WAS, Portal, and Portal Enable to install, and then selected the WAS fixpacks to install from a list IIM presented to me. Funny thing is, IIM showed me fixpacks for all operating systems, not just the one I was running.

Once I deciphered what was targeted for Windows, I clicked next and encountered my first real problem.  I got this message: “A supported operating system was not detected.”

I immediately went to the info center to look at the system requirements.  Sure enough, Windows 2003 is no longer supported.  Windows 7, Windows 2008, and Windows Vista Enterprise are the only versions supported in WebSphere Portal 8.   I guess I should have read the requirements more closely!  (Yes, I’m laughing at me too.)

So its back to square one.  I’ll request an updated VM from my IT people.  This time, I’ll get more disk space along with the correct operating system.  I’ll also make sure they add more memory as the Info Center says that 4GB is now the minimum amount.

Just so you don’t get stuck in this same situation, I’ve summarized the new requirements here.

Recent Blog Posts

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Considering Open Source Options for Your Portal Solution? Wed, May 22nd 2013 11:18a Glenn Kline Potential WebSphere Portal customers often consider whether they should leverage an open source technology or purchase a leading horrizontal portal product such as WebSphere Portal. The 2013 IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference had a session titled “Considering Open Source Options for Your Exceptional Web Experience Solution?: Explore TCO and How Free” delivered by Robert Lezon, East IMT Business Value Assessment Leader, IBM; Mary Byrd Nance, Executive Consultant, IBM. The s [read] Keywords: ibm community database development enterprise integration security websphere websphere portal

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Social Web Experiences at the Web Experience Conference Tue, May 21st 2013 11:15a Glenn Kline The IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference session “Social Web Experiences leveraging the Power of IBM Connections and WebSphere Portal” was delivered by Mac Guidera, Social Business Evangelist, IBM and Jon Brunn, IBM Connection Architect, IBM. The session focused on bringing WebSphere Portal and Connections together in a single cohesive solution leveraging the capabilities of both products to deliver unified customer or employee experience. Background The session started with [read] Keywords: administration connections ibm application community integration mac portlet websphere websphere portal

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2013 IBM Exceptional Web Experience Opening General Session Tue, May 21st 2013 9:15a Glenn Kline The 2013 IBM Exceptional Web Experience Conference takes place from 5/20 to 5/23 and was kicked off by a Larry Bowden, Vice President, Portals and Digital Experience Software, with a overview of the progression of portals from 2001 to 2013. The session focused on IBM’s digital experience direction and how various technologies and concepts are converging today. Mobile, content and rich media, analytics, social, integration and cloud are at the heart of this of convergence. A few of [read] Keywords: connections ibm applications enterprise integration mobile portlet websphere

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Digital Asset Management in IBM Digital Experience Mon, May 20th 2013 10:14a Mark Polly I mentioned in a previous blog how IBM is integrating Digital Asset Management (DAM) into WebSphere Portal and Web Content Management. At the IBM Exceptional Web Conference, IBM’s Stephan Hepper is demoing this integration. The DAM is actually the MediaBeacon product and IBM and MediaiBeacon has created seamless integration between the products. By combining both products, you get a really great DAM solution in IBM’s flagship product. IBM is also planning to integrate this with [read] Keywords: connections ibm integration websphere websphere portal

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But Don’t Stalk Me Fri, May 10th 2013 6:21a Michael Porter Back in March, I mentioned a Global Survey Oracle did on customer experience. That’s been a hot topic of late in my world. As part of that survey, they continue to build off of the nuggets of information found in that survey. Emil Fernandez pointed me to an update on that survey that includes a video on millenials and how they wish to engage or be engaged. The short video highlights a few way they would prefer to engage. I found it hilarious that at about 45 seconds, one teenager say [read] Keywords: oracle

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Portal Beauty and the User Experience Thu, May 9th 2013 6:18a Michael Porter Dr. Marci Stochak-Chavez just posted an article on our health blog somewhat related to yesterday’s post. She focuses on whether beauty is in the eye of the beholder for a portal. In here article, she references a design a portal challenge in New York City. This challenge pushes contestants to create a nice interface while also using key standards like the Blue Button and the Direct Protocol to transmit medical records. Dr. Marci makes one quote it’s easy to agree with. I be [read] Keywords: interface

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If You Build a Patient Portal Why Won’t They Come? Wed, May 8th 2013 6:21a Michael Porter Joe Jacobellis, a member of the Design Experience team at a client pointed out this interesting article about patient portals by Steve Wilkins. It’s titled, “If You Build a Patient Portal Why Won’t They Come?“ Before you read it, let me give you some history: The Affordable Care Act mandates that all patients have access to their medical record (lab test, allergies, discharge instructions, etc.) In various stages, hospitals and clinics need to give you electronic acc [read] Keywords: community email integration mobile

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Salesforce Communities: The Portal is Dead…Long Live the Portal Thu, May 2nd 2013 6:18p Axel Newe Today Salesforce.com announced its long awaited release of Communities, which in Salesforce’s own words ended the era of legacy portal software. These are heady words, but Salesforce may have actually created something that is taking the portal concept into a different direction. The motor that is driving Communities is Chatter, Salesforce’s social collaboration platform. Salesforce.com used to have distinct offerings for Partner and Customer portals. With Communities, Partners, [read] Keywords: collaboration applications

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Gartner Keynote: Don Norman on emotion Wed, May 1st 2013 4:18p Jonathan Distad Don Norman is well known cognitive scientist who has spoken and written extensively on emotion and design in everyday things. Today he is speaking at the Gartner Portal, Content and Collaboration Summit in San Diego. He talked about how why and how emotions drive our decisions and our behaviors. Something that we all know is important but in IT we often focus on the function and too little on the emotion. Employees are people. If they are seen as a cost center that is a missed opportunit [read] Keywords: collaboration application applications email google microsoft mobile server

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The Mobile Workspace – Connect, Share, Collaborate and Collide Wed, May 1st 2013 4:18p Glenn Kline The Gartner Portals, Content & Collaboration Summit 2013 provided an intriguing panel discussion called “The Mobile Workspace – Connect, Share, Collaborate and Collide.“ The attendees included Ken Parmelee – mobile and wireless, Karen Hobert – security and risk strategy consultant, Mike Gotta – social software analyst and Daryl Plummer of Gartner. The discussion was lively and informative and focused on the dynamics of mobility in the workspace where [read] Keywords: collaboration policies applications enterprise mobile security social software wireless workspace