So giving WSO2 a testdrive is a very sensible thing to do. But how do you install WSO2 products?
Prerequisites
Since WSO2 is an open source java product (with lots of Apache projects), a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Java Development Kit (JDK) is necessary. At this moment (May 2016) most WSO2 products run on Oracle Java 8 (Open JDK is not supported / Tested).
Please visit the Oracle Java website to download and install the desired Java version. If you are not going to do Java development the JRE suffices, otherwise the JDK is needed. Be sure to set JAVA_HOME to point at the Java environment and add the Java/bin directory to your path in order to use some of the java tools that come with the JRE or JDK.
Where to download
Downloading the WSO2 products should be done via the WSO2 website. It shows the lastest version of all of the middleware WSO2 product and several older versions as well (if you are looking for a specific product). In order to download the binary version (that is the version you can use with compilation) you click the download link and enter your details. WSO2 likes to know who downloads their products.
Each of the product varies in size between 250 to 500 MB of data, a decent internet connection is necessary in order to download it in a reasonable amount of time. IF you want to, you can check whether the checksum of the file matches the MD5 checksum on the website. Look here [INSERT LINK] for instructions how to calculate a checksum.
The file itself is a zip file that you can unpack on either Windows, Mac or Linux environments. When you unzip you create a directory structure that will host all files. For the WSO2 ESB the directory could be WSO2ESB-4.9.0 with a nested structure underneath that level (e.g. /BIN, /REPOSITORY, /SAMPLES and so on).
Because Windows has limitations with regards to the path length, install close to the root in order to avoid error with path length errors.
In general, Linux is the preferred OS for deployment in a production environment. It will run on Windows too, but with some products (e.g. WSO2 BAM or DAS) additional software like CYGWIN is needed since native linux commands are used in that product.
Where to deploy
As said before, deployment can be on Windows or Linux (Mac is in this case just a Linux flavor) and this can be on your regular PC, a server or even a cloud based server like an Azure or AWS instance.
The specifications needed are roughly:
- Core Intel i3/I5/I7 or equivalent processor
- Minimum of 4 GB of diskspacce
- Minimum of 2 GB of Internal memory (more is better but more than 8 GB is overkill)
Mind you this is a barebones installation, presuming the OS as well as JDK / JRE and other tools are already available.
How to install WSO2
The installation is really easy. Just copy the zip file to the location where you want it and unzip the file. Barring any errors or additional setup (a port opffset when multiple WSO2 products are installed on the same server), the product can be started right away.
How to run
When you want to start the product, navigate to the /BIN directory in the main or home directory of the product (e.g. WSO2ESB-4.9.0) and do the following:
For Windows: click the WSO2SERVER.BAT file or start it from a command window;
For Linux: open a terminal session and type: ./wso2server.sh
After that, watch the console that opens up to see the progress of the startup. When you see a message that indicates that the console is ready (e.g. https://[IP.address]:9443/carbon) you know that the product has started and you can access the product via the Management UI on the URL.
Just copy it to the browser (add security exceptions or accept the risk of an insecure connection, WSO2 has a selfsigned certificate) and soon you will see the login screen where you can login with the user Id ‘admin’ and the password ‘admin’. Of course without quotes and all lower caps.
If you succeeded, you have downloaded and installed WSO2 and see a screen like this:
ERROR?
If for whatever reason you het an error, check the documentation of WSO2 (including internet resources likeStackoverflow, OxygenTank and other sites) for more information. In many cases a hint is actually in on the console that will help you find a answer.
If you have any questions about this blogpost contact us via the comments section of this blog. View also our WSO2 Tutorials, webinars or white papers for more technical information. Need support? We do deliver WSO2 Product Support, WSO2 Development Support, WSO2 Operational Support and WSO2 Training Programs.
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