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Installation Verification Utility
A tool that compares two different software installations using MD5 and displays any differences, including extra or missing files.
Date Posted: July 8, 2004
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Yes, you can modify the scripts in any way. They are provided as samples for using the tool. One good way to modify the scripts is to point the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to the PATH variable for your system. | | |
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Comparing a full or partial softare installation
The most important use of this tool is in comparing a full or partial softare installation against another full or partial installation on the physical machine or a different machine. The trick is that the relative paths must be the same, but the actual (absolute) path may vary from installation to installation.
With the new features provided by this tool, this process is even easier because you can include or exclude paths or files through the command line arguments. If, for example, you combine the -all and -exclude arguments, you can specify a subset of files much more quickly and easily.
Baseline snapshot capture after installation of a fix to software
Another important use case is the baseline snapshot capture for the installation of a fix. Let's say that you have installed some software and you take a snapshot of your file system with this tool. By default, the a copy of the snapshot is saved with the timestamp of when you last created this snapshot. If you install a fix and manually validate that the fix was properly installed, you can now take another snapshot with this tool and keep both the new and the old snapshots as part of your audit trail for system administration. This is very useful in identifying unknown modifcations of your file system before and after applying fixes.
Rolling back fixes and comparing former baseline snapshots
Now, in the previous use case, suppose you roll back a fix. Having the previous snapshot saved allows you to verify that the rollback of the fix was successful.
Pinpointing software installation issues in depth with archive files
The best feature to keep in mind is that, by default, this tool looks inside archive files and provides a snapshot of the archive as well as of the file system. This is the trick to identifying complex problems with archive files, especially in a Java system using JAR files. | | |
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The following are examples of what you can do with this product. This product is not limited to these examples only.
- Using the product against NFS mounts
You can use this tool to verify systems mounted via NFS. You must expect that the tool will take longer to complete its results due to the network overhead provided by NFS. All you would have to do is to specify the NFS mounted directories within the proper tool arguments.
The sample reference sets provided (denoted by sys.sample.*.inv) contain a sample reference set that can be used to compare with your system.
The current sample provided is for WebSphere Application Server (WSAS). The file name indicates what WSAS version and platform the reference sets are for. For example, execute the utility with the sample reference set as follows:
installver.sh -verify sys.sample.wsasv51.linux.referenceset.inv -installroot /myinstallroot
- Using the offline comparison capability
Use this feature to compare files offline (away from your main server(s)).
To use offline comparison, simply obtain two inventory files from two different installations. Once you have this, invoke the tool in the following fashion:
installver.sh -compare reference.inv install.inv
- Dealing with an OutOfMemory message reported by this tool
It is unlikely that this tool would cause an OutOfMemory message. In the event that it does, modify the execution scripts to increment the -Xmx argument for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) you are working with. See the JVM's documentation for further information.
- Looking at the live demos
The live demos are Flash files that illustrate the tool's usage. If you have any feedback on this or anything else, please let us know through the forum.
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The following is a list of things to check if you cannot execute the installver.jar file properly or if you cannot obtain the reference set (sys.inv) properly.
- Make sure you are using at least the 1.3.1 version of the JRE.
- Make sure that the user that is executing the installver process has the proper read permissions for the file structure or execute permission for the program.
- Make sure that you are specifying the proper valid paths for any specified argument.
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