Help/Systems SEQUEL Software PowerTech Skybot Software
Help/Systems
The World's Leader in IBM iSeries Software Solutions
Home › Installing Robot Browser Interface 2.0

Installing Robot Browser Interface 2.0

Product: 
Robot Browser Interface

Before You Begin

Read these instructions completely before you begin.

The Robot Browser Interface is a Web browser-based interface that allows you to access various Help/Systems products on multiple servers from your PC, laptop, or PDA using standard Web browser software (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox). You can use the Robot Browser Interface with the following products: Robot/ ALERT, Robot/NETWORK, Robot/REPORTS, Robot/ SCHEDULE, and Robot/ SPACE.

The installation process calls a Help/Systems program to create or change the two Help/Systems user profiles. RBTUSER and RBTADMIN. The RBTUSER and RBTADMIN profiles were created for the following reasons:

  • They satisfy requests from corporate auditors that our objects be owned differently from IBM objects.
  • They allow us to build a secure product for your environment.
  • They isolate Help/Systems products from IBM changes to the QPGMR or QSECOFR profile defaults.

Considerations for Robot Browser Interface 2.0

  • This Help/FACTS describes how to install and access the Robot Browser Interface. There are three parts to this process:
    • Install the Robot Browser Interface on your Login Server (also known as the Database Server).
    • Install the Robot Browser Interface on your Portal Server (also known as the Web server).
    • Access the Robot Browser Interface.
  • Your Login Server must be a System i server. If you have multiple System i machines, you must decide which System i to use based on the following considerations:
    • The Login Server is the server that is used to validate Robot Browser Interface users.
    • Each Robot Browser Interface user must have a user profile on the Login Server.
    • You must have the licensed program, Host Servers, installed on this server.
  • Your Portal Server can be a System i, Windows, UNIX, or Linux server. You must decide which server to use, based on the following considerations:
    • The Portal Server is the server that users connect to when they access the Robot Browser Interface.
    • Depending on the server, you need the software and hardware shown in the table on the following page.
 Server  Software  Hardware
 Windows Windows XP SP2 Pro
Windows 2003
Windows Vista		 Hardware needed to meet Windows minimum requirements
30 MB of disk space
256 MB of RAM
 UNIX/Linux Sun Solaris 9 OS
AIX 5.3, plus required patches for Java 1.5
HP-UX 11.23 (11i v2)
Linux x86 Kernel version 2		 A server with a 400 MHz, or higher, CPU
30 MB of disk space
256 MB of RAM
 System i

i5/OS V5R3, V5R4, or V6R1

Licensed Programs for V5R4
5722SS1 opt 12—Host Servers
5722SS1 opt 30—OS/400—Q Shell Interpreter
5722SS1 opt 33—Portable App Solutions Environment
5722JV1 opt 7—Java Developer Kit 5.0
5722SS1 opt 35—CCA Cryptographic Service Provider

Licensed Programs for V6R1
5761SS1 opt 12—Host Servers
5761SS1 opt 30—OS/400—Q Shell Interpreter
5761SS1 opt 33—Portable App Solutions Environment
5761JV1 opt 7—Java Developer Kit 5.0
5761SS1 opt 35—CCA Cryptographic Service Provider

Licensed Programs for V7R1
• 5770SS1 opt 12—Host Servers
• 5770SS1 opt 30—OS/400—Q Shell Interpreter
• 5770SS1 opt 33—Portable App Solutions Environment
• 5761JV1 opt 11—Java SE 6 32 bit
• 5770SS1 opt 35—CCA Cryptographic Service Provider

 50 MB of disk space

To use the following portlets, the Robot products need to be at a minimum of the following levels:

Robot Product Minimum Level
Robot/SCHEDULE 10.0

Robot/SPACE

 2.0
Robot/NETWORK 10.0
Robot/REPORTS 7.0
Robot/ALERT 5.0

Installing on the Login Server

  1. Download the .hs file from the Help/Systems Web site and follow the installation instructions.
  2. Select the option to install the Robot Browser Interface on your System i. This option installs the RBTPORLIB library on your System i.
  • If your System i is also your Portal (Web) server, when you are installing the RBTPORLIB library, select *YES for the Install Web Server option. Selecting this option creates a helpsystems directory in the Integrated File System (IFS) on the System i and copies the necessary software to the directory. You can use the command RBTPORLIB/PORCHGPORT to change the port number after the installation process. Continue with the section, Starting the Portal Server.
  • If your Portal server is a Windows server, see Installing on a Windows Portal Server.
  • If your Portal server is a UNIX or Linux server, see Installing on a UNIX or Linux Portal Server.

Installing on a Windows Portal Server

  1. Download the setuprbi2.exe file from the Help/Systems Web site (listed under Robot Browser Interface Trial downloads).
  2. Double-click setuprbi2.exe.

     

  3. Follow the instructions that display to complete the installation:
    • You are prompted for a port number. The default number is 8008.

      • Important: If you are already using this port for a different purpose, select a different port number and remember it.

    • Enter a password for the administrator; the password is case-sensitive.

      • Important: Remember this password.

    • You are asked whether to run the Robot Browser Interface as a Service (the Robot Browser Interface will run even when no one is logged on to this server). The default is yes.
    • Assuming you answered yes to Step 5C, you are asked whether to start the service (this starts the Portal server on this platform—Windows). The default is yes.

    4. After the installation completes, the URL and port number you use to connect to the Robot Browser Interface are displayed.

    Important: Remember the URL and port number.

  4. Continue with Starting the Portal Server.

Installing on a UNIX or Linux Portal Server

To install the Robot Browser Interface on a UNIX or Linux Portal Server, you must have Java 1.5 installed and your JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set. If you are unsure whether, or where, Java 1.5 is installed, contact your system administrator.

Part I: Copy the unix-portal.tar File to Your UNIX Portal Server

  1. Download the unix-portal.tar file from the Help/Systems Web site (listed under Robot Browser Interface Trial downloads.
  2. Use FTP to copy the unix-portal.tar file in BIN (binary) mode to your home directory on the UNIX or Linux system.

    3. Note: It is very important that you copy the file using BIN mode.

Part II: Install the Portal Server Software

Do the following on the UNIX or Linux Portal server where you copied the unix-portal.tar file:

  1. Type pwd and press Enter.
  2. The home directory and your username should display: /home/<username>. If they do not display, use the cd command to change to the home directory.
  3. Enter the ls -al command to verify that the unix-portal.tar file is in the home directory. If the file is not in the home directory, locate it and copy it to the directory, or repeat Part I if necessary.
  4. Enter the following command to make a temporary directory for the installation:

    5. mkdir temp

  5. Enter the following command to change to the temporary directory:

    6. cd temp

  6. Enter the following command to expand the tar file:

    7. tar xf .. /unix-portal.tar

  7. Enter the following command to verify that three files were extracted from the tar file:

    8. ls -al

  8. Three files should be listed: portal_inst.sh, portal.distribution, and tomcat.tar. If one or more of these files is missing, repeat steps 6 and 7.
  9. Enter the following command to verify that your JAVA_HOME environment variable is pointing to the correct path for the Java 1.5 directory:

    10. echo $JAVA_HOME

  10. This command should display the JAVA 1.5 directory. If the directory does not display, your JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set. Contact your system administrator to determine the directory where Java 1.5 is installed.
  11. After the JAVA_HOME environment variable is set, enter the following command to install the Robot Browser Interface on your UNIX or Linux server:

    12. ./portal_inst.sh

  12. Follow the instructions that display to complete the installation, including specifying the port the Robot Browser Interface should use to communicate.

    13. Note: The Portal Server can use any port number to communicate. However, some UNIX or Linux servers allow only the ‘root’ user to use the ports between 1 and 1024. If you are unsure about which port number to specify for the Portal Server, please contact your system system administrator.

  13. Continue with the section, Starting the Portal Server.

Starting the Portal Server

The Portal Server must be active before you can use the Robot Browser Interface. The following table describes how to start the Portal Server on each platform. After you start the Portal Server, see the Accessing the Robot Browser Interface.

Type of Portal Server How to Start
System i Enter the following command on the server:
RBTPORLIB/PORSTARTUP
Windows If you chose to run the Robot Browser Interface as a service (by answering Yes in Step 2), it should be running. If it is not running, display the list of services, select Robot Browser Interface, and click Start.
If you did not select to run Robot Browser Interface as a service, do the following to start: click Start->Programs->Help Systems->Robot Browser Interface 2-> start.
UNIX/Linux
 Enter the following command (case sensitive) on the server from the directory in which you installed the Robot Browser Interface:
./startPortal.shStarting

Accessing the Robot Browser Interface

The final step in the installation process is to access the Robot Browser Interface. To do this, open a Web browser and enter the URL of the Portal Server, which is the IP address of the Portal Server plus its port number, in the format http://IPaddress:portnumber.

Example
http://xxx.xx.x.xxx:8008

Using the Robot Browser Interface on a System i

The host server programs *DATABASE and *RMTCMD must be running on any System i that will be using the Robot Browser Interface. To verify whether these servers are running, do the following from the System i

  1. Type the command NETSTAT
  2. Select option 3.
  3. Look under Local Port for as-data and as-rmtcmd. If these servers are not in a Listen state, enter the following command(s) to start them:

STRHOSTSVR *RMTCMD

STRHOSTSVR *DATABASE

Configuring the Robot Browser Interface

After you have entered the URL and accessed the Robot Browser Interface Login page, log in as the Robot Browser Interface Administrator.

  • If the Portal Server software is running on a System i server, the default username and password are ADMIN and ADMIN, both uppercase.
  • If the Portal Server software is running on a UNIX, Linux, or Windows server, there is no default username and password (for security reasons). You must enter the username and password that you provided during installation. The password is case-sensitive.

The Portal Server Configuration page displays and you can start the configuration process. For detailed configuration instructions, see the Robot Browser Interface User Guide.

Note: To configure the Robot Browser Interface Portal Server to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for greater security, refer to the Help/FACTS Using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) with the Robot Browser Interface.

After You Are Done

You can display an online version of the user documentation from the Help/Systems download page and Help/FACTS page.

Note: The Help/Systems installation process restored in the following three libraries to your system for use during installation: HSBOOT, RBTCDRLIB, and HSSAVF. In case you are doing multiple installations, we do not remove them from your system. You can delete them when you have finished your installations.

Updated Dec. 20, 2010