Installation planning

You must read the installation planning information before you begin the installation of your product. Effective planning and an understanding of the key aspects of the installation process can help decide to use an installation method that works best for you.

Hardware and software requirements

Before you begin the installation, verify that the computer hardware and software meet the minimum requirements specified for the products that you want to install from the Rational® Test Workbench package.

You can view the system requirements by using any of the following methods:

Visit Software Product Compatibility Reports and enter IBM® Rational® Test Workbench as the product. Next, select the version for which you want the system requirements. After you follow the onscreen instructions, you can view the system requirements for the selected version. You can also download the system requirements as a PDF document.
Go to System Requirements, and then view the minimum system requirements for each of the products that you want to install from the Rational® Test Workbench package.

Product entitlement

After you purchase IBM software, you are sent a Proof of Entitlement (POE) by email with your Passport Advantage access information and a temporary passcode.

You must be aware of the Site number that is provided by the Site Primary Contact of your organization. You need the Site number to be able to connect to the correct site on IBM Passport Advantage.

You must log in to the Passport Advantage Online for Customers website with your valid IBM credentials. Follow the onscreen information on the IBM Passport Advantage website to view the products in your entitlement and download the product software packages.

You must always download the latest full installable offering from IBM Passport Advantage website. You can download any subsequent update fixes from the Fix Central.

Product software packages

Before you can install the product software, you must acquire the product software packages or installation media from the IBM Passport Advantage website. The installation media is available to download as archive files in the .iso or .zip format.

Depending on the capabilities that you want to use and the licenses that you purchased, you can download either the entire installation package or the components that you want to install.

Refer to the following table to view details of the installation packages and decide the packages that you want to download. The installation media is available both as a combined package of all the components or as individual components.

Table 1. Product software packages
What do you want to install?	What packages to download
All the IBM® Rational® Test Workbench components: IBM® Rational® Integration Tester IBM® Rational® Test Control Panel IBM® Rational® Functional Tester IBM® Rational® Performance Tester	IBM® Rational® Test Workbench Core VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual IBM® Rational® Integration Tester VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual IBM® Rational® Test Control Panel VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual IBM® Rational® Performance Tester VN.n Core Multiplatform Multilingual IBM® Rational® Functional Tester VN.n Core Multiplatform Multilingual Optional: IBM® Rational® Test Workbench Setup VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Note: Use this package if you want to use the launchpad program to install the products.
IBM® Rational® Integration Tester	IBM® Rational® Integration Tester VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Optional: IBM® Rational® Test Workbench Setup VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Note: Use this package if you want to use the launchpad program to install the products.
IBM® Rational® Test Control Panel	IBM® Rational® Test Control Panel VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Optional: IBM® Rational® Test Workbench Setup VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Note: Use this package if you want to use the launchpad program to install the products.
IBM® Rational® Functional Tester	IBM® Rational® Functional Tester VN.n Core Multiplatform Multilingual Optional: IBM® Rational® Functional Tester VN.n Setup Multiplatform Multilingual Note: Use this package if you want to use the launchpad program to install the products.
IBM® Rational® Performance Tester	IBM® Rational® Performance Tester VN.n Core Multiplatform Multilingual Optional: IBM® Rational® Performance Tester VN.n Setup Multiplatform Multilingual Note: Use this package if you want to use the launchpad program to install the products.
IBM® Rational® License Key Server	IBM® Rational® License Key Server VN.n for `platform` Multilingual (platform-specific packages available.)
IBM® Rational® License Key Server Administration and Reporting Tool	IBM® Rational® License Key Server Administration And Reporting Tool Part 1 VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual IBM® Rational® License Key Server Administration And Reporting Tool Part 2VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Optional:IBM® Rational® License Key Server Administration And Reporting Tool Setup VN.n Multiplatform Multilingual Note: Use this package if you want to use the launchpad program to install the products.

Installation methods

Before you decide on the installation method to follow, you must have assessed and decided on the following requirements:

The computer on which you want to install meets the minimum system requirements for the products that you want to install.
The operating system of the computer on which you want to install the products.
The packages to download and use that are relevant for the operating system of the computer.

You can use any of the following methods to install the product package:

Use a lightweight web installer. The lightweight web installer contains the launchpad program to start the installation process, and needs an internet connection during the installation task to download the remaining installation media.
Use the launchpad program after you download the relevant package to start the installation on the computer without the need for an internet connection.
Use IBM® Installation Manager, after you download the relevant package to start the installation if you have installed IBM® Installation Manager on the computer.

Note: IBM® Installation Manager is a program for installing, updating, and modifying packages. It helps you to manage the applications or packages that it installs on your computer. Installation Manager also helps you to keep track of what you have installed, determine what is available for you to install, and to organize installation directories. For more information about Installation Manager, refer to IBM® Installation Manager documentation.
You can install the product software by using IBM® Installation Manager in any of the following modes that depend on your ease of using the GUI or command line or your requirement to install on multiple computers:
- GUI mode
- Console mode
- Silent mode

Software packages repository

When you want to use the downloaded product software packages to install the product or you have multiple products to install on multiple computers, you can set up a single repository on a web server by using IBM Packaging Utility.

IBM Packaging Utility, a tool to package and manage software applications is available for authorized users to download and install from the IBM Passport Advantage website. For more information about installing IBM Packaging Utility by using IBM® Installation Manager, refer to Installing and updating Packaging Utility.

You can use IBM Packaging Utility to perform the following tasks:

Generate a new repository for product packages.
Copy product packages to a new repository. You can copy multiple product packages into a single repository, which creates a common location for your organization from which product packages can be installed using IBM® Installation Manager. See Copying product packages by using IBM Packaging Utility.
Delete product packages from a repository.

Extracting downloaded packages

When you want to use the downloaded product software packages for installation, you must extract the archive files to a repository location or folder on the computer on which you want to install the products. IBM® Installation Manager uses this repository location to source the product software during installation. See Extracting the downloaded product software packages.