Ugh, Maximo installations. Remember that sinking feeling when the boss casually drops \”Hey, maybe you could set up Maximo 7.6.1.3 this week?\” like they\’re asking for coffee? That was me three weeks ago, staring at IBM\’s documentation that reads like it was translated through five languages before hitting English. My desk still has the coffee ring from where I slammed my mug after the third failed attempt. Let\’s talk about installing this beast without losing your sanity or your weekend.
First thing – your server. Don\’t be clever. Just use Windows Server 2019. I tried getting cute with 2022 last month because \”newer must be better,\” right? Spent eight hours debugging TLS handshake failures before reverting. Maximo\’s like that grumpy uncle who only likes his old recliner. And for God\’s sake, disable Windows Firewall during install. Yeah, security folks will scream, but you can turn it back on later. Watched the installer hang at 72% for two hours once because of one sneaky blocked port.
Now, the pre-reqs dance. Java JDK 8. You need update 351 specifically. Not 341, not 361. 351. Ask me how I know? Found out the hard way when the deployment manager kept throwing classloader errors that made zero sense until 3 AM. And WebSphere 9.0.5.11 – download the ND version even if you think you don\’t need it now. That \”fix pack later\” promise? It\’s a trap. My coworker Dave tried skipping it. He\’s now on permanent Docker duty as punishment.
The actual installer… man. That IBM Installation Manager. Feels like negotiating with a stubborn toddler. When it asks for the repository location, point it to the disk1 folder like the docs say. But here\’s what they don\’t tell you – sometimes it ghosts you. Blank screen. Nothing. No error. Just… existential dread. Found the fix buried in a 2017 forum thread: delete the temp folder under C:\\ProgramData\\IBM\\Installation Manager. Why? Nobody knows. It just works. Felt like performing tech voodoo.
Database setup – let\’s pour one out for the fallen. You\’ll need to create that Maximo database manually before running the installer. Used DB2 here because that\’s what our Oracle DBA hates least. The installer\’s schema creation wizard looks friendly enough until it throws \”SQLCODE -668\” at you. Translation? Your tablespace is on life support. Had to resize it three times while muttering \”why is this thing eating storage like it\’s at an all-you-can-eat buffet?\”
Configuration time. That maximo.properties file? It\’s a minefield. Miss one forward slash in the URL and you\’ll get the spinning wheel of death on login. Spent forty minutes comparing my file character-by-character to a backup until I spotted it – \”maximo.url=https://yourdomain.com/maximo\” vs \”maximo.url=https://yourdomain.com/maximo/\”. One slash. One. Single. Slash. Wanted to throw the server out the window.
Deploying the EAR file in WebSphere… oh boy. Where do I even start? That progress bar lies. It\’ll sit at 10% for twenty minutes, then leap to 100% in three seconds. Don\’t touch it. Don\’t breathe on it. Just walk away and make terrible coffee. And when it fails (because it will), check the SystemOut.log first. Last month mine failed because WebSphere decided Java\’s temp directory was optional that day. Had to set IBM_JAVA_TMPDIR manually. Why? Ask the ghosts in the machine.
First login attempt. Heart pounding. Typing credentials like disarming a bomb. Then… HTTP 500. Internal server error. The classic. Felt my soul leave my body. Turns out I\’d forgotten to run \”maximo deploy\” in the tools directory after installation. IBM buried that step on page 87 of a 200-page PDF. Who reads page 87? Ran it, restarted, and when that login screen finally loaded I almost cried. Then it crashed again because the JVM heap was too small. This job ages you.
Now it\’s running. Sort of. Performance feels like wading through molasses. That\’s your cue to tweak JVM settings. Started with 4GB heap – nope. 6GB – still choking. Settled on 8GB after the admin console looked like a slideshow. Monitoring it now feels like babysitting a moody teenager. One day it\’s fine, the next it\’s eating RAM like candy because someone ran a report wrong. Might set up Grafana alerts just to preserve my sanity.
Would I do it again? Honestly? No. But since we\’re here… the real kicker is knowing this is just the base install. Next comes integration, customization, all that jazz. Feels like building a house on quicksand. But hey – at least now when the boss says \”how\’s Maximo?\” I don\’t break into cold sweat. Small victories.
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