Chapter 3. Installing Geronimo [DRAFT (1.1)]

Chapter 3. Installing Geronimo [DRAFT (1.1)]
	Part I. Getting Started

Table of Contents

3.1. Platforms & Prerequisites

3.2. Installation Procedure

3.2.1. Windows Installation
3.2.2. Mac/Linux/UNIX Installation

3.3. Installation Results

3.4. Starting the Server

3.4.1. Startup Options
3.4.2. Startup Scripts
3.4.3. Troubleshooting Startup Problems

3.5. Stopping the Server

3.6. Running Geronimo as a Windows or UNIX Service

Geronimo is currently distributed as a simple ZIP or GZ archive (for Windows and Mac/Unix/Linux respectively). The installation process is simply a matter or unzipping the archive and verifying the installation. The basic distribution can also be customized, commonly to change the administrator account used for management, or to change the networks ports used (in case of a conflict with existing software on the machine such as Tomcat or JBoss).

	Note
	This chapter assumes you have downloaded a release of Geronimo. If not, please see Chapter 2, Acquiring Geronimo & Quick Start [DRAFT (1.1)].

3.1. Platforms & Prerequisites

Geronimo is a pure-Java product, and should therefore run on any platform with the appropriate Java Virtual Machine.

As Geronimo implements J2EE 1.4, and J2EE 1.4 requires J2SE 1.4, Geronimo will run under Java 1.4 or higher. However, J2EE includes certain CORBA requirements, and the CORBA features currently used by Geronimo require a Sun 1.4.x JVM. That means the only J2EE Certified platform for Geronimo is currently the Sun 1.4.2 JVM. Broader certification across other JVM vendors and versions is a goal for future releases.

	Tip
	Geronimo runs well on Java 5, so long as CORBA features are left disabled. If your applications require CORBA support, you'll need to use a Sun J2SE 1.4.2_* JVM.

As far as operating systems go, Geronimo has been successfully run on many Windows, Mac, Linux, and UNIX platforms, including:

Windows 2000, XP, and 2003
Linux x86 (Debian, Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu, Mandriva, and Gentoo)
Linux x86_64 (SuSE)
Mac OS X
Solaris 8 and 10
HP-UX 11.0

Geronimo includes a bundled JSP compiler, which means it can actually run under the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), and does not require a Java Development Kit (JDK).

Tip

Geronimo itself can run on a headless machine (that is, a server with no windowing system or GUI available, such as some UNIX machines). In many cases, even applications dealing with printing and graphics can be run by starting Geronimo with the -Djava.awt.headless=true option. However, certain rare applications may require a working X-Windows environment to run (or at least a simulated environment such as can be provided by xvfb).