RHEL: Install vFabric GemFire from the VMware YUM Repository

If your guest operating system is Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), VMware recommends that you use yum to install vFabric GemFire. You complete the installation procedure on every virtual and physical machine that will run GemFire.

When you install vFabric components on RHEL from the VMware RPM repository, the components are installed into different directories and are owned by different users in different groups. The vFabric GemFire installation is owned by the gemfire user in the vfabric group. The default installation directory is /opt/vmware/vfabric_gemfire/vFabric_GemFire_XXX where XXX corresponds to the version of GemFire (for example, vFabric_GemFire_662) that you have installed.

Prerequisites
  • Confirm that your system meets the hardware and software requirements described in Supported Configurations and System Requirements.
  • Install the vFabric 5 RPMs (you do this procedure only once for the entire installation):
    1. Log in to the RHEL VM as the root user (or as an unprivileged user who has sudo privileges) and start a terminal.
    2. Depending on the version of the vFabric platform you wish to install, install the appropriate repository RPMs. These repository RPMs make it easy for you to browse all the available vFabric component RPMs.
      Note: The version of vFabric GemFire included in the repository RPMs is the same across the platforms. You choice of vFabric platform will hinge on which other vFabric components and component versions you wish to install. See https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vfabric-pubs.html for more details on the different platform versions. Select the appropriate release from the "Select a release" drop-down list to view the components and component versions associated with each vFabric platform.

      • If you are installing vFabric GemFire standalone or installing vFabric Suite 5.2, use these commands to install the vFabric repository RPM. The URLs differ depending on the version of RHEL you are using.
        For RHEL 5: 
        prompt# wget -q -O - http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel5/vfabric/5.2/vfabric-5.2-suite-installer | sh
        For RHEL 6: 
        prompt# wget -q -O - http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel6/vfabric/5.2/vfabric-5.2-suite-installer | sh
        The command performs the following tasks:

        • Imports the vFabric GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key.

        • Installs the vFabric 5.2 repository RPM.

        • Launches the VMware End User License Agreement (EULA) acceptance and repository configuration script.

        • Outputs the EULA for you to read; you must answer yes to accept the terms and continue.

      • If you are installing vFabric Suite 5.1, install the vfabric-5.1-repo-5.1-1 and vfabric-all-repo repository RPMs from the VMware repository. The URLs will vary depending on the version of RHEL you are using.
        For RHEL 5 users: 
        prompt# rpm -Uvh 
http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel5/vfabric/5.1/vfabric-5.1-repo-5.1-1.noarch.rpm
prompt # rpm -Uvh 
http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel5/vfabric-all/vfabric-all-repo-1-1.noarch.rpm
        For RHEL 6 users: 
        prompt# rpm -Uvh 
http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel6/vfabric/5.1/vfabric-5.1-repo-5.1-1.noarch.rpm
prompt# rpm -Uvh 
http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel6/vfabric-all/vfabric-all-repo-1-1.noarch.rpm
        If necessary, use sudo to run the preceding commands if you are not logged in as the root user.
      • If you are installing vFabric Cloud Application Platform 5.0, install the vfabric-5-repo-5-2 and vfabric-all-repo RPMs: 
        prompt# rpm -Uvh
http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel5/vfabric/5/vfabric-5-repo-5-2.noarch.rpm
prompt# rpm -Uvh
http://repo.vmware.com/pub/rhel5/vfabric-all/vfabric-all-repo-1-1.noarch.rpm
        If necessary, use sudo to run the preceding commands if you are not logged in as the root user.
    3. Use the yum search vfabric command to view the list of vFabric components that you can install from the VMware repository. The vFabric GemFire RPM is called vfabric-gemfire.
Procedure
  1. From the RHEL computer on which you will install vFabric GemFire, log in as the root user or as an unprivileged user using sudo.
  2. Execute the following yum command. If necessary, use sudo to run the command if you are not logged in as root: 
    prompt# yum install vfabric-gemfire

    The yum command begins the install process, resolves dependencies, and displays the packages it plans to install.

    The yum install vfabric-gemfire command installs the most recent version of the vFabric GemFire RPM that it finds in all installed repositories. If you want to install an earlier version of GemFire, you must explicitly specify the version/RPM name with the yum install command. For example: 
    prompt# yum install vfabric-gemfire-6.6.1-1
    Use yum search vfabric-gemfire --showduplicates to find all versions that are available in the installed RPM repositories.
  3. If this is the first time that you install a vFabric component on the VM, the yum command also installs the vfabric-eula RPM and prompts you to accept the VMware license agreement. You must answer yes to continue.
  4. Enter y at the prompt to begin the actual installation.
  5. If the installation is successful, you see a Complete! message at the end.
    The yum command:
    • Installs vFabric GemFire into the /opt/vmware/vfabric_gemfire/ directory.
    • If the user does not already exist, adds a gemfire non-interactive user (in a group called vfabric) and sets the owner of all directories and files under /opt/vmware/vfabric_gemfire/ to gemfire.

      Note that you cannot login directly as the gemfire user because interactive login has been disabled. Rather, you must login as the root user or as a privileged user using sudo, and then su - gemfire.

  6. Configure your environment for GemFire.
    • Set the GEMFIRE environment variable to point to your GemFire installation top-level directory. (You should see bin, lib, dtd, and other directories under GEMFIRE.)
    • Configure GF_JAVA and your PATH and CLASSPATH as shown in these examples. GF_JAVA must point to the java executable file under your JAVA_HOME. 
      GF_JAVA=$JAVA_HOME/bin/java
export GF_JAVA 
PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$GEMFIRE/bin
export PATH 
CLASSPATH=$GEMFIRE/lib/gemfire.jar:$GEMFIRE/lib/antlr.jar:\
$GEMFIRE/lib/gfSecurityImpl.jar:$CLASSPATH
export CLASSPATH
  7. If you have purchased a production license, activate the license. See Understanding vFabric GemFire Licenses and Installing and Configuring vFabric GemFire Licenses.
  8. Repeat this procedure for every virtual or physical machine on which you will run vFabric GemFire.
What to do next
Parent topic: Installing vFabric GemFire