You can use IBM I ACS two ways – INSTALLED or STANDALONE
Personally, I prefer to run IBM i ACS as a simple Java application that is linked by a shortcut on my desktop. No installs to worry about and everything opens when I click it. I call this a standalone install.
What does this mean?
STANDALONE INSTALL – downloading the IBM I ACS folder and storing it in MY DOCUMENTS or your desktop or wherever you fancy. Personally, I use my ONEDRIVE (but google drive would work just as well) cloud based sharing location:
WINDOWS INSTALL – this is the full install for Windows 10. Associating the ACS setup, screen layouts and various emulator shortcuts with IBM i ACS and the *proper* way to install the thing:
Which is best? That’s for you to decide!
5733XJ1 IBM i Access Client Solutions – QuickStartGuide
The content of this document was last updated on: November 30, 2020
Contents:
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Installation for Windows
3.0 Installation for Mac
4.0 Installation for Linux
5.0 Installing Updates
6.0 More Information
7.0 Uninstall
1.0 Introduction
This guide provides instructions on how to deploy this product on a local disk drive for a single user.
There are a variety of other ways this product can also be deployed including:
- a shared location that can be accessed by multiple users.
See IBM i Access Client Solutions: Customization and deployment made easy and IBM i Access Client Solutions: Customization and deployment questions answered - unpacking the zip archive to any location of your choice including portable media (eg CD, DVD, USB flash drive) or any path on the local disk drive. See the Installation section of the GettingStarted document located in the Documentation folder
- See Other Deployment Options in GettingStarted for options like Automatically import configuration settings for propagating the same configuration to multiple users and Native IBM i Deployments for using command-line plugins directly on the IBM i.
To deploy this product on the local disk drive for a single user, see the remaining sections of this document.
2.0 Installation for Windows
Locate the product zip archive or product CD.
If you are using the product zip archive, extract the the contents of the zip archive.
Suggestion: This can be done by using Windows Explorer to select the zip archive, then right-clicking on it, and then selecting “Extract All…”.
Using Windows Explorer, locate the product’s Windows_Application folder.
To install the 32 bit version for the current user, double-click on install_acs_32.
To install the 64 bit version for the current user, double-click on install_acs_64.
To install the 32 bit version for all users on a multi-user PC, double-click on install_acs_32_allusers.
To install the 64 bit version for all users on a multi-user PC, double-click on install_acs_64_allusers.
If this is a new installation, there will be several prompts that will help you customize the initial installation. If a license agreement appears, accept it.
If this is an upgrade, the previous settings will be preserved.
When the install has finished, a completion message will be displayed.
A successful single-user install will copy the application to:
/Users/user_id/IBM/ClientSolutions/
Note: The initial version of these scripts copied the product files to a path relative to MyDocuments. The current version copies the product files to a path based on the environment variables %HOMEDRIVE% and %HOMEPATH%. When using these scripts to update the product, updates will occur to the first location found.
A successful multi-user install will copy the application to:
/Users/Public/IBM/ClientSolutions/
2.1 Starting the product on Windows
Double-click the “Access Client Solutions” icon on the desktop.
3.0 Installation for Mac
Locate the product zip archive or CD using Finder.
If you are using the product zip archive, extract the the contents of the zip archive.
Suggestion: If you just downloaded the product, look in Downloads. If the contents of the zip archive have not been extracted, then you may extract the contents of the zip archive by double-clicking it.
Locate the Mac_Application folder. Double click install_acs
If this is a new installation, there will be several prompts that will help you customize the initial installation. If a license agreement appears, accept it.
If this is an upgrade, the previous settings will be preserved.
When the install has finished, a completion message will be displayed.
A successful install will copy the application to the Applications folder.
If you started the install from Finder, a terminal window was opened to perform the installation. When the installation is complete, you can close the terminal window.
Tech Note:
Depending on your security settings and the version of OS X you are using, you may get a pop-up window indicating install_acs is not authorized to run. If that happens, you will need to authorize install_acs to run by using one of following methods:
- If you are presented with an option to “Open” install_acs, then select it.
- Right-click on install_acs and select “Open”.
When presented with a pop-up window, select “Open”. - If neither of the above options work, then go to:
System Preferences…
Security & Privacy
If there is an option to Open “IBM i Access Client Solutions”, select it. Otherwise, you will need to adjust the settings on the General tab to allow other applications to run. After “IBM i Access Client Solutions” starts the first time, you may change your security settings back.
3.1 Starting the product on Mac
Use Finder to go to Applications.
Locate “IBM i Access Client Solutions” and double click it to start the product.
Tech Note:
Depending on your security settings and the version of OS X you are using, you may get a pop-up window indicating the application is not authorized to run. If that happens, you will need to authorize the application to run by using one of the following methods:
- If you are presented with an option to “Open” it, select it.
- Right-click on the “IBM i Access Client Solutions” icon and select “Open”.
When presented with a pop-up window, select “Open”. - If neither of the above options work, then go to:
System Preferences…
Security & Privacy
If there is an option to Open “IBM i Access Client Solutions”, select it. Otherwise, you will need to adjust the settings on the General tab to allow other applications to run. After “IBM i Access Client Solutions” starts the first time, you may change your security settings back.
Tech Notes:
- When installing Java on Mac, select a JDK instead of a JRE. The JRE for Mac installs Java for only the browser. It does not install Java for other applications. Installing the JDK will make Java available to other applications such as IBM i Access Client Solutions.
- ACS may not be able to locate Java 8 on macOS 11.0 Big Sur. We recommend installing Java 11.
4.0 Installation for Linux
Locate the product zip archive or product CD.
If you are using the product zip archive, extract the the contents of the zip archive.
Suggestion: From a terminal window, use the unzip command.
Locate the Linux_Application folder.
Since you will need to have root authority to use the install script, use sudo to run the install script from a terminal window. For example:
If you are on Intel (or AMD) 32 bit architecture, use the following command:
sudo ./install_acs_32
If you are on Intel (or AMD) 64 bit architecture, use the following command:
sudo ./install_acs_64
Or you may use the following command regardless of PC architecture:
sudo ./install_acs_xx
If this is a new installation, there will be several prompts that will help you customize the initial installation. If a license agreement appears, accept it.
If this is an upgrade, the previous settings will be preserved.
When the install has finished, a completion message will be displayed.
A successful install will copy the application to:
/opt/ibm/iAccessClientSolutions/
/usr/share/applications/
4.1 Starting the product on Linux
Search for “IBM i Access Client Solutions” in the applications folder or by using the Super key and then typing “IBM i Access Client Solutions”.
5.0 Installing Updates
When a new version becomes available, you can follow the installation instructions in this document to apply the updates. If you are prompted to overlay existing files, answer with “Yes to all”.
If you are using the install_acs scripts for Windows, Mac or Linux, the AcsConfig.properties file will not be updated so any custom configuration changes you have made to that file will not be lost.
6.0 More Information
For additional information about customizing the product or if you experience problems while installing or starting the product, see the GettingStarted document located in the Documentation folder.
7.0 Uninstall
To remove the application files that were copied to the above locations by the install script, use the platform-specific uninstall script found in the same folder as the install script:
Windows_Application/uninstall_acs.js
Mac_Application/uninstall_acs
Linux_Application/uninstall_acs