Installing help on your computer

You can install help content on your computer and access it locally from your product client. To do so, extract the IBM® Knowledge Center that is installed with your product and deploy it on your computer. Download the product help from the help download site. Extract the help contents into the local IBM Knowledge Center.

Procedure

  1. Locate the IBM Knowledge Center that is installed with your product. Typically, it is a compressed file that is located in a kcci_install directory. The file includes KC_CI in the file name and a .zip extension.
  2. Extract the contents of the compressed file on your computer. If you receive an error that indicates that the path is too long when you extract the compressed file, move the file to a directory with a shorter path. Use a directory such as C:\kcci and extract the file there.
  3. Read the following files in the extracted KnowledgeCenter directory:
    • termsofuse.html (Terms of Use statement)
    • NOTICES.txt file
  4. Download the compressed file that contains the product help:
    1. In a browser, go to the help download site.
    2. In the kcci_content directory, download the compressed file that corresponds to your installed product and its version.
    Note: An administrator can download the compressed file and place it on a server on your network. In this case, copy the compressed file from that server to your computer.
  5. Extract the contents of the usr directory from the compressed help file into the usr directory in the local KnowledgeCenter directory. Accept any prompts to overwrite or merge the contents of that directory.
  6. Start the IBM Knowledge Center by running one of these scripts from the KnowledgeCenter/bin directory :
    • Windows systems: startKC.bat
    • UNIX systems: ./bin/startKC.sh
    • OS X systems: sh startKC.sh

    If a Java error occurs when you start the IBM Knowledge Center, see No JAVA_HOME defined error.

  7. After the IBM Knowledge Center is started, the help is available at this default URL: http://localhost:9090/kc. To access this local help from the product client, you must add this URL as a new help content connection in the client Help Preferences. See Changing help content connections.

    If port 9090 is in use, the help uses another port when it is started. This port value is briefly displayed in the IBM Knowledge Center startup window. After the window closes, the port number is recorded in this file: KnowledgeCenter/logs/port.properties.

    Note: To ensure that the local IBM Knowledge Center is available each time you use the product, you can create a shortcut to the startup script on your desktop and run it before you open the product client.
  8. For more information on starting, stopping, and configuring the IBM Knowledge Center, see the instructions in this file: KnowledgeCenter/knowledgecenter_instructions.html.

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