Welcome back to our MAS 9 installation series!

In Part 1, we explored the architectural shift from WebSphere to OpenShift. In Part 2, we assembled the ingredients: entitlement keys, DNS records, certificates, and hardware. In Part 3, we installed Red Hat OpenShift. In Part 4, we are installing Maximo Application Suite

If your experience is anything like ours, this is where things get real. You have a running OpenShift cluster staring back at you, and now it’s time to hand it over to IBM’s installer and hope you answered every prerequisite question correctly three articles ago. Spoiler: you probably missed something. That is okay we did too, and we will walk you through the fixes.

By the end of this article, you will have a fully functioning IBM Maximo Application Suite 9 instance running on OpenShift, ready for post-install configuration in Part 5.

We’ll cover the full installation process using the MAS CLI, including:

• Launching the MAS installer and navigating its interactive prompts
• Monitoring the Tekton pipeline as it does the heavy lifting
• Troubleshooting common failures so you don’t lose an afternoon to a fixable error
• Validating the install and accessing the MAS Suite Admin console for the first time

Prerequisites Check (Before you Start)

Before you touch the MAS installer, make sure you have all of the following in place. Skipping this check is how people end up rerunning a 90-minute pipeline because they forgot to stage a license file.

• OpenShift SNO cluster up and running – If you’re coming straight from Part 3, you should be good. Confirm with oc get nodes and make sure your node shows Ready.
• Bastion host with network access to the cluster – All commands in this guide run from the bastion, not directly on the SNO node.
• oc CLI configured with a valid kubeconfig – If oc project returns your cluster context, you’re set.
• IBM Entitlement Key – Retrieved from the IBM Container Library. You’ll need this to pull MAS images.
• license.dat file – Your AppPoints license file from IBM. No license, no MAS.
• Red Hat pull secret – Downloaded from console.redhat.com. You’ll stage this in the masconfig directory.
• DNS entries and certificates ready – Self-signed certificates are fine for dev environments. Production deployments should have proper certs staged before you start.

If any of these are missing, go back and sort them out now. The installer will technically let you proceed without some of them it just won’t let you finish.

Step 1: Connect to the Cluster from Bastion Host

export KUBECONFIG=~/sno/auth/kubeconfig oc get nodes oc project

You should see one Ready node.

Step 2: Launch the MAS CLI Container

# Pull the latest MAS CLI (or pin to a specific version for prod)

docker pull quay.io/ibmmas/cli:latest

# Run the container interactively

docker run -dit --name mas-cli quay.io/ibmmas/cli:latest bash

# Enter the container

docker exec -it mas-cli bash

Step 3: Prepare the masconfig director

mkdir -p /masconfig cd /masconfig

# Create pull-secret.json (paste your Red Hat pull secret)

cat > pull-secret.json << EOF { ... your pull secret content ... } EOF

# Copy license.dat into the folder

# (You can use docker cp from host if needed)

Step 4: Run the MAS Installer

mas install

The installer is interactive. Here are the key choices we used for our dev environment:

• Disable FIPS? → y (for dev)
• Installation type? → Advanced
• MAS Version? → 9.0 (or latest supported)
• Storage Class? → lvms-vg1 (or your LVMS storage class)
• License Type? → Install AI Service with Dedicated License (AppPoints)
• License file path? → Point to /masconfig/license.dat
• Contact email & name
• Workspace / Instance ID
• Environment? → Non-Production
• Custom domain? → Yes (use your DNS entries)
• Components? → Enable Maximo Manage + any others (JMS bundle recommended)

After answering all questions, the installer will create and start a Tekton Pipeline in OpenShift.

Step 5: Monitor the Installation Pipeline

In the OpenShift Web Console:

1. Go to Pipelines → Pipelines
2. Find the MAS installation pipeline (usually named something like mas-sno-install)
3. Click on it to watch real-time logs

The full installation typically takes **45–90 minutes**, depending on your internet speed and hardware.

Common Issues & Fixes

These are the four failure modes we hit most often and that we see repeatedly in the IBM community forums. None of them require a full reinstall to fix.

Pipeline Fails Mid-Run

The most common culprit is a bad IBM Entitlement Key. A frequent cause of IBM Data Reporter Operator failure during installation is an improperly provided entitlement key extra characters at the beginning or end of the key value will cause authentication errors that surface as cryptic reconciler failures deep in the pipeline. Check the actual value stored in the PipelineRun YAML: Medium

oc get pipelinerun -n mas-<instance>-pipelines -o yaml | grep entitlement

Strip any extra whitespace or newline characters, then rerun the installer. If the key looks clean, check the Tekton TaskRun logs for the specific step that failed. The error is almost always more descriptive than what surfaces in the pipeline view.

Storage Issues (PVC Stuck in Pending)

If your persistent volume claims are stuck in Pending, the LVMS operator is usually the place to look. Check that all pods in the openshift-lvm-storage namespace are in a Running state. You should see one instance of lvms-operator and one vg-manager per node.

oc get pods -n openshift-lvm-storage

If you encounter a “no available devices” error in the LVMCluster status, connect directly to the host and run lsblk –paths –json to inspect the available disks. The secondary disk you intend to use for storage may not be visible or may already have a filesystem on it. Also verify that the storage class volumeBindingMode is set to Immediate rather than WaitForFirstConsumer, as the default value can cause provisioning to stall.

Database Connection Failures

Maximo Manage supports IBM Db2, IBM Db2 Warehouse, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle Database, but the connection has to be configured correctly before activation or the pipeline will hang. The JDBC connection string for SQL Server should follow this format:

jdbc:sqlserver://;serverName=;portNumber=1433;databaseName=;

integratedSecurity=false;sendStringParametersAsUnicode=false;

selectMethod=cursor;encrypt=true;trustServerCertificate=true;

Make sure the SQL Server is reachable from the OpenShift cluster (not just from the bastion), that the maximo database user has the correct permissions, and that the SQL Server certificate (if using SSL) has been exported to a .pem file and staged in your masconfig directory before the installer runs.

Certificate Issues

MAS supports manual certificate management, which allows you to upload your own public TLS certificates either by adding secrets directly to the OpenShift cluster or through the MAS Suite Admin UI. If you’re seeing browser warnings or x509: certificate signed by unknown authority errors after install, the most common causes are a domain mismatch or a missing CA chain. IBM

To diagnose: go to Workloads → Secrets in the MAS Core project, find the -cert-public secret, and inspect the tls.crt with OpenSSL to confirm it is still valid and contains the correct Subject Alternative Names. Also verify that the domain in the Suite CR’s spec.domain field matches what’s in the certificate.

For self-signed certs in dev environments, the fix is usually just importing the root CA into your browser’s trust store. For production deployments, ensure your full certificate chain (leaf → intermediate → root) is included in the secret.

Step 6: Post-Installation Validation

# Check MAS pods

oc get pods -n mas-sno-core oc get pods -n mas-sno-manage

# Get routes

oc get routes -n mas-sno-core oc get routes -n mas-sno-manage

Access the MAS Suite Admin at:

https://admin.mas.yourdomain.edu

Log in with the admin user created during installation.

Conclusion: You Have Maximo

If Part 3 was the most technically demanding step, Part 4 is the most nerve-wracking. You answered a hundred installer prompts, kicked off a pipeline, and then sat there watching Tekton do its thing for the better part of an hour, wondering if that one storage class name you typed was correct.

At this point you should have a fully functioning IBM Maximo Application Suite 9 instance running on OpenShift, a reachable Suite Admin console, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing you just did something that would have taken a dedicated team and a six-figure consulting engagement not long ago.

Coming up in Part 5, we will cover post-install configuration certificates, database integration, user setup, and the day-2 operations that turn a working MAS install into a production-ready system.

You’re almost there. Put the stress ball down. You’ve earned a moment.

Resources

• IBM MAS 9 Documentation: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mas
• MAS CLI GitHub: https://github.com/ibm-mas/cli

Stay tuned for Part 5: Post-Install Configuration!

About

A3J Group is a leading solutions and consulting firm based in Tampa, Florida, specializing in Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) with a focus on fully developed Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) solutions like IBM Maximo.

In addition to our suite of proprietary products—including MxMobile, our powerful mobile solution for Maximo—we provide traditional consulting services that help organizations plan, implement, optimize, and support their EAM strategies. Whether clients need hands-on configuration, strategic guidance, or ongoing system support, our team delivers the expertise to drive long-term success.

With over 50 years of combined experience, our specialized team is dedicated to our core mission: to serve as excellent stewards of our clients’ trust and investments, while driving measurable results through tailored, high-impact solutions and intelligent consulting.

Visit us at www.a3jgroup.com. Or drop us a line at info@a3jgroup.com.