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Nick Decker
Engineering Supervisor |
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he recent Advantage article Without a Trace – The
Silent Installation revealed the many benefits of a silent installation and how it provides administrators with the
ability to install software across the network quickly and automatically. The article also discussed the user-configurable
options within the .properties file. While that silent installation paradigm worked well for
the BBj® 4.x series of product, the release of BBj 5.0 introduced many new features, enhancements, and changes – one
of which was the new installation. BASIS chose to rewrite the installation from scratch for BBj 5.0, using the
industry-standard InstallShield Universal product rather than InstallAnywhere used with the BBj 4.x installation. Why? Along
with many new capabilities and extensive componentization featured in another Advantage article New Install Puts You in the
Driver's Seat, this latest installation process provides a more powerful mechanism for silent installations – the
response file.
The response file mechanism has several benefits over the older .properties mechanism. One
of the primary features of the response file is the ability to customize the entire installation process. Since the response
file contains the answer to every single question presented during installation, the developer can store such answers as where
to install BBj and whether it is a typical or custom install. Additionally, the developer can choose whether to install the
dozens of components in BBj's heavily componentized custom installation, for high-level components such the documentation, and
lower level components such as standard, extended, or BASIC Web utilities. Pre-programming all of these choices into the
response file makes it possible to build a custom installation/response file for any deployment situation or customer.
The response file may seem exceedingly powerful and intimidating with over 50 customizable options available, far more than
the five options in the previous .properties file. However, InstallShield presents an
uncomplicated way to create the response file – simply perform an installation with the special record flag. It is similar to recording a macro in other software products; start the recording
process, perform the installation, and end up with a file that contains all the necessary information. The newly created
response file runs on any supported platform. In other words, it is possible to use the response file generated on a Mac OS X
machine to run a silent install on a Microsoft Windows system. Because the response file is a heavily commented ASCII file, it
is commonplace to generate the file once and then modify it for use in different deployment scenarios. Simply turn specific
options on or off by setting the associated variable to true or false.
In addition to listing the product components selected for installation, the response file includes a few sections devoted to
controlling the BASIS installation and configuration wizards. These same wizards run interactively from BBj's Admin program
and provide functionality such as the ability to register for and install BASIS Product Licenses. Because configuration is an
integral part of installing and using any product successfully, it is possible to create a response file that optionally runs
the most commonly used wizards, but in a silent and scripted fashion.
To make it even more flexible, set the response file to launch one or more of the wizards interactively or silently. For
example, you may want your customer to register for a BASIS license immediately after installing the product. In this case,
after the silent product installation, force the licensing wizard to run interactively. However, if you already registered for
and received a BASIS Product License, then force the installation to silently install the BASIS License Manager, set it to run
automatically at startup as a Windows Service, install the product license, and start up the BLM.
So how exactly does one create a response file? As mentioned above, it is a matter of performing an installation in GUI mode
with an extra command line parameter. Here is the command line under Windows:
windows.exe -options-record C:\response.file
In this example, instead of only running the windows.exe executable, add the -options-record command line parameter and follow it with the name of the response file. The
installation continues as normal, except that upon completion, it creates the response file named C:\response.file.
Component Selection
Examining the file reveals several sections devoted to the product component selection. For example, the sample in Figure
1 shows selections devoted to the documentation feature. This is a prime example of how to use a simple true and false
value to configure which components to install. The lines at the top of this section begin with the comment character #
and provide useful information about the feature, including how to turn it on and off.
################################################################################
#
# "Documentation" Feature
#
# The selection state of the "Documentation" feature. Legal values are:
#
# true - Indicates that the feature is selected for installation
# false - Indicates that the feature is not selected for installation
#
# For example, to select "Documentation" for installation, use
#
# -P documentationFeatureBean.active=true
#
-P documentationFeatureBean.active=false
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| Figure 1. Documentation section from a sample response file |
Installation and Configuration Wizards
The remaining sections deal with the BASIS Installation and Configuration Wizards and are a bit more involved since they offer
more choices than simply turning a component on or off. The response file presents the wizards in three sections; the first
section (Figure 2) addresses the wizards that can run interactively or not at all. The comment section indicates that you can
configure the wizards to run interactively, such as the License Registration wizard is set to do here. If you do not want a
wizard to run, just set the value to Off.
################################################################################
#
# BASIS Installation and Configuration Wizard options
#
# The following variables set whether or not to run some of the various BASIS
# installation and configuration wizards after the installation of the software.
# Setting a value to 'Interactive' will cause the specified wizard to be run
# interactively. Setting a value to 'Off' will prevent that wizard from being
# run.
#
# Values: Off|Interactive
-V IS_WIZ_LICENSE_REGISTER="Interactive"
-V IS_WIZ_EM="Off"
-V IS_WIZ_FINISH="Off"
-V IS_WIZ_REBOOT="Off"
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| Figure 2. Setting interactive wizards in the sample response file |
The second section lists six more wizards that differ from the previous group because they can run silently in addition to
interactively, or not at all. This may not seem like a significant difference, but a wizard must have all of the necessary
information ahead of time to run silently, since it cannot rely on a user interface popup to query the user. Fortunately, the
response file is a perfect place to store the information that is essential to execute the wizards silently. The example in
Figure 3 shows how to configure the BLM and start it automatically.
################################################################################
#
# BASIS Installation and Configuration Wizard options
#
# The following variables set whether or not to run some of the various BASIS
# installation and configuration wizards after the installation of the software.
# Setting a value to 'Interactive' will cause the specified wizard to be run
# interactively. Setting a value to 'Off' will prevent that wizard from being
# run. Setting a value to 'Silent' will cause the wizard to run silently,
# provided the appropriate properties are set in the next section. Currently,
# the installer runs all Silent wizards first, then all Interactive. Therefore,
# it's not recommended that you mix and match Silent and Interactive wizards,
# unless the ordering makes sense. In other words, do not run the
# IS_WIZ_BBJ_START_STOP silently and the IS_WIZ_BBJ_CFG_STARTUP interactively,
# as this will cause BBjServices to be started before the wizard is shown to
# configure its startup.
#
# Values: Off|Interactive|Silent
-V IS_WIZ_LICENSE_INSTALL="Off"
-V IS_WIZ_BLM_CFG_STARTUP="Silent"
-V IS_WIZ_BLM_START_STOP="Silent"
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_BRAND="Off"
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_CFG_STARTUP="Off"
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_START_STOP="Off"
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| Figure 3. Setting silent wizards in the sample response file |
In order for the two BLM wizards shown in Figure 3 to run Silent properly, they require additional information presented in
last wizard section shown in Figure 4.
################################################################################
#
# BASIS Installation and Configuration Wizard options
#
# The following variables define properties to be used in conjunction with one
# of the above wizards when that wizard is set to 'Silent.'
#
# Value: hostname of the machine running the BLM
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_BRAND_SERVERNAME=""
# Values: Service|Login|Manual|InitTab
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_CFG_STARTUP_TYPE=""
# Values: Automatic|Manual|Disabled
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_CFG_STARTUP_SERVICESTARTUPTYPE=""
# Value: Windows User Account that BBj Services will use to run
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_CFG_STARTUP_USERACCOUNT=""
# Value: Windows User Password that BBj Services will use to run
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_CFG_STARTUP_PASSWORD=""
# Values: True|False
-V IS_WIZ_BBJ_START_STOP_STARTUP=""
# Value: full path to the license file to install
-V IS_WIZ_LICENSE_INSTALL_LICENSEFILE=""
# Values: Service|Login|Manual|InitTab
-V IS_WIZ_BLM_CFG_STARTUP_TYPE="Service"
# Values: Automatic|Manual|Disabled
-V IS_WIZ_BLM_CFG_STARTUP_SERVICESTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"
# Values: True|False
-V IS_WIZ_BLM_START_STOP_STARTUP="True"
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| Figure 4. Defining properties for the silent installation |
The last three variables in Figure 4 supply the information required for the BLM wizards – how to configure the
BLM and whether to start it up at the end of the installation. The Service setting for the variable IS_WIZ_BLM_CFG_STARTUP_TYPE installs the BLM as a Windows service. Options for this variable
include:
Service – Run as a Windows service on NT-based operating systems
Login – Run when the user logs in to the Windows machine
Manual – Require the user to start the BLM manually (does not start automatically)
InitTab – Run via the inittab or init.d on UNIX and Mac systems
The second variable IS_WIZ_BLM_CFG_STARTUP_SERVICESTARTUPTYPE configures the BLM Windows service to start up automatically.
When the BLM service runs as a Windows service, you may configure it to run automatically, manually, or set it to a disabled
state. These states are available with every Windows service and are modifiable after the installation via the Admin program
or the Windows Service Control Manager.
The last variable IS_WIZ_BLM_START_STOP_STARTUP set to True starts up the BLM before the
installation completes. With the correct settings and necessary configuration information, other wizards can run silently just
as the BLM wizards do. By following these same steps you can configure BBj Services, install a license, and brand BBj to a
particular machine so that it always requests its license from a BLM on that machine.
After creating a customized response file, the next step is to test it. Running the install silently with a response file is similar to the process of creating a response file - run the installation and provide a couple of command line parameters. For example:
windows.exe -options C:\response.file -silent
This time, instead of providing the -options-record parameter, use -options to specify which response file to use during the install instead of creating a file. The last
parameter, -silent, instructs the installation to run silently without any user interface.
After executing the command, the machine appears busy for a short while, depending on the number of components configured for
installation.
A common question for a silent install is "Once it's installed, how can I tell what happened?" Since the user never has an
opportunity for feedback, how can the developer tell what occurred during a silent installation? First, check the target
directory to ensure each of the appropriate components installed correctly. A successful Windows, Mac, or Linux silent
installation will also result in usable shortcuts for the installed components. Sometimes, however, it is desirable to find
out much more detailed information about what happened during the installation process. The installation program automatically
creates several log files in the /_inst directory that detail the
installation and uninstallation process. These log files contain information about the target system such as the operating
system name and version, installation source and target paths, the location of Java on the machine, the locale of the system,
and much more. In addition, these log files detail each component's installation selection, the configuration wizards selected
to run, and if the wizard ran successfully.
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| Figure 5. A silent Windows install in action |
Summary
BBj 5.x brought about a host of new features and enhancements, one of which was an improved and extensive silent installation
based on a powerful new response file format. While BBj 4.0's installation touched on the capabilities of a silent install,
the BBj 5.x installation fully exploits all of the possibilities of a silent installation. Developers can now completely
control nearly every aspect of the installation - from the target directory, to which components to install, to which
configuration wizards to run. It is a shame something of such beauty and power will never been seen by the typical end user
(see Figure 5). But then, that's the point!
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