4.2 Performing an Unattended Installation

You can use a response file to perform an unattended installation of ZENworks 11 . You can either edit the default response file (provided at DVD_drive:\Disk1\InstData\silentinstall.properties), or perform an installation to create your own version of the response file that contains the basic installation information and edit that copy as needed.

For an embedded Sybase database, you must create a response file to perform an unattended installation; you cannot reuse the response file generated for a server that uses an external database.

Do the following to create the response file, then use it to perform an unattended installation:

4.2.1 Creating Your Response File

  1. Run the ZENworks 11 installation executable on a server by using one of the following methods:

    • Windows GUI: DVD_drive:\setup.exe ‑s

    • Linux GUI: sh /media/cdrom/setup.sh ‑s

      Using the sh command resolves rights issues.

    • Linux command line: sh /media/cdrom/setup.sh ‑e ‑s

    For more information on the installation arguments, see Section A.0, Installation Executable Arguments.

  2. (Conditional) On a Windows server, ensure that the Yes, Generate the Response File with Restart Enabled option is selected so that server is automatically rebooted after the silent installation has completed.

    A silent installation does not provide an installation progress bar.

  3. When prompted, provide a path for your custom response file.

    When you use the -s argument by itself, the installation program prompts you for a path for the response file. The default filename is silentinstall.properties, which you can rename later (see Step 4.g).

  4. Add the Management Zone and external database passwords to your custom response file.

    Because the external database password that you enter during custom response file creation is not saved in the response file, you must add the database and the Management Zone passwords in each copy of the response file in order for it to be correctly provided during an unattended installation.

    Optionally, you can create an environment variable to pass the password into the unattended installation. Instructions for this are contained in the response file where the password information is stored.

    While you are editing the response file, you can make any other changes necessary to customize it for your unattended installation. The response file contains instructions for its various sections.

    To add the external database and Management Zone passwords into the response file:

    1. Open the response file in a text editor.

      Your custom response file is located where you specified in Step 3.

      If you are editing the default response file, it is located at DVD_drive:\Disk1\InstData\silentinstall.properties.

    2. Search for ADMINISTRATOR_PASSWORD= .

    3. Replace $lax.nl.env.ADMIN_PASSWORD$ with the actual password.

      For example, if the password is novell, then the entry will be as follows:

      ADMINISTRATOR_PASSWORD=novell
      
    4. (Conditional) If you are using an external database, then search for the line, DATABASE_ADMIN_PASSWORD=, and replace $lax.nl.env.ADMIN_PASSWORD$ with the actual password.

    5. (Conditional) If you are using an external database, then search for the line, DATABASE_ACCESS_PASSWORD=, and replace $lax.nl.env.ADMIN_PASSWORD$ with the actual password.

    6. Save the file and exit the editor.

    7. Make as many differently named copies as you need for your various installation scenarios, modify each copy as necessary, then copy each one to the server where it will be used.

      If you want to add another Primary Server to the existing Management Zone, you must provide the following information in the response file:

      PRIMARY_SERVER_ADDRESS=$Primary_Server_IPaddress$
      
      PRIMARY_SERVER_PORT=$Primary_Server_port$
      
      PRIMARY_SERVER_CERT=-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----MIID9DCCLotsOfEncryptedCharactersSja+bY05Y=-----END CERTIFICATE-----
      

      where

      PRIMARY_SERVER_ADDRESS is the IP address or DNS name of the parent Primary Server if the secondary server is being installed to an existing Management Zone.

      PRIMARY_SERVER_PORT is the SSL port used by the parent Primary Server if the secondary server is being installed to an existing Management Zone. By default, it is 443.

      PRIMARY_SERVER_CERT= is the certificate you specified on the parent Primary Server if the secondary server is being installed to an existing Management Zone. The certificate must be in the base64 encoded string format of an x509 certificate, and the certificate string must be specified in one line. The above is just an example of the certificate information.

  5. After you have completed modifications to your custom response file, copy it from the path that you specified in Step 3 to a location on each server where you will use it for the unattended installation.

  6. To use the updated response file, continue with Section 4.2.2, Performing the Installation.

    NOTE:If you want to install Microsoft .NET by using silent install properties file, you need to manually set the value in the silent file as INSTALL_DOT_NET=1.

4.2.2 Performing the Installation

  1. On the installation server where you will perform an unattended installation, insert the Novell ZENworks 11 installation DVD.

    • For Windows, if the installation page where you can select the language is displayed, click Cancel to exit the GUI installation.

    • For Linux, mount the installation DVD.

  2. To start the unattended installation, use the -f option in the command:

    • For Windows, run DVD_drive:\setup.exe ‑s -f path_to_file.

    • For Linux, run sh /media/cdrom/setup.sh ‑s -f path_to_file.

    where path_to_file is either the full path to the response file that you created in Section 4.2.1, Creating Your Response File, or a directory containing the silentinstall.properties file (it must use that filename).

    Using the sh command resolves rights issues.

    If you renamed the updated response file, include its new name with the path.

    If a filename is not given, or if either the path or file does not exist, the -f parameter is ignored and the default installation (GUI or command line) is run instead of an unattended installation.

  3. To create another Primary Server for the Management Zone by performing an unattended installation, return to Step 1; otherwise, continue with Step 4.

  4. After the installation has completed, continue with Section 4.3, Verifying Installation.