Level: Introductory Anthony Young-Garner (ajyoung@us.ibm.com), Software Engineer, IBM
01 Nov 2001 Reducing or eliminating the interactivity required to install WAS allows quick and error-free deployment of large installations (server farms, distributed clones, and so on). The IBM WebSphere InfoCenter documentation includes instructions to create response files to run the WAS installation program in silent mode so that no human interaction is required. However, the InfoCenter documentation provides little or no information on the different ways you can run the silent installation, determine the results of the installation process, and diagnose common error conditions. This article sheds light on these tasks.
Note: This article applies only to the Windows NT and
Windows 2000 platforms. For assistance on silently installing IBM
WebSphere Application Server (WAS) on non-Windows platforms, see the
IBM
WebSphere InfoCenter documentation. InstallShield basics
WAS uses an InstallShield-based installation program. On your
product CD, the installer program is found at X:\NT\setup.exe, where
X is your CD-ROM drive. This program automatically runs in
interactive mode when you put the CD into the CD-ROM drive. This
same executable runs the silent install process. To run the installer in silent mode, specify the following
parameters on the command line: X:\NT\setup <response file> -f2<log file> -s
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The following is an example of running the WebSphere installer in
silent mode, where D is your CD-ROM drive and C is your hard drive: D:\NT\setup C:\Temp\was.iss -f2C:\Temp\setup.log -s
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The -s flag indicates silent mode. The response
file is a text file containing all of the information required
by InstallShield to successfully complete the install without
querying the user. The log file records the results of the
installation. You should explicitly specify the log file location so
that the program can easily locate it. Also, note that there is no
space between the -f2 flag and the log file name.
Creating custom response files
InstallShield response files allow you to prerecord responses to
the queries presented during each step of an InstallShield-based
installation. By convention, response files are named with an
iss extension (for example, was.iss). Response files are
composed of stanzas that roughly correspond to the individual
screens shown during an interactive installation. The following shows selected stanzas from an InstallShield
response file for WAS: Version Info, Do Not Modify
[InstallShield Silent]
Version=v5.00.000
File=Response File
; Application Name as it will
; appear in registry,
; Do not Modify
[Application]
Name=IBM Web Application Server
Version=3.5
Company=IBM
; Install directory, Required.
[SelectTargetDir]
szDir=c:\WebSphere\AppServer
Result=1
; Include Samples, Optional
; Set Result to 0 to exclude
[Samples]
Result=1
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You can create a custom response file either by recording an
interactive installation or by using a text editor. Recording is
easiest. To run the installer program in recording mode, use the
-r flag. To run the installer in record mode, specify the following
parameters on the command line: X:\NT\setup -r -f1<response file>
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The following is an example of running the WebSphere installer in
record mode: D:\NT\setup -r -f1C:\Temp\wascustom.iss
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The -r flag indicates interactive record mode. In record
mode, the response file is written rather than read. Every
selection made during the interactive installation is recorded in
the response file. The installation process can be repeated by
running the installer in silent mode with the newly created response
file. You also may create a custom response file manually using a text
editor. There is a custom response file template (X:\NT\Typical.iss)
on the product CD. Simply make a copy of this file, and edit the
appropriate stanzas as necessary for your environment. The template
file is well commented to help you quickly understand each stanza.
The InfoCenter documentation provides detailed explanations of each
stanza. In any case, you will at least want to edit the
[SelectTargetDir], [Security], and [Database]
stanzas.
Return codes and diagnosing errors
When running in silent mode, the image name for the InstallShield
process looks similar to _INS5576._MP in the Windows Task Manager.
Once the process is complete, you can find the results of the
installation in the log file. The following shows an InstallShield output log for WAS: [InstallShield Silent]
Version=v5.00.000
File=Log File
[Application]
Name=WebSphere Application Server
Company=IBM
Lang=0009
[ResponseResult]
ResultCode=0
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The log file contains descriptive information about the
installation that ran as well as a [ResponseResult] stanza
containing a ResultCode. A result code of 0 indicates successful
installation. Result codes of -3 or -12 usually indicate an invalid
response file, and -5 usually indicates that the response file could
not be found. Other InstallShield result codes are summarized
below: 0 Install successful
-1 Install failed - general error
-2 Install failed - invalid mode
-3 Install failed - required data not in response file
-4 Install failed - lack of available memory
-5 Install failed - non-existent required file
-6 Install failed - inability to write to the response file
-7 Install failed - inability to write to the log file
-8 Install failed - invalid path name for the response file
-9 Install failed - invalid list type
-10 Install failed - invalid data type
-11 Install failed - unknown error during setup
-12 Install failed - disordered stanzas in response file
-51 Install failed - inability to create a specified folder
-52 Install failed - inability to access a specified file
-53 Install failed - invalid option selected
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The WAS installer generates a more detailed install log in
addition to the InstallShield log file. The default location for
this log file is Y:\WebSphere\AppServer\logs\wssetup.log, where Y is
the drive where you installed WebSphere. You can modify the location
of this file by editing the [LogFilePath] custom response
stanza. Often, the detailed install log indicates errors that are
likely to hinder operation of the application server even though
installation was successful (where a successful installation yields
an InstallShield Result Code of 0). For example, if the
authentication credentials supplied for the server are invalid, an
error message is written to the detailed install log. Note that if
the installation process itself fails before the target directory
for the detailed install log is created, the detailed install log is
written to the same directory as the InstallShield log file.
Installing the IBM HTTP Server
It is simplest to install the IBM HTTP Server (IHS) component
during the WAS installation. To do so, find the [HTTPServer]
stanza in the WAS response file, and set Result=1. Follow the
instructions in the comments of the template custom response file or
the InfoCenter documentation to set the installation directory to a
location other than the default. If you want to install the IHS separately from the application
server, you can run the IHS installation program directly. The IHS
installer executable is on the product CD at X:\NT\HTTPD\setup.exe.
Note that the command line syntax to invoke the IHS installer in
silent mode is slightly different from the syntax for the WAS
installer. To run the IBM HTTP Server installer in silent mode, specify the
following parameters on the command line: X:\NT\HTTPD\setup -f1<response files> -f2<log file> -s |
The following is an example of running the IBM HTTP Server
installer in silent mode: D:\NT\HTTPD\setup -f1C:\Temp\ihs.iss -f2C:\temp\ihssetup.log -s
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Just as with WAS, you need to provide a custom response
file to run the InstallShield program in silent mode. And, just
as with WAS, a template response file is included on the product CD.
You can find the template response file at X:\NT\HTTPD\Typical.iss.
Copy this file to create a basis for your own response file. Be sure
to update the [szAskDestPath-0] stanza so that the szDir
property points to the target installation directory. Also, edit the
[UserID-0] stanza and ensure that the properties szEdit1 and
szEdit2 are respectively set to a valid user ID and password on the
target system.
Conclusion
Installing WAS silently using custom response files can save time
and prevent mistakes in performing multiple installations. I hope
this article has helped you to avoid many of the pitfalls that can
make getting started with silent installations a bit tricky.
Resources - Category: WebSphere
- IBM WebSphere Application Server, Advanced Edition V3.5 for
Windows NT and Windows 2000
- IBM WebSphere Application Server, Standard Edition V3.5 for
Windows NT and Windows 2000
About the author  | | | Anthony Young-Garner is a software engineer at IBM Austin, assisting developers in coding and deploying applications on WebSphere Application Server. Contact him at ajyoung@us.ibm.com. |
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