Installation Guide

Running the Installation in the Silent Mode

The following sections describe how to run the installation program in silent mode:

What Is Silent-Mode Installation?

Silent-mode installation is a way of setting installation configurations once and then using these configurations to duplicate the installation on many machines. During installation in silent mode, the installation program reads the settings for your configuration from an XML file that you create prior to beginning the installation. The installation program does not display any configuration options during the installation process. Silent-mode installation works on both Windows and UNIX systems. Using silent-mode installation implies that you accept the BEA License Agreement. You can neither see a copy of the BEA Software License Agreement nor explicitly accept the terms of the agreement during the course of installation.

It is assumed that you have already acquired the installation program, either on DVD or from the BEA Web site. For more information on different modes of product distribution, see Product Distribution Methods.

Using Silent-Mode Installation

The silent-mode installation process has two primary steps:

Important Considerations for Silent-Mode Installation

When you are performing an installation in silent mode, keep in mind the following considerations:

Creating a silent.xml File for Silent-Mode Installation

When you install your BEA software in silent mode, the installation program uses an XML file (silent.xml) to determine which installation options should be implemented. Therefore, before you can run the installation program in silent mode, you must first create a silent.xml file in which you specify the installation options that you want to invoke.

Incorrect entries in the silent.xml file can cause installation to fail. To help you determine the cause of a failure, BEA recommends that you create a log file when you start the installation.

To create a silent.xml file for use in the silent-mode installation process, follow these steps:

Guidelines for Component Selection

Use the following guidelines when you specify values for the COMPONENT_PATHS data-value name:

Sample silent.xml File for Silent-Mode Installation

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!-- Silent installer option: -mode=silent -silent_xml=C:\bea\silent.xml -->

<!-- Specify values for each data-value name as follows: 

     BEAHOME  Complete pathname to the BEA Home directory that will contain 
             this installation.

     USER_INSTALL_DIR   Complete pathname to the product installation 
                        directory in which to install the software.

     INSTALL_MERCURY_PROFILING_TOOLS 

                        Optionally install Mercury profiling tools. 
                        Possible values are "true","yes","false" 
                        and "no". The default is "true".

     INSTALL_NODE_MANAGER_SERVICE  Install Node Manager as a Windows 
                                   service. The default is "no". 
                                   Requires Administrator privileges.

     NODEMGR_PORT  Node Manager listen port number. If none specified,
                   installer uses default port 5556. 
                   INSTALL_NODE_MANAGER_SERVICE must be set to "yes"

      COMPONENT_PATHS   Components and subcomponents to be installed. 
                       To install multiple components, separate the 
                         components with a bar (|). To install subcomponents,
                       specify a component/subcomponent combination. 
                       For example, to install Web Server Plug-Ins, use 
                      "WebLogic Server/Web Server Plug-Ins". 

      INSTALL_SHORTCUT_IN_ALL_USERS_FOLDER

                     The Windows Start menu folder in which you want the 
                      Start menu shortcuts created. The user performing the 
                     installation must have Administrator privileges to 
                    install the shortcuts in the All Users folder. Possible 
                  values: true/yes  The shortcuts are created in the All 
                  Users folder (default) false/no. The shortcuts are 
                   created in the local user's folder. See the Installation
                  Guide for more information. 

--> 

<bea-installer> 

  <input-fields>

      <data-value name="BEAHOME" value="C:\bea" />

<data-value name="USER_INSTALL_DIR" value="C:\bea\weblogic92" />

<data-value name="WLW_INSTALL_DIR"  value="c:\bea\workshop92" />

      <data-value name="INSTALL_MERCURY_PROFILING_TOOLS" value="true"/>

      <data-value name="INSTALL_NODE_MANAGER_SERVICE" value="yes"  />

      <data-value name="NODEMGR_PORT" value="5559" />

<data-value name="COMPONENT_PATHS" value="WebLogic Server/Server|WebLogic Server/Server Examples|WebLogic Server/Web Server Plug-Ins|Workshop for Weblogic Platform /Workshop|Workshop for Weblogic Platform/Workshop Examples|AquaLogic Service Bus/Service Bus Server|AquaLogic Service Bus/ Data Transformation Tools|AquaLogic Service Bus/ Service Bus Examples" />

<data-value name="INSTALL_SHORTCUT_IN_ALL_USERS_FOLDER"   value="yes"/>

	</input-fields> 

</bea-installer>

For more information on launching the installation in silent mode, see Starting the Installation Program.

Returning Exit Codes to the Console

When run in silent mode, the installation program generates exit codes that indicate the success or failure of the installation. These exit codes are shown in the following table.

If you are launching the silent-mode installation process from a script, you can choose to have these exit codes displayed on the console. Listing 5-2 provides a sample command file that invokes the installation program in silent mode and echoes the exit codes to the console from which the script is executed.

rem Execute the installer in silent mode

@echo off

alsb250_wls920_win32.exe -mode=silent -silent_xml=C:\downloads\silent.xml -log=C:\logs\products_silent.log

@rem Return an exit code to indicate success or failure of installation

set exit_code=%ERRORLEVEL%

@echo.

@echo Exitcode=%exit_code%

@echo.

@echo Exit Code Key

@echo ---------------

@echo 0=Installation completed successfully

@echo -1=Installation failed due to a fatal error

@echo -2=Installation failed due to an internal XML parsing error

@echo.

What's Next?

By default, your BEA software uses the development license file installed in the BEA Home directory so that you can start using the product immediately.BEA recommends that you run the QuickStart application to familiarize yourself with the software and execute the samples provided. For additional information, see Chapter 7, "Post-Installation Information."

For specific information about your software release, see the appropriate release notes: