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iPlanet Directory Server 5.1 Installation Guide |
Chapter 4 Silent Installation
Silent installation allows you to use a file to predefine all the answers that you would normally supply to the setup program interactively. This provides you with the ability to script the installation of your Directory Servers.This chapter includes the following sections:
Using Silent Installation
Using Silent Installation
To use silent installation, you call the setup program with the -s and -f command line options. That is, to use silent installation:
On UNIX machines, log in as root. On Windows NT and Windows 2000 machines, log in with Administrator privileges.
The next section in this chapter provides some examples of the silent install files. A section describing all of the silent installation directives that you can use when installing Directory Server then follows.
If you have not already done so, download the product binaries file to the installation directory.
- # mkdir ds5.1
# cd ds5.1
On UNIX, unpack the product binaries file using the following command:
On Windows NT and Windows 2000, unzip the product binaries.
- # gunzip -dc file_name.tar.gz | tar -xvof-
- where file_name corresponds to the product binaries that you want to unpack.
Prepare the file that will contain your installation directives.
Run the setup program with the -s and -f command line options:
- setup -s -f file_name
- where file_name is the name of the file that contains your installation directives.
Preparing Silent Installation Files
Silent installation is intended for use at sites where many server instances must be created. For Directory Server, it is especially useful for heavily replicated sites that will create a large number of consumer servers.This section first describes how to create silent installation files. It then provides examples of using silent installation to support the following common installation scenarios:
A Typical Installation
You find a definition of the individual installation directives in "Installation Directives".
Note Any Distinguished Names in the files must be in the UTF-8 character set encoding.
Creating Silent Installation Files
The best way to create a file for use with silent installation is to use the setup program to interactively create a server instance of the type that you want to duplicate around your enterprise.To do this run setup with the -k flag. The setup program will create the following file:
/<ServerRoot>/setup/install.inf
This file contains all the directives that you would use with silent installation to create the server instance. You can then use this file to create other server instances of that type.
You will have to make some modifications to this file before you use it on other machines. Ensure that you:
Set the FullMachineName directive to a value that is appropriate for the machine on which iPlanet Directory Server will be installed, if it's not to be the local machine. In most circumstances, it is best not to use this directive because FullMachineName will then default to the local host name. However, if you use custom installation to generate your initial server instance, then this directive will appear in the install.inf file.
Be sure to protect install.inf files since they contain passwords in clear.Set the ServerIPAddress directive appropriate for the local machine. The same usage rules apply for ServerIPAddress as for FullMachineName. Specifically, try to not include ServerIPAddress in your install.inf file unless you absolutely have to (as may be necessary for multi-homed systems).
Verify the installation path on the ServerRoot directive. If you are installing on both Windows NT or Windows 2000 and UNIX machines, make sure the appropriate path delimiter is used. Add or remove the Windows NT or Windows 2000 drive letter designation as is appropriate for the host you are installing on.
If you are installing more than one Directory Server on the same host, make sure the ServerIdentifier directive contains a unique value for each server instance.
If you create your install.inf file on a Windows NT or Windows 2000 machine, then the SuiteSpotUserID and SuiteSpotGroup directives are both set to nobody. If you subsequently use this file on a UNIX machine, ensure the user and group specified by these directives are appropriate for the machine. The SuiteSpotUserID and SuiteSpotGroup directives determine what user and group a server will run under when installed on a UNIX system.
For complete information on the directives you can use in a silent installation file, see "Installation Directives".
A Typical Installation
The following is the install.inf file that is generated for a typical installation:
Using an Existing Configuration Directory
The following is the install.inf file that is generated when you perform a typical installation and you choose to use an existing Directory Server as the configuration directory:
Installing the Stand-Alone iPlanet Console
The following is the install.inf file that is generated when you install iPlanet Console alone:
Installation Directives
This section describes the basic format of the file used for silent installation. It then describes the directives that are available for each area of the silent installation file. The following sections are provided here:
Silent Installation File Format
[General] Installation Directives
[Base] Installation Directives
Silent Installation File Format
When you use silent installation, you provide all the installation information in a file. This file is formatted as follows:
The keywords [General], [slapd], and [admin] are required. They indicate that the directives that follow are meant for a specific aspect of the installation. They must be provided in the file in the order indicated above.
[General] Installation Directives
[General] installation directives specify information of global interest to the iPlanet servers installed at your site. That is, the information you provide here will be common to all your iPlanet servers.The [General] installation directives are:
Table 4-1    [General] Installation Directives
Directive
Description
Specifies the components to be installed. The list of available components differs depending on the iPlanet servers available on your installation media. For stand-alone directory installation, the list of components is:
srvrcoreuninstallation binaries
basethe base installation package
This directive is required. At a minimum, you should always provide:
Specifies the full path to the directory where the iPlanet server binaries are installed. This directive is required.
Specifies the fully qualified domain name of the machine on which you are installing the server. The default is the local host name.
UNIX only. Specifies the username under which iPlanet servers run. This parameter does not apply to the user under which the Administration Server runs. See the SysUser directive in Table 4-5 for more information. The default is user nobody but this should be changed for most deployments.
UNIX only. Specifies the group under which iPlanet servers run. The default is group nobody but this should be changed for most deployments.
Specifies the LDAP URL that is used to connect to your configuration directory. LDAP URLs are described in the iPlanet Directory Server Administrator's Guide. This directive is required.
Specifies the administration domain under which this server will be registered. See "Determining the Administration Domain" for more information about administration domains.
Specifies the user ID of the entry that has administration privileges to the configuration directory. This directive is required.
Specifies the password for the ConfigDirectoryAdminID. This directive is required.
Specifies the LDAP URL that is used to connect to the directory where your user and group data is stored. If this directive is not supplied, the configuration directory is used for this purpose. LDAP URLs are described in the iPlanet Directory Server Administrator's Guide.
Specifies the user ID of the entry that has administration privileges to the user directory.
[Base] Installation Directives
There is only one [Base] installation directive and it allows you to determine whether or not iPlanet Console is installed:
[slapd] Installation Directives
[slapd] installation directives specify information of interest only to the Directory Server instance that you are currently installing. These directives are described in the following sections:
Required [slapd] Installation Directives
Required [slapd] Installation Directives
You must provide the following directives when you use silent installation with Directory Server:
Table 4-3    Required [slapd] Installation Directives
Directive
Description
Specifies the slapd components to be installed. The slapd components are:
This directive is required. It is recommended that you always install both components any time you install the Directory Server.
Specifies the port the server will use for LDAP connections. For information on selecting server port numbers, see "Choosing Unique Port Numbers". This directive is required.
Specifies the server identifier. This directive is required.
This value is used as part of the name of the directory in which the Directory Server instance is installed. For example, if your machine's hostname is phonebook then this name is the default and selecting it will cause the Directory Server instance to be installed into a directory labeled slapd-phonebook.
Specifies the suffix under which you will store your directory data. For information on suffixes, see "Determining Your Directory Suffix". This directive is required.
Specifies the distinguished name used by the directory manager. For information on the directory manager, see "Defining Authentication Entities". This directive is required.
Specifies the directory manager's password. This directive is required.
Optional [slapd] Installation Directives
You may provide the following directives when you use silent installation with Directory Server:
[admin] Installation Directives
[admin] installation directives specify information of interest only to your Directory Server's Administration Server. That is, this is the installation information required for the Administration Server that is used to manage the Directory Server instance that you are currently installing.The [admin] installation directives are:
Table 4-5    [admin] Installation Directives
Directive
Description
Specifies the admin components to be installed. The base components are:
admininstall the Administration Server. You must install the Administration Server if you are also installing another iPlanet server.
admin-clientinstall iPlanet Console. If you are installing iPlanet Console as a stand-alone, just specify this component . Do not install this component if you are remotely managing your servers, and iPlanet Console is installed somewhere else on your network.
UNIX only. Specifies the user under which the Administration Server runs. For default installations that use the default iPlanet port numbers, this user must be root. Root is the default. For information on the users under which your servers should run, see "Choosing the User and Group for Your iPlanet Servers (UNIX® only)"
Specifies the port that the Administration Server uses. Note that the Administration Server's host name is given by the FullMachineName directive. For more information on FullMachineName, see Table 4-1.
Specifies the administration ID that can be used to access this Administration Server if the configuration directory is not responding. The default is to use the value specified by the ConfigDirectoryAdminID directive. See "Defining Authentication Entities" for information on this directive.
Specifies the IP address to which the Administration Server listens. Use this directive if you are installing on a multi-homed system and you do not want to use the first IP address for your Administration Server.
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Last Updated October 29, 2001