Unattended Installations

The unattended installation uses an XML file to install the K2 product suite. After the generation of the XML file with the configuration values, there is minimal intervention required during the setup process.

There are a number of benefits to using the unattended installation approach:

The known limitations of this installer are:

To perform an unattended installation, you need the following:

High Level Steps

  1. Generate the unattended installer XML file.
  2. Perform the unattended installation using the generated system key and XML file.

Run setup.exe /output:"{filename}" which opens the Setup Manager wizard. Run through each page to specify the environment settings. The pages you'll run through are described in the Unattended Install Information for K2 blackpearl and Unattended Install Information for K2 smartforms sections of this topic. Click on Finish to generate an XML file with your environment settings. The XML configuration file is used for unattended installation.

The command does not install the product at all but rather builds the XML file: 

Syntax: setup.exe /output:"{filename}"

Parameters Description
{filename} This is the name of the XML file generated containing the environment settings to be used by the unattended installer.

Output: Launches the Setup Manager wizard, gathers all the information, and then closes upon creating the XML file containing all the options as specified by you.

Install K2 without any input by running setup.exe /install:"{filename}" /loglevel:{loglevel} with a valid XML configuration file.

Parameters Description
{filename} The name of the XML file with all the installation options (including System Key and License Key).
{loglevel}

An optional parameter that specifies the Log Level, based on the following list:

1 – Verbose Logging

2 – Information, Warning and Errors

3 – Warning and Errors Only (Default)

4 – Errors Only

Note: If this parameter is not specified, the default is ‘3’.

Output: Print the progress and any errors for the installation or configuration to the command window.

The Setup.exe command can determine whether the setup being run is for a new installation or for a configuration.

A distributed installation XML file can be created by removing certain components from a Full Installation XML file.

The K2 Pass-Through Authentication option is only valid for a distributed installation -- see the section on Additional Notes.

Distributed Installation Steps:

  1. Open the Command Prompt, and type the following syntax: C:\Install\setup.exe /output:unattended.xml to start building the XML file. Where Install is the installation folder.
  2. The K2 Setup Manager opens.
  3. It is recommended to do a Full Installation (all components selected on the Select Components page).

    Note: This does not install any components, it only builds the XML file.

  4. When the installation is complete, the XML file can be edited by using a text editor such as Notepad.
  5. A distributed installation XML file can then be saved by deleting components from the 'Full Installation' XML file, as necessary.
  6. Note that the Configuration component is required to be installed with all the other components.
  7. After the XML file is built and edited the following command starts the unattended installation:

    Syntax: c:\Install>setup.exe /install:unattended.xml

When upgrading using the unattended XML file, the component section of the XML file is ignored and only previously-installed components are upgraded.

To run the unattended upgrade use the following command:

Syntax: setup.exe /upgrade:"{filename}"

Parameters  
{filename} The name of the XML file to be used for the upgrade.

Output: Launches the Setup Manager and then starts the upgrade.

Upgrade Steps:

  1. It is recommended to use the XML file that was used during a Full Installation for the XML Upgrade file.

    Note: This does not install new components, it only upgrades the installed components.

    The following XML file variables can be edited as necessary to create the XML upgrade file:

    K2 Service User name and password variables

    <add key="[USERSNAME]" value="DOMAIN\User"/>
    <add key="[USERSPASS]" value="Pass"/>

  2. K2 Host Server

    <add key="[HOSTSERVERDBNAME]" value="K2HostServer"/>
    <add key="[HOSTSERVERCONNECTIONSTRING]" value="Data Source=DATABASENAME\instance01;Initial Catalog=K2HostServer;integrated security=sspi"/>
    <add key="[HOSTSERVERDBSQLSERVER]" value="DATABASENAME\instance01"/>

  3. After editing the XML file, open the Command Prompt, and type the following syntax:
    C:\Pearl>setup.exe /upgrade:"Upgrade.xml" to start the XML file.
  4. The K2 Setup Manager starts.

The unattended XML file contains a series of parameters that supply values to the installation and/or upgrade. The table below details the parameters that can be edited in the XML file:

Note: The list of parameters and their values may be different for your system.

Example Installation XML Parameter used for: Component Applicable for: What can be changed?
<PRODUCT Version="K2_47"> Product version check    
<COMPONENTS>      
<SP15_SERVER /> Indicates component to be installed Server component Can be removed or added
<SP15_WEB /> Indicates component to be installed Workspace component Can be removed or added
<SP15_SMARTFORMS /> Indicates component to be installed SmartForms component Can be removed or added
<SP15_CLIENT /> Indicates component to be installed Client component Can be removed or added
<SP15_SETUP />   Setup manager – Required component

 
<VARIABLES>    

 
[MACHINEKEY] Machine Key All Machine Key
[INSTALLDIR] Installation Directory All Location of installation director
[SIMPLEINSTALL] * *

*
[ISNLB] Load balancing indicator Server Load balancing to be used
[REPORTPORTSITE] * *

*
[REPORTSITENAME] * *

*
[REPORTSERVERVDIR] * *

*
[REPORTPORTSITEURL] * *

*
[REPORTSITEPATH] * *

*
[FULLREPORTSITEURL] * *

*
[SETSITESPN] * *

*
[SETSPN] * *

*
[USRMGRTYPE] User manager type All AD or Non-AD installation
[HOSTSERVERDBNAME] SQL Database name All DB name and SQL instance
[HOSTSERVERCONNECTIONSTRING] Hostserver connection string All Connection string can be specified
[HOSTSERVERDBSQLSERVER] SQL Server name All SQL Server name
[LBHOSTSERVERNAME] Load balancing server name All Load balancing server name
[LBHOSTSERVERFQDN] Load balancing server FQDN All Fully Qualified Domain name of LB server

* In the table and in the generated XML file you will see empty fields that may not apply to the installation. These empty fields are there because the Setup Manager requires them as placeholders. For example in the table above, the [REPORTSITENAME] variable field is blank because in this installation reporting services integration is not installed, but the Setup Manager contains the placeholder. Your unattended installation file may look different.

As no user input is needed when executing the K2 Update Manager, there is no need to generate an unattended install output file (XML file). For an unattended installation of the K2 Update Manager, simply execute the following command:

Setup.exe /NoUI /Update /ConnectionString:"[K2 DB Connectionstring]"

The following line is an example of the command, remember that your connection string will be different:
Setup.exe /NoUI /Update /ConnectionString:"Data Source=dlx;Initial Catalog=K2;integrated security=sspi;Pooling=True"

Only the /NoUI /Update /ConnectionString arguments are valid for use with the K2 Update Manager Setup.exe. Trying to use Setup.exe /Output:"{filename}", for example, causes an error. You also cannot use a previously generated output file from a full installation also causes an error, namely "The product is not installed on this system"