5 Running the Installation Program in Silent Mode

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

Section 5.1, "What Is Silent-Mode Installation?"
Section 5.2, "Using Silent-Mode Installation: Main Steps"
Section 5.3, "Creating a silent.xml File for Silent-Mode Installation"
Section 5.4, "Exit Codes for Silent Mode Installation"

5.1 What Is Silent-Mode Installation?

Silent-mode installation is a way of setting installation configurations only once and then using those 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 before 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.

The instructions in this section are based on the assumption that you have already acquired the installation program either on DVD or from http://edelivery.oracle.com.

Note:

You must use the package installer for silent-mode installation. Silent-mode installation is not supported with the net installer.

5.2 Using Silent-Mode Installation: Main Steps

The silent-mode installation process has two primary steps:

Create a silent.xml file that defines the configuration settings normally entered by a user during an interactive installation process, such as graphical-mode or console-mode installation. For example, values for the middleware home directory, the product directory, and the components to be installed are supplied in a silent.xml file.

For more information, see Section 5.3, "Creating a silent.xml File for Silent-Mode Installation."
Start the silent-mode installation process by using the values specified in the silent.xml file.

For information about starting the installation in silent mode, see Section 2.2.3, "Starting the Installation Program in Silent Mode."

Important Considerations for Silent-Mode Installation

When you are running the installation program in silent mode, keep in mind the following considerations:

Silent-mode installation requires the same amount of temporary disk space and uses the same temporary storage directories as a standard installation. The installation program does not alert you if there is not enough space in the temporary directory.
A silent-mode installation takes the same amount of time as a standard installation. At the beginning of a silent-mode installation, an initial installation program window or message is displayed briefly, indicating that the installation has started. No messages are displayed to indicate that the installation is in progress or has completed successfully.
Incorrect entries in the silent.xml file can cause installation failures. To help you determine the cause of a failure, We recommend that you create a log file when you start the installation.
The XML definition (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>) must be at the very beginning of the silent.xml file. Do not enter a space or line breaks before the XML definition.
You cannot reinstall any WebLogic product on top of a previously installed version of the same product—in the same home directory or in the same file location. You can, however, add products and product components to an existing installation. For example, you can install WebLogic Server during one installation, and Workshop during a separate installation. To reinstall the same version of a product, you must first uninstall the previously installed instance of it or install the new instance in another location.

5.3 Creating a silent.xml File for Silent-Mode Installation

When you install your 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.

Note:

Incorrect entries in the silent.xml file can cause installation failures. To help you determine the cause of a failure, We recommend 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:

Copy the sample code provided in Appendix A, "Sample Silent.xml File for Silent-Mode Installation" and paste the code in an XML file.
Save the file, with the name silent.xml, in the same directory that contains the installation program.

Note:
The XML definition (<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>) must be at the very beginning of the silent.xml file. Do not enter a space or line breaks before the XML definition.
In the silent.xml file that you saved on your system, edit the values for the keywords to reflect your configuration.

For example, for the Oracle WebLogic Server installation, edit the values in the sample silent.xml file as shown in Table 5-1.

Note:
You must follow XML guidelines for characters when modifying values. That is, you cannot use characters reserved for use in XML, such as <, >, [, and ].

Table 5-1 Values for the Sample silent.xml File for Oracle WebLogic Server

Data-Value Name	Description
MW_HOME	The full path for the home directory of your choice. For more information about the home directory, see Section 1.5.1, "Choosing a Home Directory."
WLS_INSTALL_DIR	The full path for the directory where you want to install Oracle WebLogic Server (for example, for Windows: `C:\MW_HOME\wlserver_10.3`).
WLW_INSTALL_DIR	The full path for the directory where you want to install Workshop (for example, for Windows:`C:\MW_HOME\workshop_10.3`). For more information, see Section 1.5.2, "Choosing a Product Installation Directory."
COMPONENT_PATHS	Specify the components and subcomponents you want to install on your system. For Example: To install Oracle WebLogic Server, use the following values: WebLogic Server/Core Application Server \|WebLogic Server/Administration Console \|WebLogic Server/Configuration Wizard and Upgrade Framework \|WebLogic Server/Web 2.0 HTTP Pub-Sub Server \|WebLogic Server/WebLogic JDBC Drivers \|WebLogic Server/Third Party JDBC Drivers \|WebLogic Server/WebLogic Server Clients \|WebLogic Server/WebLogic Web Server Plugins \|WebLogic Server/UDDI and Xquery Support \|WebLogic Server/Server Examples To install Workshop use the following values: Workshop/Workshop for WebLogic Workshop/Workshop Runtime Framework For additional information about entering these values, see Guidelines for Component Selection.
USE_EXTERNAL_ECLIPSE	If the correct version of Eclipse is already installed, this variable is ignored. The default value is `false`. If Eclipse is not installed, or is an older version, If the value of this variable is `true`, only the Eclipse plug-ins are installed in the directory indicated by `EXTERNAL_ECLIPSE_DIR`. If the required dependencies are not installed in the Eclipse directory, the installation fails. If the value of this variable is `false`, the complete Eclipse is installed in the default location. Note that this location is different from the location for older versions of Eclipse; this ensures that the older versions are not overwritten.
EXTERNAL_ECLIPSE_DIR	The directory where the existing Eclipse instance is installed. If the correct version of Eclipse is already installed, this variable is ignored.
INSTALL_NODE_MANAGER_SERVICE (Windows platforms only)	yes to install the Oracle WebLogic Server Node Manager as a Windows service. no to skip the installation of the Oracle WebLogic Server Node Manager as a Windows service. The default is no. Note: You must have Administrator privileges to install Node Manager as a Windows service.
NODEMGR_PORT	The Node Manager listen port. If you do not specify a port number, the installer uses the default port 5556. If the port number is in use, the installer scans for the next available port and assigns it to the Node Manager. Note: The INSTALL_NODE_MANAGER_SERVICE option must be set to yes. At the completion of the installation process, the Node Manager is started using the port specified.
INSTALL_SHORTCUT_IN_ALL_USERS_FOLDER	true, or yes, to create the shortcuts in the All Users folder. The default is true. false, or no, to create the shortcuts in the local users folder. The user performing the installation must have Administrator privileges to install the Start menu shortcuts in the All Users folder. For more information, see Section 1.4.3, "Administrator Privileges."
LOCAL_JVMS	This is an optional element using which you can specify the local JDKs to be installed. Enter the full path of the JDKs to be installed, separated by the pipe symbol ('\|').
BEA_BUNDLED_JVMS	This is an optional element using which you can specify the BEA-supplied JDKs to be installed. Enter the full path of the JDKs to be installed, separated by the pipe symbol ('\|').

Guidelines for Component Selection

The following are the guidelines for specifying values for the COMPONENT_PATHS data-value name:

When you specify a product component to be installed, all subcomponents that are installed by default in a complete installation are also installed. For example, the following entry installs both Oracle WebLogic Server and the examples:
```
<data-value name="COMPONENT_PATHS" value="WebLogic Server" />
```
To install multiple components, separate the components with a bar (|). Do not leave a space before or after the bar.

For example, to install Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle Workshop for WebLogic, enter:
```
<data-value name="COMPONENT_PATHS" value="WebLogic Server|Workshop" />
```
To specify subcomponents, you must specify a component/subcomponent combination for each entry.

For example, to install specific components of Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle Workshop for WebLogic, enter the following line in the file:
```
<data-value name="COMPONENT_PATHS" value="WebLogic Server/Core Application Server|
WebLogic Server/Administration Console|Workshop/Workshop for WebLogic"/>
```
If you do not include the COMPONENT_PATHS data-value name in the silent.xml file, the complete Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle Workshop for WebLogic are installed.

Note:
The installation program performs dependency checking to ensure that all components that provide functionality on which other components depend for proper operation are installed. These dependencies are visible during graphical and console mode installations. The same dependencies are enforced during silent installation, components on which other components depend are installed even if they are not explicitly referenced in a silent script.

5.4 Exit Codes for Silent Mode Installation

When run in silent mode, the installation program generates exit codes that indicate the success or failure of the installation.

Table 5-2 shows the exit codes.

Table 5-2 Exit Codes for Silent Mode Installation

Exit Code	Description
0	Installation completed successfully
-1	Installation failed due to a fatal error
-2	Installation failed due to an internal XML parsing error

If you launch the silent-mode installation process from a script, you can choose to have these exit codes displayed on the console.

Example 5-1 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.

Example 5-1 Sample Command File Displaying Silent-Mode Exit Codes

rem Execute the installer in silent mode
@echo off
server103_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.