vCenter Server 5.5 silent installation issue

[Ashish1]

Our requirement is, vCenter Server 5.5 should be installed silently with its default SQL express database.

To do this I am referring  http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/vcenter_server_cmdline_install.pdf documentation.

I am able to do silent installation of SSO and Inventory service components, but stuck to do silent installation of vCenter Server. On command line, I executed following command to install vCenter Server. This command should install vCenter Server silently but it is prompting to press next button to proceed.

<snip>

echo "Get hostname from system"

set host=%COMPUTERNAME%

echo %host%

echo "Installing vCenter Server"

start /wait D:\vCenter-Server\VMware-vcserver.exe /S /W /L1033 /v ^

" /qr /quiet ^

VCS_GROUP_TYPE=Single ^

VPX_ACCOUNT_TYPE=System ^

DB_SERVER_TYPE=Bundled ^

FORMAT_DB=1 ^

SSO_ADMIN_USER=administrator@vsphere.local ^

SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD=password@123 ^

VC_ADMIN_USER=administrator@vsphere.local ^

VC_ADMIN_IS_GROUP_VPXD_TXT=false ^

IS_URL="https://%host%:10443 ^

LS_URL=https://%host%:7444/lookupservice/sdk" ^

VCS_HTTPS_PORT=443 ^

VCS_HTTP_PORT=80 ^

VCS_HEARTBEAT_PORT=902 ^

TC_HTTP_PORT=8080 ^

TC_HTTPS_PORT=8443 ^

VCS_ADAM_LDAP_PORT=389 ^

VCS_ADAM_SSL_PORT=902 ^

/L*V "%temp%\vCenterServerInstall.log" /qr"

</snip>

On command line, it is not even complete the entire command with all arguments. On command line only following command is printed with 2 arguments rest are skipped.

<snip>

C:\install>start /wait D:\vCenter-Server\VMware-vcserver.exe /S /W /L1033 /v " /qr /quiet VCS_GROUP_TYPE=Single VPX_ACCOUNT_TYPE=System

</snip>

Need to know,

1. How can I proceed with this silent installation?

2. Is there any mistake in my command arguments?

[a_p_]

From a first look at the command, it's missing some quotes. In addition to this the quotes need to be escaped with a "\".

Lines to modify:

IS_URL=\"https://%host%:10443\" ^

LS_URL=\"https://%host%:7444/lookupservice/sdk\" ^

/L*V \"%temp%\vCenterServerInstall.log\" /qr"

André

[Ashish1]

Thanks I forgot to give double quotes, because of that my command was not completed properly. Now my 2nd problem i.e. skipping argument problem is solved but still this silent installation command is prompting to press next button.

[a_p_]

Whether you are promoted or not depends on the provided arguments, i.e. /qr, /qn, /passive, /quiet, ...

Take a look at the msiexec help (e.g. msiexec /?) to get an overview of these option.

André

[Ashish1]

I am new in msi package installation method. I have tried all these options but not able to figure out where I am making mistake.

[a_p_]

So you are saying that even with using e.g. "/quiet" instead of "/qr" asks for user input?

Please attach the "vCenterServerInstall.log" to a reply post to see whether helps finding out what's causing this.

(In order to attach files, click the "Use advanced editor" link in the reply editor box)

André

[Ashish1]

Yes it is asking for an input even after using /quiet and /qr options.

I cancelled the installation because it was prompting for an input and because of that log file is not generated.

I am suspecting command line arguments (e.g. FORMAT_DB=1) are not used and because of that it is prompting for an input.

I also tried following command.

start /wait D:\vCenter-Server\VMware-vcserver.exe /L1033 /quiet ^

"/v ^

VCS_GROUP_TYPE=Single ^

..<Command arguments> ^

..<Command arguments> ^

..<Command arguments> ^

/L*V "%temp%\vCenterServerInstall.log" "

[Ashish1]

Also this silent installation command is not supporting direct use of msi package ("D:\vCenter-Server\VMware vCenter Server.msi"). So do you think, this might be the problem. It is forcing me to use exe only.

[MightySuite]

Yes, you need to use .exe package instead of .msi with silent installer. Do not include both /quiet and /qr. Use /qr alone. The following worked for me

start "VC_INSTALL" %INSTALLERPATH%\"vCenter-Server\VMware-vcserver.exe" /S /W /L%LANG% /v" /qr /norestart WARNING_LEVEL=0 VCS_GROUP_TYPE=\"%VCS_GROUP_TYPE%\" VCS_ADAM_PRIMARY_SERVER=\"%VCS_ADAM_PRIMARY_SERVER%\"  VPX_ACCOUNT_TYPE=System DB_SERVER_TYPE="Bundled" FORMAT_DB=1 LICENSEKEY=\"%LICENSEKEY%\" INSTALLDIR=\"%INSTALLDIR%\" /L*v \"%INSTALLERPATH%\vCenterServer.log\" JVM_MEMORY_OPTION=\"%JVM_MEM%\" IS_URL=\"https://%IS_SERVER_IP%:%IS_HTTPS_PORT%\" SSO_ADMIN_USER=\"%SSO_ADMIN_USER%\" SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD=\"%SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD%\" VC_ADMIN_USER=\"%VC_ADMIN_USER%\" VC_ADMIN_IS_GROUP_VPXD_TXT=\"%VC_ADMIN_IS_GROUP_VPXD_TXT%\" LS_URL=\"https://%COMPUTER_FQDN%:%SSO_HTTPS_PORT%/lookupservice/sdk\" VCS_HTTP_PORT=%VCS_HTTP_PORT% VCS_HTTPS_PORT=%VCS_HTTPS_PORT%

[Ashish1]

Thanks for your reply.

I replaced your variables with my values but I am getting error as "invalid switch /S". Am I making mistake in replacing variable values?

echo "Get hostname from system"

set host=%COMPUTERNAME%

echo %host%

start /wait "D:\vCenter-Server\VMware-vcserver.exe" /S /W /L1033 /v" /qr /norestart WARNING_LEVEL=0 VCS_GROUP_TYPE=\"Single\" VCS_ADAM_PRIMARY_SERVER=\"\"  VPX_ACCOUNT_TYPE=System DB_SERVER_TYPE="Bundled" FORMAT_DB=1 LICENSEKEY=\"XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX\" INSTALLDIR=\"C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\" /L*v \"%temp%\vCenterServer.log\" JVM_MEMORY_OPTION=\"S\" IS_URL=\"https://%host%:10443\" SSO_ADMIN_USER=\"administrator@vsphere.local\" SSO_ADMIN_PASSWORD=\"password@123\" VC_ADMIN_USER=\"administrator@vsphere.local\" VC_ADMIN_IS_GROUP_VPXD_TXT=\"false\" LS_URL=\"https://%host%:7444/lookupservice/sdk\" VCS_HTTP_PORT=80 VCS_HTTPS_PORT=443

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

The "start" command expects the first agument in quotes to be the title. try

start "vCenter Server Installation" /wait "D:\vCenter-Server\VMware-vcserver.exe" /S ...

André