Deploying Passport Manager to Servers
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Deploying Passport Manager to Servers
After you have developed your content and written your code in a development setting, your site can deploy the code to a server farm and install Passport Manager on multiple servers in your server farm. The Microsoft .NET Passport Software Development Kit (SDK) includes several tools to make this task easier.
Recording Setup Options for Later Silent Installs
The Setup.exe program supports arguments that can be specified to record a setup configuration and also to save any logs resulting from the setup as text files. A saved setup response file can then be used to install Passport Manager to other computers automatically and silently. Typically, you would run the standard graphical setup to install Passport Manager only, using the "Production" option, to one of your servers, while recording the response and log files using the appropriate arguments. The location of the file generated by the initial run of Setup is given as an argument to Setup.exe when it is run on other servers. This is useful if you wish to deploy Passport Manager in identical fashion to a series of computers, such as a server farm. Using a common recorded setup is a straightforward way to assure that Passport Manager configuration on multiple computers is truly identical.
When Setup is run using a prerecorded response file, options such as installing Passport Manager only and overriding the default install directory are read automatically from the response file without requiring intervention in the user interface (UI). Setup run from a response file will potentially reboot the server without prompt after installation is complete; this is required to force reloading of files or services, and to write certain registry keys.
Locating Setup.exe
Setup.exe and all support files are potentially in a temporary directory on the installation computer, depending on how the initial installation was performed. For example, if the installation was performed from the MSDN® site, the entire SDK install was wrapped in a self-installing executable file, which is typically named by version (for example "PPM_SDK_2-5.exe"). If you cannot find the Setup.exe file that was created by running the release-specific executable file, follow these steps:
Find the release-specific, self-extracting executable file on your local computer. If you cannot find it, download it again. This time, however, choose to save it to disk rather than running it remotely, so that you have a local copy to run with specified command-line arguments.
Open a command-prompt window.
Run the release-specific executable file from the command line, but add the following command arguments: /T:drive:\path /C. In this context, drive:\path should be a local directory on the computer to which Setup.exe and all the support files required to install Passport Manager will be extracted. The /C argument specifies that the executable file should simply extract files, and should not run Setup.exe immediately thereafter. This is because you will run Setup.exe later with command-line arguments not specified by the default installation.
For example, to run PPM_SDK_v2-5.exe but have it only extract files to a known directory named C:\passportsetup, without running setup, enter the following at the command prompt:
Keep the command-prompt window open, and move to the directory that was just created or specified. You can use this window to run Setup.exe with command-line arguments as specified in the table that follows.
Command-Line Arguments for Setup
The following table describes the arguments accepted by Setup.
Example: Recording a Setup
The following is an example command line that records a setup to a file named c:\setups\mysetup.iss.
Setup.exe /r /f1c:\setups\mysetup.iss
When recording, all aspects of the setup that are addressed in the user interface (UI) will be recorded in the setup. The PID entry, the configurations of components and environments, installation directory locations, Web directory settings, shortcuts, and whether or not to restart immediately are all saved as part of the recording. As you run the initial setup recording, make sure that choices you make will be compatible with all computers on which this setup will be played back.
Playing Back Recorded Setup Options
To play back the same installation procedure on a different computer (accessing the recorded file where the setup was initially recorded), and to send setup log information and errors to a specified log file, enter the following on the command line:
Setup.exe /s /f1\\remoteservername\setups\mysetup.iss /f2c:\setups\log1.log
This example assumes that certain directories be properly shared over your local area network (LAN). This example writes the log file locally but could also write a uniquely named log file back to the computer that hosted the recorded setup file, so that all log files from a series of remote installations could be assembled in a single directory for later review.
Setup must be run from a command line on the same computer where the installation itself is intended to run, or it must be run by similar means of access that allow command-line-level access to the computer (rather than just a share). You should be prepared to have that computer undergo a forced restart if Setup options were recorded with a mandatory restart.
Passport Manager Administration Utility
The Passport Manager Administration utility can browse the local network to configure Passport Manager installations on remote servers. Both the local and remote servers must have the Passport Manager Administration utility installed. (It is typically installed by default.) For more information, see Passport Manager Administration Utility.
Key Installation Program
The key installation program has a "/m" flag that can be used to install keys to Passport Manager installations on remote servers. For more information, see the documentation that came with the key installation program you received when you registered your site, or see Installing .NET Passport Encryption Keys.
See Also
Deploying Passport Manager and Site Code | Installing the .NET Passport SDK and Passport Manager