SQL Server 2005 - Unattended installation - Part II

June 21, 2006

Server Components

In the previous article, we saw how to install the SQL Server 2005 client components. In this section of this series, I am going to illustrate how to install SQL Server 2005 Database Services on a server using various command line switches.

Let us assume that we need SQL Server Database Service installed on the server and let us assume that we are going to create a named instance "SQLTEST01."

Step 1

Place the installation DVD in the DVD drive or copy the entire DVD onto a network shared drive and share that network drive.

Step 2

Click on the Start button on the task bar, click run, type the command CMD.exe, which opens the MS-DOS shell command prompt.

Step 3

Type the following command if you are using the shared drive. Refer Figure 1.0.

Start /wait H:\servers\setup.exe /qb INSTANCENAME=SQLTEST01 ADDLOCAL=SQL_Engine
SAPWD= KuR0Z@w@ SQLACCOUNT=MICRO\sqlserver
SQLPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct AGTACCOUNT=MICRO\sqlserver AGTPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct
SQLBROWSERACCOUNT=MICRO\sqlserver SQLBROWSERPASSWORD=SQL@dd!ct SECURITYMODE=SQL

Here, INSTANCENAME=SQLTEST01 means that we are installing a named instance. If you want to install the default instance then replace it with INSTANCENAME=MSSQLSERVER.

Note: Update the servername, loginname and password according to your environment

Note: H:\ is the drive letter of my computer's DVD drive

Note: \\Fileserver should be replaced with your file server name and shareddrive should be replaced with your actual shared drive name.

You will see the following screens. [Fig 1.1, Fig 1.2, Fig 1.3, Fig 1.4 and Fig 1.5]

The following items appear in the Add/Remove programs under control panel. [Fig 1.6]

Summary.txt, displayed below, is found under C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 9.00.1399.06 
============================== 
OS Version      : Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family, Enterprise Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 3790) 
Time            : Mon Jun 12 14:39:06 2006 
 
A : The current system does not meet minimum hardware requirements for this SQL Server release. For detailed hardware requirements, 
see the readme file or SQL Server Books Online.
A : Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is either not installed or is disabled. IIS is required by some SQL Server features.  
Without IIS, some SQL Server features will not be available for installation. To install all SQL Server features, install IIS from Add 
or Remove Programs in Control Panel or enable the IIS service through the Control Panel if it is already installed, and then run SQL 
Server Setup again. For a list of features that depend on IIS, see Features Supported by Editions of SQL Server in Books Online.
Machine         : A 
Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Setup Support Files (English) 
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_SQLSupport_1.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Machine         : A 
Product         : Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_SQLNCLI_1.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Machine         : A 
Product         : Microsoft Office 2003 Web Components 
Product Version : 11.0.6558.0 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_OWC11_1.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Machine         : A 
Product         : Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer 
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_SqlWriter_1.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Machine         : A 
Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward compatibility 
Product Version : 8.05.1054 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_BackwardsCompat_1.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Machine         : A 
Product         : MSXML 6.0 Parser 
Product Version : 6.00.3883.8 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_MSXML6_1.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Machine         : A 
Product         : Microsoft SQL Server 2005 
Product Version : 9.00.1399.06 
Install         : Successful 
Log File        : C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files\SQLSetup0001_A_SQL.log 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
 Setup succeeded with the installation, inspect the log file completely for status on all the components. 
Time            : Mon Jun 12 14:57:02 2006

Verify all of the log files for installation status and detail history in:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Setup Bootstrap\LOG\Files"

Please refer to Fig 1.7.

Now let us look at the services. Click Start, Click Run and type services.msc to see the following services. Refer to Figure 1.8

You can see the following programs under program files. Refer to Fig 1.9.

Click on Configuration Manager and make sure that protocols are enabled. Fig 2.0.

If you are hard coding the port number, make sure the TCP/IP protocol for server settings is configured properly. Refer to Fig 2.1.

Now click on the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration. Refer to Fig 2.2.

Make sure the remote connection is enabled as shown in Fig 2.3.

Before connecting from the client, add the server name Alias to the SQL Server configuration at the client machine, as shown in Figure 2.4 and 2.5. Now try to connect the SQL server, "SQLTEST01," using SQL Server Management Studio.

Make sure that you use the same port number used in the SQL Server configuration.

If you use /qn as the switch, instead of /qb, then setup suppresses all Setup dialog boxes and error messages. If the /qn switch is specified, all Setup messages, including error messages, are written to Setup log files.

Conclusion

SQL Server 2005 can be installed using the GUI, the .ini file or just run setup.exe with a bunch of parameters. In this section of this series, you have learned how to do unattended installations of server components, especially Database services.

Successive articles will describe how to do unattended installation on many other server components and usage of the .ini file.

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