Netscape Directory Server Installation Guide: Chapter 4 Silent Installation and Instance Creation

Installation Guide
Netscape Directory Server

Chapter 4 Silent Installation and Instance Creation

Silent installation allows you to use a file to predefine all the answers that you would normally supply to the setup program interactively; this provides you with the ability to script the installation of multiple instances of Netscape Directory Server (Directory Server). Instance creation enables you to use an existing Directory Server instance to create additional instances of the server under the same server root.

This chapter explains the following:

Using Silent Installation

Using Silent Instance Creation

Using Silent Installation

Silent installation is intended for use at sites where many server instances must be created. For Directory Server, it is especially useful for heavily replicated sites that will create a large number of consumer servers.

To use silent installation, you create a silent installation file, supply values for the appropriate installation directives, and run the setup program with the -s and -f command-line options.

The procedure below explains how to use silent installation:

On Windows machines, log in with Administrator privileges. On UNIX machines, log in as root.

Create a new directory:

# mkdir ds # cd ds

If you have not already done so, download the product binaries file to the installation directory.

On Windows machines, unzip the product binaries. On UNIX, unpack the product binaries file using the following command:

# gunzip -dc filename.tar.gz | tar -xvof-

where filename corresponds to the product binaries file that you want to unpack.

Prepare the file that will contain your installation directives.

See "Preparing Silent Installation Files" for instructions and for some examples of the silent-install files.

Fill in appropriate values for the installation directives.

See "Specifying Silent Installation Directives" for the complete list of silent installation directives that you can use when installing Directory Server.

Run the setup program with the -s and -f command line options:

setup -s -f filename

where filename is the name of the file that contains your installation directives.

Preparing Silent Installation Files

The best way to create a file for use with silent installation is to use the setup program to interactively create a server instance of the type that you want to duplicate. To do this, run setup with the -k flag. The setup program will create the following file:

serverRoot/setup/install.inf
This file contains all the directives that you would use with silent installation to create the server instance. You can then use this file to create other server instances of that type.

You will have to make some modifications to this file before you use it. Specifically, ensure that you have done the following:

FullMachineName—Set this directive to a value that is appropriate for the machine on which Directory Server will be installed, if it's not to be the local machine. In most circumstances, it is best not to use this directive because FullMachineName will then default to the local host name. However, if you use custom installation to generate your initial server instance, then this directive will appear in the install.inf file.

ServerIpAddress—Set this directive appropriate for the local machine. The same usage rules apply for ServerIpAddress as for FullMachineName. Specifically, try to not include ServerIpAddress in your install.inf file unless you absolutely have to (as may be necessary for multi-homed systems).

ServerRoot—Verify the installation path on this directive. If you are installing on both Windows and UNIX machines, make sure the appropriate path delimiter is used. Add or remove the Windows drive letter designation as is appropriate for the host you are installing on. Also, the name of the file-system directory where you install files must not contain any space characters.

ServerIdentifier—If you are installing more than one Directory Server on the same host, make sure that this directive contains a unique value for each server instance.

SuiteSpotUserID and SuiteSpotGroup—If you create your install.inf file on a Windows machine, then the SuiteSpotUserID and SuiteSpotGroup directives are both set to nobody. If you subsequently use this file on a UNIX machine, ensure the user and group specified by these directives are appropriate for the machine. The SuiteSpotUserID and SuiteSpotGroup directives determine what user and group a server will run under when installed on a UNIX system.

Note

Be sure to protect your install.inf files because they contain passwords in clear. Also ensure that any DNs in these files are in the UTF-8 character set encoding.

The sections that follow provide examples of using silent installation to support the following installation scenarios:

Sample File for Typical Installation

Sample File for Using an Existing Configuration Directory

Sample File for Installing the Standalone Netscape Console

You can find a definition of the individual installation directives in "Specifying Silent Installation Directives".

Note

The silent.inf file provided with the Directory Server is merely a template, an example of how to write your own. For the file to work, many of the parameters (host name, ports, paths, and so on) in the file must be replaced with appropriate values.

It is also easy to generate your own silent installation file using the setup -k option, and modify the resulting install.inf file as needed.

Sample File for Typical Installation

The following is an example of the install.inf file that is generated for a typical installation:

[General]

FullMachineName= dir.example.com

SuiteSpotUserID= nobody

SuiteSpotGroup= nobody

ServerRoot= /usr/netscape/servers

AdminDomain= example.com

ConfigDirectoryAdminID= admin

ConfigDirectoryAdminPwd= admin

ConfigDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://dir.example.com:389/o=NetscapeRoot

UserDirectoryAdminID= admin

UserDirectoryAdminPwd= admin

UserDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://dir.example.com:389/dc=example,dc=com

Components= svrcore,base,slapd,admin,nsperl,perldap

[slapd]

SlapdConfigForMC= Yes

SecurityOn= No

UseExistingMC= No

UseExistingUG= No

ServerPort= 389

ServerIdentifier= dir

Suffix= dc=example,dc=com

RootDN= cn=Directory Manager

UseReplication= No

AddSampleEntries= No

InstallLdifFile= suggest

AddOrgEntries= Yes

DisableSchemaChecking= No

RootDNPwd= admin123

Components= slapd,slapd-client

[admin]

SysUser= root

Port= 23611

ServerIpAddress= 111.11.11.11

ServerAdminID= admin

ServerAdminPwd= admin

Components= admin,admin-client

[base]

Components= base,base-client,base-jre

[nsperl]

Components= nsperl561

[perldap]

Components= perldap14

Sample File for Using an Existing Configuration Directory

The following is an example of the install.inf file that is generated when you perform a typical installation and you choose to use an existing Directory Server as the configuration directory:

[General]

FullMachineName= dir.example.com

SuiteSpotUserID= nobody

SuiteSpotGroup= nobody

ServerRoot= /usr/netscape/servers

AdminDomain= example.com

ConfigDirectoryAdminID= admin

ConfigDirectoryAdminPwd= admin

ConfigDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://dir.example.com:25389/o=NetscapeRoot

UserDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://dir.example.com:18257/dc=example,dc=com

UserDirectoryAdminID= cn=Directory Manager

UserDirectoryAdminPwd= admin123

Components= svrcore,base,slapd,admin,nsperl,perldap

[slapd]

SlapdConfigForMC= No

SecurityOn= No

UseExistingMC= Yes

UseExistingUG= No

ServerPort= 18257

ServerIdentifier= directory

Suffix= dc=example,dc=com

RootDN= cn=Directory Manager

UseReplication= No

AddSampleEntries= No

InstallLdifFile= suggest

AddOrgEntries= Yes

DisableSchemaChecking= No

RootDNPwd= admin123

Components= slapd,slapd-client

[admin]

SysUser= root

Port= 33646

ServerIpAddress= 111.11.11.11

ServerAdminID= admin

ServerAdminPwd= admin

Components= admin,admin-client

[base]

Components= base,base-client,base-jre

[nsperl]

Components= nsperl561

[perldap]

Components= perldap14

Sample File for Installing the Standalone Netscape Console

The following is an example of the install.inf file that is generated when you install just Netscape Console:

[General]

FullMachineName= dir.example.com

ConfigDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://dir.example.com:389/o=NetscapeRoot

SuiteSpotUserID= nobody

SuiteSpotGroup= nobody

ConfigDirectoryAdminID= admin

ConfigDirectoryAdminPwd= admin

ServerRoot= /usr/netscape/servers

Components= svrcore,base,slapd,admin

[base]

Components= base-client

[slapd]

Components= slapd-client

[admin]

Components= admin-client,base-jre

Specifying Silent Installation Directives

This section describes the basic format of the file used for silent installation. It then describes the directives that are available for each area of the silent installation file.

Silent Installation File Format

[General] Installation Directives

[slapd] Installation Directives

[admin] Installation Directives

[Base] Installation Directives

[nsperl] Installation Directives

[perldap] Installation Directives

Silent Installation File Format

When you use silent installation, you provide all the installation information in a file. This file is formatted as follows:

[General]

directive=value

directive=value

directive=value

...

[slapd]

directive=value

directive=value

directive=value

...

[admin]

directive=value

directive=value

directive=value

...

[Base]

directive=value

directive=value

directive=value

...

The keywords [General], [slapd], and [admin] are required. They indicate that the directives that follow are meant for a specific aspect of the installation. They must be provided in the file in the order indicated above.

[General] Installation Directives

[General] installation directives specify information of global interest to the Netscape servers installed at your site. That is, the information you provide here will be common to all your Netscape servers.

The [General] installation directives are listed in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1    [General] Installation Directives

Directive

Description

Components

Specifies components to be installed. The list of available components will differ depending on the Netscape servers available on your installation media. For standalone directory installation, the list of components is:

svrcore—Uninstallation binaries

base—The base installation package

admin—The Administration Server binaries

slapd—The Directory Server binaries

This directive is required. At a minimum, you should always provide:
components= svrcore,base,admin

ServerRoot

Specifies the full path to the directory where the Netscape server binaries are installed. This directive is required.

FullMachineName

Specifies the fully qualified domain name of the machine on which you are installing the server. The default is the local host name.

SuiteSpotUserID

UNIX only. Specifies the user name that Netscape servers will run as. This parameter does not apply to the user that the Administration Server runs as. See the SysUser directive in Table 4-3 for more information. The default is user nobody but this should be changed for most deployments.

SuiteSpotGroup

UNIX only. Specifies the group that Netscape servers will run as. The default is group nobody but this should be changed for most deployments.

ConfigDirectoryLdapURL

Specifies the LDAP URL that is used to connect to your configuration directory. LDAP URLs are described in the Netscape Directory Server Administrator's Guide. This directive is required.

AdminDomain

Specifies the administration domain under which this server will be registered. See "Determining the Administration Domain" for more information about administration domains.

ConfigDirectoryAdminID

Specifies the user ID of the entry that has administration privileges to the configuration directory. This directive is required.

ConfigDirectoryAdminPwd

Specifies the password for the ConfigDirectoryAdminID. This directive is required.

UserDirectoryLdapURL

Specifies the LDAP URL that is used to connect to the directory where your user and group data is stored. If this directive is not supplied, the configuration directory is used for this purpose. LDAP URLs are described in the Netscape Directory Server Administrator's Guide.

UserDirectoryAdminID

Specifies the user ID of the entry that has administration privileges to the user directory.

UserDirectoryAdminPwd

Specifies the password for the UserDirectoryAdminID.

[slapd] Installation Directives

[slapd] installation directives specify information of interest only to the Directory Server instance that you are currently installing. These directives are classified as follows:

Required [slapd] Installation Directives—You must provide these directives when you use silent installation with Directory Server.

Optional [slapd] Installation Directives—You may provide these directives when you use silent installation with Directory Server.

Table 4-2 lists the directives.

Table 4-2    Required and Optional [slapd] Installation Directives

Required Directive

Description

Components

Specifies the slapd components to be installed. The components are:

slapd—Install Directory Server.

slapd-client—Install Directory Server Console.

This directive is required. It is recommended that you always install both components any time you install the Directory Server.

ServerPort

Specifies the port the server will use for LDAP connections. For information on selecting server port numbers, see "Choosing Unique Port Numbers". This directive is required.

ServerIdentifier

Specifies the server identifier. This directive is required.
This value is used as part of the name of the directory in which the Directory Server instance is installed. For example, if your machine's host name is phonebook, then this name is the default and selecting it will cause the Directory Server instance to be installed into a directory labeled slapd-phonebook.

Suffix

Specifies the suffix under which you will store your directory data. For information on suffixes, see "Determining Your Directory Suffix". This directive is required.

RootDN

Specifies the distinguished name used by the directory manager. For information on the directory manager, see "Defining Authentication Entities". This directive is required.

RootDNPwd

Specifies the directory manager's password. This directive is required.

Optional Directive

Description

AddSampleEntries

If set to Yes, this directive causes the example.ldif sample directory to be loaded. Use this directive if you are installing the Directory Server for evaluation purposes and you do not already have an LDIF file to populate your directory with. Default is no.

AddOrgEntries

If set to Yes, this directive causes the new Directory Server instance to be created with a suggested directory structure and access control. If this directive is used and InstallLdifFile is also used, then this directive has no effect. Default is no.

InstallLdifFile

Causes the contents of the LDIF file to be used to populate your directory.

[admin] Installation Directives

[admin] installation directives specify information of interest only to your Directory Server's Administration Server. That is, this is the installation information required for the Administration Server that is used to manage the Directory Server instance that you are currently installing.

The [admin] installation directives are listed in Table 4-3.

Table 4-3    [admin] Installation Directives

Directive

Description

Components

Specifies the admin components to be installed. The base components are:

admin—Install Administration Server. You must install the Administration Server if you are also installing some other Netscape server.

admin-client—Install Netscape Console. Specify just this component if you are installing Netscape Console as stand-alone. Do not install this component if you will remotely manage your servers and Netscape Console will be installed somewhere else on your network.

SysUser

UNIX only. Specifies the user that the Administration Server will run as. For default installations that use the default Netscape port numbers, this user must be root. Root is the default. For information on what users your servers should run as, see "Deciding the User and Group for Your Netscape Servers (UNIX only)"

Port

Specifies the port that the Administration Server will use. Note that the Administration Server's host name is given by the FullMachineName directive. For more information on FullMachineName, see Table 4-1.

ServerAdminID

Specifies the administration ID that can be used to access this Administration Server if the configuration directory is not responding. The default is to use the value specified by the ConfigDirectoryAdminID directive. See "Defining Authentication Entities" for information on this directive.

ServerAdminPwd

Specifies the password for ServerAdminID.

ServerIpAddress

Specifies the IP address that the Administration Server will listen to. Use this directive if you are installing on a multi-homed system and you do not want to use the first IP address for your Administration Server.

[Base] Installation Directives

There is only one [Base] installation directive and it allows you to determine whether Netscape Console is installed. Table 4-4 lists the directive.

Table 4-4    [Base] Installation Directive

Directive

Description

Components

Specifies the base components to be installed. The base components are:

base—Install the shared libraries used by all Server Consoles. You must install this package if you are also installing some other Netscape server.

base-client—Install the Java run time environment used by the Server Consoles.

base-jre—Causes the Java run time environment to be installed.

This directive is required if you are installing an Netscape server (versus, for example, just Netscape Console). You must install both packages when you are installing an Netscape server.

[nsperl] Installation Directives

There is only one [nsperl] installation directive and it allows you to determine whether nsPerl is to be installed. Table 4-5 lists the directive.

Table 4-5    [nsperl] Installation Directive

Directive

Description

Components

Specifies whether nsPerl that is bundled with Directory Server is to be installed. This nsPerl is CPAN perl, built and maintained for use by Netscape server products.

nsperl561—Install nsPerl version 5.6.1.

This directive is required if you are installing a Netscape server (versus, for example, just Netscape Console).

[perldap] Installation Directives

There is only one [perldap] installation directive and it allows you to determine whether PerLDAP is to be installed. Table 4-6 lists the directive.

Table 4-6    [perldap] Installation Directive

Directive

Description

Components

Specifies whether PerLDAP that is bundled with Directory Server is to be installed. This is mozilla.org PerLDAP, built and maintained at Netscape and used by Netscape server products.

perldap14—Install perLDAP version 1.4.1.

This directive is required if you are installing a Netscape server (versus, for example, just Netscape Console).

Using Silent Instance Creation

If you have Directory Server installed in a server root, you can create additional instances of Directory Server under the same server root without having to run the setup program. You can create additional instances of the server either by using Netscape Console or from the command line.

Because all instances of Directory Server under a server root use the same Administration Server, the instance creation process does not install Administration Server binaries; you cannot create two instances of Administration Server in one server root.

Having multiple instances in a single server root is useful for testing and for when one host is used for multiple purposes. Keep in mind that each Directory Server instance must be assigned a different port number and server identifier.

The ds_create program, which is located in the serverRoot/bin/slapd/admin/bin directory, enables you to create additional instances of Directory Server under a server root. You may want to use this program when you already have Directory Server installed and just want to create additional instances of the server from the command line.

To create a new instance of Directory Server, run this command from the serverRoot/bin/slapd/admin/bin directory:

ds_create -f filename
where filename is the silent instance creation file, which must be similar to the file used with the setup program (see "Preparing Silent Installation Files") except that the file must only contain the following two sections, and these sections do not take Components directive.

[Genaral]

[slapd]

Here's a sample file for instance creation:

[General]

FullMachineName= testDir.example.com

ServerRoot= /usr/netscape/servers

AdminDomain= example.com

ConfigDirectoryAdminID= admin

ConfigDirectoryAdminPwd= secretPwd01

ConfigDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://testDir.example.com:389/o=NetscapeRoot

UserDirectoryAdminID= admin

UserDirectoryAdminPwd= secretPwd02

UserDirectoryLdapURL= ldap://testDir.example.com:389/dc=europe,dc=example,dc=com

[slapd]

ServerPort= 389

ServerIdentifier= instance02

RootDN= cn=Directory Manager

RootDNPwd= DirMgrPwd

Suffix= dc=europe,dc=example,dc=com

SlapdConfigForMC= No

UseExistingMC= Yes

UseExistingUG= No

SecurityOn= No

UseReplication= No

SetupSupplier= No

SetupConsumer= No

AddSampleEntries= No

InstallLdifFile= suggest

AddOrgEntries= Yes

DisableSchemaChecking= No

Directive	Description
`Components`	Specifies components to be installed. The list of available components will differ depending on the Netscape servers available on your installation media. For standalone directory installation, the list of components is: `svrcore`—Uninstallation binaries `base`—The base installation package `admin`—The Administration Server binaries `slapd`—The Directory Server binaries This directive is required. At a minimum, you should always provide: `components= svrcore,base,admin`
`ServerRoot`	Specifies the full path to the directory where the Netscape server binaries are installed. This directive is required.
`FullMachineName`	Specifies the fully qualified domain name of the machine on which you are installing the server. The default is the local host name.
`SuiteSpotUserID`	UNIX only. Specifies the user name that Netscape servers will run as. This parameter does not apply to the user that the Administration Server runs as. See the `SysUser` directive in Table 4-3 for more information. The default is user `nobody` but this should be changed for most deployments.
`SuiteSpotGroup`	UNIX only. Specifies the group that Netscape servers will run as. The default is group `nobody` but this should be changed for most deployments.
`ConfigDirectoryLdapURL`	Specifies the LDAP URL that is used to connect to your configuration directory. LDAP URLs are described in the Netscape Directory Server Administrator's Guide. This directive is required.
`AdminDomain`	Specifies the administration domain under which this server will be registered. See "Determining the Administration Domain" for more information about administration domains.
`ConfigDirectoryAdminID`	Specifies the user ID of the entry that has administration privileges to the configuration directory. This directive is required.
`ConfigDirectoryAdminPwd`	Specifies the password for the `ConfigDirectoryAdminID`. This directive is required.
`UserDirectoryLdapURL`	Specifies the LDAP URL that is used to connect to the directory where your user and group data is stored. If this directive is not supplied, the configuration directory is used for this purpose. LDAP URLs are described in the Netscape Directory Server Administrator's Guide.
`UserDirectoryAdminID`	Specifies the user ID of the entry that has administration privileges to the user directory.
`UserDirectoryAdminPwd`	Specifies the password for the `UserDirectoryAdminID`.

Required Directive	Description
`Components`	Specifies the `slapd` components to be installed. The components are: `slapd`—Install Directory Server. `slapd-client`—Install Directory Server Console. This directive is required. It is recommended that you always install both components any time you install the Directory Server.
`ServerPort`	Specifies the port the server will use for LDAP connections. For information on selecting server port numbers, see "Choosing Unique Port Numbers". This directive is required.
`ServerIdentifier`	Specifies the server identifier. This directive is required. This value is used as part of the name of the directory in which the Directory Server instance is installed. For example, if your machine's host name is `phonebook`, then this name is the default and selecting it will cause the Directory Server instance to be installed into a directory labeled `slapd-phonebook`.
`Suffix`	Specifies the suffix under which you will store your directory data. For information on suffixes, see "Determining Your Directory Suffix". This directive is required.
`RootDN`	Specifies the distinguished name used by the directory manager. For information on the directory manager, see "Defining Authentication Entities". This directive is required.
`RootDNPwd`	Specifies the directory manager's password. This directive is required.
Optional Directive	Description
`AddSampleEntries`	If set to `Yes`, this directive causes the `example.ldif` sample directory to be loaded. Use this directive if you are installing the Directory Server for evaluation purposes and you do not already have an LDIF file to populate your directory with. Default is `no`.
`AddOrgEntries`	If set to `Yes`, this directive causes the new Directory Server instance to be created with a suggested directory structure and access control. If this directive is used and `InstallLdifFile` is also used, then this directive has no effect. Default is `no`.
`InstallLdifFile`	Causes the contents of the LDIF file to be used to populate your directory.

Directive	Description
`Components`	Specifies the admin components to be installed. The base components are: `admin`—Install Administration Server. You must install the Administration Server if you are also installing some other Netscape server. `admin-client`—Install Netscape Console. Specify just this component if you are installing Netscape Console as stand-alone. Do not install this component if you will remotely manage your servers and Netscape Console will be installed somewhere else on your network.
`SysUser`	UNIX only. Specifies the user that the Administration Server will run as. For default installations that use the default Netscape port numbers, this user must be root. Root is the default. For information on what users your servers should run as, see "Deciding the User and Group for Your Netscape Servers (UNIX only)"
`Port`	Specifies the port that the Administration Server will use. Note that the Administration Server's host name is given by the `FullMachineName` directive. For more information on `FullMachineName`, see Table 4-1.
`ServerAdminID`	Specifies the administration ID that can be used to access this Administration Server if the configuration directory is not responding. The default is to use the value specified by the `ConfigDirectoryAdminID` directive. See "Defining Authentication Entities" for information on this directive.
`ServerAdminPwd`	Specifies the password for `ServerAdminID`.
`ServerIpAddress`	Specifies the IP address that the Administration Server will listen to. Use this directive if you are installing on a multi-homed system and you do not want to use the first IP address for your Administration Server.

Directive	Description
`Components`	Specifies the base components to be installed. The base components are: `base`—Install the shared libraries used by all Server Consoles. You must install this package if you are also installing some other Netscape server. `base-client`—Install the Java run time environment used by the Server Consoles. `base-jre`—Causes the Java run time environment to be installed. This directive is required if you are installing an Netscape server (versus, for example, just Netscape Console). You must install both packages when you are installing an Netscape server.

Directive	Description
`Components`	Specifies whether nsPerl that is bundled with Directory Server is to be installed. This nsPerl is CPAN perl, built and maintained for use by Netscape server products. `nsperl561`—Install nsPerl version 5.6.1. This directive is required if you are installing a Netscape server (versus, for example, just Netscape Console).

Directive	Description
`Components`	Specifies whether PerLDAP that is bundled with Directory Server is to be installed. This is `mozilla.org` PerLDAP, built and maintained at Netscape and used by Netscape server products. `perldap14`—Install perLDAP version 1.4.1. This directive is required if you are installing a Netscape server (versus, for example, just Netscape Console).

Last Updated October 30, 2003


Note	Be sure to protect your `install.inf` files because they contain passwords in clear. Also ensure that any DNs in these files are in the UTF-8 character set encoding.