Answer File for Unattended Installations

Edit a copy of the answer file for each unique set of values needed when installing inventory beacons remotely.

An answer file can be used for either unattended installations, or for ensuring consistency across multiple installations of the same kind of machine (sharing common settings).

A starting point for an answer file for installation of inventory beacons is available in the support folder of the installer image. As provided, the sample file is not ready for use.

[SECTION]

PARAMETER_NAME=PARAMETER_VALUE

 

# Example:

# [Folders]

# INSTALLDIR=C:\Temp

This brief extract illustrates the syntax of the answer file:

• The first two lines demonstrating the syntax must be removed before the file is used.
• The answer file is divided into sections, with the section name enclosed in square brackets.
• Within each section are a number of lines:
• Lines may be blank.
• Lines beginning with the hash or pound sign (#) are comments and have no effect.
• Otherwise lines contain a parameter/value pair, separated by an equals sign (=) and optionally any amount of white space.
• No parameters are mandatory for the file to be valid. Most parameter not included in the answer file have no value (null), although a few have default values as listed in the following table. Note that some null values may cause an installation to fail, so that these values are required for successful installation.
• Parameter names (unlike section names) are case-sensitive and must be reproduced exactly as shown.
• Values are delimited by the end of line, and may contain white space if required (for example in file paths). Do not add double quotation marks around values, as they will be taken as literal quotations marks within the value. There is no escape character required, as all characters have their literal meaning.

Use a flat text editor to prepare your answer file with the parameters you require from the following table.

In this table, each section is listed in the order they should appear in the answer file. Within each section are the parameters that may appear there, together with permitted or sample values and other notes. Parameters are in alphabetic order here, and may appear in any order with the correct section.

Section (ordered)

Parameter (alphabetical)

Values/Notes

[Installation]

BEACONUID

It should be the value from the beacon configuration file (.flxconfig) in the <BeaconUID> element.

[Installation]

INSTALLDIR

The folder where the software is to be installed. The default values are as follows, with ProgFiles being C:\Program Files on 32-bit systems, and C:\Program Files (x86) on 64-bit systems:

• Inventory beacon: ProgFiles\Flexera Software\Inventory Beacon

[Installation]

TENANT_UID

It should be the value from the beacon configuration file (.flxconfig) in the <TENANT_UID> element.

[Configurations]

-

A container for the following four sections:

• [Skip]
• [Identity]
• [Parameters]
• [Register Flexera Service Gateway]

The [Configurations] section does not directly contain any parameters of its own.

[Skip]

Step

Add to this section any steps in the installation process that you want to bypass entirely. For example, if you do not want to use your system with other Flexera products (such as App Portal / App Broker), you can use: Step = Register Flexera Service Gateway 

[Identity]

(see below)

An [Identity] group specifies an application pool identity for Microsoft IIS. Each group identifies a single Name, Username, and Password for the application pool. Since several of these pools are required, specify a separate [Identity] group for each of them.

[Identity]

Name

The name for a user in a given application pool, in the form BeaconAppPoolUser. The names must match the names available in IIS on an operational beacon (or on the central application server, as the case may be). The relevant user name parameters are:

• BeaconAppPoolUser
• BusinessReportingAuthUser
• DLAppPoolUser
• ExternalAPIAppPoolUser
• RLAppPoolUser
• ScheduledTaskUser
• SuiteAppPoolUser

[Identity]

Password

The (optional) password for the Username for this [Identity] group.

[Identity]

Username

The account named in the IIS application pool. If the account is an Active Directory account, you may specify the name alone. If it is a machine account on the inventory beacon, specify the machine name and account separated by a backslash, such as BEACON-MACHINE\AccountName.

[Beacon Links]

BEACONSVCENDPOINT

The URL to which the beacon service on this inventory beacon should connect. For a beacon at the top level of your beacon hierarchy, this points to the batch server; for beacons further down the hierarchy, it points to their parent inventory beacon. Include the protocol. Sample format:

http://Batch-server.myDomain.com 

[Beacon Links]

FNMPWEBUIURL

It should be the URL to the web application server with /Suite appended to the end. For example, for the North American server, use https://app.flexera.com/Suite; for the European server, use https://app.flexera.eu/Suite; and for the APAC server, use https://app.flexera.au/Suite.

[Scheduled Tasks]

CONFIGURESCHEDS

Boolean, with values either TRUE or FALSE. When true, the installer tries to configure the Windows Scheduled Tasks appropriately for this installation. When false, scheduled task configuration is left as an exercise for the installing operator.

[Scheduled Tasks]

SCHEDPASSWORD

The password for the account named in SCHEDUSERNAME.

[Scheduled Tasks]

SCHEDUSERNAME

The account name used to run Windows Scheduled Tasks when SCHEDUSERNAMEMODE is set to OTHER.

[Scheduled Tasks]

SCHEDUSERNAMEMODE

May be set to either:

• SYSTEM, so that scheduled tasks are run by the local SYSTEM account (most often the account running the inventory beacon services as well)
• OTHER, in which case the account credentials must be specified in SCHEDUSERNAME and SCHEDPASSWORD.

[Folders]

DATADIR

For installation of stand-alone inventory beacons, this specifies the parent folder for inventory beacon logs and configuration files. After installation/update, this value is saved in the DistributionLocation registry value. If this parameter is omitted, the parent folder is taken from the first available of:

• ImportXMLDirectory registry value
• BaseDirectory registry value
• The default location C:\%CommonAppData%\Flexera Software.

[Folders]

STAGEDIR

Applies to installations of the central application server and inventory beacons. Identifies the staging folder where packages for installing and upgrading inventory agents on managed devices and inventory beacons are stored, awaiting automatic distribution. If this parameter is omitted, the path is created from the first available of:

• DATADIR if declared (see above)
• DistributionLocation registry value (if this answer file is being used for an upgrade, and the registry has been previously set, such as through an earlier declaration of DATADIR)
• The default %CommonAppData%\Flexera Software\Staging\Common\.

[Folders]

UPLOADDIR

For installation of inventory beacons, use this to specify the destination URL on this beacon for files being uploaded from managed devices (inventory targets using the FlexNet Inventory Agent). Include the protocol, which may be HTTP, FTP, or FILE. If this parameter is omitted, the path is created from the first available of:

• DATADIR if declared (see above)
• The default %CommonAppData%\Flexera Software\Incoming\Inventories.