TechNote (Archived)

Installing Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 silently

You can install ColdFusion MX 7 silently. A silent installation does not interact with the user. Installing silently is useful when you must install ColdFusion MX 7 on multiple computers with the same installation options.

About the silent installation

You can use the silent installer to install the ColdFusion MX 7 server configuration, multiserver configuration, or J2EE configuration. The silent installer runs on all the platforms that ColdFusion MX 7 supports.

The ColdFusion MX 7 silent installer does not automatically configure your web server for use with ColdFusion MX 7. You must use wsconfig to configure your web server after running the silent installer. For more information, see Configuring web servers.

To silently install ColdFusion MX:

Create the properties file.
Name and save the properties file.
Run the silent installer.
Configure your external web server, if necessary.

Create the properties file

The installer properties file is an ASCII text file that defines parameters for your installation. To create the installer properties file, you should determine the values of the following properties as appropriate for your platform:

Entry	Description
INSTALLER_UI	Value must be set to silent, for example, INSTALLER_UI=SILENT.
SILENT_LICENSE_MODE	Type of license. Valid values are full, trial, and developer, for example, SILENT_LICENSE_MODE=full.
SILENT_SERIAL_NUMBER	Serial number for ColdFusion MX 7. This is required only if the SILENT_LICENSE_MODE is full.
SILENT_PREV_SERIAL_NUMBER	Serial number of the previous version of ColdFusion. This is required only if the serial number you specified as the SILENT_SERIAL_NUMBER is a serial number for an upgrade.
SILENT_INSTALLER_TYPE	Configuration to install. Valid values are the following: `standalone`, which indicates the server configuration `jrun`, which indicates the multiserver configuration `ear`, to deploy the J2EE configuration as an EAR file `war`, to deploy the J2EE configuration as a WAR file Example: SILENT_INSTALLER_TYPE=standalone.
SILENT_INSTALL_ODBC	(Windows only) Whether to install ColdFusion ODBC Services. Values are true and false.
SILENT_INSTALL_VERITY	(Windows, Linux, and Solaris only) Whether to install ColdFusion MX 7 Search Services. Values are true and false.
SILENT_INSTALL_SAMPLES	Whether to install the Getting Started Experience, Tutorials, and Documentation. Values are true and false. Note: Set the value to false if you are installing in a production environment.
SILENT_CONFIGURE_SYSTEM_INIT	(Server configuration on UNIX systems only) Whether to start ColdFusion MX 7 automatically when the system boots. Values are true and false.
SILENT_INSTALL_FOLDER	(J2EE configuration only) Installation directory for the EAR or WAR file.
SILENT_VERITY_INSTALL_FOLDER	(J2EE configuration only) Directory in which to install the Verity search server.
SILENT_CONTEXT_ROOT	(J2EE configuration - EAR file only) Context root for ColdFusion.
SILENT_RUNTIMEUSER	(UNIX systems only) Runtime user, typically nobody. (Windows only) Omit the value.
SILENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD	The password to use for access to the ColdFusion MX 7 Administrator.
SILENT_FLEX_ENABLED	(J2EE configuration only) Whether to turn on Flex, if you have version 2.3 or later of the JavaServlet API. Values are true and false.
SILENT_ENABLE_RDS	Whether to enable RDS. Allowed values are true and false. Note: RDS allows the server to interact with remotely connected developers. Macromedia recommends that you disable RDS for production servers. Disabling RDS also disables the directory browsing applets in the ColdFusion MX 7 Administrator.
SILENT_RDS_PASSWORD	RDS password.

The following rules apply to the properties file:

The name of your installer properties file must end with.properties, not .txt.
You can insert a comment in the file by placing a pound sign (#) at the beginning of the line. To place a multiline comment in the file, put a pound sign at the beginning of each line of the comment.
The values are case-sensitive, therefore, you must specify true and false using lowercase.
If you use backward slashes (\) in file paths in the properties file on a Windows system, you must escape them by using double backslashes (\\).

Properties file example

The following code is a sample properties file. Because it specifies a value for every property, you cannot use this file as is to install ColdFusion MX 7 using the silent installer. However, you may find it helpful to copy the sample and modify it as appropriate for your installation.

 # Install is silent INSTALLER_UI=SILENT # # License information - full | trial | developer SILENT_LICENSE_MODE=full SILENT_SERIAL_NUMBER=xxx000-00000-00000-00000 SILENT_PREV_SERIAL_NUMBER=xxx000-00000-00000-00000 # # Configuration - standalone | jrun | ear | war SILENT_INSTALLER_TYPE=standalone # # Components to install SILENT_INSTALL_ODBC=false SILENT_INSTALL_VERITY=false SILENT_INSTALL_SAMPLES=false # (UNIX only) whether to start CFMX7 when booting SILENT_CONFIGURE_SYSTEM_INIT=false # # Directories SILENT_INSTALL_FOLDER=C:/BLACKSTONE-SILENT # EAR/WAR only SILENT_VERITY_INSTALL_FOLDER= # # Context root SILENT_CONTEXT_ROOT= # # Runtime user for UNIX SILENT_RUNTIME_USER= # # ColdFusion administrator password SILENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin # # Flash forms - EAR/WAR only SILENT_FLEX_ENABLED=true # # Enable RDS and password SILENT_ENABLE_RDS=false SILENT_RDS_PASSWORD=

Name and save the installer properties file

The name of your installer properties file must end with.properties, not .txt. If you name your installer properties file installer.properties and put it in the same directory as the ColdFusion MX 7 installation program, when you run the installer from the installation programs directory, the installer automatically uses the installer.properties file. You can name it something else or save it in a different directory. If you do, you must always refer to the properties file explicitly to use it in an installation.

If you require more than one installer properties file;for example, to use different properties for installing inside or outside of your organization;Macromedia recommends that you give each a descriptive filename. Ensure that the filename ends with.properties.

Running the installer

You run the silent installer by executing the installer at the command line or through a batch file or script.

These instructions use the general term cfmx_installer_file to refer to the installer file. The specific installer filename differs, based on the operating system. The filenames for the ColdFusion MX 7 installer are as follows:

Platform	Installer filename
Windows	`coldfusion-70-win.exe`
Linux	`coldfusion-70-lin.bin`
Solaris	`coldfusion-70-sol.bin`
Other	`coldfusion-70-other.jar`

The installer file command has the following format:

On UNIX:
./cfmx_installer_file [-f propertiesFilePath]
In Windows:
coldfusion-70-win [-f propertiesFilePath]

The propertiesFilePath argument specifies the installer properties file that contains specific instructions for the installer. The path can be an absolute filepath or a path relative to the directory that contains the installer file.

The propertiesFilePath argument is optional if all of the following are true:

The properties file is named installer.properties.
The properties file is located in the same directory as the installer file.
You are running the installer command from within this directory.

If all of these are true, the installer uses the installer.properties file by default.

Use the following command to run the installer from the directory that contains the ColdFusion MX 7 installer file and use the default installer.properties file located in the same directory:

On Unix:
./cfmx_installer_file
In Windows:
coldfusion-70-win

The following sample command shows how you can run the installer from outside the installer directory, and use an installer properties file that is located in a different directory on a Linux system. You enter the command on a single line; it spans two lines for display only.

/home/jdoe/software/coldfusion-70-lin.bin -f /home/jdoe/config/cfmx7_installer.properties

The following is a similar command line for Windows. You enter the command on a single line; it spans two lines for display only.

C:/downloads/cfmx7/coldfusion-70-win -f C:/downloads/cfmx7/config/cfmx70_installer.properties

After the silent installer has completed the installation, you should open the ColdFusion MX Administrator to run the configuration wizard. Macromedia recommends that you make sure the silent installer has installed the appropriate edition by clicking System Information. If the edition is not correct, enter the serial number in the New License text box and click Submit Changes.

Running the Web Server Configuration Tool

If you are using an external web server, you must run the Web Server Configuration Tool after running the silent installer. For information on running the Web Server Configuration Tool, see Configuring web servers.