Adding Installers to Your Virtual Appliance
InstallAnywhere 2021
When you are configuring a VM for a virtual appliance, you need to specify the installers that need to be run on the VM. You can include the installer that is created as part of the same InstallAnywhere project that you are using to create the virtual appliance. You can also optionally include existing built executable files from other InstallAnywhere projects. In addition, you can include third-party installers. When you build the virtual appliance in InstallAnywhere, InstallAnywhere automatically runs all of the installers that are configured to be part of the VM.
Note:All installers that you specify must be capable of unattended silent installations; otherwise, the appliance build might stop at the point at which these installers prompt for user interaction.
To add installers to a VM configuration:
|
1.
|
In the Advanced Designer, on the Build page, click Build Appliances. The Build Appliances view opens. |
|
2.
|
Click the Appliance Configuration tab. |
|
3.
|
In the Select Appliance Configuration list, select the appliance configuration that you want to customize. |
|
4.
|
Click the VM Configuration tab. |
|
5.
|
For VMware vSphere appliances: In the Select VM Tier list, select the VM tier that you want to configure. |
|
6.
|
Click the Installers subtab. |
|
7.
|
Click the appropriate tab to indicate when you want the installer to be executed. Available options are: |
|
•
|
Build Time—Build-time installers are mostly used to push payload for the software appliance. |
|
•
|
First Boot Time— If some configuration needs to be performed before installation, use the First Boot Time installer tab. First-boot-time installers are executed the first time that the virtual appliance is booted. |
|
8.
|
Click the Add Installer button. The Add Installer dialog box opens. |
|
9.
|
Select the type of installer that you want to add to the VM configuration. Available options are: |
|
•
|
A pre-built InstallAnywhere installer—If you select this option, specify the location of the installer. |
|
•
|
An installer out of the current InstallAnywhere project—If you select this option, specify the build configuration and the build target that you want to use. |
|
•
|
Other installers—If you select this option, specify the executable file, as well as the command line that should be passed to the executable file. The format for entering the command line is: |
@@executable@@ /i /s /r @@responsefile@@
@@executable@@ refers to the installation executable file, and @@responsefile@@ refers to the response file. Following are examples:
|
•
|
Windows—If on a Windows machine, the name of executable is setup.exe and the response file name is resp.rsp, then the above installation command is executed as: |
$> setup.exe /i /s /r resp.rsp
|
•
|
Linux—If on a Linux box, the name of the executable is abc.rpm and the installation command is specified as: |
rpm -ivh @@executable@@
Then the installation command is executed as:
$> rpm -ivh abc.rpm
|
10.
|
If appropriate, specify the location of the response file that you want to use. The response file should provide default values for the variables that end users are required to provide during installation. InstallAnywhere uses the response file when building the appliance. |
If you do not specify the location of the response file, InstallAnywhere checks the installer and then prompts you to enter default values for the end user–defined variables. Note that the larger the installers is, the longer this step may take. Therefore, for a larger installer, you may opt to include a response file.
InstallAnywhere adds the installer to the list on the Build Time tab or the First Boot Time tab.
See Also
Using RPM/Debian Packages for Proprietary Operating Systems on Virtual Appliances