3
Customizing and Creating Response Files

This chapter introduces you to the concepts of silent installation and response files. It also describes how to modify or create a response file so you can customize and standardize the installation of Oracle products in your organization.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• About Response Files
• Modifying a Response File
• Creating a Response File With Record Mode
• Response File Format

About Response Files

This section answers the following questions:

• What Is a Silent Installation?
• What Is a Response File?
• Why Perform a Silent Installation?

What Is a Silent Installation?

A silent installation is an installation performed without displaying the Universal Installer screens.

Instead of prompting you to select a series of installation options, Universal Installer installs the software using a predefined set of options. These options are stored in an Oracle Universal Installer response file.

What Is a Response File?

A response file contains answers to installation questions that otherwise would be provided by the user in an interactive installation session. Each answer is stored as a value for a variable identified in the response file.

For example, values for Oracle home or Install Type can be set automatically within the response file.

Response file templates are generated by the installation developer. The response file template for the installation of your product can be found on your stage (CD-ROM) under the <root of CD>/response directory.

Why Perform a Silent Installation?

Silent installations can be useful if you have to install an Oracle product multiple times on multiple computers. If the options you select while installing on each computer are always the same, you save the time of reviewing each installation screen and selecting the various installation options.

Silent installations can also ensure that multiple users in your organization use the same installation options when they install your Oracle products. This makes supporting those users easier because you already know what components and options have been installed on each computer.

Before you perform a silent installation, you should review the settings in the response file template provided with your Oracle product.

The rest of this chapter describes the various sections and settings you can modify within an Oracle Universal Response file.

Modifying a Response File

If your product installation includes a response file template, you can find it on your stage (CD-ROM) under the <root of CD>/response directory.

If your product installation does not include a response file template, you can create a response file based on the installation options you select. For more information, see "Creating a Response File With Record Mode" on page 3-3.

To modify the response file:

1. Make a copy of the product's response file and open it in your favorite text editor.
2. Review any information provided in the response file or in the product installation guide.

   Many software products use settings in the response file to customize the installation of their particular product. Often, the product developers will provide you with suggestions or guidelines--possibly as notes within the response file--for modifying the response file provided with the software installation stage.

3. Get familiar with the organization and content of the response file using the information in the section "Response File Format" on page 3-5.
4. Modify the response file to meet the needs of your organization and save the modified version.
5. See the section "Installing Using a Response File" on page 1-4 for information on starting Universal Installer using your modified response file.

Creating a Response File With Record Mode

You can create a new response file, based on the installation options you select, by using Oracle Universal Installer Record mode.

When you use Record mode, Universal Installer records the installation session into a response file. You specify the name of the response file on the command line. The recorded response file is generated immediately after the Summary page, so you don't need to actually install your Oracle product to create the response file.

In other words, you can start the installation in Record mode and proceed through the installation options until you get to the Summary page. On the Summary Page, click Exit to stop the installation from proceeding with the installation. However, all the options you selected will be saved in the resulting response file.

You can use the newly created response file to run identical installation sessions on other computers in your organization.

Record mode can be also used during a silent installation. In those cases, the variable values specified in the original source response file will be recorded into the new response file.

The following sections describe how to use Universal Installer Record mode on Windows computers and on UNIX computers.

Using Record Mode on a Windows Computer

To create a new response on a Windows computer:

1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Change directory to the directory that contains setup file for your installation.
3. Enter the following command:

   setup -record -destinationFile <response_file_name>
   
   

   Replace the <response_file_name> with the complete path for the new response file. For example:

   setup -record -destinationFile C:\response_files\install_oracle910
   
   

   Optionally, you can include the -silent option and create the response file during a silent installation.

4. Use the Universal Installer to select your installation options.

   When Universal Installer displays the Summary page, you can either continue with the installation or exit.

   Universal Installer saves your new response file the path and file name you specified on the command line.

Using Record Mode on a UNIX Computer

To create a new response on a UNIX computer:

1. Change directory to the directory that contains runInstaller script for your installation.
2. Enter the following command:

   ./runInstaller -record -destinationFile <response_file_name>
   
   

   Replace the <response_file_name> with the complete path for the new response file. For example:

   ./runInstaller -record -destinationFile /private/temp/install_oracle91.rsp
   
   

   Optionally, you can include the -silent option and create the response file during a silent installation.

3. Use the Universal Installer to select your installation options.

   When Universal Installer displays the Summary page, you can either continue with the installation or exit.

   Universal Installer saves your new response file using the location and file name you specified on the command line.

Response File Format

The following sections describe the organization and content of an Oracle Universal Installer response file.

How a Response File is Organized

Response files are divided into sections. Each section has a specific purpose and specific keywords and variables you can define.

Sections of a Response File

Each section of a response file begins with a line, in brackets, that specifies the section name.

For example: [GENERAL] for the General Section, [INCLUDE] for the Include section, and [Session] for the Session section.

Response File Sections	Function
General	The General Section contains the version number of the response file.
Include	The Include section contains a list of response files that are included in this response file. Refer to the "Include Section of the Response File" on page 3-7 for more information.
Session	The Sessions section lists various dialogs of the Oracle Universal Installer.
Components	Component sections define public variables. They can also define installer variables.

Values Within a Section

Values for variables are specified as <name> = <recommendation> : <value>

The values that are given as <value required> must be specified for a silent installation to be successful.

To specify a default value, specify the value as <name> = <default> : <value>

For values that are given as <value unspecified>, you may optionally specify a value, where <value> can be one of the following types listed below:

Type	Represented As
Number	10
Boolean	true or false (either case can be used)
String	"Value"
String List	{"value1", "value2"}

<recommendation> can be specified as Forced or Default.

If you specify Forced, no dialog appears during installation. The value is automatically used. The user does not have the option to change the value.

If you specify Default, the dialog appears during installation with the value as the default. The user has the option to choose another value.

If nothing is specified for <recommendation>, Forced is used as the default.

For example of the format of values is shown below: InstallType=Default:"Minimum"

Comments Within a Section

Comments begin with a "#" (hash or pound) symbol. They contain information about the type of the variable, state whether the variable appears in dialog, and describe the function of the variable. A variable and a value are associated with a comment.

For example:

#TopLevelComponent;StringList;Used in Dialog
TopLevelComponent={"Demo", "1.0"}

Headers Within a Section

The header is a comment which describes the different formats and comment conventions used in a response file.

For example:

#Parameter : UNIX_GROUP_NAME
#Type : String
#Description : Unix group to be set for the inventory directory. Valid only in 
Unix platforms.
#Example : UNIX_GROUP_NAME = "install"
UNIX_GROUP_NAME=<Value Unspecified>

General Section of the Response File

A General section appears in the beginning of a response file, providing the version number of the response file. There is only one General section per response file.

The General Section consists of the following variables

[GENERAL]
RESPONSEFILE_VERSION = <version_number>

Include Section of the Response File

The Include section is not automatically generated when you create a response file. If you want to include other response files in your main response file, you must add an Include section with a list of response files.

For example:

[INCLUDE]
FILE1="C:/Oracle/oracle/dba.rsp"

The values in the main response file take priority over the included response files.

Session Section of the Response File

The Sessions section lists pre-defined (generic) dialogs of the Oracle Universal Installer and shows whether the dialogs are visible to the user.

The dialog appears if the value is set to true. The dialog does not appear if its value is set to false.

An example is shown below:

[SESSION]
SHOW_INSTALL_PROGRESS_PAGE=true

The install progress page will be shown during installation.

The Sessions section also lists global variables that are set during one installation session (from the start of the installation to the end of installation). These variables include top level component, languages, and others.

Currently, the following variables are generated under the Sessions section.

FROM_LOCATION

"From" Location in the installer. The location of the source of the products to be installed.

Note: You must enter a value for FROM_LOCATION for a complete silent install.

FROM_LOCATION_CD_LABEL

FROM_LOCATION_CD_LABEL is used in multi-CD installations. It includes the label of the Compact Disk where the file "products.jar" exists. The label can be found in the file "disk.label" in the same directory as "products.jar".

LOCATION_FOR_DISK2

Complete path to other disks.

For example: LOCATION_FOR_DISK2 = "..\..\Disk2"

LOCATION_FOR_DISK2="F:\teststage\cd\Disk3" 

If there are more than two disks, the above variable will be repeated as LOCATION_FOR_DISK3 and so on.

The CD location for a silent installation is located by two mechanisms:

1. The Oracle Universal Installer looks for the Location_For_Disk{DiskNumber} variable in the response file and uses that location.
2. If the variable does not have a value or does not have the required files, it will look for the components under ../../Disk{DiskNumer}/stage (from products.jar).

   Therefore, you can either specify the location to look for it in the Response file or you can copy them into the disk. For example:

   E:/Disk1/stage
   E:/Disk2/stage
   

NEXT_SESSION

Set this boolean variable to true if the installer needs to go to the File Locations page for another installation or to another response file if you are performing a silent installation.

Example: NEXT_SESSION = true

NEXT_SESSION_ON_FAIL

Set this boolean variable to true to allows users to invoke another installation session even if the the current installation session fails. This variable is used only if the NEXT_SESSION variable is set to true.

Example: NEXT_SESSION_ON_FAIL = true

NEXT_SESSION_RESPONSE

Use this string variable to enter the complete path of the next session's response file if you want to automatically begin another silent installation when the current installation is complete. If you specify only a file name, the Installer looks for the response file in the <TEMP>/orainstall directory. This variable is only used if NEXT_SESSION is set to true; otherwise, the Installer ignores the value of this variable.

Example: NEXT_SESSION_RESPONSE="/private/usr2/nextinstall.rsp"

ORACLE_HOME

"To" Location in the installer where products are to be installed.

ORACLE_HOME_NAME

The name of the current Oracle home name.

Note: You must enter a value for ORACLE_HOME_NAME for a complete silent install.

APPL_TOP

The "To" location if you are installing into an Oracle Applications Top directory.

APPL_TOP_NAME

The name of the current Oracle Applications Top directory.

SHOW_COMPONENT_LOCATIONS_PAGE

The location page, which appears in a custom install type, can be suppressed by setting this value to false. If you set the value to false, the user is prevented from specifying alternate directories. If there are products with installed directories which can be changed, you may want to set the value to true.

SHOW_CUSTOM_TREE_PAGE

Set SHOW_CUSTOM_TREE_PAGE to true if the custom tree page in the installer must be shown. In the Custom Tree page, dependencies can be selected or unselected. This page appears only in a custom install type.

SHOW_END_SESSION_PAGE

The install success/failure page, which appears at the end of an installation, can be suppressed by setting this value to false.

SHOW_EXIT_CONFIRMATION

Set to true if the confirmation when exiting the installer needs to be shown.

Example: SHOW_EXIT_CONFIRMATION = true

SHOW_INSTALL_PROGRESS_PAGE

The install progress page, which appears during the install phase, can be suppressed by setting the value to false.

SHOW_OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOL_PAGE

Set to true if the Optional Configuration Tools page in the installer must be shown. The Optional Configuration Tools page shows the list of optional configuration tools that are part of this installation and the status of each tool, including detailed information on why the tool has failed.

SHOW_REQUIRED_CONFIG_TOOL_PAGE

Set to true if the Required Configuration Tools page in the installer must be shown. The Required Configuration Tools page shows the list of required configuration tools that are part of the installation and the status of each tool, including detailed information on why the tool has failed.

SHOW_ROOTSH_CONFIRMATION

Set to true if the Confirmation dialog asking to run the root.sh script in the installer needs to be shown. This variable is valid only on Unix platforms.

Example: SHOW_ROOTSH_CONFIRMATION = true

SHOW_SPLASH_SCREEN

Set to true if the initial splash screen in the installer needs to be shown.

Example: SHOW_SPLASH_SCREEN = true

SHOW_SUMMARY_PAGE

The summary page can be suppressed by setting this value to false.

SHOW_WELCOME_PAGE

Set to true if the Welcome page in the installer needs to be shown.

Example: SHOW_WELCOME_PAGE = false

SHOW_RELEASE_NOTES

Set this parameter to true if you want the release notes for this installation to be shown at the end of the installation. A dialog box lists the available release notes. Note that the SHOW_END_SESSION parameter must be set to TRUE before you can use this parameter.

TOPLEVEL_COMPONENT

The name of the component (products) and the version as string list.

Note: You must enter a value for TOPLEVEL_COMPONENT.

Usually the components are represented with a pair of strings: the first one representing the internal name and the second representing the version.

For example, rdbms 8.1.5 is represented as, {"oracle.rdbms","8.1.5.0.0}.

UNIX_GROUP_NAME

The UNIX group name to be set for the inventory in UNIX platforms.

Note: The UNIX group name is used for first-time installations only.

DEINSTALL_LIST

Use this parameter to enter a list of components to be deinstalled during a silent deinstall session. For each component, specify the internal component name and version.

For example:

DEINSTALL_LIST={"sample1","1.0.0.0.0"}

SHOW_DEINSTALL_CONFIRMATION

Set this parameter to FALSE if you want to hide the deinstall confirmation dialog box during a silent deinstallation.

SHOW_DEINSTALL_PROGRESS

Set this parameter to FALS if you want to hide the deinstallation progress dialog box during a silent deinstallation.

Components Section of the Response File

The remaining sections in the response file are component sections, which are identified by a component's internal name and version.

In order to find a value for a variable, the Oracle Universal Installer looks under the appropriate component section to which the variable belongs.

A typical example of a component section is shown below:

[oracle.server_8.1.5.0.0]

Apart from the public variables defined in a component, each component can define the installer variables listed below:

• DEPENDENCY_LIST
• PROD_HOME
• OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS
• INSTALL_TYPE
• COMPONENT_LANGUAGES

DEPENDENCY_LIST

The DEPENDENCY_LIST is the list of dependees on which the component depends on. These dependee components represents the list of components that appear as "selected" during installation.

The DEPENDENCY_LIST variable is only generated when dependencies are present and if the dependency is not a required one.

You cannot list components to appear as de-selected items in a dialog.

Specifying required dependees is redundant since they will be selected anyway. The dependees selection can have the other two types of dependees: optional and at least one.

The list of components is specified by an internal name and version number.

A typical example is shown below:

DEPENDENCY_LIST={"oracle.netclt","8.1.5.0.0","oracle.netmgr","8.1.5.0.0"}

PROD_HOME

The PROD_HOME is the product location of the component on the target machine.

If you have an Oracle home component, the path specified must be in the Oracle home.

Note: The PROD_HOME variable is only used for non-Oracle Home components.

OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS

While all the required configuration tools are launched by the installer, you can control the configuration tools you would want to launch by specifying the tool's internal names in the OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS section.

Note: The OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS variable is only generated when at least one optional configuration tool is available.

You can specify both the Auto-launch optional tools and User-launch optional tools in a string list.

#Example : OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS = {"configtool2 ", "configtool3"}
OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS=<Value Unspecified>

If no value is specified for this variable, then all the tools are run by default.

If there is a value specified, then only those tools are run while the rest of the tools are ignored.

The way to suppress the configuration tool is to mention only the tools that you want to run as part of the OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS variable added per component. You should use the internal names of the configuration tool. The response file generator generates these internal names also as part of the options given for the variable.

For example, oracle.server has tool1 and tool2 and you want to run only tool1 in the response file, you mention it as follows:

[oracle.server_81500]
OPTIONAL_CONFIG_TOOLS={"tool1"} 

INSTALL_TYPE

You can set the install type variable to determine the install type of the currently selected top level component.

The install type variable is only generated for the top level components and only when there are more than one install type available.

Note: You must enter a value for INSTALL_TYPE.

COMPONENT_LANGUAGES

You can set the languages in which the components will be installed. You must use the internal name while specifying the value:

en,   : English
fr,   : French
de,   : German
ja,   : Japanese

For example: COMPONENT_LANGUAGES = {"en"}

Note: the COMPONENT_LANGUAGES variable is only generated when more than one is available.