Installing Station Software in Silent Mode on Windows

In Silent Mode Installation of the SIMULIA Execution Engine Station, you provide a response file recorded during a previous installation. With proper inputs, the Isight installer will install SIMULIA Execution Engine Station product without any user interaction.

A graphics card is not required to use the Silent Mode of installation procedure.

  1. Retrieve the response file from the previous installation of the SIMULIA Execution Engine Station.

    The response file is generated automatically by a previous Isight installation of the same version. It contains the responses to the questions you were asked during the previous installation. The file name and path is

    <Install_Path>/InstallData/UserIntentions.xml

    For example, after installing Isight on Windows with the default path, the path would be

    C:\SIMULIA\Isight\Isight2016\InstallData\UserIntentions.xml

    After retrieving the response file, you can put it in any location.

    A response file is specific to:

    • a particular operating system: response files are different between Windows and UNIX, and
    • a particular version of Isight.

  2. Edit the response file.

    Open the response file in any text editor, if required. The variables you can edit are

    • path values.
    • text values. and
    • port number values.

    Boolean variables must never be changed from TRUE to FALSE or vice versa, because this changes the sequence and the list of the installation questions and the answers may not be found in the response file. The response file must be:

    • XML "well-formed" and
    • UTF8 encoded.

  3. Launch the Isight silent installation.

    You launch the Isight Silent Mode installation in the same manner as in console mode using the StartTUI program, except that you must specify the --silent option followed by the full path of the response file.

    In the installation media, go to the following directory:

    <dvd_media_dir>\SIMULIA_Isight\Windows64\1

    Run the following command:

    StartTUI.exe --silent C:\UserIntentions.xml

    The installation will run in silent mode with some progress messages printed to the terminal. The messages will include the location of any log files, which could be helpful in case something goes wrong.

  4. After the installation completes, you can edit the values in the station.properties file to customize the behavior of the station. For more information, see Configuring SIMULIA Execution Engine Station Properties.

    The station.properties file is installed into the \config\ subdirectory:

    <station_install_dir>\config\

    In particular, you should decide whether you want to change the following properties:

    • Station Affinities. Any affinity setting in addition to the default of the station name and the platform. For more information on affinities, see About Station Affinities.

    • Default log level. The default setting is Info. For more information on these settings, see About Log Message Detail Levels.

    • Temp directory. The default is the current user’s temporary directory. If you want to change this setting, be sure to select a directory that has the following characteristics:

      • Is not a temporary file system. This disk space must never be reclaimed automatically. This rules out any directories that are cleared during a reboot or during an automatic disk space cleanup.
      • Preferably on a local disk on the station host system. If there is insufficient local storage space, a NAS device can be used; however, this setup is not recommended.

      Important: You must change this setting if you plan to use the SIMULIA Execution Engine station security (Run-As) feature. You must use a directory that can be accessed by all users (for example, c:\temp). For more information on Run-As specifications, including how to change the station temporary directory after an installation, see About File System Security With Run-As. For more information on determining or changing directory permissions, contact your local system administrator.