Performing unattended installations and updates

ConnectReport versions 2.36.3 and later support unattended installation.

If you intend to use automation tools or scripts to deploy and manage your ConnectReport server, you should follow this guide to understand the unattended installation flow and the options available to you when running a silent installation or update.

Before you begin: bring your own Postgres database

In the default ConnectReport installation flow, Postgres is automatically installed on the Windows server. When running the unattended installation flow of ConnectReport Server, Postgres is not automatically installed. This means that you need to deploy Postgres yourself, either using a cloud solution such as Amazon RDS or by using the recommended installer.

You can download the Postgres installer that ConnectReport is bundled with here. This is the Enterprise DB distribution of Postgres 9.x. Enterprise DB’s website contains documentation on performing an unattended installation flow using this distribution.

ConnectReport is compatible with Postgres 9.6.x.

When you point a ConnectReport server at a Postgres database that it has not used before, it will automatically install its schema.

Running the ConnectReport unattended installation

  • Download the latest version of the ConnectReport installer from the Customer Center.
  • In the directory where the downloaded installer is located, create a file called “install-config.inf” with the following contents:
[Setup]
Lang=english
Dir=C:\Program Files\ConnectReport
Group=ConnectReport
NoIcons=0
Tasks=desktopicon,startmenuicon

Note that you can change the installation directory using the Dir config.

The Group entry denotes the name of the start menu group used to contain the shortcuts.

You can also disable certain tasks by removing them from the Tasks config entry.

  • Using Powershell, run the following command
& '.\ConnectReport Setup.exe' /unattended=true /VERYSILENT /LOADINF="install-config.inf" /LOG="install-log.txt"
  • When the installation is successful, the log file (“install-log.txt”) will log an entry with the text “Installation process succeeded”. When the post install process is finished, the log will finally log “Log closed”. You can use these entries in your automation scripts to determine when the installation is finished.

Example:

2021-11-14 21:00:24.506   Installation process succeeded.
2021-11-14 21:00:24.506   Post install
2021-11-14 21:00:56.490   Need to restart Windows? No
2021-11-14 21:00:56.490   Deinitializing Setup.
2021-11-14 21:00:56.490   Log closed.
  • Once the installation is complete, you’ll need to update your database connection strings and other configuration options in C:\ProgramData\ConnectReport\config\config.json. ****

Unattended update process

  • To run an unattended update, simply run the following:
'.\ConnectReport Setup.exe' /unattended=true /VERYSILENT /LOG="install-log.txt"
  • When complete, the log file will contain similar output as the section above.