Silently deploy Informix on Windows

The third task of the embeddability tutorial is to silently deploy the IBM® Informix® snapshot.

Deploying the instance and its dbspaces is a two-step process:

Deploy dbspaces from the snapshot that was created using the deployment assistant.
Deploy the server instance, optionally relocate the dbspaces, and start the instance by using the deployment utility.

Note: The deployment assistant ifxdeployassist (DA) is not supported starting Informix Server version 14.10.xC7 and is no longer included with the product.

You can automate this process by using a simple batch script. The ifx_silent_deploy.cmd script is an example batch script which serves this purpose.

Important: Refer to the batch script posted on the Technote at http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21446737. The script contains comments that provide information about the purpose of each step. You can edit and customize the script to fit any deployment needs.

Prerequisites:

You must be logged in to the target computer as an Administrator user.
You must have a snapshot of the instance and any associated dbspaces that was created with the deployment assistant.
Installation of 7-zip on the target computer. If you need to install 7-zip, download and install it on the target computer at the default location C:\Program Files\7-Zip.
A folder named informixtemp must exist on the C:\ drive of the target computer.
The INFORMIXDIR environment variable must be set.
All the dbspaces' chunks must be cooked files, and they must be located in a single directory.
The following files and utilities must be in the C:\informixtemp folder on the target computer:
- server instance snapshot (Example: demo_on.zip)
- dbspaces snapshot (Example: demo_on_db.zip)
- deployment utility (ifxdeploy.exe)
- deployment utility configuration file (ifxdeploy.conf)
- the ifx_silent_deploy.cmd script to complete silent deployment

Configure the following ifxdeploy.conf file parameters.
1. Set the INFORMIXSERVER and ONCONFIG parameters. Alternatively, these parameters can be set as environment variables.
2. Set the user informix password on the target computer in the INFORMIXPASSWORD parameter of the ifxdeploy.conf file.
3. Optional: Set other parameters in the ifxdeploy.conf file as needed for your environment.
Use the following information about the ifx_silent_deploy.cmd script to silently deploy the instance. After the syntax information, there are two examples given that indicate specific values if you are completing the embeddability tutorial.
Syntax:
```
ifx_silent_deploy.cmd <relocate_option> <srvpkg> <dbspkg> <currloc> [<newloc>]
```
- relocate_option: use relocate to relocate dbspaces and norelocate to not relocate dbspaces
- srvpkg: name of the server package (for example: demo_on.zip)
- dbspkg: name of the dbspaces package (for example: demo_on_db.zip)
- currloc: current location of the dbspaces
- newloc: new deployment location of the dbspaces when relocating. This argument is not required if you are not relocating dbspaces.
Important: The following commands are only examples, such as if you are using this documentation with sample values to complete the embeddability tutorial. The names of the snapshot files and location of dbspaces might be different in your instance.
- To silently deploy the instance and relocate the dbspaces:
```
ifx_silent_deploy.cmd relocate demo_on.zip demo_on_db.zip
  C:\IFMXDATA\demo_on C:\IFMXDATANEW\demo_on
```
  This command deploys the instance, relocates dbspaces from C:\IFMXDATA\demo_on to C:\IFMXDATANEW\demo_onand starts the instance.
- To silently deploy the instance without relocating the dbspaces:
```
ifx_silent_deploy.cmd norelocate demo_on.zip demo_on_db.zip
  C:\IFMXDATA\demo_on
```
  This command deploys the instance, deploys dbspaces to C:\IFMXDATA\demo_on, and starts the instance.

See the C:\informixtemp\ifxdeploy.log file for messages that are logged by the deployment utility. If the instance does not start automatically, the probable cause is that during creation of the snapshot you removed a feature or package that is required by the base server instance to run.

You can delete the ifxdeploy.conf file from C:\informixtemp after deploying the instance.