QA00000062498_Unattended Installation of CST STUDIO SUITE and Service Packs

QA00000062498_Unattended Installation of CST STUDIO SUITE and Service Packs

Question:
Unattended Installation of CST STUDIO SUITE and Service Packs

Answer:

On Windows

The installation is performed via the Setup.exe file, which is located
  1. for CST Studio Suite 2020 and newer
    1. at the top level directory of the installation media
  2. for CST Studio Suite 2019 and earlier
    1. at <DVD>Program\Full Package\Release\DiskImages\DISK1\setup.exe
Setup.exe is an InstallShield based installer which internally calls prerequisites and product installer (msi) files. Please click on the following link to learn more about the InstallShield command line options (only for Project Type "Basic MSI") :


The command Setup.exe /s runs the installation in silent mode. Using the /v parameter you can pass command line options and values of public properties to msiexec.exe (Microsoft Installer Program, MSI).

The following features are available for CST STUDIO SUITE; they can be specified using the ADDLOCAL command: CST_STUDIO_SERIES_Files, Dongle_Drivers, License_Server, Distributed_Computing_Main_Controller, Examples.

As an example, the following command line installs the CST_STUDIO_SERIES_Files and example files silently for all users and generates a logfile InstallCST.log on the C: drive:

Setup.exe /s /v"/l*v C:\InstallCST.log ALLUSERS=1 ADDLOCAL=CST_STUDIO_SERIES_Files,Examples /qn"

setup.exe can be called directly from the command line or in a batch script.

Please note that the installer of CST STUDIO SUITE 2017 and earlier versions does not support the "Examples" feature but instead refers to the example files by the abbreviation of the product the examples are assigned to, i.e., instead of "Examples" the feature set to install all example files is "MWS,DS,EMS,MPS,CS,PCBS,PS" for these versions.

Suppress Reboot of Silent Installation (Microsoft Windows)

During installation of the program, the system may require a reboot. Typically this occurs on systems where an earlier version of the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable package has been installed, and its DLLs are in use by another software program; i.e., the DLL files are locked. In order to ensure the integrity of the installation, the system must schedule a reboot to unlock those DLLs, so that they may be updated with the required version supplied by CST.

In case the reboot is somehow triggered by the main installation instead, you can suppress reboot using the additional windows installer property, REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS.

For example, the following command line installs the CST_STUDIO_SERIES_Files and example files silently on the computer for all users, generates a logfile InstallCST.log on the C: drive, and suppresses the reboot of the main installer:

Setup.exe /s /v"/l*v C:\InstallCST.log ALLUSERS=1 ADDLOCAL=CST_STUDIO_SERIES_Files,Examples REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS /qn"

This variable will help in suppressing a reboot caused by the CST Studio installation, but would not prevent reboot triggered by the prerequisites or the system itself.

Silent installation of CST service packs on Microsoft Windows

If your machines are setup exclusively as Solver Servers in a Distributed Computing (DC) cluster, the DC system will take care of the update of the service packs automatically. Therefore, it is not required to setup the update as outlined in the following instructions.

  1. Store the service pack file (*.sup) in a central folder within your company, e.g. in \\fileserver\CST-servicepacks
  2. Run the update manager in batch mode by entering the following lines into a batch script.
For version 2017 and newer:

      C:\Program Files (x86)\CST STUDIO SUITE 20xx\AMD64\AutoUpdate_AMD64.exe --update \\fileserver\CST-servicepacks

For version 2016 and earlier:

      C:\Program Files (x86)\CST STUDIO SUITE 20xx\Auto_Update_Control.exe updatefromdir:\\fileserver\CST-servicepacks

The update manager will search the specified folder for the latest service pack file and use it to perform the installation.

On Linux

It is possible to generate an installer configuration file which enables silent mode installation. To generate such a file, start the installer with the option --record:

      ./install.sh --record cst-inst-settings

The installer will store the file cst-inst-settings with all settings made during the installation process. This file can be used for later installations using the --replay option:

      ./install.sh --replay cst-inst-settings

The installer will now read all required settings from the configuration file and perform an unattended installation.

Silent installation of CST service packs on Linux

If your machines are setup exclusively as Solver Servers in a Distributed Computing (DC) cluster, the DC system will take care of the update of the service packs automatically. Therefore, it is not required to setup the update as outlined in the following instructions.

  1. Store the service pack file (*.sup) in a central folder accessible by all client installations, e.g. in /fileserver/CST-servicepacks.
  2. Now run the update manager in batch mode by entering the following commands in the terminal.
For version 2017 and newer:

      <CST-INSTALLPATH>/LinuxAMD64/AutoUpdate_AMD64" --update "/fileserver/CST-servicepacks

For version 2016 and earlier:

      <CST-INSTALLPATH>/auto_update_control" updatefromdir:"\\fileserver\CST-servicepacks

Please note the following points:
  1. The quotes in the command are mandatory if the paths contain spaces.
  2. This command can be executed by the "Main User/Installuser” you have defined during the installation process or by root.
  3. The update manager will search the specified folder for the latest service pack file and use it to perform the installation.
The service pack files may be downloaded from the "Download" area of the CST support site. Furthermore, note that the files used to update the Windows version of CST STUDIO SUITE cannot be used to update Linux installations and vice versa.