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Unattended installation for NCrunch GridNodeServer
avishnyakov
#1 Posted : Wednesday, July 15, 2015 10:55:32 AM(UTC)
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Does NCrunch GridNodeServer support unattended installation so that a new grid node provision process can be streamlined?
Remco
#2 Posted : Wednesday, July 15, 2015 9:21:07 PM(UTC)
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Not directly, but this should be possible by scripting a manual installation of the grid node service - see http://www.ncrunch.net/documentation/manual-installation-instructions.

Installing the MSI in the script may work, but the MSI does try to launch the config tool at the end of the wizard which may give problems for an unattended install.

The grid node stores its configuration in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Remco Software\NCrunch Grid Node. If you were to extract these registry values from a pre-configuration grid node, you could then load them onto the target node as part of your installation. This would mean there would be no need to run the config tool and configure things manually.

GreenMoose
#4 Posted : Thursday, November 19, 2015 1:31:39 PM(UTC)
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Can't the configuration dialog/wizard at the end be suppressed during unattended install since during an upgrade one basically re-selects same settings? Anything similar in the timeline for future?
(I was considering to write a simple PS script to "auto-deploy" new versions on grid nodes but it seems to be a bit of complicated issue and have to be combined with e.g. AutoHotkey or similar to complete the wizard at the end if I want to avoid corrupting registry by manually overwriting it in case structure etc. changes between versions).
Remco
#5 Posted : Thursday, November 19, 2015 10:20:57 PM(UTC)
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When automating the updates of the grid node service, I'd suggest performing an initial manual install, then simply performing an xcopy over the top of the installed files when you need to update.

Suppressing the wizard for upgrades would be simple to do, but I'm concerned about the impact this might have in future if moving between versions (up or down) and the configuration system has changed. NCrunch is due for a big configuration overhaul soon.
Remco
#6 Posted : Thursday, November 19, 2015 10:22:44 PM(UTC)
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In an ideal world, it should be possible to push updates to the grid node directly from the client.

We aren't there yet, but given the way the ecosystem keeps changing and the frequency of NCrunch updates, such a feature might become very popular.
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avishnyakov on 4/25/2016(UTC)
avishnyakov
#3 Posted : Monday, April 25, 2016 6:46:59 PM(UTC)
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Remco;7481 wrote:
Not directly, but this should be possible by scripting a manual installation of the grid node service - see http://www.ncrunch.net/documentation/manual-installation-instructions.

Installing the MSI in the script may work, but the MSI does try to launch the config tool at the end of the wizard which may give problems for an unattended install.

The grid node stores its configuration in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Remco Software\NCrunch Grid Node. If you were to extract these registry values from a pre-configuration grid node, you could then load them onto the target node as part of your installation. This would mean there would be no need to run the config tool and configure things manually.



Better later than never :) Thanks for sharing that, we managed to get a completely unattended, remote installation of the Grid Server node across dozens Azure VMs. Works fine - getting Grid Server from Chocolatey (it installs MSI), then fixing up registry keys (as suggested) and then, finally, getting the NCrunchGridNode service started / restarted.

Can share the full PS script which can either be run in the current session or via PS Remoting, if anyone is interested.
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Remco on 4/25/2016(UTC)
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