I've often wondered this myself and designed my installer per customer requirements.
I agree, it seems wierd to have MSI state data on one machine registering resource data on another machine. Still, it does work in situations where the person doing the installer has DBA rights on the instance but not SA rights on the instances OS. Othertimes I've restricted the instance name for the connection to the local machine. The only way I see to solve this dilema is to remove all database functionality from the installer and put it into a deployment/configruation utility that can then be run multiple times. However most of my clients have said no when I suggested this with sort of an attitude of "I want the installer to do it, that's why I'm paying you... I don't have time to do it myself." So I usually just make sure they are happy with what I give them and collect my $200 when I pass go. FWIW, I've developed a lot of installers over the years doing various client/server and nTier systems so I have a lot of experience with this whole thing called multiple instance installers. I was writing them way back as far as 2005. It get's complicated because in theory everything is abstracted ( any layer of an nTier or C/S system can conceivably be installed by itself or with other layers on the same machine or different machines ). In practice, it's very complicated to do it right. Chris ---------------------------------------- From: "Hoover, Jacob" <jacob.hoo...@greenheck.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 11:07 AM To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Running a single MSI on the same machine more than once concurrently Can I ask why you aren't installing this on the database server itself? I still see the need for instance transforms as you could have multiple database instances locally, but it seems counter intuitive to me to have an installer registered on one machine with the actual payload on a different machine. -----Original Message----- From: Paul Taylor [mailto:paul.tay...@collercapital.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 10:13 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Running a single MSI on the same machine more than once concurrently Cheers, Rob. Looks just what I am after so I'll give it a go. -----Original Message----- From: Rob Mensching [mailto:r...@robmensching.com] Sent: 14 March 2012 15:08 To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Running a single MSI on the same machine more than once concurrently The Windows Installer supports this using "instance transforms". You can read about them in the MSI SDK and see the InstanceTransform element in WiX. On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 5:25 AM, Paul Taylor <paul.tay...@collercapital.com>wrote: > Hi all, > > Newbie question: > > I am working on a WiX project to deploy SQL Server databases to > different environments and one of the requirements is the above. So > the build process generates one MSI which is then executed on a > deployment server passing the target server in as a variable. Two questions: > > > 1. Is this scenario do-able with WiX? > > 2. If the answer to 1 is yes, the first stumbling block that I have > come across is the need to deploy the deployment files to a directory > with the server name. I am doing this by setting the INSTALLLOCATION > with a custom action based on the server name being entered at > executiontime. This is working fine with the first install of a new > MSI but on rerunning with a different server parameter, the custom > action-set INSTALLLOCATION is being overwritten with the one that was > set on the first install as part of the > MsiAssembly: > > MSI (s) (30:C0) [11:37:37:737]: Note: 1: 2205 2: 3: MsiAssembly MSI > (s) (30:C0) [11:37:37:737]: Note: 1: 2228 2: 3: MsiAssembly 4: > SELECT `MsiAssembly`.`Attributes`, `MsiAssembly`.`File_Application`, > `MsiAssembly`.`File_Manifest`, `Component`.`KeyPath` FROM > `MsiAssembly`, `Component` WHERE `MsiAssembly`.`Component_` = > `Component`.`Component` AND `MsiAssembly`.`Component_` = ? > MSI (s) (30:C0) [11:37:37:737]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Modifying > INSTALLLOCATION property. Its current value is 'C:\Program Files > (x86)\MyDeploymentDirectory\SECONDINSTALLSERVERNAME'. Its new value: > 'c:\Program Files > (x86)\MyDeploymentDirectory\InvesTranRec\FIRSTINSTALLSERVERNAME'. > > Anyone any thoughts? > > Paul > > ________________________________ > This message and its attachments are intended for the above named > only. If you receive them in error, please immediately delete them and > all copies of them from your system, destroy any hard copies of them > and notify the sender. Coller Capital Limited and each of its > associates disclaim any liability for reliance upon any statement, > opinion or other writing included within this message or its > attachments. Coller Capital Limited registered in England No. 3020017. > Registered Office: 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0TT. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -------- Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning > Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also > focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. > http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > -- virtually, Rob Mensching - http://RobMensching.com LLC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users This message and its attachments are intended for the above named only. If you receive them in error, please immediately delete them and all copies of them from your system, destroy any hard copies of them and notify the sender. Coller Capital Limited and each of its associates disclaim any liability for reliance upon any statement, opinion or other writing included within this message or its attachments. Coller Capital Limited registered in England No. 3020017. Registered Office: 33 Cavendish Square London W1G 0TT. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
