(Please note: Some of the links in this and the two following topics are external, and therefore require internet access.)
DBT 11.1 SR3 has been carefully designed to support installation of multiple copies of the program on a corporate or educational network. In these environments, it is likely that installing DBT separately to each computer will be cumbersome just due to the large number of computers on which DBT might be installed.
In such environments, moreover, a network support professional must generally do the installations personally, because the end users are unlikely to have the Administrative Privilege required to do the installation.
This section describes how to make this job easier.
DBT's installer is designed as a Windows Installer package. By creating the installer using Windows Installer technology, we're able to support features including software maintenance and repair, clean software removal, and even installation onto workstations from a central location.
The following links to Microsoft support resources should help to familiarize you with Windows Installer: (These four links are external)
Overview of the Windows Installer Technology
Frequently Asked Questions About Windows Installer
How to resolve Common "Windows Installer" Problems
Command-Line Switches for the Microsoft Windows Installer Tool
Installation onto workstations from a central location is a comparatively advanced topic. If you aren't in the habit of doing this already, we don't recommend starting now. Details about how to perform this task vary depending on your server OS. If you would like to know more, we recommend that you look for information on "Software Installation and Maintenance", within the "Distributed Systems Guide" that should come with the Resource Kit appropriate for your Server OS.
The first thing that you should do is to decide what type of network installation you want to achieve. Ask yourself where DBT needs to be installed and who will be using it. Your answer to that question will help you choose between the two types of network installation DBT supports.
If DBT will be used by relatively a smaller number of users who share a large number of computers with other users, as would be typical in an educational setting, then you'll probably want to install DBT using a per-user (centralized, or shared) activation model.
If, on the other hand, DBT will be used by a group of people, each of whom has a dedicated workstation, then consider instead installing DBT using a per-machine(stand-alone) activation model.
Either way, the features of DBT are unchanged. The difference is that, with per-user (shared) activation, DBT can be installed and accessible on many machines, but may only be run by a limited number of users at one time. (The number of users that may run DBT depends on your license agreement.) Whereas with per-machine (stand-alone) activation, the number of machines to which DBT is installed is effectively limited by your activation agreement. Each machine, moreover, will only support one DBT user. This does have the advantage that, when sitting at a machine where DBT is installed, DBT will always be available. On the other hand, with a per-user (shared) activation installation, DBT may be available on a larger number of machines, but the availability at any given time will depend on who else is using DBT on your network.
Note: It is even possible to support two different types of installation on one license. You can have some computers running with a Shared Activation (to support Per-User License management) and other computers running each with a Stand-alone Activation. This might be useful if, for example, you want generally to work with a single Shared Activation on your main network (for ease of administration), but need to support a few off-site transcribers with laptops. The only limitation is that your Shared Activation should be activated for a number of users less than your license will allow, leaving some activations available for stand-alone use.
And it is further possible to support two or more Shared Activation networks with one license. Here again, the limitation is that the total number of activated users is governed by your license with Duxbury Systems. See also the note here about how to set up such a configuration.
For all of the technology behind Windows Installer, your task boils down to one essential "trick": creating a Server Image. A Server Image is a customized form of DBT's installer that you create. You then use the Server Image, instead of the original DBT installer, to install DBT on each computer. The Server Image is customized so that it automatically supplies answers to the questions you normally need to answer during a Simple Installation Thus, you can breeze through the installation, clicking only the Next button at each dialog. Better still, you can run the installation without any interaction showing a progress bar only, or completely in the background.
The Server Image is modified so that it automatically includes, in every installation made from it:
Including Embosser Configuration Definitions can be a big time saver. Be sure to try this feature if you have many installations that use the same embosser or set of embossers.
Follow the directions for creating a Server Image for either Per-User (Shared Activation) Installations or Per-Machine (Stand-alone) Installations. Each of these procedures is covered in a separate topic.
Unattended installation is a feature available with any installer built with Windows Installer technology. But, because you are not given the chance to give any data to the installer while it runs, it doesn't make much sense to do this with DBT's installer, unless you know that the installer already has all of the data it needs, particularly your License Text.
While Unattended Installation is running, you will see a small dialog with a progress bar and a Cancel button. It is possible to cancel Unattended Installation, just as any installation.
To start Unattended installation, you must run msiexec.exe with it's /i and /passive command-line options. For example, if your Server Image has been placed in a file called dbt-1101sr3.msi (the default name) at a network share location called \\Server2\Images\DBT 10.6, then you would give the following command to install DBT, without any user interaction:
msiexec /i "\\Server2\Images\DBT 10.6\dbt-1101sr3.msi" /passive
You can run this either from a command prompt or from the Start Menu's Run prompt. Note that the quotation marks are needed because of the space in the path. You might need to give the full path the msiexec.exe; typically, this is C:\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe.
Quiet installation works much like Unattended Installation, but even the small dialog bar with the progress bar and Cancel button isn't shown. That is, the process runs completely in the background. As with Unattended Installation, it is possible to run the DBT installer straight from the CD as a quiet installation, but this isn't recommended, because DBT might not then get your License Text installed properly. We recommend Quiet Installation only after you've created a Server Image.
To start Quiet Installation, you must run msiexec.exe with it's /i and /quiet command-line options. For example, if your Server Image has been placed in a file called dbt-1101sr3.msi (the default name) at a network share location called \\Server2\Images\DBT 11.1, then you would give the following command to install DBT, without any user interaction or progress dialog:
msiexec /i "\\Server2\Images\DBT 10.6\dbt-1101sr3.msi" /quiet
You can run this either from a command prompt or from the Start Menu's Run prompt. Note that the quotation marks are needed because of the space in the path. You might need to give the full path to msiexec.exe; typically, this is C:\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe.