Unattended Installations of Exchange Server 2003

After the first Exchange Server 2003 system has been installed in an organization, future Exchange Server 2003 setup can be automated via the unattended installation process. The unattended installation process uses an answer file, which is a text file that stores all of the configuration settings that the administrator is prompted for during a normal Exchange Server 2003 setup. It is important to note that the servers on which the unattended installations are run must conform to the requirements outlined earlier in the chapter. If they do not have the requisite services configured correctly, the unattended installation will fail. Table 2.5 presents situations in which you can and cannot use unattended installations.

Table 2.5. When You Can and Cannot Use Unattended Installations

Able to Use Unattended Installation	Unable to Use Unattended Installation
Installing every Exchange Server 2003 system after the first in an organization	Installing the first Exchange Server 2003 system in an organization
Installing the Exchange Server 2003 System Management Tools	Installing Exchange Server 2003 as part of a cluster
Running DomainPrep	Installing Exchange Server 2003 in a mixed Exchange environment Upgrading from Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 5.5 Running ForestPrep

To create an answer file, you need to perform a reference installation of Exchange with the /createunattend switch. To perform a reference installation and create an answer file named exchange2003.ini, issue the following command from the command prompt in the \setup\i386 directory of the installation media:

 setup /createunattend c:\exchange2003.ini 

It is important to get the syntax correct, as there is no way to verify which mode the installation is in. If you have performed this incorrectly, Exchange will install without creating the unattended file. If it is performed correctly, the file will be created and Exchange will not install.

After the unattended installation file has been generated, it can be used to deploy other Exchange Server 2003 systems within the organization. Simply copy the file generated during the reference installation to an accessible location (such as the C: drive of the new server on which you want to install Exchange Server 2003, or a convenient network share) and run the following from the command prompt in the \setup\i386 directory of the installation media:

 Setup /unattendfile c:\exchange2003.ini 

This automatically installs Exchange Server 2003 on the server without requiring any further intervention by the administrator. You might use an unattended installation in the following situations:

• You want the installation to be performed by a junior administrator or someone at a branch office. This minimizes the amount of intervention and Exchange knowledge required by the person performing the install.

• You need to roll out several servers at once.

Troubleshooting Unattended Installations

Unattended installations are likely to fail for the same reasons that normal installations fail the installation is being run via an account with incorrect permissions, the correct services are not installed and running, or the server that is to host Exchange Server 2003 has not been patched correctly. Unattended installations also write a log file in text format to the root of the system drive. You can closely examining this file to determine what went wrong.