Deploy Robots in Bulk with a Third-Party Tool and Native Installers

Many IT environments already have a bulk software deployment mechanism in place (such as Puppet or Yum on Linux, or Altiris on Windows). Almost any third-party distribution mechanism can be used as long as it can:

1. Copy a native robot installer to a remote system. 32-bit and 64-bit installers for Windows, Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Solaris, and AIX are available on your primary hub. See the Support Compatibility Matrix for details on supported versions.
2. Copy an answer file. The native robot installers execute silently using the values in the answer file. This file must follow the correct syntax and format.
3. Execute the steps for the appropriate installer.

This article contains the following topics:

Answer File Syntax and Format

The answer file follows this syntax and format. Replace all text in brackets with actual values, and do not include spaces between the parameter and value (for example, domain=UIMdomain).

Note the following

• You must specify the domain, hub, hubip, hubrobotname, and hubport.
• Optional parameters with no answer are valid. However, it is better to omit a parameter from the answer file rather than include it with an empty setting.
• The default port for a hub is 48002.
• A best practice is to prepare a simple answer file with only required fields during initial robot deployment, and add optional fields later. Bulk changes to robot configuration are quickly accomplished using drag and drop in Infrastructure Manager.
• Any robot attribute can be configured in the answer file by following the same format (parameter=<value>). For a complete list of robot parameters, see Robot Attribute Reference.

The following table shows the parameters to include in the answer file. For a list of all robot attributes, refer to the Robot Attribute Reference.

Deploying to Windows 

Your third-party deployment tool must perform the following actions.

1. Copy the appropriate Windows installer to any folder on the target system:
   • nimsoft-robot-x64.exe (64-bit)
   • nimsoft-robot.exe  (32-bit)
2. Copy the nms-robot-vars.cfg answer file to the same folder.
3. Install the robot by executing:

   <EXE_package>.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART

   The default install folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Nimsoft. To specify the folder, append the following to the command (brackets and quotation marks are required):

   [ /DIR="c:\path\to\install" ]

   To specify the log file, append:

   [ /LOG="name_of_install_log.txt" ]

After installation, the robot starts automatically.

Deploying to Linux

Your third-party deployment tool must perform the following actions.

Note: If you are not using root access, use either sudo <command> or su -c “<command>“. You can also use su to get the root shell, then execute the command.

1. Copy the appropriate Linux installer to /opt on the target system:
   • nimsoft-robot-x64.rpm  64-bit SUSE, SLES, or RHEL
   • nimsoft-robot.rpm  32-bit SUSE, SLES, or RHEL
   • nimsoft-robot+debian_amd64.deb  64-bit Debian
   • nimsoft-robot+debian_i386.deb  32-bit Debian
   • nimsoft-robot+ubuntu_amd64.deb  64-bit Ubuntu
   • nimsoft-robot+ubuntu_i386.deb  32-bit Ubuntu
2. Copy the nms-robot-vars.cfg answer file to /opt.
3. Install the robot.
   • On RedHat, SUSE, or CentOS, execute the following, where <arch> is i386 or amd64:

     rpm -ivh nimsoft-robot.<arch>.rpm

     The default install directory is /opt/nimsoft. To specify the installation directory, execute the following, where <directory> is the full path and directory name:

      rpm -ivh nimsoft-robot.<arch>.rpm –prefix=<directory>

     The rpm flags function as follows:

          -i    install the software package
          -v   display a simple status line to show what is being installed (verbose mode)
          -h  display fifty hash marks (#) to show the status as the install proceeds; when all fifty have displayed, installation is complete

   • On Debian or Ubuntu, execute the following, where <OS> is debian or ubuntu and <arch> is i386 or amd64:

      (sudo, su -c, or root user) dpkg -i nimsoft-robot+<OS>_<arch>.deb

4. Configure the robot after the installer exits:

   cd /opt/nimsoft/install
   (sudo, su -c, or root user) bash RobotConfigurer.sh

5. Start the robot.

• • RedHat, SUSE, CentOS, or Debian:

     /etc/init.d/nimbus start

  • Ubuntu:

     (sudo, su -c, or root user) initctl start nimbus  

Installation is complete.

Deploying to HP-UX

Your third-party deployment tool must perform the following actions.

1. Copy the appropriate installer to /opt on the target system. The HP-UX installers are:
      nimsoft-robot-hppa–11.31.depot.gz    (PA RISC)
      nimsoft-robot-ia64-11.31.depot.gz    (Itanium)
2. Copy the nms-robot-vars.cfg answer file to /opt.
3. Extract the gz file. Execute the following, where <arch> is hppa or ia64:

   /usr/contrib/bin/gunzip /opt/nimsoft-robot-<arch>-11.31.depot.gz

4. Install the robot:

   /usr/sbin/swinstall –s /opt/nimsoft-robot-<arch>-11.31.depot \*

5. After the installer exits, configure the robot:

   cd /opt/nimsoft/install
   /bin/sh RobotConfigurer.sh

6. Start the robot:

   /opt/nimsoft/bin/niminit start

Installation is complete. To stop the robot or view its status, ssh to the system, then execute either:

/opt/nimsoft/bin/niminit stop
/opt/nimsoft/bin/niminit status

Deploying to Solaris

Your third-party deployment tool must perform the following actions.

1. Copy the appropriate Solaris installer to /opt on the target system:
      nimsoft-robot-i386.gz   (32-bit)
      nimsoft-robot-amd64.gz   (64-bit)
      nimsoft-robot-sparcv9.gz  (SPARC)
2. Copy the nms-robot-vars.cfg answer file to /opt.
3. Install the robot. Execute the following, where <arch> is i386, amd64, or sparcv9:

   nimsoft-robot-<arch>.gz
   (sudo or su -c) pkgadd -d /opt/nimsoft-robot-<arch>

4. Configure and start the robot after the installer exits. Execute the following under sudo, su -c, or as root user:

   cd /opt/nimsoft/install
   bash RobotConfigurer.sh
   /etc/init.d/nimbus start

Installation is complete. To view status of the robot, ssh to the machine, then execute:

 ps -ef | grep nimbus

Deploying to AIX

nimsoft-robot.aix6.1.ppc64.rpm

Your third-party deployment tool must perform the following actions.

1. Copy the AIX installer to the target system:
   nimsoft-robot.aix6.1.ppc64.rpm
2. Copy the nms-robot-vars.cfg answer file to /opt.
3. Install the robot. Execute:

   rpm -ivh nimsoft-robot.aix6.1.ppc64.rpm

   The default installation directory is /opt/nimsoft. To specify the directory, execute the following, where <directory> is the full path/name:

   rpm -ivh nimsoft-robot.aix6.1.ppc64.rpm –prefix=<directory>

   The rpm flags function as follows:

        -i    install the software package
   -v   display a simple status line to show what is being installed (verbose mode)
   -h  display fifty hash marks (#) to show the status as the install proceeds; when all fifty have displayed, installation is complete

4. Configure the robot:

   cd /opt/nimsoft/install
   sh RobotConfigurer.sh

5. Enable the Nimbus service:

   /opt/nimsoft/install/service-ctrl.sh

6. Start the robot:

   /usr/bin/startsrc -s nimbus

Installation is complete. To stop the robot or view its status, execute:

/usr/bin/stopsrc –s nimbus
/usr/bin/lssrc –s nimbus