Preparing an Offline Installation of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites
Applies To: Windows Azure Pack
Important
This topic applies to installations using Update Rollup 4 or earlier. For Update Rollup 6 or later installations, see Start the installation of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites.
Installation of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites relies on the Microsoft Web Platform Installer and an associated feed, both of which normally require Internet access. However, if you need to perform an offline installation of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites, you can do so by downloading the necessary bits on an Internet connected computer and then using those bits to prepare an offline computer to host the feed and run the Web Platform Installer locally.
Note
An Internet connected computer is required initially so that you can obtain the necessary files for offline installation.
The offline computer (physical server or VM) that hosts the Web Platform Installer and local feed will become the Web Sites Controller.
On the Internet connected computer
On a computer that has Internet connectivity, perform the following steps:
Download and save the Web Platform Installer .msi file. You will use this file to install the Web Platform Installer on the offline computer.
Operating System Platform Version
Web Platform Installer .msi File Download
x64
x86
Download the HostWebSitesFeeds.ps1 PowerShell script from github at https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9849676. You will use this script when you create a local offline feed.
On the Internet connected computer, install the latest version of the Web Platform Installer. Close the Web Platform Installer UI after the install completes.
Download the OfflineWebSitesFeeds.ps1 PowerShell script from github at https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9849677. You will run this script next on the Internet connected computer.
The OfflineWebSitesFeeds.ps1 script has two optional parameters:
$WebSitesFeedLink - this variable points to the WebSites0.9.0.xml file that corresponds to the version of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites that you will install. The default value is a link to the latest version. For links to earlier versions, see the following table.
Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites
Web Sites Feed Link
Version 2
Version 2, Update1
Version 2, Update 2
Version 2, Update 3
Version 2, Update 4
$OfflineFeedsLocation - the location on your computer to which all of the product and product dependencies will be copied. By default, this is %SystemDrive%\Offline_Feeds.
In a PowerShell console with administrative privileges on the online computer, run the OfflineWebSitesFeeds.ps1 script, modifying the optional parameters above if necessary.
What the OfflineWebSitesFeeds script does
The OfflineWebSitesFeeds.ps1 script downloads the WebProductList.xml and Websites0.9.0.xml feed files and creates the Offline_Feeds folder on the root of the system drive. The Offline_Feeds folder contains subfolders with feed files, product installers, and the binaries for the Web Platform Installer itself. You will later copy the entire Offline_Feeds folder for use offline.
The OfflineWebSitesFeeds script also creates, in the same directory from which you ran the script, an OfflineWebSitesFeed.log file and a CreateOfflineFeed.log file. These log files list, in text format, the actions that the script took.
On the Offline Computer
From the computer in the isolated network that will host the offline feed locally from IIS (that is, the server that will become the Web Sites Controller) perform the following steps:
Copy the following from the online server:
The Web Platform Installer .msi file
The HostWebSitesFeeds.ps1 PowerShell script
The entire Offline_Feeds folder
On the offline server, install IIS, which will host the feed during installation. Include IIS Management Scripts and Tools during the installation. For UI steps, see Installing IIS 8 on Windows Server 2012.
Install .NET Framework 3.5 if it is not already installed. The .NET Framework 3.5 is required by the Web Platform Installer. To install it, choose .NET Framework 3.5 Features on the Select Features page of the Add Roles and Features Wizard in Server Manager.
Note
Because the offline server is not connected to the Internet, you might have to use the Windows Server installation disk to install additional roles and features. On the Confirm installation selections page of the wizard, choose Specify an alternate source path and enter the path <InstallDiskDrive>:\Sources\sxs\.
On the offline computer, install the Web Platform Installer from an account with administrative privileges by running the Web Platform Installer .msi file.
Next, open a PowerShell window with administrative privileges so that you can run the HostWebSitesFeeds.ps1 PowerShell script. The script creates the local feed that the Web Platform Installer uses to install Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites. You will use the syntax:
.\HostWebSitesFeeds.ps1 $offlineFeedsLocation $hostingLocation
$offlineFeedsLocation and $hostingLocation are required parameters.
$offlineFeedsLocation - the location on the isolated computer of the Offline_Feeds folder that you copied from the computer with Internet connectivity.
$hostingLocation - the directory from which to host the feed locally.
Note
In order to run the PowerShell script, you may need to run the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet on the offline computer. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies.
In the PowerShell console, run the HostWebSitesFeeds.ps1 script, supplying the required parameters. (You may need to reboot the server after the script completes.)
You can see the actions that the script took by examining the HostWebSitesFeed.log file. The log file is created in the folder from which you ran the script. The last line of the log contains the URL that you will need in the next step.
Start the offline install of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites. In an administrative command console, run the command
C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\Webpicmd.exe /Install /Products:HostingPrimaryControllerBootstrapper_v2 /XML:<BootstrapperFeedURL> /Log:C:\Install.log
The value for <BootstrapperFeedURL> can be found in last line of the HostWebSitesFeed.log file.
The actions taken by Webpicmd.exe are recorded in a log file at %systemdrive%\users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\logs\install\<dateTimeStamp>\WebSitesFeed.txt
When the command completes, a browser will open the Service Management Portal at address https://localhost:30101/. You will see a warning regarding the self-signed security certificate. At the warning, click Continue to this website.
The portal opens to the Database Server Setup page of the Web Sites Setup dialog. At this point, continue with the installation steps in the Specify database and file servers and shares, and provide credentials section of Start the installation of Windows Azure Pack: Web Sites.