Install Distributed Replay

Applies to: SQL Server 2016 (13.x) SQL Server 2017 (14.x) SQL Server 2019 (15.x)

Important

SQL Server Distributed Replay isn't available with SQL Server 2022 (16.x) and later versions.

You can install Distributed Replay in one of three ways:

• Install Distributed Replay from the Installation Wizard

• Install Distributed Replay from the Command Prompt

• Install Distributed Replay Using a Configuration File

Install Distributed Replay from the Installation Wizard

Install the Microsoft SQL Server Distributed Replay features with the SQL Server Installation Wizard. When planning where to install the features, consider the following:

• You can install the administration tool on the same computer as the Distributed Replay controller, or on different computers.

• There can only be one controller in each Distributed Replay environment.

• You can install the client service on up to 16 (physical or virtual) computers.

• Only one instance of the client service can be installed on the Distributed Replay controller computer. If your Distributed Replay environment has more than one client, don't install the client service on the same computer as the controller. Doing so might decrease the overall speed of the distributed replay.

• For performance testing scenarios, don't install the administration tool, Distributed Replay controller service, or client service on the target instance of SQL Server. Installing all of these features on the target server should be limited to functional testing for application compatibility.

• After installation, the controller service, SQL Server Distributed Replay controller, must be running before you start the Distributed Replay client service on the clients.

Note

To remove or change the Distributed Replay features, use the Windows Programs and Features window in Control Panel. Select SQL Server in the Uninstall or change a program window, and then select Remove to open the SQL Server Installation Wizard. On the Select Features page, check the Distributed Replay features you want to remove.

Prerequisites

• Make sure that the computers that you want to use meet the requirements that are described in the topic SQL Server Distributed Replay overview.

• Before you begin this procedure, create the domain user accounts for running the controller and client services. These accounts should not be members of the Windows Administrators group. For more information, see the User and service accounts.

  Note

  You can use local user accounts if you're running the administration tool, controller service, and client service on the same computer.

Installation locations

Assuming you use the default file locations and a standard installation, the base directory is found at C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server. Within that, following are where the binaries and assemblies are installed to:

• On a 32-bit system:

  <drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\nnn\Tools

  Or:

  <Share Feature Directory>\Tools\<user-supplied alternative shared feature directory>

• On a 64-bit system:

  C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server (x86)\130\Tools

  Or:

  <Share Feature Directory (x86)>\Tools\<user-supplied alternative shared feature (x86) directory>

Install distributed replay features

1. To start the installation of any of the Distributed Replay features, start the SQL Server Installation Wizard.

2. The Setup Support Rules page identifies issues that might occur when installing the SQL Server Setup support files. You must correct any Setup support failures before continuing with Setup.

3. On the Product Key page, select an option button to indicate whether you're installing a free edition of SQL Server, or a production version of the product that has a PID key. For more information, see Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2022.

4. On the License Terms page, read the license agreement, and then select the check box to accept the license terms and conditions. To help improve SQL Server, you can also enable the feature usage option and send reports to Microsoft.

5. On the Setup Support Files page, select Install to install or update the Setup Support files for SQL Server.

6. On the Setup Role page, select SQL Server Feature Installation, and then select Next to continue to the Feature Selection page.

7. On the Feature Selection page, configure which features you want to install.

   • To install the administration tool, select Management Tools - Basic.
   • To install the controller service, select Distributed Replay Controller.
   • To install the client service, select Distributed Replay Client.

   When you configure Distributed Replay controller, you can specify one or more user accounts to run the Distributed Replay client services. The following is the list of supported accounts:

   • Domain user account
   • User created local user account
   • Administrator
   • Virtual account and MSA (Managed Service Account)
   • Network Services, Local Services, and System

   Group accounts (local or domain) and other built-in accounts (like Everyone) aren't accepted.

8. Optionally, select the ellipsis (...) button to change the shared feature directory path.

   1. On 32-bit computers, the default installation path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\.
   2. On 64-bit computers, the default installation path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\.

9. When you're finished, select Next.

10. On the Installation Rules page, SQL Server Setup validates your computer configuration. Once the validation process is completed, select Next.

11. The Disk Space Requirements page calculates the required disk space for the features that you specify. Then it compares the required space to the available disk space.

12. On the Error Reporting page, specify the information that you want to send to Microsoft to help improve SQL Server. By default, option for error reporting is enabled.

13. On the Installation Configuration Rules page, the System Configuration Checker runs one more set of rules to validate your computer configuration with the SQL Server features that you've specified.

14. On the Ready to Install the Program page, select Install.

    Important

    After you install Distributed Replay you must create firewall rules on the controller and client computers, and grant each client computer permissions on the target server. For more information, see Complete the Post-Installation Steps.

.NET Framework security

You must have administrative permissions in order to install any of the Distributed Replay features. Only a SQL Server login having sysadmin permissions can add the client service accounts to the sysadmin server role of the test server. For more information about Distributed Replay security considerations, see Distributed Replay security.

Install Distributed Replay from the command prompt

Installing a new instance of Distributed Replay at the command prompt enables you to specify the features to install and how they should be configured. The command prompt installation supports installing, repairing, upgrading, and uninstalling of the Distributed Replay components. When installing through the command prompt, SQL Server supports full quiet mode by using the /Q parameter.

Note

For local installations, you must run Setup as an administrator. If you install SQL Server from a remote share, you must use a domain account that has read and execute permissions on the remote share.

Installation parameters

The list of top-level features include SQL Server, Analysis Services, Integration Services, and Tools. The Tools feature installs SQL Server Management Tools and other shared components. To install the Distributed Replay components, specify the following parameters:

Component	Parameter
Distributed Replay controller	DREPLAY_CTLR
Distributed Replay client	DREPLAY_CLT
Administration Tool	Tools

Important

After you install Distributed Replay, create firewall rules on the controller and client computers, and grant each client computer permissions on the target server. For more information, see Complete the Post-Installation Steps.

You can use these optional parameters in the following table to develop command line scripts for installation.

Parameter	Description	Supported values
/CTLRSVCACCOUNT	Service account for the Distributed Replay controller service.	Checks account and password
/CTLRSVCPASSWORD	Password for the Distributed Replay controller service account.	Checks account and password
/CTLRSTARTUPTYPE	Start up type for the Distributed Replay controller service.	Automatic Disabled Manual
/CTLRUSERS 1	Specify which users have permissions for the Distributed Replay controller service.	Set of user account strings using " " (space) for delimiter.
/CLTSVCACCOUNT	Service account for the Distributed Replay client service.	Checks account and password
/CLTSVCPASSWORD	Password for the Distributed Replay client service account.	Checks account and password
/CLTSTARTUPTYPE	Start up type for the Distributed Replay client service.	Automatic Disabled Manual
/CLTCTLRNAME	The computer name that the client communicates with for the Distributed Replay Controller service.
/CLTWORKINGDIR	The working directory for the Distributed Replay Client service.	Valid path
/CLTRESULTDIR	The result directory for the Distributed Replay Client service.	Valid path

¹ When you configure the Distributed Replay controller service, you can specify one or more of the following supported user accounts to run the Distributed Replay client services: Domain user account, a local user account, Administrator, a virtual account and MSA (Managed Service Account), Network Services, Local Services, and System. Group accounts (local or domain) and other built-in accounts (like Everyone) aren't accepted.

Sample Syntax

• Install the Distributed Replay controller component:

  setup /q /ACTION=Install /FEATURES=DREPLAY_CTLR /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms /CTLRUSERS="domain\user1" "domain\user2" /CTLRSVCACCOUNT="domain\svcuser" /CTLRSVCPASSWORD="password" /CTLRSTARTUPTYPE=Automatic
  

• Install the Distributed Replay client component:

  setup /q /ACTION=Install /FEATURES=DREPLAY_CLT /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms /CLTSVCACCOUNT="domain\svcuser" /CLTSVCPASSWORD="password" /CLTSTARTUPTYPE=Automatic /CLTCTLRNAME=ControllerMachineName /CLTWORKINGDIR="C:\WorkingDir" /CLTRESULTDIR="C:\ResultDir
  

Install Distributed Replay using a configuration file

SQL Server Setup provides the ability to generate a configuration file based on user input and system defaults. If you specify that you want the Management tools installed, you can use the configuration file to deploy the three Distributed Replay components (administration tool, Distributed Replay controller, and the Distributed Replay client). It supports Installing, repairing, and uninstalling of the Distributed Replay components.

Setup supports the use of the configuration file only through the command-line. The processing order of the parameters while using the configuration file is outlined below:

• The configuration file overwrites the defaults in a package
• Command-line values overwrite the values in the configuration file

For more information about how to use a configuration file, see Install SQL Server using a configuration file.

Important

After you install Distributed Replay you must create firewall rules on the controller and client computers, and grant each client computer permissions on the target server. For more information, see Complete the Post-Installation Steps.

Generate a configuration file

1. Follow the Setup wizard through to the Ready to Install page. The path to the configuration file is specified in the Ready to Install page in the configuration file path section.

2. Cancel the setup without actually completing the installation, to generate the INI file.

Install distributed replay using the configuration file

Run the installation through the command prompt and supply the ConfigurationFile.ini using the ConfigurationFile parameter.

For example:

Setup.exe /CTLRSVCPASSWORD="ctlrsvcpswd" /CLTSVCPASSWORD="cltsvcpswd" / ConfigurationFile=ConfigurationFile.INI\

You must specify both passwords in the command line, because you can't configure them in the configuration file.

Related content

• Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2016
• SQL Server Distributed Replay overview
• Administration Tool Command-line Options (Distributed Replay Utility)
• Configure Distributed Replay