Question

I am interested in knowing what the best software would be to build an installation package that performs the following:

1. Installs client application
2. Detects all SQL server instances on network, allowing user to select specific database to upgrade (which would then upgrade database using an embedded SQL script)
3. Installs website on a server/location specified by user, and configures IIS 6.0 and/or 7.0 based on settings that I specify.
4. Creates a simple setup.exe – and allows user to choose installation components (listed above, i.e install client app, sql server database, and/or website), and then download selected components from remove server.

I have tried NSIS – as was able to create an installation package that will download a compressed (gzip) component from a remote server, decompress the file, install the components, and then remove the gzip file. So, this worked beautifully. The part where I am stuck is to be able to perform the database upgrade and website install.

Any suggestions would be great.

Answer 1

InstallShield natively supports database and web site installation.

You might consider:

SQL Scripts

The SQL Scripts view provides a
central location for managing and
organizing all SQL scripts by server
connections and settings. The current
implementation provides support for
the latest versions of Microsoft SQL
Server, MySQL, and Oracle. You will be
able to perform most of the following
major functions to configure your SQL
servers from the SQL Scripts view or
its sub-views. Some limitations may
apply to certain server types.

Internet Information Services

The Internet Information Services view
enables you to create and manage new
IIS Web sites, virtual directories,
Web service extensions, and
application pools