Description

Sitecore Experience Platform has a list of prerequisites that can be installed using the Sitecore Installation Framework (SIF) Prerequisites.json configuration file. Internet access is required to install the prerequisites using SIF. If a server is restricted and does not have access to the Internet, the prerequisites have to be installed manually. The article provides general recommendations on performing the operations from the Prerequisites.json file manually.

Solution

The Prerequisites.json file contains a list of tasks that are run when the prerequisites are installed using SIF. To install the prerequisites manually, proceed as follows:

1. Download the required tools to a computer with Internet access. The download URLs are available in the Parameters section of the Prerequisites.json file.

   Notes:

   • Since the Microsoft Web Platform Installer (WebPI) was retired, do not download it. Previously, the installed WebPI was used to install Web Deploy 3.6 and URL Rewrite 2.1. Download the Web Deploy 3.6 and URL Rewrite 2.1 tools without using WebPI.
   • The Prerequisites.json file for Sitecore XP 9.1–9.3 contains outdated links to Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.1 and Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2. For more details, refer to KB1000626.
2. Download the SQL PowerShell module.
3. Download the SQL Server Shared Management Objects (SMO) by following the instructions from KB1003024  in order to prevent the possible known issue.
4. Copy the tools to a target computer without Internet access.
5. Install the tools manually.

   Note: To make the SQL PowerShell module available for PowerShell, the "SQLServer" folder should be copied to the "C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules" folder.

6. Enable the Windows features defined in the "WindowsFeatures" task of the Prerequisites.json file:
   

           "WindowsFeatures": {
               "Type": "EnableWindowsOptionalFeature",
               "Params": {
                   "Online": true,
                   "FeatureName": [
                       "IIS-WebServer",
                       ... // check the full list in the Prerequisites.json file because it depends on a Sitecore XP version
                   ],
                   "All": true,
                   "NoRestart": true
               }
           }

   The Windows features can be enabled using the PowerShell Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature cmdlet. For example, to enable the "IIS-WebServer" feature, run the following code:

   Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName IIS-WebServer -All