Best Installation Software?

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

I think you need to write a script to do the database upgrade. Most installers will let you run a script on demand...

Answer 2

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