Automated Deployment

Seq is very automation-friendly; all installation and configuration is fully-scriptable through either the CLI or HTTP API.

Scripting a Seq deployment requires several steps to be performed; this page describes how to get Seq files onto the target machine, and includes some pointers to information on subsequent configuration tasks.

Unattended MSI installation

The MSI is straightforward, and mostly just extracts files to C:\Program Files\Seq (by default). Running:

Start-Process msiexec.exe `
  -ArgumentList '/i C:\\Example\\Seq-4.2.113.msi /quiet /norestart /lv C:\\Example\\Install.log' `
  -Wait

will extract the executable files onto the machine, but won't configure a Windows service.

After that, the next step is to install, configure, and start the Windows service. This is done using the Seq.exe CLI:

seq install --storage="C:\Example\Storage"
seq config -k api.listenUris -v https://seq.example.com
seq start

The parameters that can be set through command-line configuration are described in the Server Configuration reference, while the CLI itself is self-documenting via seq help and seq help <command>.

Once the service is running, additional tasks such as creating users and so-on can be accomplished using the Using the HTTP API.

XCOPY deployment

Seq is XCOPY-deployable, which means you don't have to run the MSI package to get Seq set up on a machine. This can be useful if you're automating deployment, or running on a workstation on which you don't want to, or can't, install system-level software.

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Whenever possible, deployment via the MSI is recommended.

The MSI is, however, the only distribution format currently used, so you'll need to install Seq on at least one computer to extract the necessary files.

Here are the steps to take.

Install Seq on a convenient machine
Stop the Seq service by running seq.exe stop
Create a zip file with the contents of C:\Program Files\Seq
Extract the zip file on the target machine
Configure and start Seq using the command-line