Getting "Could not access network location SC_SQL_SERVER_USER" while installing Sitecore using Powershell DSC

Question

I am trying to install Sitecore using PowerShell DSC following below link https://jermdavis.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/development-environments-with-powershell-dsc-part-5/

I am getting "Could not access network location SC_SQL_SERVER_USER" error in log file. I have given all the necessary permission to database but couldn't get it done.

Could you please help me in finding the error?

Please find below installation log:

MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:713]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding OutOfDiskSpace property. Its value is '0'.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:713]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding OutOfNoRbDiskSpace property. Its value is '0'.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:713]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding PrimaryVolumeSpaceAvailable property. Its value is '0'.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:713]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding PrimaryVolumeSpaceRequired property. Its value is '0'.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:713]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding PrimaryVolumeSpaceRemaining property. Its value is '0'.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:713]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Patch 
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:728]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding TARGETDIR property. Its value is 'C:\'.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:728]: Note: 1: 1314 2: SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install 
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:728]: Note: 1: 1606 2: SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install 
Action start 14:22:00: CostFinalize.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:728]: Product: Sitecore 8.0 rev. 150223 - SitecoreVamsi -- Error 1606. Could not access network location SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install.

MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:728]: Note: 1: 1606 2: SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install 
Error 1606. Could not access network location SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install.
MSI (s) (E8:EC) [14:22:00:728]: Product: Sitecore 8.0 rev. 150223 - SitecoreVamsi -- Error 1606. Could not access network location SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install.

Error 1606. Could not access network location SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install.
Action ended 14:22:00: CostFinalize. Return value 3.
Action ended 14:22:00: INSTALL. Return value 3.
Property(S): VirtualMemory = 16275
Property(S): UpgradeCode = {B30C3E71-5F46-5340-B9A0-31B0752C6637}
Property(S): IISMAJORVERSION = 8
Property(S): IISMINORVERSION = #5
Property(S): GLOBALTEMPFOLDER = C:\Windows\TEMP
Property(S): GLOBALIZATIONFOLDER = C:\Windows\Globalization\
Property(S): CRYPTOFOLDER = C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto\
Property(S): SC_SQLLOGON_ACCOUNT_RAW = AFMS\sqlservice_sc
Property(S): ASPNETREGISTERED = C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_isapi.dll
Property(S): IIS7APPDEVFEATURESON = #1

Answer 1

That's an interesting error message, as it seems to be mixing up two things:

1. The variable it refers to is SC_SQL_SERVER_USER - which is used by the MSI installation to store the database username used for connecting while installing the Sitecore databases.
2. The rest of the error "Could not access network location", and the 1606 error number suggests a problem with a path, rather than a username. (Which is backed up by blog posts like this, referring to other MSI installs)

I can't be entirely confident without seeing more of the script and data you're using to run your install, but my gut feeling is that the problem is related to the SQL user name parameter getting mixed up with some other parameter in the MSI command line. With line-breaks for clarity, the MSI install command in the DSC should look like this. Note each parameter is surrounded with double quotes to make sure they're kept separate even if they include spaces:

msiexec.exe /qn /i 
  "$tmp\SupportFiles\exe\Sitecore.msi"
  "TRANSFORMS=:$instanceID;:ComponentGUIDTransform5.mst"
  "MSINEWINSTANCE=1"
  "LOGVERBOSE=1"
  "SC_LANG=en-US" 
  "SC_FULL=1" 
  "SC_INSTANCENAME=$site"
  "SC_LICENSE_PATH=$license"               <-- This is a path
  "SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=$sqlUser"            <-- But this isn't
  "SC_SQL_SERVER=$sqlServer"
  "SC_SQL_SERVER_PASSWORD=$sqlPassword"
  "SC_DBPREFIX=$sitePrefix"
  "SC_PREFIX_PHYSICAL_FILES=1"
  "SC_SQL_SERVER_CONFIG_USER=$sqlUser"
  "SC_SQL_SERVER_CONFIG_PASSWORD=$sqlPassword"
  "SC_DBTYPE=MSSQL"
  "INSTALLLOCATION=$wwwRoot\$site"
  "SC_DATA_FOLDER=$wwwRoot\$site\Data"
  "SC_DB_FOLDER=$wwwRoot\$site\Databases"
  "SC_MDF_FOLDER=$wwwRoot\$site\Databases\MDF"
  "SC_LDF_FOLDER=$wwwRoot\$site\Databases\LDF"
  "SC_NET_VERSION=4"
  "SITECORE_MVC=0"
  "SC_INTEGRATED_PIPELINE_MODE=1"
  "SC_IISSITE_NAME=$site"
  "SC_IISAPPPOOL_NAME=$siteAppPool"
  "SC_IISSITE_HEADER=$site"
  "SC_IISSITE_PORT=80"
  "SC_IISSITE_ID="
  "/l*+v"
  "$tmp\Install.log"

Is it possible that you've lost a double-quote in your script and DSC is trying to use the entire phrase SC_SQL_SERVER_USER=sitecore_install as the value of another install parameter? (My most likely guess would be for the license path, since it's the one immediately before - but it might be something else)

Have a check of your script, and see if you can spot a typo there...

---

Edited to add:

If you need to vary which license file is used for a particular install then you have two main choices:

First is that the license is already being read from the configuration file. So you can choose which configuration file to use for a particular installation, and create different .psd1 files depending on what is required.

The second is that the script for installing Sitecore can compute the value for the license. The script currently works out the license file by retrieving the value from config and combining it with the path that the assets got copied to:

$tmp = $using:Node.TempFolder
$licenseFile = $using:Node.Sitecore.License
$license = "$tmp\$licenseFile"

There are loads of things you could do here. Two options I can think of:

You could compute a prefix:

$tmp = $using:Node.TempFolder
$licenseFile = $using:Node.Sitecore.License
$prefix = "defaultValue"
if( someTest )
{
    $prefix = "anotherValue"
}
$license = "$tmp\$prefix-$licenseFile"

or you could have more than one option from the config file and choose which to use:

If the .psd1 data included:

@{
    AllNodes = @(
        @{     
            Sitecore = @{
                LicenseOne = "License-FileOne.xml"
                LicenseTwo = "License-FileTwo.xml"
            }
         }
    );
}

Then the logic in the script could be:

$tmp = $using:Node.TempFolder
$licenseFile = $using:Node.Sitecore.LicenseOne
if( someTest )
{
    $prefix = $using:Node.Sitecore.LicenseTwo
}
$license = "$tmp\$licenseFile"

Note that I've avoided changing the code which calls msiexec.exe here - I find it easier to leave that alone and change the data PowerShell passes to it...