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Windows Installation

1. Install required software

  1. 1.1) Install the Java JDK (you don't need NetBeans or Java EE). Asset Bank requires Java 1.5 or higher (on the server).
  2. 1.2) Install the latest version of Tomcat. We recommend you use the latest Windows executable for the core Windows Service Installer option. When prompted, use the JRE that you installed in step 1.1 (by default this will be C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.x_x). In the installation wizard, under Tomcat select the Core Service and Native components.
  3. 1.3) If you do not already have a database, install the latest version of MySql. Currently we recommend MySQL 5.0 Community Edition, Windows Essentials (x86) version. If you want to use MS SQL Server or Oracle, see: advanced configuration.
    Note: MySQL needs to be in your path in order to run the database scripts. Make sure that you check the option 'Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH' on the 'Windows Options' step of the MSQL configuration wizard.
  4. 1.4) Install Ghostscript. For your convenience, here is the Windows installer for Ghostscript.

2. Download Asset Bank

  1. 2.1) Download the Asset Bank installation package: assetbank-install.zip
  2. 2.2) Unzip the installation package to a convenient location on your hard drive.
  3. 2.3) Check the contents:
    • database: folder containing database setup scripts
    • assetbank-installer.jar: installer for Asset Bank

3. Install the Asset Bank application

  1. 3.1) Run the application installer using one of the following methods:
    • Simply double click on assetbank-installer.jar. It should execute automatically. If it doesn't, do one of the following:
    • Right click on the file and select Open With > Java.
    • On the command line, run java -jar assetbank-installer.jar
  2. 3.2) Follow the instructions in the installer.
    Note: you must be logged in as an administrator for your machine to run the installer.

4. Install license

You will have received a license file license.lic by email. This is valid for 30 days (for evaluation) or indefinitely (for production).

  1. 4.1) Copy the license file license.lic to [Tomcat]\webapps\asset-bank\WEB-INF\classes. Normally [Tomcat] is C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\tomcat 5.x.

5. Configure Tomcat

  1. 5.1) You need to change the default memory allocation for Tomcat as the default is not optimal for a production server. If you have 1GB or more of RAM, you should change the amount of memory that is available to Tomcat.
  2.  5.1.1) For Tomcat run from the command line:
    Copy the file [Tomcat]\webapps\asset-bank\WEB-INF\manager-config\tomcat\setenv.bat into the directory [Tomcat]\bin and adjust the numbers within (see the comment at the top of the file).
  3.  5.1.2) For Tomcat run as a service (Tomcat 5+):
    Run the Tomcat Service Manager utility [Tomcat]\bin\tomcat5w.exe, unless you already have this running as a tray icon.
    On the Java tab, set values for memory pool. We recommend allowing Java about half the available RAM, eg for a server containing 2GB of memory:
    • Initial memory pool=512
    • Maximum memory pool=1024.
    Alter these settings proportionally if you have a different amount of RAM.
    You should restart Tomcat after changing these settings.

  1. 5.2) If you want to access the application on port 80 and do not want to use a separate web server (see section 8, below), then Tomcat has a production-quality web server built in - you just need to change the port it listens on from 8080 to 80.
    To do this:
  2. - Open the file [Tomcat]\conf\server.xml in a text editor.
  3. - Search for the string <Connector port="8080" and replace 8080 with 80.
  4. 5.3) If you wish to use the Asset Bank application updater you will need to turn off automatic deployment and reloading of the Asset Bank application by Tomcat.
    • When Tomcat is installed auto deployment of applications is turned on by default. To disable this feature:
      - Open the file [Tomcat]\conf\server.xml in a text editor.
      - Search for the string "autoDeploy". You should see something similar to <Host name="localhost" appBase="webapps" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true" xmlValidation="false" xmlNamespaceAware="false"> - If there are multiple host entries look for the one which applies to your Asset Bank application.
      - Set autoDeploy="false"
    • When Tomcat is installed auto reloading of applications is turned off by default. If for any reason you have changed this please ensure that reloadable is set to false for the Asset Bank application. See http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-4.1-doc/config/context.html for details.

6. Set up the database (MySQL)

The following quick steps apply if you are using a MySQL Database. For Oracle or SQLServer, or if you want to do the setup manually, see Advanced configuration.

  1. 6.1) Open a command prompt on the server and move to the database directory, which was created when you unzipped the file 'assetbank-install.zip'.
  2. 6.2) By default, the MySQL installation creates a "root" account with no password. In this case, simply run database-setup.cmd, which will do all database setup for you. Otherwise run database-setup.cmd root-password where root-password is the MySQL root password.
  3. 6.3) You can edit the file database-setup.cmd to suit your server environment.

7. Configurable settings

Asset Bank configuration changes can be made by changing the settings file, [Tomcat]\webapps\asset-bank\WEB-INF\classes\ApplicationSettings.properties.
This file is well documented, so you should be able to figure out how to change each setting from the comments.

Most of the default settings will be ok: those that you are likely to want to change are at the top, for example the name of your SMTP server.


8. (Optional) Set up a web server

If Asset Bank is to be hosted on the web, you might want to set up a web server such as Apache or IIS. If you need instructions on how to get these web servers to talk to Tomcat then see: integration with a web server.


9. Start the Application

  1. 9.1) Restart Tomcat. If you have installed Tomcat as a service then you will need to restart the service.
  2. 9.2) Ready to run - you should be able to access the Asset Bank on http://localhost/asset-bank/ from a browser on the server, or http://[server ip address]/asset-bank/
  3. from any other computer on your network.
    Note: If you did not follow step (5.2) or (8) then you will need to specify port 8080, e.g. http://[server ip address]:8080/asset-bank/
  4. 9.3) Login as the default admin user:
  5. Username: admin
    Password: password
  6. 9.4) (Optional) Change the admin password by going to the 'Your Profile' link in the top right.

10. Backup procedure

You need to ensure that the database and files are backed up regularly (we advise nightly). Asset Bank comes with a Windows script for backing up your data.

You can find this in [Tomcat]\webapps\asset-bank\WEB-INF\manager-config\backup. Look in README.txt for instructions and advice on how to set up your backup procedure.

For further information on backing up and restoring Asset Bank please read our knowledge base article.

11. Uninstall

  1. 11.1) Download the Asset Bank uninstaller: assetbank-uninstall.zip
  2. 11.2) Unzip the uninstaller to a convenient location on your hard drive.
  3. 11.3) Check the contents:
    • assetbank-uninstaller.jar: uninstaller for Asset Bank
  4. 11.4) Stop the Tomcat server.
  5. 11.5) Run the uninstaller using one of the following methods:
    • Simply double click on assetbank-uninstaller.jar. It should execute automatically. If it doesn't, do one of the following:
    • Right click on the file and select Open With > Java.
    • On the command line, run java -jar assetbank-uninstaller.jar
  6. 11.6) The uninstaller will remove the files and settings added during installation.
  7. Note: you must be logged in as an administrator for your machine to run the uninstaller.


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