Preparing the Servers

Prepare the Archer servers before you install Archer.

Note: If you are the IT Administrator, you must be familiar with the process of configuring your Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).

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Preparing the Database Servers

The Database Server stores database information for Archer, such as the Instance Database and the File Repository. A configuration can have multiple Database Servers depending upon the environment complexity.

Prepare the following SQL databases before installing Archer:

Task 1: Verify the database requirements

The following table describes the database requirements.

Field

Required Value

Collation Settings

Case insensitive

SQL Compatibility level

140, 150

User Account

Database Owner role

Locale

English (United States)

TCP/IP

Enabled SQL Server instance

Task 2: Determine the authentication method to use

Authentication methods authorize you to perform computer functions and determine the connectivity to the databases. The method you use is entirely up to your business operations.

The following table describes 2 methods of connecting to the 3 databases in Archer.

Database

Description

SQL Server Authentication

Archer connects to each database using a SQL account created on the SQL Server instance. You provide the account information during the installation process.

Integrated Security

Use the Application Pool to isolate the Web Application when there are multiple IIS worker processes that share the same Web Server.

Preparing the Web Servers

The Web Server hosts the Web Application and Archer configuration service.

See Archer Qualified and Supported Environments on the Archer Community, for the supported and qualified software and environments, browsers and tools. 

Task 1: Verify the Web Server requirements

The following chart identifies each component on the Web Servers and its requirements. Set up your Web Servers accordingly.

Component

Requirement

Operating System

You must have administrator rights during the installation process.

Microsoft Internet Services IIS

Install IIS prior to installing .NET. If not, the appropriate .NET mappings may not be applied. If you do not follow the provided installation sequence, you may have to re-register the Microsoft.NET Framework.

Microsoft .NET

Configure the domain service account with full access to Archer and .NET Temporary Files directories to perform a new Archer installation on multiple Web Servers.

Microsoft ASP.NET Core Runtime Windows Hosting Bundle

(Not needed for Classic Dashboards)

To create and manage dashboards, install this on your Web Servers.

Microsoft Filter Pack (Optional) 

To enable keyword searches to include Microsoft Office documents, install this on your Web Servers.

You must have Microsoft C++ 2010 Redistributable x64 installation in order to search PDF files.

ScaleOut StateServer Client (Optional) 

To enable caching with ScaleOut StateServer, install the client on Web Server.

Task 2: Configure IIS

You must be the IT Administrator to complete this task. Complete the following tasks after installing the web server. Use the Microsoft Server Manager Dashboard to configure the IIS accordingly.

  1. Install Microsoft .NET Framework.

    The following table describes the required options.

    Required Options

    Value

    Microsoft .NET Framework Features

    .NET Framework version

    ASP.NET version

    WCF Services

    HTTP Activation

    TCP Port Sharing

  2. Install the required IIS roles and features. Disable the WebDAV Feature (Archer does not support this feature).

    The following table describes the required options.

    Required Option

    Value

    Common HTTP Features

    Default Document

    Directory Browsing

    HTTP Errors

    Static Content

    Health and Diagnostics

    HTTP Logging

    Application Development

    .NET Extensibility

    ASP .NET

    ISAPI Extensions

    ISAPI Filters

    Security

    Request Filtering

    Performance

    Static Content Compression

    Dynamic Content Compression

    Note: HTTP compression is enabled by default. If you use a load balancer, disable HTTP compression from the Web Servers and configuring HTTP compression to occur on the load balancer.

    Management Tools

    IIS Management Console

    Application Pool > Managed Pipeline Mode

    Integrated

  3. Input the required values for IIS.

    The following table describes the required options.

    Required Option

    Value

    ISAPI and CGI Restrictions

    Allow ASP.NET

    Authentication Method

    Anonymous

    Important: Only enable 1 authentication method; more than 1 authentication method causes errors in the Manage Users, Manage Groups, and Report features of Archer.

    Create the application pool (for information on how to create an application pool, go to technet.microsoft.com). Ensure that the Managed pipeline mode is set to Integrated. The classic mode does not support all product features.

  4. Verify that the Server runs.

Task 3: Verify the application pool requirements

You must have an application pool to administer the Archer Web Application. The application pool defines the set of Web Applications that share 1 or more worker processes, which are Windows processes that run Web Applications.

Required values for configuring the application pool

The following table describes the required options.

Required Option

Value

Application Pool Name

Choose a name that makes sense to you.

.NET Framework version

Select the supported version.

Start application pool immediately

Select this checkbox.

Task 4: Confirm the user account

Archer requires a specified user account for accessing the various files in the Web Server. Make sure your credentials work appropriately.

Preparing the Services Servers

Task 1: Verify the Services Server requirements

Review and verify the component requirements. See Archer Qualified and Supported Environments on the Archer Community, for the supported and qualified software and environments, browsers and tools. 

  • Microsoft .NET

  • Microsoft Windows Server (You must have administrator rights during the installation process.)

  • (Optional) Microsoft Filter Pack (Install the components on each web server to enable the Microsoft Office document keyword search).

  • (Optional) Scaleout StateServer Client (Install the client on your web server to enable caching with ScaleOut StateServer).

  • Advanced Workflow services. It must communicate to the web tier over either HTTP or HTTPS.

  • Log on as a Service. It must be enabled for the Windows Services Account or Archer Services Account.

Task 2: Configure the network share

Configure your Network Share to:

  • Maintain the File Repository and Company files to be accessible to all servers.
  • Allow read and write permissions to the pre-defined domain-based service account.

    Note: If you run the IIS Application Pool and the services as a domain-based services account, it enables Archer to access the Network Share regardless of where they reside in the network.

  • Place search indexes and Archer Queuing services on the same server.
  • Reside on 1 of the following:
    • 1 of the designated Archer servers.
    • Standardized file server or NAS.
The following table describes the authentication details depending on the number of servers in the Archer environment.

 

SQL Database Servers

Windows Integrated DB Authentication

Number of Servers

2 or more

2 or more

Database authentication method

SQL credentials

Windows Integrated Security

Archer Services log on account

Domain account

Domain account

IIS Application Pool

Domain account

Domain account

(Optional) Task 3: Configure the keyword indexing for attachments

Archer can perform keyword searches of attachments in Microsoft Office documents. If you are using the supported version of the Microsoft Filter Pack or SMTP service, this configuration is necessary.

If you are using localhost as the notifications mail relay server, install the SMTP Service in IIS and configure the Relay Restrictions with the loopback IP address.

(Optional) Task 4: Preparing the Primary and High Availability Servers

  1. Verify the Cache Server software requirements from ScaleOut StateServer or Redis.

  2. If you use Virtual Machines, contact your Virtual Infrastructure administrator to confirm your machine resources, including assigned memory and a guaranteed CPU usage of 100%. If you have insufficient resources, performance degradation can occur.