Difference between revisions of "AquilaCRS Pre-requisites"

Revision as of 09:37, 19 February 2014

Overview

The following steps install and set up your iBID software:

1. Create the Database
2. Install the Application Server
3. Install Desktop software
4. (Optionally)Run the BIBID Data Transfer if you were a previous user of BIBID

PRE-REQUISITES

MS SQL Server 2005 or later

The AquilaCRS (IBID) application server requires an MS SQL Server 2005 or later database. The app server supports SQL Server Express editions or above, and requires one of the SQL Server x86 or x64 Native Client drivers to be installed on the application server machine.

• The database connection method is TCP/IP. In the case where SQL Express is installed, the TCP/IP protocol must be enabled and ports correctly configured for each IP address.

• The application server (AquilaServer) will require it's own SQL Server user profile to access the database.

Physical or Virtual Server

The application server component needs a server machine which can be either physical or virtual, shared or dedicated. The application server component can co-exist with other systems and will happily co-exist with any previous BIBID server installation, so it is possible to re-use an existing server.

The database can be hosted either in your existing SQL server cluster or on a separate server, which can be the same server as the app-server software component.

• The server machine can be physical or virtual.
• Running server editions of Windows, version 2003 or later.
• Minimum RAM 4Gb
• Requires 4Gb free disk space (estimated data transfer and future years database size)
• App Server requires ~50Mb free disk space

End User Application: Installation

Per user

AquilaCRS is released as a "per-user" installation and can be installed without requiring administrative rights on the computer. This means each user needs to install their own copy. Each user needs to have permissions to download this file and will need to run the setup. Installing this way means that the software can be automatically upgraded via the web.

All Users

There is an all users installation that installs to the classic Program Files folder. As this is read-only for non-administrative users the automatic software updates cannot run, and therefore this type of installation requires a manual upgrade.

Citrix/Thin Client

For Citrix or other thin client, virtualised environments please use the all-users installation to deploy. This type of deployment also requires a manual upgrade.

Automatic Updates

The AquilaCRS program is automatically updated on a regular basis for

• release of new field options
• security patches
• user requests
• bug fixes

In order for the automatic updates to work the following must be adhered to:

1. the AquilaCRS program files must be installed in a user-writeable folder.
2. the URL of the automatic update web service must not be blocked.  The domain name for the automatic update service is www.nbid.org.

For more information on writeable folders that are shared between users, please read the Shared writeable folders.

For those that have installed the all users version, i.e. for Citrix or other thin client solutions, you will need to manually upgrade the application.

Web Services

AquilaCRS uses some web services for accessing updated data items (e.g. drop down list contents), for registering iBID systems & for accessing automatic software updates. The following domains need adding to the whitelist on your firewall/proxy server in order to prevent system failures:

1. https://nww.ibid.mdsas.nhs.uk - the current base URL for the National Database - please note the use of SSL.
2. www.NBID.org - for software updates and URL's for National Database connectivity.
3. www.EvolutionHealthcareSystems.co.uk - for bug reporting, help files and helpdesk systems.
4. www.ibidb.org - for softwre downloads, news and more information on the IBID software and the National Database.

Failure to allow these websites through firewalls and proxy servers can adversely affect the performance and data commissioning abilities of the software