On-Premise Installation

23-Jun-2022 · Hey Wu

Introduction

This guide will walkthrough the user on how to setup Backstage in their own environment.

Prerequisites

  • You will receive the Setup package in zip file, which contains:
    • “backstage” – the “Admin Portal” application folder
    • “ess” – the “ESS Portal” application folder
    • “setup” – misc components to be installed on the Web server
    • A bak file – the database for initial setup
  • MSSQL server (including Management Studio) is already setup and the credential is ready

Step 1 – installing software components

  • 1-1: From “setup” folder
    • Run “CRRedist2008_x86.exe” to install Crystal Report library for pdf generation
    • Install “ARIALUNI.TTF” which is Unicode version of Arial for pdf generation

Step 2 – configuring the Web Server (IIS)

  • 2-1: Go to “Add or remove programs” in the Control Panel, and click “Turn Windows features on or off” on the left hand side.
  • 2-2: Find Internet Information Services and check the box first. And there is one more feature to add on, so expand the tree.
  • 2-3: Go to Application Development Features, and select ASP.NET and press OK. It will take several minutes to turn on the features.

Step 3 – configuring the Application

3-1: System files

  • 3-1-1: Copy both folders (“backstage” and “ess”) to C:\inetpub\wwwroot. Make sure all the folders and files are not Read Only. If possible, grant the Full Control right to IIS User account or other account of chosen.
  • 3-1-2: Inside each folder, there is a file called config. Open it with Notepad, and do the following steps for both files.
  • 3-1-3: Find this line and enter all the MSSQL information. You can simply search “connectionStrings” to get to this line.
  • 3-1-4: Find another line to enter your email setting. You can search “mailsettings” to get to this line.
  • 3-1-5: For the web.config file of ESS, you will need to look for “backstageUploadUrl”, “backstageUploadPath” and “backstageReportPath” and insert to correct value related to your folder path and URL.

3-2: Database

  • 3-2-1: Go to SQL Server Management Studio, and connect as “sa”.
  • 3-2-2: Right click on Databases and find Restore Database.
  • 3-2-3: Select “From device”.
  • 3-2-4: Then click “Add”, and locate the database backup.
  • 3-2-5: Type in or select “To database”, and remember to check the restore box. Then click OK. The restoration of the database should be done.

3-3: Internet Information Services (IIS)

  • 3-3-1: Go to the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, and find Application Pools.

  • 3-3-2: Right click on the DefaultAppPool and select Advanced Settings.

  • 3-3-3: Make sure

    • .NET Framework Version is 0
    • Enable 32-Bit Applications is True
    • Managed Pipeline Mode is Integrated

  • 3-3-4: Then go to Default Web Site and expand the tree.

  • 3-3-5: Right click on the Backstage folder and click Convert to Applications.
     

  • 3-3-6: And just click OK.

  • Repeat Step 3-3-5 and 3-3-6 for the ESS folder as well.

Step 4 – Testing