Preparing an Installation Overview

Forsta Plus is an extensive software suite that relies on different underlying components, and configurations on the server to be made, for many of its features. It is therefore important that servers built to host the Forsta Plus software are set up with the correct requirements before attempting to install Forsta Plus. Forsta strongly recommends that servers intended for running Forsta Plus are dedicated for this purpose to avoid conflicts with other software. Support for problems running the software due to such conflicts will be chargeable if the cause of the problem is proven to be the conflicting software.

A condensed list of requirements and the configurations that must be made before running the Forsta Plus setup follows. Each item is discussed in detail later in the documentation.

Note: To ensure you have the required prerequisites installed for the version of Forsta Plus you intend to install, please ensure you use the checker tool outlined in section 4.3 Be aware that some versions of components can change between releases. By using the checker tool you ensure you have the correct prerequisites for the Forsta Plus release you are installing.

Windows Configurations	Forsta Server	Database Server	Comments	Additional info
Windows Server 2016 (x64) or Windows Server 2019 (x64)	Required	Required	Changed from v2020.3.LTS.	Windows Server Long-Term Servicing Channel is the supported OS for Forsta Plus Servers (both Application and SQL). English language is a requirement for Forsta to be able to provide support.
File Server	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Application Server / File and Storage Services / File and iSCSI Services	This role adds several additional features to support this role.
Web Server (IIS) Support	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Application Server	This role adds several additional features to support this role.
HTTP Activation	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Application Server 7 Windows Process Activation Service Support	This role adds several additional features to support this role.
Microsoft .NET Core 3.1	Required			On download page, locate correct version of ASP.NET Core/.NET Core: Runtime & Hosting Bundle. We recommend you always update to the latest patch version of .NET Core 3.1 to ensure you have all their security fixes. NOTE: .net core versions can be installed side by side, with no issues.
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 or higher	Required			Current release: 461814. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh925568(v=vs.110).aspx for mapping between release and version.
ASP.NET 4.5	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Web Server (IIS) / Web Server / Application Development
.NET Extensibility 4.5	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Web Server (IIS) / Web Server / Application Development
IIS Management Console	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Web Server (IIS) / Web Server / Management Tools
IIS 6 WMI Compatibility	Required		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Web Server (IIS) / Web Server / Management Tools / IIS 6 Management Compatibility
SMTP	Required		Enabled as a Feature in Windows Server Manager.	This feature adds several additional features to support this feature. NB SMTP service must be started after installation.
Application Initialization	Recommended		Enabled as a Role in Windows Server Manager / Web Server (IIS) / Web Server / Application Development	Allows application pools to be pre-loaded when deploying Forsta Plus with Octopus deployment.
ForstaDeployer account	Required		Must be created, logged into, and have Administrator permissions when running setup.	Can be local Windows user or a domain user. Note the 20 character SAM account name length limit if using domain accounts: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms679635.aspx This account cannot include a semicolon in the password.
Forsta account permissions	Required		Allow "Log on as a service" and "Log on as a batch job"
Set a CLIConfg Database Alias [32 bit and 64 bit]	Recommended		Setting up a server alias is strongly recommended as this will provide flexibility for future usage.	External guide can be found here
Software
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package [x86], v9.0	Required		Download
Microsoft Visual C++, V14, [x86]	Required
Web Services Enhancements 2.0 SP3 [x86]	Required		Download
Web Services Enhancements 3.0 [x86]	Required		Download (Use Setup Type - Administrator)
Open XML SDK 2.5 for Microsoft Office [x86]	Required – Authoring / Batch		Download
Node.js v12 [x64]	Required		Download	We recommend you always update to the latest release of Node.js version 12 to make sure you have all their security fixes.
IIS URL Rewrite Module 2 [x64]	Required		Download
IISNode for IIS 7.x [x64]	Required		Download
RabbitMQ 3.8 [x64]	Required - Survey Designer		Download	RabbitMQ is required for v22+. Verify the version supported by Forsta using the pre-req checker.
SQL Server 2017/2019, Database Engine [x64]		Required		Latest CUP recommended. Collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_Cl_AS SQL Server Full Text Search must be enabled
Microsoft SQL Server 2017/2019 integration Services (SSIS) [x64]	Task System Server		Management Tools - Complete must be installed	Requires SQL License
Microsoft Powershell 5.1 and above	Required			Powershell 5.1+ is required on all Forsta servers. 5.1 is recommended.
Linux Configurations
Redis	Required - Studio		Installation on dedicated Linux servers. Standalone server or cluster.