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Newcomer install guide

Detailed guide for newcomers installing FairCom Products

Abstract

This install guide is designed for clients new to FairCom products.

This install guide is designed for clients new to FairCom products. It provides more detailed instructions and procedures for installing FairCom's products.

Minimal requirements

  • Computer running Windows, Linux, Raspbian, or MacOS

  • 1 GHz CPU

  • 1 GB RAM

  • 500 MB Disk space

Windows

You can install FairCom from a Windows Installer file (.msi) or from a compressed file (.zip). The procedures in this section are for Windows Installer. If you want to install from a .zip file, see Use zip file.

Note

The installation process takes approximately five minutes depending on the download speed of your Internet connection.

This section explains how to run the FairCom server as a Windows service so it automatically starts when Windows starts.

Microsoft Windows supports background processes known as services that are handled differently by the operating system. Services may be configured to start automatically at system startup or to start manually by a user. Services have no user interface and can continue to run even when no users are logged on to the system. The operating system automatically terminates services at system shutdown or a user can manually terminate them.

To learn more about installing as a Windows service, see the topics in the section titled Install the Windows Service with FairComConfig.exe.

Install the server using Microsoft Windows Installer

Installation

  1. Download the FairCom server as a .msi file.

  2. Run the downloaded .msi file.

  3. When the Setup window appears, click Next.

    SetupWindow.png

  4. After reading the license agreement select I accept the terms in the License Agreement.

  5. Click Next.

    LicenseAgreement.png

  6. In the Select Installation Folder window, select the installation location.

    Note

    The software can be installed in any folder that has, at least, 600 MB of disk space. The default and recommended location is the C drive in the FairCom folder.

  7. Click Next.

    SelectInstallationFolder.png

  8. Click Install to install the FairCom server.

    ClickInstall.png

  9. Click Yes when Windows asks permission to install the server.

  10. Observe the progress of the installation in the Setup Wizard.

    Note

    Installation typically takes about one minute.

    InstallingProgress.png

  11. In the Setup window, check the View readme file checkbox.

  12. Click Finish when the installation is complete.

    Note

    The View readme file checkbox will cause the readme file to open in a web browser when the box is checked after clicking Finish.

    InstallFinished.png

  13. Observe the opened readme file.

    ReadMeFileinBrowser.png

Run the UI to configure the server

  1. Open FairCom's browser-based service in a Chrome-based web browser.

  2. Observe the warning due to FairCom's server not configuring with a security certificate.

    Note

    For more information, see Security and Manage certificate warnings.

    YourConnectionisnotPrivateWarning.png

    Important

    You must use https in the URL because FairCom products require the secure HTTPS protocol.

  3. Click somewhere on the browser page.

  4. Type thisisunsafe to allow you to go to FairCom's browser apps where you can manage the server.

Manage the FairCom service

You can run the Windows Services application to stop, start, and restart the server. You can also make the server start automatically when Windows starts and disable the service to prevent the server from running.

WindowsServices.png

Important

The evaluation version of the product times out after three hours and shuts down the server. Therefore, the server needs to be restarted every three hours.

Open Windows Service Manager

Figure 1. Services
Services


  1. Open the Windows Start menu.

  2. Search by typing services.

  3. Press Enter.

Stop the service

  1. Locate and double-click the FairCom service in the list of services.

  2. In the Service Properties window, click Stop.

  3. Click OK or Apply.

Start the service

Note

For more information on starting, see Start.

  1. Locate and double-click the FairCom service in the list of services.

  2. In the Service Properties window, click Start.

  3. Click OK or Apply.

Manage when Windows runs the service

  1. Locate and double-click the FairCom service in the list of services.

  2. In the Service Properties window, make a selection from the Startup type dropdown menu:

    • Automatic (Delayed Start)

      Windows run the FairCom service automatically at startup with a delay.

    • Automatic

      Windows runs the FairCom service automatically at startup.

    • Manual

      Windows does not run the FairCom service automatically. You will need to manually run the FairCom service by performing Start the service.

    • Disabled

      Windows prevents the FairCom service from running.

  3. Click OK or Apply.

Remove FairCom as a Windows service

  1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the FairCom installation folder.

  2. Run the setup.bat .file to open the FairCom Server Setup window.

  3. Click Remove.

  4. Observe the successful Configuration Completed message.

    Note

    If removal was unsuccessful, contact FairCom support.

  5. Click OK.

    Note

    FairCom is still installed. To uninstall see Uninstall the server.

Run FairCom manually when it is no longer a service

  1. Find the <faircom> subfolder named something like FairCom.64bit.v4.5.1.145.

  2. Inside the <faircom> folder, open the server folder.

  3. Run faircom.exe.

    Important

    The evaluation version of the product times out after three hours and shuts down the server. Therefore, the server needs to be restarted every three hours.

    Note

    Each time you restart your computer, you need to run faircom.exe to load the server.

    This is ideal for an evaluation environment where you want full control over the server.

    For a production environment, consider using the Windows installer to install FairCom as a Windows service that automatically loads the FairCom server each time the computer restarts.

Reconfigure FairCom as a Windows service

  1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the FairCom installation folder.

  2. Run the setup.bat .file to open the FairCom Server Setup window.

  3. Optionally, change the FairCom Installation Directory.

  4. Select Features to install or configure.

    Note

    For information on features to install or uninstall see Configure installed features using FairComConfig.exe.

  5. Click Configure.

  6. Observe the successful Configuration Completed message.

    Note

    If the configuration was unsuccessful, contact FairCom support.

  7. Follow any installation prompts.

  8. Click OK.

Uninstall the server

When you have installed the FairCom server using the Microsoft Installer, you can uninstall it using Windows built-in Uninstaller.

  1. Open the Windows Start menu.

  2. Search Add or remove programs.

  3. Under Apps & features, in the textbox, search for faircom.

  4. Click Uninstall for the FairCom app.

    UnistallFairCom.png

    Note

    The uninstaller removes the server but leaves the data files you have created. You can go into the FairCom folder and manually delete the contents if you no longer need the data.

Linux

Important

The evaluation version of the product times out after three hours and shuts down the server. Therefore, the server needs to be restarted every three hours.

  1. Move the downloaded .tar file to a directory where your current user account has full permissions.

    Note

    It is common to move the .tar file to the user folder — for example, if the .tar file is named FairCom-Edge.linux.x64.64bit.v4.5.1.170.230227.tar.gz the mv FairCom-Edge.linux.x64.64bit.v4.5.1.170.230227.tar.gz ~/user command will move it to the user directory.

  2. Use the tar command to expand the .tar file to create a new subdirectory that contains the FairCom server — for example, if the .tar file is named FairCom-Edge.linux.x64.64bit.v4.5.1.170.230227.tar.gz the tar -xvzf FairCom-Edge.linux.x64.64bit.v4.5.1.170.230227.tar.gz command will expand it.

    Note

    The subdirectory is a long name that includes the product name, target operating system, and the server’s version — for example, FairCom-Edge.linux.64bit.v4.5.1.145.

  3. Run the cd command followed by the name of the subdirectory to change the active directory to the newly installed subdirectory — for example, if the subdirectory is named FairCom-Edge.linux.64bit.v4.5.1.145 the cd FairCom-Edge.linux.64bit.v4.5.1.145 command will change the active directory to the subdirectory.

  4. Some Linux variants including Ubuntu and CentOS require the installation of a compression library for the FairCom server to launch correctly. Use the following commands to install needed libraries:

    • Ubuntu

      sudo apt install zlib1g-dev

    • CentOS

      sudo yum install zlib-devel

  5. Type ./faircom and Enter to temporarily start the server and run it in the current terminal session.

    Note

    You can stop the server by closing the terminal session.

  6. Type ./startserver and Enter to start the server in the background and to keep it running even when you close the terminal session.

  7. To stop the server:

    1. Open a new terminal session.

    2. Use the cd command to change the active directory to the server subdirectory.

    3. Type ./stopserver and Enter.

Run the server in production

Run multiple instances

You can run multiple instances of FairCom on the same computer by configuring them to use different ports.

Note

Attempting to run a second instance of FairCom with the same ports as a running instance will cause the second instance to exit with errors.

Check for running instances of FairCom

  1. Run the command: ps -ef | grep faircom.

  2. Observe the response.

    • Two lines of code indicate there is a FairCom server running.

    • One line of code indicates there is no FairCom server running.

MacOS

  1. Move the downloaded .tar file (FairCom-Edge.osx.v<version>.<processor>.tar) to the Documents folder using the Finder app.

  2. Open the Terminal app in the Documents folder.

    1. In the Finder window path bar, Control-click the Documents folder.

    2. Select Open in Terminal from the shortcut menu.

  3. Use the tar command or double-click the .tar file to expand it to create a new subdirectory that contains the FairCom server — for example, if the .tar file is named FairCom-Edge.linux.x64.64bit.v4.5.1.170.230227.tar.gz the tar -xvzf FairCom-Edge.linux.x64.64bit.v4.5.1.170.230227.tar.gz command will expand it.

    Note

    The subdirectory is a long name that includes the product name, target operating system, and the server’s version — for example, FairCom-Edge.linux.64bit.v4.5.1.145.

  4. Run the cd command to change the active directory to the Home folder within the Contents folder — for example, FairCom-Edge.OSX.<processor>.<version>/Contents/Home.

  5. Type ./faircom and Enter to start the server and run it in the current terminal session.

    Note

    You can stop the server by closing the terminal session.

  6. Type ./startserver and Enter to start the server in the background and to keep it running even when you close the terminal session.

  7. To stop the server:

    1. Open a new terminal session.

    2. Use the cd command to change the active directory to the server subdirectory.

    3. Type ./stopserver and Enter.

Run the server in production

  • FairCom recommends using systemd command.

  • Also see, Script to start and stop the server.

Run multiple instances

You can run multiple instances of FairCom on the same computer by configuring them to use different ports.

Note

Attempting to run a second instance of FairCom with the same ports as a running instance will cause the second instance to exit with errors.

Check for running instances of FairCom

  1. Run the command: -ef | grep faircom.

  2. Observe the response.

    • Two lines of code indicate there is a FairCom server running.

    • One line of code indicates there is no FairCom server running.

  3. Alternatively, run the Activity Monitor application and search for faircom.