Network Installation Guide ARCHIVE


  
 Applies To 
  
 Product(s):promis•e V8i & promis•e 2007
 Version(s):3.0.x thru 08.11.08.xx
 Environment: N/A
 Area: Installation/Configuration
 Subarea: N/A
 Original Author:joe.mendoza, Bentley Technical Support Group
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For software versions more recent than promis•e V8i SELECTseries 3 (08.11.08.xx), see the current TechNote: [[3677|Network Installation Guide]]

Overview

This installation guide contains the information necessary to perform a basic "network" installation of the promis•e control system design software application for the purpose of sharing data between users.

A basic network installation typically involves sharing the following on a network:

Some or all of the above items can be shared. This guide will outline the process for sharing all of the above items. Note that to share projects, both the project database and the project folders must be shared.

promis•e is an add-on application that functions within AutoCAD, MicroStation, or MicroStation PowerDraft, which must be installed before promis•e can be run. Both the supporting CAD platform and promis•e are installed locally on the workstation. Consult the promis•e Installation Guide available from the main dialog of the downloaded installation file or CD for details of the installation process.

promis•e also requires connection to a SQL Server and database.  The promis•e installation file also contains SQL Server software.

A basic outline of the network installation process would be:

  1. Install promis•e on at least one workstation
  2.  Install SQL Server on a server machine and create the project database
  3. Copy the data folder to a shared location
  4. Setup workstations to use the shared data

This document is intended for users/companies that have limited IT resources or do not have Database Administrators (DBAs). As a result, advanced security settings and alternative database servers are not discussed and the SQL Server and project database will be installed from the promis•e installation file.

Definition of Terms Used

The following definitions are used throughout this document:

promis•e database or project database: The database that contains project related data as well as some system related data. This database is a SQL database and is attached to a SQL Server. A connection to a project database must exist to create or open promis•e projects. This connection is managed on the promis•e Setup dialog.

promis•e installation file: The file that, when run, has options to view the Installation Guide, install promis•e, install SQL Server software, or install SQL Server managment software. Visit http://selectservices.bentley.com, to download this file or request a CD.

Server: The computer that is used for sharing promis•e data. The recommended minimum requirements for this system are:

SSMSE: SQL Server Management Studio Express. This is an optional progam that can be used to explore and manage SQL databases.

Installing promis•e

Install promis•e on at least one workstation. See the Installation Guide (available on the promis•e installation menu) for details. During installation, a prompt to install SQL Server Express will appear if it is not detected.

 

Server Setup

Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

Overview

Since promis•e is designed to work with a Microsoft SQL database, Microsoft SQL Server must be installed. For this purpose, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition is included in the promis•e installation file.  If your company is already running SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008, you may opt to use that as your database server.  Alternately, promis•e can be configured to function on a compatible Oracle database. See the [[Creating And Updating The Promis.E Project Database|Creating And Updating The promis•e Project Database]] TechNote for information on how to create the project database on an existing SQL Server or Oracle server.

promis•e Data Server Setup Utility

promis•e comes with a data server setup utility. This utility will install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and setup the promis•e database.

To install this setup utility, run the promis•e installation file on the server machine.  Or insert the promis•e installation CD into the server machine and allow it to automatically run.  If Autorun is disabled, browse to the CD drive and double-click setup.exe or promis-e.exe

A menu with install options will appear. 

 

On the installer menu there are two items of interest: SQL Express Server Setup and SQL Server Management Software.
Click on SQL Express Server Setup. After accepting all the default options, the following dialog will appear:

After the setup is completed, if you are using an SQL database, we recommend installing the SQL Server Management Studio Express (the most common version will be the 32-bit version) accepting all the defaults. This tool can be used to view and modify security rights in your promis•e SQL database.

Adding users and changing permissions of the promis•e database

When the promis•e database is created, a SQL user login is automatically created by default. This login has a username of ecaduser and a password of Ecad1pass. In many situations it will be acceptable for all promis•e users to use this default database login. If the user is creating this database on a server that hosted a promis•e 2007 version 2.0 database it is possible that the password may be ecadpassword.

For additional security, this account may be disabled and additional users may be manually assigned to the database. However, we recommend that this be done by qualified personnel familiar with SQL and Windows security to avoid problems.

Setting up the promis•e directory structure

Besides sharing the project database, many users will wish to share other promis•e data across a network. The most commonly shared data are: the project drawing files, the parts and language databases, various configuration files, and the report templates.

For the purposes of this guide, it is assumed that promis•e has been installed on at least one workstation prior to the next step and that the user wishes to share all possible data.

Copy the "promis-e Data" folder to the shared location on the server. Refer to the promis-e Setup dialog to find the location of the "promis-e Data" folder.

The resulting folder should have the following structure:

Workstation Setup

It is recommended that all users map a drive to the network promis•e data folder using the same drive letter.   Each user should map the drive to the same exact path.  For the remainder of the document the \\<server name>\<subfolder>\promis-e Data location will be referred to as drive "P". Note: Use of UNC paths in the promis•e Setup dialog is not recommended.

Creating Setup Configurations

Multiple setup configurations can be created to facilitate switching between different settings. Setup configurations store all of the settings on the Setup dialog.   A "Local" setup configuration can be created for use while working when disconnected from the company network, and a "Network" configuration can be used while connected.

On the promis•e Welcome screen, click the Setup link.

If there are no open drawings, the Setup dialog can also be accessed from the Configure > Setup menu (in promis•e 2007, select Manage > Promis-e Setup).  The "promis-e Setup" dialog will appear.

 

Setup Configuration

This portion of the dialog allows us to create or delete configurations.

 

By default, promis•e creates the "ANSI-IEEE Default" and "IEC Default" setup configurations during installation.  For these setup configurations, the paths and the SQL Server used are located on the local machine. The default configurations can be used as a basis for a network configuration. Choose the appropriate configuration for the drawing standard used as the basis for the new configuration.

To create a "network" profile, click on the New button and type in a configuration name of "Net" and click OK.

Notice that the settings from the local configuration were transferred to the new configuration. Any changes made will take place only in the active configuration.

Confirm that "Net" is displayed in the Setup Configuration box.

 

Project Database
promis•e requires a Microsoft SQL or Oracle database to store various project related information. The Project Database area of the Setup dialog tells promis•e where to find this database. In the Server Setup section of this document, a SQL Express server was installed and a project database created. Assuming that the user has not changed the security scheme, the dialog should contain the information below.  Replace "Server name" with the name of the computer hosting the SQL Server.  For new installations of promis•e V8i, the instance name would be "\BENTLEYECAD" instead of "\ECTECAD".

Note: when connecting to full versions of SQL Server (not Express) remove the "\ECTECAD" instance name from the Server Name field.

 

System Paths

promis•e uses various paths to store configuration files. There are two options available for managing System paths: Manage Data Folder Path and Manage Individual Paths. For this basic network setup, the simpler method of Manage Data Folder Path is used.

Parts Database

Promis•e can connect to a parts database in two main ways: it can use a connection string to connect to various databases or database servers, or it can use an MS Access database file (.mdb). This example uses an Access database file for the parts database.

Locate the Parts Database Path label in the system paths frame.

The item ansi-ieee_parts_database is a mapping to the local parts database. You must create a new mapping to the parts database on the network.

To add a new parts database mapping, click on the New button. The following dialog will appear.

 

In the Parts Database Name field enter: Network

In the Use File field, select the Browse button and navigate to:
P:\Databases\ANSI-IEEE_database.mdb

The Table and SQL Query options should now be available. Select the Table option and then parts_database from the drop down box.

 

Click Next. The follow dialog should appear:

 

If the last three columns are blank, click on the Default Mapping button.

Once this is completed, click Finish.

The main setup dialog should reappear.

Using the drop down box next to Parts Database Path, select the newly created "Network" path.

The system paths can now be pointed to the network. If not already selected, change the entry in the Select System Path Management Method field to Manage Data Folder Path. Click on the [...] button for the Data Folder Path field and point it to the P drive. The dialog should resemble the following:

 

The final item(s) that must be configured is the symbol catalog(s). Locate the section labeled Catalog Paths.

Click on the + button to add a new catalog path. Click on the [...] to browse to the network catalog. For this example it is P:\catalogs\ANSI-IEEE. Then click OK.

The network catalog path should now appear in the bottom window. Highlight the local path and click the X button to delete it.

Click OK to exit the Promis-e Setup dialog.

promis•e should now be configured to work on a network.

To switch between the "Network" and a local setup configuration, simply choose the desired configuration from the Setup Configuration drop down box. Note: Setting up "network" and "local" configurations does not synchronize the data between the two. To synchronize, modified files must be copied from one Data folder to the other. To transfer projects from one project database to another, use File > Backup in Project Manager to create a backup of the project while connected to the source database, then use File > Restore in Project Manager while connected to the destination database.

Setting Up Additional Workstations

Once a workstation is setup to use data on the network, the following files can be copied to other workstations to configure them to also use the network.

setup.xml

config.xml

 

Setting up the promis•e database on an existing database server

The scripts necessary to create the promis•e database can be found either in the promis•e data server directory or the promis•e application directory if the data server was not installed. These directories can typically be found in C:\Program Files\Bentley or C:\Program Files\ECT.

The following SQL script files should be there:

SqlServerProject.sql will create the project database on Microsoft SQL SERVER.
OracleProject.sql will create the project database on ORACLE.

These files will need to be edited to reflect the database paths on your server. A basic knowledge of script editing is recommended before modifying these paths. See the [[Creating And Updating The Promis.E Project Database|Creating And Updating The promis•e Project Database]]  TechNote for details.

See Also

[[Creating And Updating The Promis.E Project Database|Creating And Updating The promis•e Project Database]] 

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