2. Provision Activate Server

this document describes the steps required to provision windows servers for an activate installation it focuses on configuring the operating system, installing required roles and features, and validating access and tooling so the servers are ready for activate to be installed and configured activate consists of two core components the activate provisioning (orchestrator) service and the activate web portal these components can be provisioned either on a single combined server or on separate servers , depending on your deployment model the sections below walk through the provisioning requirements and verification steps for each server role, ensuring the environment is correctly set up before the activate installer is run before you start sql database server ensure that the user that is logged on and performing the installation of activate has create rights on the sql server to create the activate database or pre create a database named ‘activate’ on the sql server and give the installation account and the activate administrators ad group dbo rights to this database ensure the microsoft sql management studio is installed on the activate server and you can connect to the target sql server successfully with the ad account you are using to install activate activate provisioning and web portal server windows server 2016+ windows server 2016 or 2019 or 2022 with the web server role (iis) – ensure you select the following features security – basic authentication and windows authentication application development websocket protocol must be selected install net core 8 onto the activate server https //dotnet microsoft com/en us/download/dotnet/8 0 both hosting and desktop runtime are required windows hosting bundle net desktop runtime ssl certificate activate v8 requires that all communication is done via ssl and therefore a validate certificate is required the installation process will generate a self signed certificate that is suitable for testing but cannot be used in production the self signed certificate must be installed in the trusted root to work activate studio optional components microsoft webview2 https //developer microsoft com/en us/microsoft edge/webview2/ this is required to view images and html in activate studio windows edition winmerge https //winmerge org/ this is an optional component to make it easier for an administrator to merge changes on an upgrade of activate ad users and computers mmc remote server administration tools – role administration tools – ad ds and ad lds tools – ad ds tools – active directory administrative centre sql server management studio console activate web server only windows server 2016+ windows server 2016 or 2019 or 2022 with the web server (iis) role with the following features web server (iis) security windows authentication feature must be selected web server (iis) application development websocket protocol must be selected check you can browse to https //localhost/ on the server before installing activate to ensure the web server iis role is working correctly to successfully run the activate web portal wile logged onto the activate server(s) using internet explorer or chrome, you must add a number of urls to the local intranet section for internet explorer security settings true 330,331 unhandled content type unhandled content type this will ensure you can run microsoft edge or chrome to load the activate web site while logged onto the activate server(s) this is very important for all activate administrators a server has been provisioned for the activate provisioning and web portal server – refer to docid\ ctad didhfgqvdqfa0e4f the correct roles and features have been installed onto the windows server refer to docid\ iqovgstevouwwsi9qekr3 test that you can run edge on the activate provisioning server and browse to the default iis test page – http //localhost/ the activate web portal server name url(s) have been added to the internet options security settings for the local intranet on the windows server docid\ kkf1fk n cfpqiepl5jl ensure ad users & computers is installed on the activate provisioning server ensure sql management studio is installed on the activate provisioning server the activate orchestrator account is a member of the domain admins group if not, make sure the activate orchestrator account has been made a member of the local administrators group on the activate servers docid 5aelagkglfwke70fic8qe the activate web service account has been made a member of the local administrators group on the activate web server docid 5aelagkglfwke70fic8qe the activate orchestrator account needs to have interactive logon during the installation and initial testing – this can be removed after the installation in successful windows powershell 3 0+ (often part of the server os) if using a separate installation account, this needs to be a member of the local administrators group on the server and a member of the activate administrators group optional activate web portal server setup note – this is only required if the web portal needs to be installed on a separate server to the provisioning server a server has been provisioned for the activate web portal – this can be the same server as the provisioning server the correct roles and features have been installed onto the activate server for iis test that you can run internet explorer or edge on the activate provisioning server and browse to the default iis test page the activate web portal server name url(s) have been added to the internet options security settings for the local intranet on the server the activate web service account has been made a member of the local administrators group on the activate web server net core 8 has been installed on the activate servers both hosting and desktop runtime are required windows hosting bundle net desktop runtime ssl certificate v8 requires that all communication is done via ssl and therefore a validate certificate is required the installation process can generate a self signed certificate that is suitable for testing but cannot be used in production the self signed certificate must be installed in the trusted root to work windows powershell 3 0+ (often part of the server os)