Installing the portal on Windows

Use these these instructions to install the portal on Microsoft Windows. 

Currently, a Windows installation must be linked to a SQL Server database. No other database platforms are currently certified for Windows installations.

Instead of performing this procedure, you can perform a silent (unattended) installation.

This topic includes the following sections:

Communication protocols

BladeLogic Portal can support both HTTP and HTTPS communication. You choose a communication protocol during the installation process.

  • HTTP—If you select HTTP, an unsecure HTTP port is enabled. Communication with the BladeLogic Portal server is unencrypted.
  • HTTPS—If you select HTTPS, a secure HTTPS port is enabled. Communication with the BladeLogic Portal server is encrypted. A self-signed SSL certificate is created for BladeLogic Portal. When a user connects to the portal through a browser for the first time, the browser warns that the connection cannot be verified. Users can follow documented procedures for their browser to import the certificate or add an exception for BladeLogic Portal site. Alternatively, users can manually add a trusted certificate to the BladeLogic Portal, which eliminates the security warnings that browsers encounter when they first connect to the BladeLogic Portal server.

Before you begin

The following procedure creates a database for BladeLogic Portal and then installs the portal application. BMC recommends this approach. However, if you prefer, you can install the database yourself before starting this procedure. Currently, for Windows installations, the portal requires a database running on Microsoft SQL Server. The database should reside on the same LAN as this installation of BladeLogic Portal. 

Be aware of the following prerequisites:

  • The installation must run on a 64-bit Microsoft Windows 2008 or 2012 operating system.
  • BMC Server Automation must be installed and its Application Server started. The Application Server should reside on the same LAN as this installation of BladeLogic Portal.
  • Web services must be enabled on BMC Server Automation by establishing a communication path (via REST APIs) between the BMC Server Automation Application Server and the server hosting BladeLogic Portal.
  • Other applications cannot use ports that you allocate to the BladeLogic Portal server.
  • You must obtain the necessary installation files.

Upgrading from an earlier release

If you are upgrading from an earlier release, see Upgrading.

To install on Windows

  1. Copy the installation file, BLPortal12.WIN64.zip, to an appropriate location on the computer where you are installing the portal. 
  2. Extract the contents of BLPortal12.WIN64.zip.
    This extraction generates a file structure where the top level directory is named BladeLogicPortal.
  3. Navigate to \BladeLogicPortal\windows\Disk1, right-click setup.exe, and select Run as Administrator.
    The portal installer program opens.
  4. Select the language you want to use in the installation program and click OK.
  5. In the welcome window, click Next. 
    A license agreement window opens.
  6. To accept the license agreement, select I agree to the terms of the license agreement and click Next.
    The Installation Directory Selection window opens. 
  7. (Optional) To select a location other than the default, which is C:\Program Files\BMC Software\BladeLogicPortal, click Browse and choose a new location.
  8. Click Next.
    The BladeLogic Portal Configuration window opens.
  9. Select a communication protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) and provide the following values:
    • HTTPS Port—Listening port for HTTPS traffic. The default value is 8443. This option is available only if you selected a protocol of HTTPS.
    • HTTP Port—Listening port for HTTP traffic. The default value is 8080. This option is available only if you selected a protocol of HTTP.
    • Shutdown Port—Port for administrative access. The default value is 8005.
    • JVM Max Heap—Amount of memory, in megabytes, allocated to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The default is 1024 MB. 
  10. Choose the appropriate action:
    • If you do not want the installation process to create a user or schema for the portal database:
      1. Clear Create portal database user and Create portal database schema. 
      2. Click Next. A window requests information about defining a connection to a database. Proceed to step 12.
    • To provide database information, take the following actions:
      1. Select Create portal database user if you want the installation process to create a user for the portal database. Do not select this option if you have already created a database user for the portal database.
      2. Select Create portal database schema if you want the installation process to create the schema for the portal database. Do not select this option if you have already created a portal database
      3. Provide the following information:

        • DB Administrator User—Administrative database user who has rights to create a database user and schema.

          Note

          In SQL Server, the administrative user should have server roles of public and sysadmin.

        • DB Administrator Password—Password for the administrative database user.
        • Confirm Password—Confirm the password by entering it again. 
  11. Click Next.
    A window requests information about defining a connection to a database.

  12. For Windows installations, always select SQL Server and provide the following information for creating a SQL Server database: 

    • Unicode Support—Select if the database should support Unicode characters.
    • Host Name—Fully qualified name or IP address of the server that hosts the database.
    • Database Port—Port for communicating with the database. 
    • Portal User Name—Name of the user that owns the database (not the operational user). If you have chosen to let the installer create a database user, this is the name assigned to that user
    • Portal User Password—Password for the portal user.
    • Confirm Password—Confirm the password by entering it again.
    • Database Name—Name assigned to the database that holds portal data. If you have chosen to let the installer create a database schema, this is the name assigned to that database.
  13. Click Next.
    A window requests information about the connection to BMC Server Automation. 
  14. Provide the following connection information:
    • Host Name—Fully qualified name or IP address of the server that hosts the BMC Server Automation Application Server.

    • HTTPS Port—Web service communication port configured on the BMC Server Automation Application Server. Typically, the Application Server is configured to use 9843 for its web service communication port.

      Tip

      If you have access to the Application Server, run the following blasadmin command to show its web service communication port:

      show AppServer HttpsPortNumber

    • User Name—Name of the administrative user for BMC Server Automation. This user should have access to all system objects in BMC Server Automation. For this version of the portal, use BLAdmin.
    • Password—Password for the administrative user.
    • Role Name—Name of the administrative role for BMC Server Automation. For this version of the portal, use BLAdmins.
  15. Click Install.
    Progress bars show installation activity until the Installation Summary window provides details about the completed installation.
  16. Click Done.

 

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