epic or portal install 905606

Epicor Portal 9.05.606Installation Guide

Epicor Software Corporation makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contentsof this manual and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for anyparticular purpose.

This manual is subject to change without notice. The contents of this manual are believed to becurrent and accurate as of its date of publication. Changes to this manual between reprintings andother important information about the software product are made or published in release notes andyou are urged to obtain the current release notes for the software product.

We welcome user comments and reserve the right to revise this publication and/or makeimprovements or changes to the products or programs described in this publication at any time,without notice.

© Copyright 2011 by Epicor Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced in anyform without the prior written consent of Epicor Software Corporation.

Trademark Acknowledgments

Epicor is a trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. Clientele is a registered trademark of EpicorSoftware Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of their respective owners and are acknowledged.

7/29/2011

Contents

Contents

Introduction vAbout This Guide vi

Technical Support viii

Chapter 1 Installation Overview 1Application Overview 2

Architecture Overview 3

Chapter 2 System Requirements 5Portal Server Requirements 6

Portal Database Server 8SharePoint Services Server (Optional) 10

Epicor Administrator Console 11

Clients 12

Chapter 3 Preparing for Installation 13How Many Server Computers? 14Setting Up Windows Users and Groups 16

Chapter 4 Installing Epicor Portal 19Installing Portal Server 20

Installing EAC and Epicor Reporter 33

Getting Started 35

Appendix A Network Load Balancing Install Tips 45Pre-installation Preparation 46Portal Installation on Cluster Nodes 47

SharePoint Installation on Cluster Nodes 48

Index 49

Epicor Portal Installation Guide iii

CONTENTS

iv Epicor Portal Installation Guide

Introduction

Introduction

OverviewThis guide describes all aspects of a new Epicor Portal installation.

This preface describes this guide and support resources.

In this preface This preface includes the following sections:

Topic Page

About This Guide viTechnical Support viii

Epicor Portal Installation Guide v

Introduction

About This Guide

Audience This guide is for Epicor Portal administrators who are installing and deploying Epicor Portal components.

Guide conventions This guide uses the following conventions:

Example of Convention Description

True, Cancel, Add, Enter Names of forms, constants, buttons, and keyboard keys, appear with initial capital letters and in bold. Reference to a button is usually preceded by the word “Click.”

Call Detail form Dialog boxes in Epicor Portal are called forms.

Name text box, Parts list This book uses industry-standard naming conventions for most dialog box controls and other GUI elements. There are a few exceptions, such as the use of form, as described above.

C:\MyDocuments\ReadMe.htm Paths and file names are given in mixed case.

Find + Calls + All Calls A plus sign (+) between menu names indicates the sequence in which to navigate a menu hierarchy.

ALT + F1 A plus sign (+) between key names indicates a combination of keys. For example, ALT+F1 means to hold down the ALT key while pressing the F1 key.

Note:, Warning:

A Note is supplementary information about a topic. A Warning lets you know about a potential problem.

AddNew dsLoginDim Counter

This font and color is used for code.

vi Epicor Portal Installation Guide

About This Guide

ENTER Capital letters are used for the names of keys and key sequences, such as ENTER and CTRL+R.

Example of Convention Description

Epicor Portal Installation Guide vii

Introduction

Technical Support

Before contacting us

Before contacting technical support, prepare the following information:

• Product version numbers.

• Your operating systems.

• Exact wording of any error messages.

• A description of the problem(s).

• Descriptions of how you tried to solve the problem(s).

Technical support web site

Enter support issues at:http://epicweb.epicor.com/

Technical support phone numbers

For US and Canadian customers, telephone support hours are 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM PST, Monday through Friday. Holidays are excluded.Toll free phone: (800) 975-5564

AustraliaToll free: 1800-359-997 or +61 (0)2 9927 6280Fiji 00800 2082New Zealand Toll free: 0800 444 733

Latin America & Caribbean RegionPhone : +52 81 82217110

UK, Europe, Middle East & Africa RegionPhone : +44 (0) 1344 468 011

viii Epicor Portal Installation Guide

http://clientelenet.epicor.com/

http://epicweb.epicor.com/

1Chapter

Installation Overview

Installation Overview Chapter 1

Overview

Introduction This chapter gives an overview of the application and architecture for Epicor Portal.

In this chapter This chapter discusses the following topics:

Topic Page

Application Overview 2Architecture Overview 3

Epicor Portal Installation Guide 1

CHAPTER 1 Installation Overview

Application Overview

Introduction Epicor Portal is a collaborative development environment that allows you to create robust, custom data views from Epicor product lines and other applications.

Portal make-up Epicor Portal consists of three major areas:

• Epicor Administration Console

• Epicor Portal core components

• Epicor Portal SharePoint Component

These components are used to create views, which can then be published to a Windows SharePoint Server, or exported to a variety of other formats, such as an Excel spreadsheet, an HTML page or a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file. Epicor Service Connect can be used with Epicor Portal to create updatable views.

2 Epicor Portal Installation Guide

Architecture Overview

Architecture Overview

Introduction This section gives an overview of the Epicor Portal architecture.

An illustration of the Epicor Portal architecture:

Epicor (Portal) Administration Console

The Epicor Administration Console is a Microsoft Management Console used to manage users and security settings for portal content consumers. The console can be installed on the same computer as the Epicor Portal, or can be installed on another computer to allow remote administration. The Epicor Administration Console can point to one or more servers where Epicor Portal is installed so that one user can maintain the administrative settings for multiple portal installations from a single location. Conversely, more than one Epicor Administration Console installation can point to the same portal server(s) or so that a group can maintain the administrative settings.


CHAPTER 1 Installation Overview

Epicor Portal core components

The Epicor Portal, also referred to as the Portal server, consists of a Data Explorer, DataProvider and a Data Poster. The Data Explorer is the interface that you use to create, organize, edit and publish business views. It includes a workspace where you can keep your work organized, and it also includes wizards that guide you through the process of creating and editing views. For more information about the Data Explorer, see the Data Explorer online help.

When you use Data Explorer, you create a query that is sent to the Data Provider. The query is written in an XML format. The Data Provider translates the XML query into the appropriate syntax for a data source database: either SQL Server or Progress. Next, the Data Provider applies security settings to the query and returns the data to the DataExplorer, which displays the business view.

Views can also post data back to an application database using either an Epicor Service Connect workflow or a custom .NET assembly. For updatable views, the view returns an XML dataset to the Data Poster, which then sends the XML data to an Epicor Service Connect workflow or a .NET assembly.

Both the Data Explorer and the Data Provider use schemas that define the structure of application data. The Data Explorer uses the schemas to display the data that is available for use in business views. The Data Provider uses the schemas to build a data source database that can be used to query an application database for business view content. See the Epicor Admin Console online help for more information on schemas and data source databases.

Epicor Portal SharePoint component

The Epicor Portal SharePoint component is a set of web resources, such as HTML files, ASP.NET pages, graphics, client-side scripts, and .NET strong-name assemblies, on which published business views can run on Microsoft SharePoint.


2Chapter

System Requirements

System Requirements Chapter 2

Overview

Introduction This chapter describes the system requirements for Epicor Portal.

In this chapter This chapter discusses the following topics:

Topic Page

Portal Server Requirements 6Portal Database Server 8SharePoint Services Server (Optional) 10Epicor Administrator Console 11Clients 12


CHAPTER 2 System Requirements

Portal Server Requirements

Portal server requirements

The Portal server requirements are:

Item Requirement

Processor Pentium 4 or better. Dual processor recommended.

RAM 1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended

Operating system

Windows Server 2008 (32 or 64 bit) with the latest updates. The server should belong to a domain. Windows Server 2008 R2 is also supported.

Required Windows components

Install Internet Information Service (IIS) and ASP.NET Windows components. See the Windows documentation if you need help installing these components.

Note: Choose the Web Server role for the server. Also select all of the IIS 6 Management Compatibility items when you are configuring the web server features.

Required software

Microsoft .NET 4 Framework

Post Installation Note: If you get an error when browsing to the Data Explorer page after installation, you may not have the Epicor Portal virtual directory configured to use .NET 4. In IIS Manager, confirm that the EpicorPortal application pool is set to .NET 4. Also confirm that the IIS settings for ISAPI and CGI Restrictions for ASP.NET v4 are set to Allowed.

Optional software

To run updatable views without writing code, Epicor Service Connect is required. Service Connect may also be installed on another server other than the Portal server. See “Service Connect server” on page 14.

Optional software

Microsoft Excel 2007 or Microsoft Excel 2010 SP1Install Excel on the Portal server if you want to export Portal data into Excel spreadsheets.


Portal Server Requirements

Note: If you want to use Windows SharePoint Services on the same server as Epicor Portal, note that Portal and SharePoint must be installed on different web sites (each web site with its own port number).



Portal Database Server

Portal database server

The Portal database can be installed on the Portal server or can be on another server:

Note: To use Vantage or Epicor 9 with Epicor Portal there are two data source type options: ODBC driver and BAQ-based. To use the ODBC driver note that the SQL Server instance used by Portal must be on the same server where Portal is installed.

Item Requirement

Processor Pentium 4 or better. Dual processor recommended.

RAM 1 GB minimum, 2 GB recommended

Operating system

Windows Server 2008 (32 or 64 bit) with the latest updates (version R2 also supported). The server should belong to a domain.

Required software

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with latest updates or Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (32 or 64 bit) with latest updates.

Note: The SQL Server instance used for Portal:

• Must support Windows security.

• SQL Server Agent must be installed and be run-ning. Portal installation and general operation will fail if SQL Server Agent is not running.

Note 2:

If you experience an error similar to “Restart SQL server in Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) mode to use CLR integration features” during Portal use you may need to use AWE mode on SQL Server. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190673.aspx for more information on AWE and SQL Server.


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190673.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190673.aspx

Portal Database Server

Required software


Optional software

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services

Epicor Portal views can be used in Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports. Reporting Services must be installed if you want to install the Epicor Portal component for Reporting Services. Reporting Services can be installed from the SQL Server installation program.

Note: When you are doing the Reporting Services configuration, do not use the SharePoint integration option. Do not set up a report database with the Integrate database content with SharePoint Tool and Technologies option selected. You can display reports in SharePoint using the SharePoint Page Viewer web part. To design reports you must have the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio installed. This can be installed from the SQL Server installation program and other toolkit installation programs from Microsoft. See Microsoft web site for more information.

Item Requirement



SharePoint Services Server (Optional)

SharePoint server If you choose to publish a Portal view to a SharePoint web part then you will need a SharePoint server.

The SharePoint services can be installed on the Portal server (see note below) or can be on another server:

Note: If you want to use Windows SharePoint Services on the same server as Epicor Portal, install SharePoint to a web site that is not the default web site. Portal and SharePoint must be on different web sites that each have their own port number.

If you install SharePoint on a different computer than is used for Epicor Portal, once you have installed the Epicor Administration Console, see the help topic “Authentication Options and SharePoint Configuration” under Troubleshooting/Advanced Configuration.

Item Requirement

Hardware See SharePoint requirements.

Operating system

Windows Server 2008 (32 or 64 bit) with the latest updates. The server should belong to a domain.

Required software


Required software

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 SP2 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2

or

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010

Note: To use the export to MOSS BDC feature in Portal, you must have MOSS Enterprise edition.


Epicor Administrator Console

Epicor Administrator Console

Epicor Administrator Console requirements

The Epicor Administrator Console requirements are:

Item Requirement

Processor PC with a Pentium® 4 class processor, 1.4 GHz

RAM 512 GB

Operating system

Windows XP Professional, Windows 7 Professional or Windows Server 2008.

Required software


Required software

Microsoft Management Console 3.0 (available from Windows Downloads).

Connectivity Network access to Portal server



Clients

Data Explorer client Users need Internet Explorer 7 or higher version, or Firefox 4.0 or higher version to use the Epicor Portal Data Explorer to create and run Portal views.

Internet Explorer should be configured as follows:

• Anytime Portal has been upgraded, users should delete all of their browsing history (Tools + Delete browsing history- all items selected).

• Under Tools + Internet Options on the Security tab, click the Trusted sites (add your Portal site to Trusted sites if it has not been added) and then Custom level. Under Miscellaneous set:Allow data sources across domains to Enable.Launching programs and files in an IFRAME to Enable.Navigate windows and frames across different domains to Enable.Use Pop-up blocker to Disable.

• Language setting used for Portal Data Explorer (influences dates etc.) is set in Internet Explorer Tools + Internet Options + Languages menu. Topmost selection is used.

• Do not use localhost in address to browse to Epicor Portal site when you are on the Portal server. Use the fully qualified server name.

SharePoint web parts client

To view and work with Portal web parts in SharePoint, users can use the latest version of either Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari as the internet browser.


3Chapter

Preparing for Installation

Preparing for Installation Chapter 3

OverviewThis chapter describes procedures and decisions that need to be completed before running Portal installation programs.

In this chapter This chapter includes the following topics:

Topic Page

How Many Server Computers? 14Setting Up Windows Users and Groups 16


CHAPTER 3 Preparing for Installation

How Many Server Computers?

Introduction As noted in the Chapter 2: “System Requirements” the various server programs that interact with Portal can be installed together on a single server computer (with the caveats noted in the requirements chapter) or spread out among several computers. This section provides more guidance on the question of how many servers to use. If you are thinking of installing Epicor Portal on a network balanced load cluster to meet a heavy demand, see “Network Load Balancing Install Tips” on page 45

In this section This section covers the following topics:

Topic Page

Your application servers 14Service Connect server 14Windows SharePoint Server 15

Your application servers

The applications whose data you will be querying are best off being on their own servers. In other words, you would not generally install Portal onto one of your application servers. However, for example, if you have a SQL Server installation on a powerful computer, the same SQL Server could be used by both Portal (for its own system data) and for other application data, but the Portal server components would generally not be installed on that SQL Server computer.

Service Connect server

If you want to make views that can update data, you will either need to write your own custom .NET libraries or use Epicor Service Connect. If you decide to use Service Connect, you can install Epicor Service Connect and Epicor Portal on the same computer or on different computers. Installing Service Connect first is not mandatory, but it is slightly more convenient. If you are trying to avoid using many server computers, Epicor Portal and Epicor Service Connect are a good choice to install on the same server.


How Many Server Computers?

Windows SharePoint Server

If you decide you want to use SharePoint you will need to install one of the SharePoint applications listed in “SharePoint Services Server (Optional)” on page 10. These SharePoint applications are complex and demand a very particular configuration of the web sites they use. Because of this, if you choose to install Epicor Portal and SharePoint to the same computer you would have to install the web components of each program under different web sites (each web site having its own port number).

Note: If you install SharePoint on a different computer than is used for Epicor Portal, once you have installed the Epicor Administration Console, see the help topic “Authentication Options and SharePoint Configuration” under Troubleshooting/Advanced Configuration.



Setting Up Windows Users and Groups

Introduction During the Portal installation you will be prompted for a Windows user account. This section describes how to create that account and presents considerations for Windows group accounts that you can optionally use to organize users.


Topic Page

Portal administrator account 16Windows group accounts 17

Portal administrator account

You will be prompted for a Windows user account during the Portal server installation. This account is used as the initial administrator account so you can access the Portal administration console to set up other administrative users, it is used to perform data actions in the database on behalf of Portal users, and is the account used for the Epicor Portal metadata Windows service.

The requirements for this Windows user account are:

• Must be able to access and have database create, add, update and delete rights on the SQL Server instance that will be used for Portal.

• The account can be a domain or local account but it must be added to the local Administrators group of the computer where Portal will be installed.

• The password cannot contain a semicolon (;).

• Setting this Windows account to “Password never expires” is easiest for Portal administration. If you do use an account whose password is periodically updated, make sure to change password in the Windows service Epicor Portal metadata service log on account.

• (Optional) If the administrator is going to backup and restore SharePoint content, add the this Windows account the SharePoint farm administrators group.


Setting Up Windows Users and Groups

Create this account now using your Windows documentation if you need help on creating Windows user accounts. For the Description field on the user account, type “Administrator account for Epicor Portal.”

Windows group accounts

You can also at this point create Active Directory Windows group accounts whose membership will be made up of the individual Windows user accounts who need access to Portal. You can also do this later, or not at all if you choose to import users manually into manually created Portal groups.

By using groups, you import one or more Windows groups into the Portal Administration Console and a Portal group is created for the Windows group, all the Windows accounts that are members of the Active Directory Windows group become Portal users and are added to the newly-created Portal group. Thus you can avoid individually importing Windows users into Portal (to create Portal users) and avoid the process of adding Portal users to a manually-created Portal group. Membership in the Windows group and the associated Portal group is kept synchronized (adds and deletions) by a Synchronize menu option in Portal.

The requirements for using this Windows group account functionality are:

• The group (and its users) and the Portal server must be part of an Active Directory installation.

• Users added to the group must not have passwords that contain a semicolon (;).

Use your Windows documentation if you need help on creating Windows Active Directory group accounts. You can also do this later or use existing Windows groups.


4Chapter

Installing Epicor Portal

Installing Epicor Portal Chapter 4

Overview

Introduction This chapter describes installing Epicor Portal. If you are thinking of installing Epicor Portal on a network balanced load cluster to meet a heavy demand, see “Network Load Balancing Install Tips” on page 45.

In this chapter This chapter has the following topics:

Topic Page

Installing Portal Server 20Installing EAC and Epicor Reporter 33Getting Started 35


CHAPTER 4 Installing Epicor Portal

Installing Portal Server

Overview Once you have completed the decisions and tasks described in Chapter 3: “Preparing for Installation” you are ready to install the Epicor Portal server. This section describes both installing a new Portal server (with SharePoint components), upgrading an existing Portal server (with SharePoint components) and installing Portal SharePoint components only.


Topic Page

Installing a new Portal installation 21Upgrading Portal server 25Installing the Portal SharePoint components only 28Troubleshooting installation log 29Overcoming database error during installation 30Troubleshooting “No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it” err 30Troubleshooting “HTTP 500.19 - Internal Server Error” 31Disable anonymous access to Portal web site 31



Installing a new Portal installation

To install a new portal installation

Step Action

1 On the Portal server:

Make sure you are logged onto the operating system as the Windows account you set up in “Portal administrator account” on page 16 or a user who has equivalent rights.

Note: If you are planning to install SharePoint services on the same computer as the Portal server, SharePoint should be installed before proceeding. See “Windows SharePoint Server” on page 15 for more information.

2 Insert the product compact disc in the Portal server or copy downloaded product files to the Portal server and extract them.

3 Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the product files under x32 or x64 as appropriate for your 32 or 64 bit operating system. Double-click Setup.exe.

4 You may be prompted to install WSE 3.0, C Custom Runtime or DTS 2005. If so click Install.

5 On the Welcome screen, click Next.

6 On the next screen, leave Epicor Business Portal selected. If you have already installed SharePoint services on this server, you have the option of selecting Epicor Portal SharePoint Components. Note that you can run this install program later on a different server to just install the SharePoint component.

Click Next.

7 On the next screen, accept the default destination folder or click Change to select a different folder.

Click Next.



8 If you are installing Epicor Portal on several servers as part of a network load balance cluster (see “Network Load Balancing Install Tips” on page 45), on the Network Location screen, select This installation is part of the cluster solution and type the UNC address of a network share that is accessible to all portal servers in the cluster. Make sure to use the same UNC address in each of your Portal installs.

If you are just doing a standard Portal install (most common) click Next to skip this screen.

9 On the Web applications screen, for Site name select the web site to which Portal will be installed. Generally you will select the Default Web Site unless you have a good reason to change it. For instance, if you have SharePoint installed on the default web site you must choose a different web site for Portal.

For Portal admin application name and Portal main application name, leave the defaults or edit as desired. These values are used for virtual directory names. If you change any of the values on this screen, make a note of your selections. You will need your notes later.

Click Next.

Step Action



10 On the Database Options screen set the following:

Under Main Database, for SQL server name type the SQL Server instance you want to use for Portal system data. For Database name, leave the default or type the name you want to use for the system data database.

Under Database used as temporary results storage, for SQL Server name, type the SQL Server instance you want to use for temporary data (when query results are paged). For Database name, leave the default or type the name you want to use for the temporary data database.

For a new server installation you should not be selecting Database already exists. See “Upgrading Portal server” on page 25 for upgrade procedure.

Click Next.

11 For the Authorizing information screen, set the following:

For User account, enter the credentials (domain, user name and password) for the account you were directed to create in “Portal administrator account” on page 16.

Click Next. If you are prompted to grant “Log on as a service” permission for the Portal administrator account, click Yes.

Step Action



12 On the Epicor Service Connect screen, select Use ESC integration service if you have installed Epicor Service Connect (you may install it later and configure this setting later also). For URL, type the url to the SCIntegrationService.asmx file. The default URL (substituting your server alias) is: http://servername/BPMIntegrationService/SCIntegrationService.asmx. Click Test to make sure the URL is valid.

If prompted for a Service Connect user, enter the user name of a Service Connect user account that is not an imported Windows user and the appropriate password.

Click Next.

13 Click Install to start the installation. Note that some command windows may display during the installation. After the installation is complete, leave Show the Windows Installer log selected to view the installation log. Even when the installation wizard completes successfully, there may be valuable information in the log. Click Finish.

Complete “Disable anonymous access to Portal web site” on page 31.

If the installation rolled back see “Troubleshooting installation log” on page 29.

Step Action



Upgrading Portal server

To upgrade a current portal installation

Step Action

1 Log on to Epicor Administration Console (EAC). Open the EAC online help, under the Manage Servers table of contents book, go to the How to Create a Content Pack topic and follow the instructions. This will backup your current installation.

Also print out the How to Deploy a Content Pack topic. You will use these instructions later to restore.

2 Copy the files DataSourceTypes.xml and DataSources.xml files (default location C:\Program Files\Epicor Software\Epicor Portal\Repository\Config) to a backup location.

3 Back up the Portal databases in SQL Server. Use your SQL Server documentation for instructions on backing up databases.

4 On the Portal server:


Note: If you are planning to install SharePoint services on the same computer as the Portal server, SharePoint should be installed before proceeding. See “Windows SharePoint Server” on page 15 for more information.

5 Insert the new product compact disc in the Portal server or copy downloaded product files to the Portal server and extract them.






9 On the next screen, leave Epicor Business Portal selected. If you have already installed SharePoint services on this server, you have the option of selecting Epicor Portal SharePoint Components. Note that you can run this install program later on a different server to just install the SharePoint component.

Click Next.

10 On the next screen, accept the default destination folder or click Change to select a different folder.

Click Next.

11 If you are installing Epicor Portal on several servers as part of a network load balance cluster (see “Network Load Balancing Install Tips” on page 45), on the Network Location screen, select This installation is part of the cluster solution and type the UNC address of a network share that is accessible to all portal servers in the cluster. Make sure to use the same UNC address in each of your Portal installs.

If you are just doing a standard Portal install (most common) click Next to skip this screen.

12 On the Web applications screen, for Site name select the web site to which Portal will be installed. Generally you will select the Default Web Site unless you have a good reason to change it. For instance, if you have SharePoint installed on the default web site you must choose a different web site for Portal.

For Portal admin application name and Portal main application name, leave the defaults or edit as desired. These values are used for virtual directory names. If you change any of the values on this screen, make a note of your selections. You will need your notes later.

Click Next.

Step Action



13 On the Database Options screen set the following:

Under Main Database, for SQL server name type the SQL Server instance where your Portal system database is located. For Database name, type the name of your Portal system data database. Select Database already exits.

Under Database used as temporary results storage, for SQL Server name, type the SQL Server instance where your temporary data Portal database is located. For Database name, type the name of your temporary Portal database. Select Database already exits.

Click Next.

14 For the Authorizing information screen, set the following:

For User account, enter the credentials (domain, user name and password) for the account you were directed to create in “Portal administrator account” on page 16.

Click Next. If you are prompted to grant “Log on as a service” permission for the Portal administrator account, click Yes.

15 On the Epicor Service Connect screen, select Use ESC integration service if you have installed Epicor Service Connect (you may install it later and configure this setting later also). For URL, type the url to the SCIntegrationService.asmx file. The default URL (substituting your server alias) is: http://servername/BPMIntegrationService/SCIntegrationService.asmx. Click Test to make sure the URL is valid.

If prompted for a Service Connect user, enter the user name of a Service Connect user account that is not an imported Windows user and the appropriate password.

Click Next.

Step Action



Installing the Portal SharePoint components only

If you have installed SharePoint on a server that is not the Portal server, you will run the Enterprise-Server setup install, but just choose the SharePoint components. If you already have installed Portal server and SharePoint components on the same server, do not do the following procedure.

Note: If you installed Portal on a server, then installed SharePoint on that same server, and now you want to install the Portal SharePoint components on that server, follow the instructions in “Installing a new Portal installation” on page 21. If you were to run the Enterprise-Server install and only select the SharePoint components (the following procedure) you would be inadvertently uninstalling Portal.

16 Click Install to start the installation. Note that some command windows display during the installation. After the installation is completes leave Show the Windows Installer log selected to view the installation log. Even when the installation wizard completes successfully, there may be valuable information in the log. Click Finish.


17 After you install the Epicor Administration Console (next procedure), follow the How to Deploy a Content Pack instructions you printed out in step 1 to restore your views. In the help topic, note the requirements of the user account used to restore the content if SharePoint content is part of the backup.

Complete “Disable anonymous access to Portal web site” on page 31.

Step Action



To install the Portal SharePoint components only

Troubleshooting installation log

If you had trouble during installation, view the Portal installation log. To do this:

Step Action

1 On the SharePoint server:


2 Insert the product compact disc in the Portal server or copy downloaded product files to the Portal server and extract them.




6 On the next screen, clear Epicor Business Portal.

Select Epicor Portal SharePoint Components.

Click Next.

7 Click Install to start the installation. Click Finish after the installation is complete.


Step Action

1 Click Start + Run. Type %temp%



Overcoming database error during installation

If you had an error during the database creation, you may have to change the DB owner of the Portal temp database to match the DB owner of the SQL master database. Use SQL Server Management Studio to execute a script using a statement in the form of ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON DATABASE::<Epicor Portal temporary database name> TO <same SQL Server account as DB owner of master database>.

Troubleshooting “No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it” err

If you get the “No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it” when you try and use Portal:

2 Find the EpicorPortal.log file.

3 Open in Notepad. Search for return value 3.

If you find an occurrence of return value 3 copy all text above it until Executing opp. Paste into an email to send to technical support.

Step Action

Step Action

1 Click Start + Run. Type services.msc.

2 Find the Epicor Portal metadata service. Double-click the the service to open its properties.

3 Make sure that Startup type is Automatic. Click Start, if the service fails to start because of a bad password, fix the password for the log on account, and then start the service.



Troubleshooting “HTTP 500.19 - Internal Server Error”

If you get “HTTP 500.19 - Internal Server Error The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid” when you navigate to the Portal Data Explorer page:

Disable anonymous access to Portal web site

Complete the following manual steps on the Portal server to disable anonymous access to the Portal virtual directory after running the server installation:

Step Action

1 In the root of the folder in which you unzipped the Portal installation files, open HTTP500.19errorFix.txt and copy all the lines in the file.

2 Click Start + Run, and type inetmgr.

3 Expand list of virtual directories under Default Web Site (or other site if you installed elsewhere), right-click EpicorPortal virtual directory and select Explore.

4 Windows Explorer opens at the root of the Epicor Portal web site.

5 Right-click the Web.config file, select Open With and select Notepad to open the file in Notepad.

6 Go to the end of the second line of the file that reads:<configuration>

Press Enter so the you have started an empty line.

7 Paste the lines you copied in the first step of this procedure. Save the Web.config file and close it.

Step Action

1 Click Start + Run, and type inetmgr.



2 Expand list of virtual directories under Default Web Site (or other site if you installed elsewhere), and:

• Click EpicorPortal virtual directory. In right pane (Features view) double-click Authentication. Right-click Anonymous Authentication and select Disable.

3 Now Portal will use the Windows credentials of users to authenticate to the Portal virtual directory.

Step Action


Installing EAC and Epicor Reporter

Installing EAC and Epicor Reporter

Introduction The Epicor (Portal) Administration Console (EAC) is the tool used to configure Portal data sources, general server management and user/group security. You can install EAC on multiple computers as needed for your administration of Portal. The Epicor Reporter reporting services component is installed on a SQL Server 2005 instance (that has SQL Reporting Services installed) so that you can use SQL Server Reporting Services with Epicor Portal views if desired.


Topic Page

Installing Epicor Administration Console 33Installing Epicor Reporter reporting services component (optional) 34

Installing Epicor Administration Console

To install Epicor Administration Console:

Step Action

1 Insert the product compact disc or copy downloaded product files and extract them on a computer that has network access to the Portal server.

2 Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the product files under x32 or x64 as appropriate for your 32 or 64 bit operating system.

Open the folder Console and double-click Setup.exe.


4 In the Destination Folder screen, accept the default installation location, or click Browse to select a different location.

Click Next.



Installing Epicor Reporter reporting services component (optional)

To install the Epicor Reporter reporting services component:

5 In the Ready to Install the Program screen, click Install to start the installation.

6 After the installation is complete, leave Show the Windows Installer log selected to view the installation log. Even when the installation wizard completes successfully, there may be valuable information in the log. Click Finish.

Step Action

Step Action

1 Insert the product compact disc or copy downloaded product files and extract them on a computer that has SQL Reporting Services installed.

2 Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the product files under x32 or x64 as appropriate for your 32 or 64 bit operating system.

Open the folder EpicorPortalReports and double-click Setup.exe.


4 In the Select Installation Folder window, accept the default installation location, or click Browse to select a different location.

Click Next.

5 In the Ready to Install screen, click Next to start the installation.

6 Instructions for creating reports are found in the Data Explorer online help.


Getting Started

Getting Started

Introduction In this section you will be directed to open Epicor Administration Console, register/configure the server and then use the online help to find instructions on the procedures you need to get started using Portal.

You will also start the Data Explorer to get started making views.


Topic Page

Configuring/licensing Epicor Portal 36Configure web account for Service Connect integration service 38Configure MSDTC security settings 39Getting ready to make Portal views 39Making views with Portal Data Explorer 41Edit the Remove Paging Tables setting 41Finding help topics 42



Configuring/licensing Epicor Portal

To configure/license Epicor Portal:

Step Action

1 On a computer where you installed Epicor Administrator Console (EAC), log onto Windows using the Portal administrator account you were directed to create in “Portal administrator account” on page 16.

Click Start + Programs + Epicor Software + Epicor Administrative Tools + Epicor Portal Administration Console.

2 Right-click the Epicor Portal <version number> node and select Register Server. Type the URL to the administrative portal virtual directory. The default URL is:

http://servername/EpicorPortalAdmin

This URL was configured in step 7 of the “Installing a new Portal installation” on page 21.

Note: If you have a certificate installed you can use the https protocol and the server name listed on the certificate to register the server. For example:https://www.company.com/EpicorPortalAdmin.

Click OK.

3 Right-click the server you just registered and select Configure. On the Common settings tab, if you need to (if there is not already a value there) type the URL of your the SharePoint site you will use with Portal (if SharePoint is installed yet). Click OK. so that the URL is verified.

4 Right-click the server and select Configure again.

Click the Security tab. If you will be using Portal with Epicor, select Encrypt Credentials for BAQ.


Getting Started

5 If you are using Service Connect, click the Service Connect integration tab. If the Integration Service URL is not yet entered, enter it now. The default URL is http://servername/BPMIntegrationService/SCIntegrationService.asmx. For Service Connect user, enter a user name of an internal Service Connect user account that you configured using the Service Connect Administrative Console. Note that this cannot be a Service Connect user created by importing a Windows account. The default accounts that ship with Service Connect (epicor and Admin) are suitable for this user. Enter the password for the Service Connect user and click OK.

6 Right-click License and select Import License. Browse to the .lic file provided to you for Portal and click Open.

Step Action



Configure web account for Service Connect integration service

To configure the Windows account used by the Epicor Service Connect integration service (if you are using Service Connect) for anonymous access:

Step Action

1 In Service Connect Administration Console, add a Service Connect user by importing a Windows account. The Windows account that you import must have rights to activate COM+ applications (services) ScaLogonSrv and ScaDESRouter on the Service Connect server computer. The easiest way to do this is to use a Windows account that is a member of the local Administrators group on the Service Connect server. After importing the Windows account in the Service Connect Administration Console, give that newly-created Service Connect user administrative rights for Service Connect. See your Service Connect documentation for information on importing users and administrative rights.

2 On the Service Connect server, click Start + Run. Type Inetmgr. to open Internet Information Services.

Open the Web Sites folder and expand the Default Web site.

3 Click BPMIntegrationService. In Features view (right pane), open Authentication. Highlight Anonymous Authentication. From the Actions menu, select Edit. For Specific user, click Set and type the Windows account of the Service Connect user configured in step 1. Enter password for the account and click OK and OK again.


Getting Started

Configure MSDTC security settings

If your SQL Server is on a different computer than the Portal server and you use Service Connect, perform the following procedure to configure the MSDTC security settings on both the Portal server computer, Service Connect server and the SQL Server computer:

Getting ready to make Portal views

This section refers to the Epicor Portal Administration Console (EAC) online help. To open the EAC online help, click Start + Programs + Epicor Start + Programs + Epicor Software + Epicor Administrative Tools + Epicor Portal Admin Console Documentation or press F1 while in EAC.

Before you can use Portal Data Explorer to make views you must:

1 Add a data source type for each application whose data you will access (unless you are using Epicor BAQ data source type- this is automatically added). This is a simple step where you select a folder (not a file, just the path to the folder) containing schema files for an application. The latest schemas for Portal are available from the Epicor customer portal at http://epicweb.epicor.com. Some applications require that you generate schemas. In the EAC online help contents go to: How do I --> Manage Data Source Types and read the Managing Schemas and How to add a Data Source Type topics.

2 Add a data source for each data source type. This involves right-clicking the data source type(s) you added and selecting Create Data Source. At that point the dialog that is displayed differs according to the data source type (different for different applications). Generally there are choices for identifying databases

Step Action

1 Click Start + Administrative Tools + Component Services.

2 Expand Computers and <Computer name> (usually My Computer).

3 Expand Distributed Transaction Coordinator. Right-click Local DTC and select Properties. Click Security tab. Select Network DTC Access. Select Allow Remote Clients. Select Allow Inbound, Allow Outbound and No Authentication Required. Click OK. Click Yes to restart message.


http://epicweb.epicor.com


and/or security options. In the EAC online help contents go to: How do I --> Manage Data Source Types --> Create a Data Source and read the topics under that heading. The topics differ according to application.

3 Add one or more security roles for each data source. Security roles define a set of Grant/Deny access gates to data objects. You add the security roles by right-clicking Security Roles under an added data source type and selecting Add Role. In the EAC online help contents go to: How do I --> Manage Data Source Types and read the How to Add a Security Role topic.

4 Add one or more groups. Or use the already created Users group. Groups are assigned to security roles which in turn provide access to a data source. See How do I --> Manage Security (Users and Groups) and read the How to Add a Group topic. Also see “Windows group accounts” on page 17 for a description of using Active Directory group accounts in Portal. When you edit the properties of a group, click the Assign Roles tab to select which roles (and by extension which data source) the group will be assigned.

5 Add users and add users to groups. See How do I --> Manage Security (Users and Groups) and read the various how to add users topics. Once you have added users, you can open the properties for your groups, select the Group members tab and select the users you want to assign to the group (this is not necessary for groups linked to an Active Directory group account). Groups need to have roles assigned to them; this is what controls access for the users who are members of a group. Note that you cannot add users to the default Guests group. This is because the Guests group has an automatic membership of all users that can authenticate to the Portal web site.

6 Block access to EAC (optional) The Epicor Administrative Console has no login/authentication routine, so if you want to block or allow certain users or groups from running the Epicor Administrative Console, see How do I --> Manage Servers and read the topic How to Grant Administrator Permissions.

7 Install a content pack (optional) You may be installing Portal to use a content pack for a particular Epicor application. Content packs feature ready-to-use views and other content. To install a content pack, see How do I --> Manage Servers and read the topic How to Deploy a Content Pack.


Getting Started

Making views with Portal Data Explorer

To get started with Epicor Portal Data Explorer:

Edit the Remove Paging Tables setting

A separate database is used to temporarily store results for views that display paged data. If the data has not been requested in 10 minutes the table is deleted. To lengthen or shorten the deletion time do the following procedure.

Step Action

1 Open Internet Explorer. Type the URL to the Epicor Portal application files. The default URL ishttp://servername/EpicorPortal.

This URL was configured in step 7 of the “Installing a new Portal installation” on page 21.

2 Choose Dynamic or Static on the initial page.

Click the question mark help icon in the upper-right corner and select Contents. Use the table of contents to get started using the Data Explorer to create views for your configured data source.

Note: If you get an error when navigating to the Data Explorer page, you may not have the Epicor Portal virtual directory configured to use .NET 4. In IIS Manager, confirm that the EpicorPortal application pool is set to .NET 4.

Also see: “Troubleshooting “No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it” err” on page 30 or “Troubleshooting “HTTP 500.19 - Internal Server Error”” on page 31.



To edit the Remove Paging Tables setting:

Enabling compression for Portal site

Epicor Portal supports using the compression available in IIS 7 to help site performance.

To enable compression for the Portal site:

Finding help topics Continue to use both the Epicor Administrator Console online help and the Data Explorer online help to understand and use Portal. Also to use the MetaDataBuilder utility to build schemas (this is optional but necessary in some cases, for example to use stored procedures), start the

Step Action

1 Depending on your version of SQL Server connect to the SQL Server instance hosting Portal with Enterprise Manager or Server Management Studio.

2 If using Enterprise Manager expand to Management to see SQL Server Agent. In Server Management Studio SQL Server Agent is already visible.

3 Expand SQL Server Agent and expand Jobs. Double-click Remove_Paging_Tables.

4 Click Steps and double-click the Clear temporary table step.

5 In the Command area, edit the numeric value at the end of the EXEC statement as desired from its default value of 10. Click OK and OK again.

Step Action

1 Click Start + Run. Enter inetmgr and click OK.

2 Navigate to the EpicorPortal virtual directory. Generally this is under the Default Web Site.

3 On the Features view on the right, double-click the Compression feature.

4 Select Enable dynamic content compression and Enable static content compression.

5 In the right-most pane, click Apply.


Getting Started

MetaDataBuilder by double-clicking C:\Program Files\Epicor Software\Epicor Portal\Tools\MetaDesigner\Epicor.MetadataBuilder.exe. Use the Help menu in MetaDataBuilder to learn how to use the tool.

If you have a Portal content pack to install, refer to the installation documentation that came with the content pack.

If you have errors in running Portal, see the Troubleshooting help topic in the Epicor (Portal) Administration Console online help.


AAppendix

Network Load Balancing Install Tips

Network Load Balancing Install Tips Appendix A

Overview

In this appendix Use the information in this appendix to if you want to install Epicor Portal on multiple machines in a Windows Network Load Balancing cluster. This is an advanced configuration normally only done to meet a heavy demand on the Portal web servers.

In this appendix This appendix includes the following topics:

Topic Page

Pre-installation Preparation 46Portal Installation on Cluster Nodes 47SharePoint Installation on Cluster Nodes 48

Epicor Information Worker Installation and Administration Guide 45

APPENDIX A

Pre-installation Preparation

Introduction This section describes the items that must be in place before you install Epicor Portal on servers in a network balanced load (NLB) cluster. This is an advanced configuration normally only needed in high volume use of Epicor Portal.

Active Directory Domain with Kerberos

Your network must have a domain controller with an Active Directory tree with Kerberos authentication installed, configured and tested.

Portal Admin account

Note that the domain account you used to meet the requirements described in “Portal administrator account” on page 16 should be the account used during each Portal installation in the cluster for the Portal admin user. In the illustration that is in this section that shows the Portal NLB cluster configuration, this account is referred to as “EpAdmin.”

SQL Server on separate server

The SQL Server instance used by the Portal cluster servers should be placed on its own server (not on one of the Portal web servers). Ensure that the Portal Admin account has a SQL Server login with sysadmin server role.

Create network share for Portal configuration files

During each Portal installation you are prompted for a network share that each Portal installation will use as a common repository for Portal configuration files such as product schema sets. When you create the share, make sure it is accessible for your intended Portal servers. Also make sure that the Portal Admin account has full access for file operations on the share.

Install Service Connect (optional)

If you are going to be using Service Connect with Portal, install Service Connect now so you can configure all Portal installations to use same Service Connect installation.

46 Epicor Information Worker Installation and Administration Guide

Portal Installation on Cluster Nodes

Portal Installation on Cluster Nodes

Introduction This section describes what needs to be done on each cluster node where Portal is being installed.

Portal Admin account configuration

Make sure the Portal Admin account (see “Portal administrator account” on page 16) is a member to the following standard local Windows user groups: Power Users and IIS_WPG on each cluster node.

Portal web site on same port

As you install Portal on each node, when you are prompted to choose the web site for Portal web content, choose the same site during each Portal installation. For example, if you choose the Default web site (usually port 80) for one installation, make sure to choose Default web site in the other installations as well.

Same responses in each installation

As you install Portal on each node, there are several of the Portal installation screens (in addition to the web site mentioned above) that must be configured the same way on each installation. They are:

• On the Network Location screen, select This installation is part of the cluster solution and type the same UNC address of the network share that you prepared for this purpose.

• Choose the same SQL Server instance and database on each installation. After the first installation, instead of Create select Use existing to select the database that was created during the first node install.

• Use the same Service Connect URL (if using Service Connect) on each install when prompted.

Configure Kerberos Configure Kerberos on the every cluster node using SetSpn utility.

Configure Active Directory

Mark every cluster node as a Trust for delegation in the Active Directory

Epicor Information Worker Installation and Administration Guide 47

APPENDIX A

SharePoint Installation on Cluster Nodes

Introduction You can install SharePoint on each cluster node or reference one SharePoint web farm from all Portal installations. This section describes some steps to take for either method.

Portal Admin account and application pool

Make sure any SharePoint site hosting Portal web parts uses the Portal Admin account (see “Portal administrator account” on page 16) for the identity on the application pool used for the site.

SQL Server instance Use the same SQL Server instance that is hosting the Portal database(s) to host the SharePoint database.

Configuring SharePoint address in Portal

When configuring the SharePoint site address in Portal use the appropriate NLB cluster address.

Portal SharePoint components installation

If you had installed SharePoint on cluster nodes where you later installed Portal, then accepting the defaults during Portal installation would have installed the Portal SharePoint components. If you installed a separate SharePoint web farm used by the cluster, you must run the Portal installation on each web server in farm and select to install Portal SharePoint components only.

48 Epicor Information Worker Installation and Administration Guide

IndexEpicor Portal for Sales and MarketingIndex

A

administrator account, Portal 16

architecture overview 3

C

content packs 40

G

getting started using Portal 36

I

installation log 30

installation, new 21

installation, pre-install tasks 13

installation, upgrade 25

L

log, installation 30

M

MetaDataBuilder 42

S

system requirements, all components 5

system requirements, Portal server 6

T

telephone support viii

troubleshooting 43


INDEX
