Installation Guide

After referring to the Installation Requirements, follow the walkthrough below to install Decisions on an Application Server or PC.

Prerequisites

• Download the desired v8.x version.
• Connection to a supported database.
• Download the appropriate .NET Versions.

Selecting an Installation Type 

1. Right-click the downloaded DecisionsServerInstaller.exe and select Run as administrator.
2. Click INSTALL to begin.
3. Review the terms, check the I accept the terms of the License Agreement box, then click Next.
   
   
4. In the Select Installation Type window, choose the appropriate type.
   
   Refer to the chart below for further information on each installation type:

   Type	Description
   Standard Server (Prod and Non-Prod)	The most common Server Installation type. Installs an instance for both Production (live) and Non-Production (development) purposes. Allow other machines to access the server.
   Failover (HA) Server	Installs an instance that only lives once triggered after the primary instance shuts down. Once installed, it will be available but will not run jobs or events on startup.
   Designer Repository	Installs an instance for storing entities and managing version builds and releases. It does not run live applications.
   Multi-Tenancy Server (Control)	Installs a Control instance for hosting Tenants. Use this if utilizing multi-tenancy.
   Multi-Tenancy Server (Tenant)	Installs a Tenant to an existing Control instance. Use this if utilizing multi-tenancy.

   

5. If desired, enable Show Advanced Settings, then click Next. If Advanced Settings is not enabled, Hosting Options will not be displayed, and the Hosting Type will default to Self-Hosted.
   
   

   Setting	Description
   Use Settings File	Enables a field to select a previously saved Settings file.
   Change Default System Administrator, Username and Password	For v8.16 and lower, the default Username and Password for logging into Decisions are 'admin@decisions.com' and 'admin', respectively. Users can select this option to set user-specific login credentials. Note: This setting is removed from installer v8.17 and above, and a new screen is added within the installer to add an administrator account. Refer to the "Initial User Setup" section of this article.
   Change the Destination Folder for Installation	Diverts installation from the default install folder, "C:\Program Files\Decisions".
   Pick Alternate Source	Select an alternate installation file source via URL or file directory.
   Show the Service Settings	Customize the Service account username and password.
   Skip DB Connection Testing - Not Recommended	Skips the database connection test at the end of the installation wizard.

   

Database Setup

The app server and the Database Server must be set to the same time zone.

MS SQL Connection

Warning

• When installing on MS SQL, the maximum table limit for a user-defined type is 128 characters.

Setup

1. Select MS SQL for the Database Type.
2. Under Connection Type, select Basic and enter the corresponding database server and name in DB Server and DB Database, respectively.
   
   If the database server does not exist, the platform installer will attempt to create it for MS SQL connections.
3. Under Connection Settings, select MS SQL Server Security and enter the appropriate User ID and Password.
   1. Use an Encrypted Connection - When enabled, the connection between the client and server will be encrypted only if the Root SSL certificate is installed. For more information, refer to Microsoft's official document.
   2. Trust Server Connection - When enabled, the transport layer will use SSL to encrypt the channel and bypass the certificate chain to validate trust. For more information, refer to Microsoft's official document.
4. Click Test to verify a successful database connection.
   
   Alternatively, MS SQL installations may use Windows Integrated Security for added security.
5. Click Next to proceed.

AWS Connection

Prerequisites

• Create an AWS RDS Database for Microsoft SQL Server. Select either a SQL Server SE or SQL Server EE engine. Refer to Installation Requirements for specifications.
• Launch an EC2 instance.
• Configure the RDS Security Groups and/or VPC to allow SQL connections from the internal IP address of the EC2 application server. Add an inbound Rule for the security group to allow MSSQL from the EC2 instance's internal IP address.

Setup

1. Select MS SQL for the Database Type.
2. Under Connection Type, select Basic. For DB Server, enter the endpoint address of the RDS instance. And DB Database, respectively. For the DB Database, enter the desired name, e.g., "decisions".
3. Under Connection Settings, select MS SQL Server Security. Enter the specified master Username and Password for the created RDS database in UserID and Password, respectively.
4. Click Next to proceed.
   

Azure Connection

Prerequisites

• Create and Configure a SQL Database. The SQL that Decisions generates/executes does not use any recent additions to T-SQL or any of the SQL Server-only functionality.
• Create an Azure VM (any version). Refer to Installation Requirements for specifications.
• After provisioning the Azure VM, install IIS and .NET Core 6.0.

SQL Specifications

DB level of at least DTU S4 or P1 should be used since the lower levels greatly restrict transactions per minute, causing timeouts for Decisions SQL queries, especially during installation. Some workloads may require higher throughput, which can be achieved with higher Premium Azure SQL tiers.

Setup

1. Select Azure SQL for Database Type.
2. Under Connection Type,  select Basic and then provide the Azure DB Server's Public Address and the database server's name in DB Server and DB Database, respectively.
3. Under Connection Settings, select MS SQL Server Security, then provide the appropriate User ID and Password for the Azure Admin. 
   1. Use an Encrypted Connection - When enabled, the connection between the client and server will be encrypted only if the Root SSL certificate is installed. For more information, refer to Microsoft's official document.
   2. Trust Server Connection - When enabled, the transport layer will use SSL to encrypt the channel and bypass the certificate chain to validate trust. For more information, refer to Microsoft's official document.
4. Click Test to verify a successful connection.
5. Click Next to proceed.

To install using Azure Service Principal, refer to Installing Decisions Using Azure Service Principal.

PostgreSQL Connection

Warning

• When installing on PostgreSQL, the maximum table limit for a user-defined type is 64 characters.

Prerequisites

• Download the appropriate PostgreSQL version. Keep the default UserID/Username, aka "Postgres," for Decisions to properly query PostgreSQL. 
• In PostgreSQL, create a new database for Decisions. Upgrading from SQL is not supported, so a new database is required.

Setup

1. Select PostgreSQL for Database Type.
2. Under Connection Type, choose Basic and enter "localhost" for the DB server, the created Postgres database for DB Database, and "5432" for DB Port. This is the default port number for Postgres databases.
3. Under Connection Settings, select PostgreSQL Server Security.
    
   For v8.0 installs, enter the default PostgreSQL user credentials, aka "Postgres," and its respective password.
   For v8.1+ installs, enter either the default PostgreSQL user credentials or any other created admin user in PostgreSQL.
   
   Click Test to verify a successful connection.
4. Click Next to proceed.
   

SQL Full Text Warning

The installer will check for the SQL Full-Text Warning. For more information, refer to the article Full Text Search. Click Next.

Initial User Setup

The Initial User Setup screen allows you to create an administrator account that will be used to log in to the portal after completing the installation process. 

The administrator's account can be changed later within the platform. However, to run the platform successfully, there must be a user account with Read & Execute, Write, and Modify folder permissions for both the Decisions folder and the FileStorage folder if it is stored outside of the Decisions folder.

This email address will be set as the default email address for sending notification emails. This default email address can be modified in the Portal settings. 

Provide an Email and Password. Ensure to retain these credentials. Click Next.

Hosting Options

1. Select the appropriate Installer Hosting Option. This example selects Self Hosting. Click Next.

127.0.0.1	example.com

Self Hosting 

1. From the Portal Base Url window, select the desired Http/Https configuration with Certificate path and Password if applicable, and specify the desired Port that Decisions will install to.
   
   Afterward, leave the Override Portal Base URL unchecked to allow the installer to create a Portal Base URL using "localhost" as the domain, with the input Port value and either Http or Https as chosen. Otherwise, enable Override Portal Base URL to provide a custom Portal Base UR or Fully Qualified Domain Name.
   
   This example keeps the default values (http://localhost:80). Different ports must be opened via Windows Firewall first. Click Next.

IIS Hosting

1. Provide the Portal Base URL, then click Next. 
   Install On Root

   The benefit of installing on Root is that the user will not have a "/decisions" at the end of the Base URL. Instead, it will be a stand-alone web address.
2. Set a required Application (App) Pool or click Create New. Click Next.

Email Server, Encryption Keys, and File Storage

1. Select an Outbound Email Server option. For local installs, select SMTP Direct Server. To specify a mail server address, select SMTP Server. Click Next once done.

   
   

2. In the Encryption Keys window, the installer will detect any existing encryption keys on the connected database. A prior key and its data can be restored via the Restore Key File by entering its key value.
   
   For a fresh installation and if not wishing to restore any existing keys, select Next to continue. Even if keys are found, restoring is optional.

3. Confirm the File Storage Path where Decisions will reside. The default path is C:\Program Files\Decisions\FileStorage. Click Next once done.
4. Review any warnings in the System Requirements Check before clicking Next to proceed.
   
   Local PC installations will likely run into an OS warning due to production environments requiring Windows Server OS. This does not prevent successful installation, so installation may proceed if this occurs.
   
5. The Review Install Options panel is the installation's configuration. Check these settings for accuracy.
   
   To save these settings for future reference or recovery, click the Save Install Settings To File checkbox before clicking Next.
6. Installation automatically begins. Click Show Details to see the installation's progress step-by-step.
   
7. After installation completes, enable the Launch Decisions Portal checkbox, then select Finish.
8. Click the I agree to the terms and conditions... checkbox, then log in to the platform by providing the admin Username and Password and clicking the LOGIN button.
   
   In v8.16 and prior, the defaults are "admin@decisions.com" for the email and "admin" for the password unless modified in the Change Default System Administrator, Username and Password settings.
   From v8.17 onward, these credentials are defined by the user during the installation process within the Initial User Setup screen.

Decisions License

When a Decisions instance is newly installed, a trial Enterprise-level license is active for seven days. After seven days, the trial license will be automatically revoked, and a personal license will be applied to the instance. A personal license is a non-expiry license that is limited to a single instance and cannot be used as a production server. For more information, refer to Decisions License.

Feature Changes