Quick Start Guide: Deploying Management Console in a standalone Tomcat Server

1-Prerequisites:

• Java installed download - at least jre (e.g. from oracle.com) Please make sure to check Technical Specification Document for the version you're using to make sure you're installing a supported JAVA version.
• Tomcat Windows Service installer download (from the Apache downloads page)
• Database for the Management Console tables. Tomcat will need to be able to create tables in this database.
  If the user provided for it doesn't have rights to create tables, a DBA will have to create them in advance.
  The scripts to create tables are in the Kofax RPA (Kapow) installation folder under the documentation -> sql folder. The tables from the following folders should be created:
  • mc
  • quartz
  • Optional: logdb. If a RoboServer log database is already set up, this is not needed.

    If the user has rights to create tables, an empty database is enough.

• JDBC driver for the database type.

  Check the version of Java Tomcat Database Operating System   currently supported by Kofax RPA (Kapow) in the Technical Specifications file (from the User Guides section). For Kapow versions 10.3 and earlier, the list of supported platforms is included in the Installation Guide.

2-Java Configuration

• Install Java.
• Configure JRE_HOME using the Environment Variables  window or by using the set command
  E.g.
  
  set JRE_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_101
   

3-Tomcat basic configuration

• Install Tomcat and follow the prompts.
• If needed, change the tomcat ports in server.xml
• If needed, start the tomcat<serviceName>w.exe application (from the Tomcat installation folder under bin) and change the memory settings for Java.
  
  
   
• Start the Tomcat service to verify that Tomcat can be reached (by default Tomcat's url is http://localhost:8080)
   

  Steps from sections 2 and 3 are the general steps to install and configure Tomcat. For more specific details, please consult the Apache documentation.

4-Deployment of Management Console - expand war file

• Stop the Tomcat service if it's running
• Copy the ManagementConsole.war file from <Kofax RPA installation folder>\WebApps to <Tomcat installation folder>\webapps
  
  E.g. from C:\Program Files\Kofax RPA 10.4.0.1 237 x64\WebApps to C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 8.5_Tomcat8_MC\webapps
   
• Start the Tomcat service
  Tomcat will expand the .war file but it won't be able to use it (configuration will be done in the next section) so ignore all errors from log and allow Tomcat at least 5 minutes to complete the task. In the end, the webapps folder under Tomcat will have a ManagementConsole folder with content similar to:
  
  
   

5-Deployment of Management Console - configuration

• Stop the Tomcat service
• Copy the JDBC .jar driver file into <Tomcat installation folder>\lib
• Create the ManagementConsole.xml context file in <Tomcat installation folder>\conf\Catalina\localhost with this content

  "ManagementConsole" is case sensitive. the XML file name has to match the .war file name and application name from under the \webapps folder.

   

   <Context useHttpOnly="true">

          <!-- Default set of monitored resources -->

          <WatchedResource>WEB-INF/web.xml</WatchedResource>

          <Resource name="jdbc/kapow/platform" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"

           maxActive="100" maxIdle="30" maxWait="-1"

          username="UserToAccessDB" password="PasswordForPreviousUser"

          driverClassName="Driver Class Name for your Database Type"

                  validationQuery="Validation Query for your Database Type" testOnBorrow="true"

                 url="URL Connection String for your Database Type"/>

      </Context>

  See attached a few examples of context file for Management Console that use different database types. ManagementConsole_MSSQL_SQLAuthentication.xml ManagementConsole_MSSQL_WindowsAuthentication.xml ManagementConsole_mySQL.xml ManagementConsole_Oracle.xml

• Restart the Tomcat service. If all settings are correct, the ManagementConsole application will reach to the database, create tables in it and start using them.
• Test ManagementConsole by loading this url (replace hostname and port if needed)
  
  http://localhost:8080/ManagementConsole

  "ManagementConsole" is case sensitive. Therefore ManagementConsole.war from under the \webapps folder ManagementConsole folder from under \webapps folder ManagementConsole.xml from under \conf\Catalina\localhost folder the url http://localhost:8080/ManagementConsole have to use the same case!

  A successful deployment means the website is prompting for login (use admin/admin) and then the license prompt.
  If the website is throwing an error, at least one of the configuration settings is not correct. In this case, check the Tomcat stdout and strerr log files (from <Tomcat installation folder>\logs). The most common error is "Could not connect to the platform database (JNDI resource  'jdbc/kapow/platform')" - see Knowledge Base Article #3035410.

  More detailed information about the Management Console deployment can be found in the Admin Guide > Tomcat Management Console > Tomcat Deployment. The guide also contains other more advanced configuration settings that can be done for the Management Console when it is deployed into Tomcat.

6-Adding a RoboServer

• Once Management Console is running, a RoboServer can be registered to it. The RoboServer can be using the command line parameters or the RoboServer settings (see Knowledgebase article 12442 for more information about this). When the Management Console is running in Tomcat:
  • the url is http://server:port/ManagementConsole
  • user and password are, by default admin/admin
  • If using the -mcUrl parameter, it has to be in basic authentication mode
    
    e.g. -mcUrl http://admin:admin@MyMCServer:8080/ManagementConsole

Level of Complexity 

Moderate

Applies to  

References

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