Setting Up OutSystems
This article explains the several components of OutSystems. It also explains how to set up OutSystems on the cloud or on-premises.
OutSystems Overview
Components
OutSystems has the following components:
-
Platform Server: The component that orchestrates all runtime, deployment, and management activities for all applications. This tool is installed in each environment.
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LifeTime: This is the centralized console for managing the infrastructure, environments, applications, IT users, and security.
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Service Center: The administration console for an environment of the infrastructure.
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Service Studio: The visual development tool to create, change, and deploy your applications. This tool is installed in the developers desktop.
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Integration Studio: The development tool to create connectors to integrate OutSystems applications with other enterprise systems. This tool is installed in the developers desktop.
Typical infrastructure
OutSystems covers the full application lifecycle, from development to deployment. For this reason, a typical OutSystems infrastructure has four environments:
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Development Environment: The environment where applications are initially developed and tested.
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Quality Environment: The environment where testers and business users experiment applications to perform quality assurance. This environment usually has few scalability and redundancy requirements.
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Production Environment: The environment that hosts the application version end users are interacting with. Usually, this environment is only accessible by the operations team.
-
Management Environment: The environment that hosts LifeTime application, which is the infrastructure management console. Given its requirements, LifeTime application must run in a dedicated environment. Installing LifeTime in an existing environment is not a supported scenario. Learn how to size an environment for the infrastructure management console.
You can have your infrastructure on the cloud or on-premises. Learn more about the possible OutSystems infrastructure configurations.
Licensing
If you're using OutSystems Cloud, you don't need to worry about installing or licensing your infrastructure. Once you receive your OutSystems Cloud, it is ready for you to develop your apps.
If you're installing OutSystems on-premises, be sure you have a valid activation code, or license files. Without them you won't be able to deploy applications to your environments. So be sure to check how OutSystems licensing works.
Installation alternatives
Cloud
If you selected to setup OutSystems infrastructure using our Cloud offering you do not have to do any of the initial platform setup yourself. Your servers will be automatically set up for you and you will receive an email with access details such as address and usernames.
Nevertheless, when managing a single environment or infrastructure on the OutSystems cloud, you should take into account the following considerations:
-
Currently, our cloud provider (Amazon) does not support customizing the time zone for SQL Server. Conversions need to be done programmatically from UTC to the desired time zone.
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Custom database objects such as stored procedures are not supported. You can either implement the same logic using "Advanced Queries" (standard SQL) or through Extensions (by implementing your own C# code).
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The Multiple Database Catalogs and Schema feature is not available. This means that all applications store their data in the same database Catalog/Schema.
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The Zones feature is not available. All applications running on an environment are available in all front-end servers of that environment. However, applications can be set up to only be accessible from the internal network.
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Using the built-in SMS mechanism is not supported. You can send SMS’s by using Extensions available in OutSystems Forge.
On-Premises
An on-premises OutSystems infrastructure is located on the customer’s datacenter and is managed by the customer.
Installation prerequisites
Before installing any component of OutSystems, make sure your hardware and software comply with the minimum requirements. For this, be sure to check:
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System requirements: the supported hardware and software for installing OutSystems.
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Network requirements: the network requirements for an environment where OutSystems is installed.
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Default Platform Server and database configurations: to install and run OutSystems, you need permission to change files in the file system, run services, and make changes to the database.
Installation steps
To install OutSystems in your infrastructure:
- Download the Platform Server installation binaries.
- Install the Platform Server in each environment that will host your applications (eg. Development, Quality and Production).
- Download the infrastructure management console (LifeTime) installation binaries.
- Install the infrastructure management console in a dedicated environment.
- Configure the infrastructure management console.
- Install and configure the development tools.
1. Download the Platform Server installation binaries
Download the latest Platform Server installation binaries from the downloads area. To download, you need an OutSystems account. If you don't have one, register for free at www.outsystems.com.
If you're looking for a specific OutSystems version, be sure to check the Downloads repository.
To perform an offline installation of Platform Server you might need to download a few additional files. Check Offline Installation for more information.
2. Install the Platform Server
Install the Platform Server in each environment of your infrastructure that will host your applications (eg. Development, Quality and Production). For this, follow the Platform Server installation checklist that is launched when you run the Platform Server installation binary.
The installation package can automatically install most of the prerequisites and perform configuration tuning after installing Platform Server.
Check Automatic Prerequisites Installation and Configuration Tuning for more information.
3. Download the infrastructure management console installation binaries
Download the latest LifeTime Management Console binaries from the downloads area.
4. Install the infrastructure management console
Install LifeTime management console in a dedicated environment. Installing LifeTime in an existing environment isn't a supported scenario.
For this, follow the LifeTime installation checklist launched when you run the LifeTime installation binary. As LifeTime doesn't support farm configuration, you must select the combination "Deployment Controller + Server" in the checklist to install a single server with both roles.
The OutSystems Scheduler service must be running in the LifeTime environment.
Learn how to size an environment for the infrastructure management console.
5. Configure the infrastructure management console
Now it's time to configure the infrastructure management console. This will allow you to register the several environments you have, so that you can manage them from a centralized console.
6. Install and configure the development tools
OutSystems is now ready for you to start developing. The only thing missing is to install the development tools on your developers' desktops. Be sure to install a version of the development tools that is compatible with the version of the Platform Server installed in your environments.
After installing the development tools, configure them for developing your own extensions.
Automatic Prerequisites Installation and Configuration Tuning
The OutSystems Platform Server installation package can automatically install most of the prerequisites (as described in the Installation Checklist) when you select the Install Prerequisites option in the installer. You may need to reboot your system to finish the installation of some prerequisites.
The Platform Server installation package will automatically download the required binaries for installing the prerequisites from the official Microsoft sources. However, you can also perform an offline installation.
Before starting the installation of Platform Server, the installation package will validate if all the prerequisites are available on your system. The installation will not proceed if any prerequisites are missing.
If you select the 'Perform Tuning' option in the installer, and after checking that the prerequisites are correctly installed, the OutSystems Platform Server installation package will also check if it can automatically apply most of the mandatory steps in the Tuning and Security checklist section of the Installation Checklist.
The process will not make any modifications to user-defined configurations; it will only change any default values to the recommended values, as described in the referenced section in the Installation Checklist.
The configuration tuning option is also available as a command-line switch when running the installer in unattended mode: /DoTuning=<factory_size>
.
When you provide this switch, the installer will change any default values to the ones recommended for the specified <factory_size>
. These recommended values for each factory size are described in the subsections Tuning .NET Framework Runtime and Tuning Internet Information Services in the Installation Checklist.
The available options for <factory_size>
are small
, medium
and large
. Any other option text will map to the small
option.
Offline Installation
To perform a fully offline installation you should download some binaries beforehand so that the Platform Server installation package can automatically install most of the prerequisites.
Do the following:
-
Create a folder named
bin
at the same folder level as the Platform Server installation package. -
Download and place the required Microsoft installers in the
bin
folder.-
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2
1. Download the Offline Installer for the Runtime from Microsoft.
2. Rename the Microsot .NET Framework Installer toDotNet.exe
.
Note: If you're installing a Platform Server version earlier than 11.9, rename the installer toNDP472-KB4054530-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe
instead. -
.NET Core 2.1 Runtime & Hosting Bundle for Windows
1. Download the .NET Core 2.1 Runtime & Hosting Bundle for Windows from Microsoft.
2. Rename the .NET Core Installer toDotNetCore_WindowsHosting.exe
. -
Build Tools 2015
1. Download the Installer from Microsoft.
2. Rename the Build Tools Installer toBuildTools_Full.exe
.
-
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Run the Platform Server installer package as usual. The binaries you downloaded from Microsoft will be detected by the installation package.
More Information
If you are having trouble installing or setting up OutSystems, check the OutSystems Community for help, or reach out to the OutSystems technical support.
Possible setups for an OutSystems infrastructure
- Learn which are the possible configurations for an OutSystems infrastructure.
- Featured Article:
Unattended Installation and Upgrade
- Learn the unattended or automated processes of installing or updating OutSystems Platform Server, and adding a new front-end server.
- Featured Article:
OutSystems on Microsoft Azure
- OutSystems on Microsoft Azure is a versatile platform ready for scaling.
- Featured Article:
Articles in this Section
- OutSystems system requirements
- Check the hardware and software requirements to install OutSystems on-premises.
- OutSystems network requirements
- Check OutSystems network requirements before installing it on an environment.
- Default Platform Server and database configurations
- To install and run OutSystems, you need permissions to change files in the file system, run services, listen to specific ports, and make changes to the database.
- Configure your OutSystems environment
- Learn how to configure the hostname, purpose and debug mode of your OutSystems environment in Service Center console.
- Configure the infrastructure management console
- LifeTime is the centralized management console for managing your environments, applications, security, and more. Learn how to configure LifeTime management console.