Setting Up OutSystems

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.

• LifeTime: This is the centralized console for managing the infrastructure, environments, applications, IT users, and security.

• Service Center: The administration console for an environment of the infrastructure.

• Service Studio: The visual development tool to create, change, and deploy your applications. This tool is installed in the developers desktop.

• 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:

• Development Environment: The environment where applications are initially developed and tested.

• Quality Environment: The environment where testers and business users experiment applications to perform quality assurance. This environment usually has few scalability and redundancy requirements.

• 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, on-premises, or with a hybrid configuration, where some environments are on the cloud, and some on-premises. Learn more about the possible OutSystems infrastructure configurations.

Licensing

If you're using OutSystems PaaS, you don't need to worry about installing or licensing your infrastructure. Once you receive your OutSystems PaaS 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.

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.

• 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).

• The Multiple Database Catalogs and Schema feature is not available. This means that all applications store their data in the same database Catalog/Schema.

• 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.

• Using the built-in SMS mechanism is not supported. You can send SMS’s by using Extensions available in OutSystems Forge.

Hybrid

If you selected to have some of your environments hosted in our Cloud and the remaining in your datacenter, you should set up your on-premises environments as described in the next section and then add them to the infrastructure management console (LifeTime) we provide as part of the Cloud installation.

On-Premises

An on-premises OutSystems infrastructure is located on the customer’s datacenter and is managed by the customer.

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.

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.

Download the infrastructure management console installation binaries

Download the latest LifeTime Management Console binaries from the downloads area.

Install the infrastructure management console

Install LifeTime management console in a dedicated environment. For this, follow the LifeTime installation checklist that is launched when you run the LifeTime management console installation binary.

Installing LifeTime in an existing environment is not a supported scenario. Learn how to size an environment for the infrastructure management console.

The OutSystems Scheduler service must be running in the LifeTime environment.

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.

Check here how to configure the management console.

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.