How-To Install Intelligence Hub on a Windows Operating System

What Does This Article Cover?

This article provides pragmatic advice and a simple overview of the primary considerations for installing Intelligence Hub when the host operating system is Microsoft Windows. This article is a supplement to setup instructions in the Intelligence Hub User Guide. The article briefly covers the following.

  • Hardware Considerations
  • Operating System Considerations
  • Primary Dependency
  • Virtual Machines
  • Troubleshooting

Hardware Considerations:

Specific hardware requirements are highly dependent on the project and related Intelligence Hub configuration. Some projects are more resource intensive than others. The Intelligence Hub User Guide provides minimum hardware requirements which are helpful as a starting point. Beyond that, HighByte encourages customers to consider a comfortable margin for performance at a reasonable cost. For example, a 2.4Ghz CPU with 16GB RAM and 80-120GB Disk might represent typical hardware for an Intelligence Hub solution. As requirements increase an Intelligence Hub solution may scale hardware vertically by increasing the capacity of the CPU or horizontally by adding Intelligence Hub runtimes referred to as “Hubs”.

Operating System Considerations:

Specific supported Windows operating system versions are listed in the Intelligence Hub User Guide. Beyond that list we recommend that our customers install on the latest supported version of Windows that their organization is comfortable running. When running on Windows it is recommended to run as a service and related configuration instructions are provided in the User Guide. Intelligence Hub does not need a Windows CAL. Intelligence Hub has its own embedded web server, identity store, and database.  It does not depend on any licensed Windows services to run.  Clients connect to Intelligence Hub via a web browser.

Primary Dependency:

Intelligence Hub’s primary dependency is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Intelligence Hub can run on most Windows Operating Systems as long as there is a supported version of Java installed. Microsoft maintains a build of OpenJDK with an MSI installer that can be used for installation. The Microsoft build of OpenJDK is a new no-cost long-term supported distribution and Microsoft’s new way to collaborate and contribute to the Java ecosystem.

Virtual Machines:

Intelligence Hub can be deployed on a host operating system, virtual machine, or container. Java Virtual Machine is the primary dependency. Whether ESXi or Hyper-V are the hypervisor hosting the Windows Server virtual machine, Intelligence Hub looks for the JVM to run.

Troubleshooting:

The Intelligence Hub installation process is relatively simple and when issues seldom occur these are some things to consider.

  • Verify that Intelligence Hub is licensed. A license file must be provided by HighByte and installed on the Hub.
  • Is the Intelligence Hub being accessed on the correct port, the default is port 45254? Access Intelligence Hub by opening a web browser and going to localhost:45245.
  • When starting the runtime does the log indicate that the Java version has been recognized? If not, then from a command or terminal prompt execute java -version to check if Java has been installed correctly.

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