Having recently posted the steps to set-up a PostgreSQL Creatio test server, I figured I should also post the MSSQL version of that procedure. I realize I posted a MSSQL version not too long ago, and that this post is mostly the same as my previous post. But I am hoping some folks will find it useful to have a more stepwise version of the MSSQL procedure. Also, there are some specific issues with the Connection String for SQL that may be useful to specifically include. As the with these other posts, I am basing things on the Creatio general deployment procedure posted on Creatio Academy. While I will be writing about them in the order listed, the first four steps can really be done in any order, but all need to be done before setting up IIS in step 5. The last two steps need to be done after IIS is setup, but it does not matter which of them is done first. Please refer to Creatio’s guide for specifics of each step.
For Step 1, download and install a Redis emulator. I have used the one from here, and also the one here, and both have worked just taking all the default settings. Then, in step 2, install Microsoft SQL and create a sysdba user with only rights to the public role. Restore the database using the backup provided by Creatio. Then open the sysda user in your SQL server’s Logins for that instance, and under User Mapping make sure the sysdba SQL server login is mapped to the sysdba user for your Creatio database. (Instead of doing this manually, you can execute the following SQL query against the Creatio database: sp_change_users_login ‘Update_One’, ‘sysdba’, ‘sysdba’ ) Your Creatio database is now ready for incoming connections.
For step 3, you will need to enable many Windows server features, as well as install several bits of supporting software from the list. While the documentation shows only some IIS features being enabled in the initial installation, there are other places in the documentation that instruct you to enable additional IIS features. The combined list of required Windows features adds up to the following: Enable all features of .NET 3.x, all features of .NET 4.x, and all features of IIS (except for WebDAV publishing and FTP). Also be sure to install all the required outside software. Then step 4 is just a reminder to make sure you server is fully updated.
Now that everything is in place, you can actually set up the Creatio site in IIS, which is step 5. Deployment of the Creatio website is reasonably straightforward. The files provided by Creatio are the exact files for the Cretio web client. Unzip (or move) the files to the desired location (I would suggest a sub-folder of the Inetpub folder). Then create a Creatio site in IIS pointed at this folder, and sub-site with an alias of “0” pointed at the Terrasoft.WebApp sub-folder of the Creatio folder. Next, go to Application Pools, and set the app pool running the Cretio apps to run as the service user. (If you do not already have a service user, create a Windows user for this purpose. While Creatio’s documentation lists the specific rights this user needs, you can instead just add that user to the local admin group, which is much quicker.) There are also several other settings to check in Creatio’s instructions. The only one I have actually needed to change is in Edit Feature Permissions under Handler Mappings, where I needed to add permission to Execute in addition to the existing ones. You should verify that the remaining required IIS settings are all correct, though in my testing they did not need to be changed from the default.
The last two steps involve editing the configuration files for the website. For step 6, the ConnectionStrings.config file needs to be edited so it points at the correct Redis and Creatio databases. For the Redis line, just set host equal to the name of the server, and set db equal to “0”. The database line is a bit more complicated. Set Data Source equal server name\instance name , set Initial Catalog equal to the database name. You should also add fields for Persist Security Info=True and Async=true. If you are using a recent verison of SQL that requires a certificate, you should also add TrustServerCertificate=true . If you wish to use SQL authentication, you should delete the Integrated Security Field, and add User ID and Password fields for sysdba (or whatever SQL login you are using for database access).
Step 7 is to add a machine key to the web.config file, which is needed for Creatio to work. You need to download a PowerShell script here that will add the key to web.config. Unzip the UpdateMachineKey script to a convenient folder, open Windows PowerShell, and run the script from its folder as follows:
.\UpdareMachineKey.ps1 “[path to web.config]”
This will edit web.config to contain a machine key that will allow Creatio to function. At this point, they system should be ready to use. Depending on the last time you restarted various functions, you might need to restart IIS, or even reboot the machine. You are now ready to bring up the client in a web browser and log in as Supervisor.
