System Requirements and Configuration

Minimum vs Recommended Requirements

In order to successfully install and use Flowster Studio, please make sure your system has close to recommended requirements to ensure a good user experience. Some system requirements are not flexible, such as the operating system and disk space required for the installation. Others, such as CPU, GPU, and RAM requirements may vary significantly between the minimum and recommended requirements based on your customized business scenarios.

NOTE: Flowster Studio does not require specific hardware other than those required by the framework powering it (e.g. a system able to run .NET Core 2.2 and .NET Framework 4.7.2 will be able to use Flowster Studio).

Hardware Requirements

Software Requirements

Additional Software

• PowerShell 3.0 is required for the activities execution and must be installed on the Flowster Studio - Execution Agent server. It will add a new reference to the System.Management.Automation.dll (dll with version 3.0.0.0) 
• The Shared SQL Management Objects and SQL Sys CLR Types are required for Create Tenant action and must be installed on the Flowster Studio - Engine server. The installation of the packages will create the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\SDK\Assemblies folder.
• Microsoft® ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server® can be downloaded from here
  

Python Libraries

Python default library must be added in the <INSTALL_DIR>:\Program Files\Flowster Solutions\Flowster Studio\CompatibilityService\Lib path in order to be imported and used parameters that support python configuration as source. Because the third party modules are stored in <Python_INSTALLATION_DIR>\Lib\site-package, these modules need to be added at the beginning of the script during the parameter configuration step in Edit Parameters.

In the example below, the parameter is configured as Textbox From Python and prepares the script to use third party python modules:

Network

The Flowster Studio installer requires ports as input, serving as communication endpoints between the components:

The default ports must be open for the installation to succeed. The user may choose different ports, but it is mandatory that the ports are open.
A warning message will be displayed during the installation if the selected port is closed or not available. Flowster Studio components communicate with each other, therefore their specific ports will require exceptions added in firewall. 

User Requirements

Local user 

(We will use the syntagma "LocalUser" to refer to the user that will run the setup to install Flowster Studio)

• SQL Server

The LocalUser must have certain permissions on the selected SQL server/databases, if the installation will be done using Windows Authentication. These permissions differ depending on installation environments:

• If the Flowster Databases do not exist, the user will have to be part of the SQL Server db_creator role
• If the Flowster Databases already exist on the server (either newly created for the installation or from previous versions of Flowster Studio), the installation user will have to have db_owner permissions on the Flowster Studio databases.
• The LocalUser must be in the Local Administrators Group (see screenshot below), due to the fact that it will install windows services and write data under the HKLM Registry node

• Registry

The LocalUser must have rights on the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE), in order to read and write data into them.
The installer reads from HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Version strictly for Flowster Studio information retrieval.
The installer writes installation information to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Flowster Solutions\Flowster Studio\.

Runtime User

(We will use the syntagma "RuntimeUser" to refer to the user whose rights and identity is used by Flowster Studio services after installation)

• UAC enabled case

The Runtime User should be in the Local Administrators Group, in order to run the windows processes used by Flowster Studio (e. g.: the Flowster Execution Agent windows service will not retrieve the last score and it will not be able to support workflows executions on it).

• SQL Server

The Runtime User will require an SQL Login with db_owner permissions on the selected databases.
The permissions are necessary to access the server and its databases. It will also be designated as Identity to the Flowster Studio services that will also actively connect to the database. 
In order to configure the Runtime User db_owner role, follow the next steps:

• Connect to the SQL Server via SQL Server Management Studio with an administrator user (a user that can give credentials to other users)
• Go to Security -> Logins and select the desired user
• Right click over it and select Properties
• Inside the Properties window go to User Mappings tab
• Select the desired database, check it and mark the db_owner checkbox, as seen below:

• Automation Engine (Flowster Studio Engine only)

The RuntimeUser must be in the Domain Users group in Active Directory.
The permissions are necessary to perform search operations in Active Directory.

• • File Access

The RuntimeUser must have Read/Write rights on the installation path and the repository locations (folders).

• • Windows Services

The RuntimeUser must have Log On as as Service permissions in order to run the Flowster Studio windows services. This can be done by opening the Local Group Policy Editor console and accessing the Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment >> Log on as a service node as in the image below: