Installing the Software

Created: April 05, 2017 | Updated: July 13, 2020

Parent page: Altium Infrastructure Server

The Altium Infrastructure Server is a server-based software management solution built on Altium’s Server Foundation platform. When installed on the local network, it provides centralized control of the offline deployment, licensing and updating of Altium Software. Installation of the Altium Infrastructure Server is both intuitive and expedient, courtesy of the Altium Infrastructure Server Setup wizard.

This article primarily takes a look at the procedure for installing the Altium Infrastructure Server for the first time on a computer. If you are upgrading an existing installation, see Updating to a Later Version.

The Altium Infrastructure Server can ONLY be installed and run on a PC running Windows 7 or above, as its Operating System. It cannot be installed on a PC running Windows XP. In addition, it cannot be installed on a PC running basic versions of the OS (Core, Home, Starter, Base). For additional system requirements, see System Requirements. Also, when serving licenses through the Private License Service, the Infrastructure Server can only be accessed by Altium Designer version 16.0 and above.

While the Altium Infrastructure Server installer includes automated backup of your existing Infrastructure Server, it is always a good idea to make a pre-update backup yourself - taking a redundancy copy off to one side as it were. This provides additional safety, should any unforeseen technical difficulties arise (see Backup and Restore). It is advised to test out a new release of the Altium Infrastructure Server on a different machine, before updating your production instance. Use of Virtual Machines can be invaluable in this respect.

Pre-Install Preparation

To access the Altium Infrastructure Server Setup wizard, you need to first download and run an executable – Altium Infrastructure Server <VersionNumber>.exe. This executable is downloaded from the Downloads page of the Altium website in a zip file (Altium Infrastructure Server_<VersionNumber>.zip), and can be saved anywhere on your hard disk.

Due to the observed unpredictable behavior of antivirus software, it is recommended to disable such software during the installation of the Altium Infrastructure Server.

Running the Setup Wizard

Double-click the Altium Infrastructure Server <Version Number>.exe file. The Altium Infrastructure Server Setup wizard will appear.

Initial welcome page for the Altium Infrastructure Server Setup wizard.

The installation wizard provides a set of progressive (and intuitive) pages that collectively gather the information to effectively install the Infrastructure Server.

Click Next to continue. The following sections provide a summary of the various pages you will encounter.

License Agreement

This page of the wizard presents you with the Altium End-User License Agreement (EULA).

Read and accept Altium's End-User License Agreement.

With the EULA read, continue with the install by enabling the I accept the agreement option and clicking the Next button.

Select Destination Location

This next page of the wizard allows you to specify the destination in which to install the Altium Infrastructure Server. The default installation path is \Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Infrastructure Server. The Altium Infrastructure Server requires at least 444MB of free disk space for installation.

To specify an alternate location, simply type the location directly into the field, or click the Browse button at the right of the field, and browse for the required destination folder (or create it on-the-fly).

Determine install location for the Altium Infrastructure Server.

Once the install location is specified, click Next to continue.

Select Altium Infrastructure Server Data Directory

Use this page of the wizard to specify the destination folders in which to store the database and revision files respectively. The default installation paths are:

Database Folder – \ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData
Revision Files Folder – \ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData\Revisions

To specify an alternate location, simply type the location directly into a field, or click the Browse button at the right of a field, and browse for the required destination folder (or create it on-the-fly).

Determine install locations for Infrastructure Server data.

Once the data folder locations are specified, click Next to continue.

Altium Infrastructure Server Configuration

Use this next page of the wizard to specify the port numbers to be used by the Altium Infrastructure Server for network connections. The defaults are:

HTTP Port (default 9780)
HTTPS Port (default 9785)
Synchronization Service Port (default 9790)
LDAP Service Port (default 9791)

If a port is already used, the Installer will search for the next available, and use that instead.

When choosing a port, note that it must not clash with any ports used by other applications - if a port is currently in use, you will be notified by the installer.

Set the port numbers for server communications.

Once the port numbers are specified as required, click Next to continue.

Ready to Install

The Installer now has all the information it requires to proceed with the installation. If you need to change anything, click the Back button. If you want to cancel out of the install, click Cancel. To go ahead and proceed with the installation, click Install. The page will change from "Ready to Install" to "Installing" and the installation will proceed. Once complete, simply click Finish to exit the wizard.

The Altium Infrastructure Server runs on top of the Microsoft Internet Information Services package (IIS). If this is not installed on the PC, you will be prompted to install it after the installation process begins.

Kick off the installation by clicking Install. Click Finish once installation is complete.

For your convenience, the final page of the Installer also presents URLs (HTTP and HTTPS) for accessing the Infrastructure Server - either when signing into the Infrastructure Server through your design software, or when accessing the Infrastructure Server through its browser-based interface.

Verifying the Altium Infrastructure Server is Running

Verification that the Altium Infrastructure Server is running can be performed from the Windows Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager panel - accessed from Window's Administrative Tools window. Simply check to confirm the Altium Infrastructure-related Application Pools are in the Started state.

Checking that the Altium Infrastructure Server-related IIS application pools are started after installation.

Looking at the installed application pools, the Altium Infrastructure Server pool is the base platform, into which the other services are plugged.

Installation from the Command Line

The Altium Infrastructure Server can also be installed from the command line, using the following entries:

DatabaseName - name of the database (the database filename). Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData\DXPServer.dat", for the default install.
DataFolder - destination database folder. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData", for the default install.
DBPassword - password portion of your database login credentials, for example MyPassword.
DBServer - the location of the database, in the format Host:Port. For example localhost:3050, for the default Firebird database install.
DBUserName - username portion of your database login credentials, for example MyName.
InstallFolder - the location in which to install the Altium Infrastructure Server. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Infrastructure Server\", for the default install.
Log - use this parameter to change the location and filename of the installation log file. Specify the path within double quotes. If omitted, the default install location will be used (\Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Infrastructure Server\install.log).
Port - the communications port, for example 9780 for the default install.
RevisionFolder - destination revision files folder. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData\Revisions", for the default install.
VERYSILENT - use this parameter to run the installation without any dialogs popping up.

When entering the information on the command line, observe the following:

Start with the name of the installer executable, for example "Altium Infrastructure Server <VersionNumber>.exe".
Enter each parameter, followed by the equals symbol (=), and then its value.
Separate subsequent parameteric entries with a space followed by the forward slash character ( /).
To run without any dialogs popping up, be sure to add the entry VERYSILENT at the end.

An example command line entry might therefore be:

"Altium Infrastructure Server <VersionNumber>.exe" /InstallFolder="C:\Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Infrastructure Server\" /Port=9780 /DBServer=localhost:3050 /DBUserName=MyName /DBPassword=MyPassword /DatabaseName="C:\ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData\DXPServer.dat" /DataFolder="C:\ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData" /RevisionFolder="C:\ProgramData\Altium\InfrastructureServerData\Revisions" /VERYSILENT

The majority of the parameters above are not applicable when updating the server. For a command line approach to updating, it is recommended to use the following:

"Altium Infrastructure Server <VersionNumber>.exe" /VERYSILENT

If you want additional control over whether a backup of your existing server is created, and where, the following can be added to the command line entry:

BackupFile - path to the backup file, when updating the current Infrastructure Server to a later version. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\AIS\Backups\InfrastructureServerBackup18102016.zip".
IgnoreBackup - use this parameter to not create a backup of the current Infrastructure Server, when updating to a later version. This can be very useful when the backup is failing for some reason.