Installing the Altium Vault

Created: July 27, 2016 | Updated: October 25, 2017

This documentation page references Altium Vault, which has been discontinued. All your PCB design, data management and collaboration needs can now be delivered by Altium Designer and a connected Altium 365 Workspace.

The Altium Vault is a full-blown engineering content management solution that delivers high integrity, smart design and product data management, by providing storage, formal revision management, supply chain intelligence, and lifecycle state management. It also facilitates a wide range of additional technologies and capabilities, by providing a centralized platform from which other vault-related services can be served, including: Team Configuration Management, Project Management, Network Installation, and Centralized Design Collaboration. Installation of the Altium Vault is both intuitive and expedient, courtesy of the Altium Vault Setup wizard.

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

The Altium Vault 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.

While the Altium Vault installer includes automated backup of your existing vault, it is always a good idea to make a pre-update backup of your data yourself - taking a redundancy copy off to one side as it were. This provides additional safety, should any unforeseen technical difficulties arise (see Backing up and Restoring Your Altium Vault Installation). It is advised to test out a new release of the Altium Vault 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 Vault Setup wizard, you need to first download and run an executable – Altium Vault <VersionNumber>.exe. This executable is downloaded from the Downloads page of the Altium website, 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 Vault.

Running the Setup Wizard

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

Initial welcome page for the Altium Vault Setup wizard.

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

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 Vault. The default installation path is \Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Vault. The Altium Vault requires at least 563MB 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 Vault.

The Altium Vault doesn't just provide you with a vault. It also provides the base platform from which additional services are 'plugged' and served. These services include the Vault Service (the Altium Vault itself), Identification Service, Search Service, Comments Service, Data Acquisition Service, Part Catalog Service, and Projects Service.

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

Select Altium Vault 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\VaultServerData
Revision Files Folder – \ProgramData\Altium\VaultServerData\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).

When installing the vault and using Firebird for the database, you also have the option to install a sample data structure. This can be very handy if you are new to vault technology, because it provides a best-practice structure of vault folders in which to start creating your various data Items. To make use of this, simply leave the Install sample data option enabled. Disable this option to start with a clean install, with no structure, other than a Projects high-level vault folder.

Determine install locations for vault data.

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

Altium Vault Configuration

Use this next page of the wizard to specify the port numbers to be used by the Altium Vault 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.

With respect to the HTTP communications port, if you have a previous flavor of vault running on the same PC, ensure that the communication ports are unique. An Altium Vault uses the port 9780, a legacy Altium Personal Vault uses the port 9680, while a legacy Altium Satellite Vault uses port 9880.

Set the port numbers for server communications.

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

Select Altium Vault Database

Use this page of the wizard to specify the type of database used for the vault. Two database types are available:

Firebird
Oracle

Firebird is the default database option. The Firebird 2.5 engine is used, on port 3050, creating a new database for the vault, with native support and no additional options. The Oracle database type facilitates streamlined installation of the Altium Vault within organizations already utilizing this type of database as the back-end for their existing systems. Hosting the vault on their existing infrastructure, reduces installation and management complexity.

Select the type of database for the vault's back-end.

Once the type of database is specified, click Next to continue.

Altium Vault Database Configuration

With the default Firebird database, there are no additional options to define. If the Oracle database type is chosen, this page will be presented. Use it to specify the following information:

TNS Alias - the TNS (Transparent Network Substrate) alias name assigned for the database.
Username - username portion of your database login credentials.
Password - password portion of your database login credentials.

Specify access to your company's Oracle database, which will be used by the Altium Vault.

All database parameters, including the user's password (in encrypted form), are saved to the LocalVault.ini file (located in the \Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Vault folder for a default Altium Vault installation).

Once the database option are specified, 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 Vault 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 vault - either when signing into the vault through your design software, or when accessing the vault through its browser-based interface.

Verifying the Altium Vault is Running

Verification that the Altium Vault 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 Vault-related Application Pools are in the Started state.

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

Looking at the installed application pools, the Altium Vault pool is the base platform, into which the other services are plugged. The Altium Vault itself is plugged in as a service to this platform, and appears as the Altium Vault - Vault Service pool.

Installation from the Command Line

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

BackupFile - path to the backup file, when updating the current vault to a later version. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\Vault\Backups\VaultBackup18102016.zip".
DatabaseName - name of the database (the database filename). Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\ProgramData\Altium\VaultServerData\DXPServer.dat", for the default install.
DataFolder - destination database folder. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\ProgramData\Altium\VaultServerData", 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.
DBType - the type of database to be used. Enter one of the following values: Firebird, or Oracle.
DBUserName - username portion of your database login credentials, for example MyName.
IgnoreBackup - use this parameter to not create a backup of the current vault, when updating to a later version. This can be very useful when the backup is failing for some reason.
InstallFolder - the location in which to install the Altium Vault. Specify the path within double quotes, for example "C:\Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Vault\", for the default install.
InstallSampleSnapshot - control whether sample data is installed into the vault (set value to 1) or a clean vault install without data is made (set value to 0).
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 Vault\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\VaultServerData\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 Vault <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 Vault <VersionNumber>.exe /InstallFolder="C:\Program Files (x86)\Altium\Altium Vault\" /Port=9780 /DBType=Firebird /DBServer=localhost:3050 /DBUserName=MyName /DBPassword=MyPassword /DatabaseName="C:\ProgramData\Altium\VaultServerData\DXPServer.dat" /DataFolder="C:\ProgramData\Altium\VaultServerData" /RevisionFolder="C:\ProgramData\Altium\VaultServerData\Revisions" /VERYSILENT