The CAST Web Installer was deprecated on 12th October 2021. This means that no further development, nor bug fixes will be provided for this component.
Summary: Information about CAST Web Installer, a tool for installing various CAST components automatically.
What is CAST Web Installer?
Deploying CAST AIP and related software can be a challenging task. Various installers must be run and many parameters/options need to be set during installation and post. To make the task easier, CAST Web Installer will install all required software in one shot, on one machine, with the minimum of required parameters/options.
The installer is aimed at those wishing to perform pilots, POCs and assessments where there is a need to install the main CAST AIP components for demonstration purposes all on one machine. CAST does not recommend using this installer for production environments.
What's new?
See CAST Web Installer - Release Notes for more information.
How does the CAST Web Installer work?
The CAST Web Installer has two modes depending on the environment you are working in:
- Online mode - all software is downloaded during the installation process direct from CAST Extend and then installed. This mode requires an internet connection and requires additional time for all software to be downloaded (as of July 2020, total download is approx 2.4GB). The installer will download the latest releases of each piece of software.
- Offline mode - all software must be pre-downloaded before running the installer - this software is then installed.
In addition, if you already have a release of CAST Web Installer installed in the target machine, the setup will offer to update the installed software to the latest release where applicable.
Which software is managed by CAST Web Installer?
| AIP Console (front end) - including embedded Dashboards |
| AIP Core - only for Management/Engineering - Dashboard |
| CAST Storage Service - for Windows |
| CAST Imaging - for Windows |
Compatibility
| ≥ 1.2.0-funcrel | Compatible with AIP Console ≥ 1.20 and CAST Storage Service 4. All other software has no release number limitation. |
|---|---|
| 1.1.0-beta1 and 1.1.0-funcrel | Compatible with AIP Console 1.19 (AIP Console 1.20 is not compatible). All other software has no release number limitation. |
| 1.0.0-alpha1 | Compatible with AIP Console ≤ 1.18. All other software has no release number limitation. |
Deployment requirements
In addition to the requirements listed below, CAST recommends that you consult the Infrastructure sizing guide to view requirements for individual components.
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows only | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAM |
| |||||||||||||||
| Disk | SSD or PCIe NVRAM cards, minimum space required: 20GB. The setup will prevent the installation from starting if there is not enough free disk space. | |||||||||||||||
| No previously installed CAST software | The installer will stop if it detects any existing installations of the software offered by the installer. This software must be fully removed before you can use the CAST Web Installer. | |||||||||||||||
| Internet connection | Both online and offline modes require access to https://extend.castsoftware.com during the installation process. Access is also required to use the installed CAST software. | |||||||||||||||
| CAST Extend account | CAST Extend account credentials are required in both online and offline modes - register here: https://extend.castsoftware.com/#/register. | |||||||||||||||
| Software downloaded | If using offline mode, the installer will require the following packages on disk with the following naming conventions:
| |||||||||||||||
| License keys | During a clean installation, the setup will request license keys for AIP Core (global AIP license key) and for CAST Imaging. You must have these ready. | |||||||||||||||
| Installation path | The installer will suggest C:\Programs, but you are free to choose a different location if necessary. | |||||||||||||||
| Required ports | The following ports are required by the software installed by the CAST Web Installer:
|
Clean installation
Run the setup
Double click the executable file, provided with the installation media. You will be prompted to allow the installation - click Yes. A check is then actioned to detect whether any of the software installed by CAST Web Installer is present on the current machine. If any software is detected, a message is displayed and the setup will stop:
Click to enlarge
If the software check passes, a RAM check is then actioned:
If the RAM check passes, the installation wizard will be displayed. Read and accept the license agreement and click Next:
Choose a location on the local machine that will be used for installation. The setup will suggest a custom location: C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller, but you are free to choose a different location (when using ≥ 1.1.0-beta1, do not use %PROGRAMFILES% as your installation path). Click Next to continue:
Note that if your target server does not have enough free disk space (minimum 20GB) a message will be displayed and the installation will be prevented from starting:
Choose the installation mode you require:
- By default online mode is selected (Download all, then install) - this option will connect to CAST Extend, download the software and then install it. The installer will download the latest releases of each piece of software.
- Select offline mode (Load from local location) if you have already downloaded the setup ZIP files and then use the Browse button to specify the location of the ZIP files on disk - the installer will use these ZIP files during the installation and will not download them from CAST Extend.
Online mode
If you selected online mode (Download all, then install), the installer will request credentials for CAST Extend (register here: https://extend.castsoftware.com/#/register) - these are required in the software you are installing and also to download the software itself. Enter your CAST Extend login/password and click Next (the installer will not check that these credentials are valid - i.e. no internet access is required at this time):
The installer will now request the CAST AIP Core and CAST Imaging license keys. Click Next to continue. Note: You can obtain the license keys by contacting CAST Support, if you have a valid contract with CAST.
The installer will then request the ports to use for CAST Storage Service, AIP Console (front end) and AIP Node (back end). CAST recommends leaving these at their default unless you have other services running on the same port. Click Next to continue:
A summary of the proposed installation will then be displayed. Click Next to continue:
Click Install to start the installation process. The software will first be downloaded from CAST Extend- this may take some time depending on your internet connection (as of July 2020, total download is approx 2.4GB). The installer will download the latest releases of each piece of software.
Offline mode
If you selected offline mode (Load from local location), a check will be actioned to ensure that the required ZIP files are present at the specified location on disk (by default C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\packages). If they are not, a warning is issued and you should ensure that you have downloaded the correct ZIP files and that they are named as expected:
If the ZIP file check passes, the installer will request credentials for CAST Extend (register here: https://extend.castsoftware.com/#/register) - these are required in the software you are installing. Enter your CAST Extend login/password and click Next (the installer will not check that these credentials are valid - i.e. no internet access is required at this time):
The installer will then request the CAST AIP Core and CAST Imaging license keys. These can be acquired by contacting CAST Support. Click Next to continue:
The installer will then request the ports to use for CAST Storage Service, AIP Console (front end) and AIP Node (back end). CAST recommends leaving these at their default unless you have other services running on the same port. Click Next to continue:
A summary of the proposed installation will then be displayed. Click Next to continue:
Click Install to start the installation process.
What is installed?
Files
On completion of the installation, all files related to the installed software are stored in C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller:
C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\caip C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\css C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\imaging C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\console
Windows Services
The following Windows Services will be created, started and set to start automatically:
| Windows Service name |
|---|
| AIP Console |
| AIP Node |
| CASTStorageService3 / CASTStorageService4 |
| CAST Imaging System - imaging-ETL |
| CAST Imaging System - Frontend service |
| CAST Imaging System - imaging-service |
| CAST Imaging System - login service |
| CAST Imaging System - sourcecode service |
| CAST Imaging System - Neo4j Graph Database |
Update a previous installation
- Updating a previous installation of CAST Web Installer and the installed CAST components is only possible when running the setup provided in ≥ 1.2.0-funcrel.
- You can update from any previous release of CAST Web Installer.
- CAST Web Installer will offer to update the CAST software components if it detects that an older release of the component is currently installed on the machine:
- When working in offline mode, the newer release of the software must be provided manually.
- When working in online mode, the most recent release of the software will be downloaded and installed from CAST Extend, if you choose to update.
- If you have CAST Storage Service 3 installed, CAST Web Installer will not offer to upgrade this release to CAST Storage Service 4.
- If you have existing data in AIP Console and CAST Imaging, this data will be preserved and will be available in the new release.
- License keys for AIP Core (global AIP license key) and CAST Imaging will be preserved and will be available in the new release.
- If you chose to update AIP Core, this requires that you perform a schema upgrade for your applications. See Application and schema upgrade for more information about this process.
Run the setup
Double click the executable file, provided with the installation media. You will be prompted to allow the installation - click Yes. A RAM check is then actioned (exactly as during a Clean installation). If the RAM check passes, the installation wizard will be displayed. Read and accept the license agreement and click Next:
Choose the required installation mode. If you select offline mode (Load packages from a local location), a check will be actioned to ensure that the required ZIP files are present at the specified location on disk (by default C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\packages). If they are not, a warning is issued and you should ensure that you have downloaded the correct ZIP files and that they are named as expected. Click Next:
The setup will now list the CAST software components that can be updated to a newer release:
- If you are working in offline mode, the setup will compare the release number of the installed software and the packages you have provided
- If you are working in online mode, the setup will compare the release number of the installed software and the most recent release available on CAST Extend
Choose the software components you want to update and click Next:
In online mode, the setup will prompt for your CAST Extend credentials (this screen is not displayed in offline mode). Click Next:
A summary of the proposed update will then be displayed. Click Finish to start the update process.
Post installation/update
AIP Console
To access AIP Console, browse to the following URL - modify the port number if you chose a different port during the installation process:
http://localhost:8081/ui/index.html
For a new installation, you will need to go through the standard start-up wizard, however, steps 3 (Validate AIP license), 4 (enter CAST Extend credentials) and 5 (enter CAST Storage Service details for the Measure schema) will have the details prefilled for you.
CAST Imaging
To access CAST Imaging, browse to the following URL:
http://localhost:8083/
For a new installation, CAST Imaging will be empty and you will need to go through the standard setup steps as described in Clean installation - Microsoft Windows to import new application data. The license key will be prefilled.
Uninstall process
To uninstall the CAST AIP applications installed by CAST Web Installer, use the standard Microsoft Windows Add or Remove Programs interface. CAST also recommends running a hard cleanup batch file to ensure that all traces of the CAST AIP applications have been correctly removed. This batch file can be found in:
C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\packages\hard_cleaner\Clean_Setup_Web_installer.bat
Run this from a command prompt as follows - change c:\my_path\to_installation to the installation folder you chose:
Clean_Setup_Web_installer.bat installdir="c:\my_path\to_installation"
