Summary: this page provides information about how to install the CAST Storage Service (CSS) for Windows.
Where can I obtain the CAST Storage Service?
You can obtain the CAST Storage Service from CAST Extend.
Installation prerequisites and information
To install and use the CAST Storage Service, please take note of the following:
Deployment requirements
See CAST Storage Service - Deployment requirements.
Coexistence
The CAST Storage Service can co-exist with previous releases on the same workstation. Please ensure, however, that the following options are different for each instance of CSS:
| Option | Description | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installation path | Ensure the installation path on the target workstation is different to any existing CAST Storage Service. By default, the path is set to: %PROGRAMFILES%\CAST\CASTStorageService<version>\db_data | ||||||
| Port | Ensure the port number on which the CAST Storage Service runs is not used by an existing CAST Storage Service or by any other third-party service installed on the workstation. By default, all releases of CAST Storage Service use different port numbers:
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| Data folder | Ensure that the folder used to store the CAST Storage Service data (known as "db_data") is unique. |
Compatibility
End-user applications in CAST AIP ≤ 8.2.5 are not authorized to connect to the CAST Storage Service 3.0.x
Characters allowed in the installation path
Generally speaking, the installation path must only contain ASCII characters or characters of the language (or language group) of your Windows operating system. More precisely, all characters in the installation path must be present in the system Windows code page of your workstation. The system Windows code page is determined by the system locale. The system locale is defined in:
- Control Panel > Clock, Language, and Region > Region and Language > Administrative > Language for non-Unicode programs.
This language defaults to the language of the Windows operating system and can be changed, if needed.
As an example, on any western European Windows installation, the system code page is Win-1252; on central European Windows installations, the code page is Win-1250, and on a Turkish Windows installation, the code page is Win-1254. The exact value of the code page is stored in the Windows registry at the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage
The value in the key 'ACP' indicates the current system Windows code page (also called ANSI Code Page, hence 'ACP'). If your installation path contains any character not present in the system Windows code page (e.g. a cyrillic character on a French Windows installation), then you may encounter issues using the CAST Storage Service.
Pre-installation check list
Before beginning the installation process, please ensure that you have carried out all of the following tasks and that the following requirements have been met:
 | You need local "Administrator" privileges to install the CAST Storage Service on all Windows versions. In addition, the Windows installer requires "elevated permissions" and therefore needs to be run using the "Run as Administrator" option. |
| The CAST Storage Service installer is delivered in a ZIP file. Make sure you have the required ZIP file ready. |
| Unzip the ZIP file to a convenient location on the workstation |
| Make sure that you disable your anti-virus software prior to launching the installer. |
Installation procedure
Interactive mode
- Right click the setup.bat file located in the folder created when you unzip the installer:
- Choose Run as Administrator in the contextual menu
- When the installer loads, click Next and then read and accept the License Agreement
- Choose a location for the CAST Storage Service - the setup will propose: %PROGRAMFILES%\CAST\CASTStorageService<version>. Generally speaking, the installation path must only contain ASCII characters or characters of the language (or language group) of your Windows operating system.
- Click Next (or Change to modify the installation location) and you will also be prompted to choose the location for the CAST Storage Service data and the port number for incoming connections to the CAST Storage Service. CAST recommends leaving both options to their defaults unless you know what you want to achieve:
- The installer will then ask for final confirmation before starting the installation process when you click Install:
- When the installer completes, the CAST Storage Service will be installed and will be ready for use. If you would like more information:
- about what to expect after installing the CAST Storage Service, please see CAST Storage Service - What to expect after installation.
- about backing up/restoring a CAST Storage Service, resetting the default user passwords, managing user defined parameters and optimizing the databases installed on the CAST Storage Service, please see CAST Storage Service - Maintenance activities.
In some circumstances, the installer may appear to have completed, but a message will also be displayed as follows (more information about this is available here: http://kb.flexerasoftware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=Q111303):
"The system has not been modified. To install this program at a later time, run the installation again."_This message indicates that the setup has failed and that no CAST programs have been installed. This can occur even when your user login has "Administrator" privileges. In order to workaround this, you need to assign your user login a specific Windows privilege entitled _"Impersonate a client after authentication".
Silent CLI mode
This method runs the installation in CLI mode. Note that local Administrator rights are required to run the setup - as such you may need to run the Command Prompt (cmd) with the "Run as Administrator" option, or, if you are running the script in a batch file, you may need to run the batch file with administrator rights.
- On the workstation on which you want to install the CAST Storage Service, open the Command Prompt (CMD). Change the folder and/or directory and/or drive to that containing the CAST Storage Service setup.bat file (this is located in the root folder that is created from the CAST Storage Service zip file):
- Enter the following commands in the CMD window (or place them in a batch file if you prefer), changing the various options to suit your installation:
set SILENT=/s setup.bat /qn INSTALLDIR="<INSTALLPATH_CSS>" CSSPORT="<CSS_PORT>" DBDATADIR="<INSTALLPATH_CSSDATA>"
| Option | Description | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INSTALLDIR | Enter the full path to the location on disk where you want to install the CAST Storage Service binaries. The default location chosen by the GUI installer is:
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| CSSPORT | Enter the port number on which you want to run the CAST Storage Service. The following ports are offered by the GUI installer:
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| DBDATADIR | Enter the full path to the location on disk where you want to store the CAST Storage Service data. The default location chosen by the GUI installer is:
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Windows Firewall configuration
If you have the Windows Firewall running on your workstation, and your CAST Storage Service needs to accept incoming connections from other workstations (i.e. CAST AIP installed on a remote workstation within the LAN) then you will need to configure it to allow these incoming connections. Please ensure that you allow inbound TCP connections on the required port - click to enlarge:
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Upgrading CAST AIP schemas to a new release of CAST Storage Service
If you have installed a new release of CAST Storage Service and want to move your existing CAST AIP schemas to this new release, see CAST Storage Service - Moving existing schemas to new hosts for more information.
