Installing Evo.NET

The guide below describe the requirements and installation process on Windows Server 2022, but the process is similar on earlier versions of Windows Server and even on Windows 10/11 Professional.

You will need to be logged in as an Administrator on the Windows machine you wish to install the application on. The machine should be able to access the Evolution database, either on a local instance of SQL Server or across the network, and you should have the credentials to log in.

For the purposes of this guide, we will be connecting to a local instance of MSSQLSERVER which has an Evolution Common Database called EvolutionCommon and an Evolution Company Database called EvolutionDemo.

If Evo.NET is to be accessible from the Internet or even from other machines on a LAN, the IP address of the machine should resolvable from a name lookup.

Prerequisites

Firstly, Internet Information Services (IIS) must be installed and running (see Installing IIS). You can test this by navigating to http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost or opening IIS Manager from the Start Menu.

Then there are two installations that need to performed to meet the requirements of the application.

The first is the ASP.NET Core Runtime. Please follow this link to download and install the "Windows: Hosting Bundle" of the latest version of .NET 9 available. This bundle allows ASP.NET Core apps to run with IIS.

NOTE

IIS must be installed before running this. If IIS was not installed and you subsequently install it, the Hosting Bundle installer must be run (repaired) again.

The second is the URL Rewrite module. Please follow this link to download and install the "English: x64 installer". This module, along with configuration in the deployed web.config file, will prevent IIS from trying to handle routes which do not exist and returning 404 errors, instead allowing the UI application to manage its own sub-routes.

NOTE

If you receive the message "The IIS 7.0 CoreWebEngine and W3SVC features must be installed to use IIS URL Rewrite Module 2", please check that IIS is installed.

You can follow these steps to check that the required prerequisites have been installed correctly.

Create the Web Sites

Launch the "Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager" application.

Right-click the Sites node and select "Add Website..." to create a web site for the Evo.NET API.

We will create a site that can be accessed locally from this machine by name.

Leave the Application pool as the default new pool.

Browse for and create a new folder for the Physical path where the application's files will reside.

You may leave the Binding Type as http on Port 80 for the purposes of this exercise. If you will be exposing this site to the internet, you will want to add an https binding and specify an SSL certificate.

The Host name is how IIS will identify your site by name from other requests coming into this server on the configured port. If you are just installing on your local machine and only you will be accessing the website, localhost subdomains are an intuitive choice. If you have an Internet-facing web server and a registered domain, you can add a new DNS sub-domain CNAME and set the Host name to that.

Save the new site by clicking OK.

Create another site for the Evo.NET UI.

Create a new folder to locate the web site physically. All other settings my be configured similarly to the API.

Save the new site by clicking OK.

Evo.NET IIS Installer

Download the latest Evo.NET IIS Installer .exe from our Evo.NET Downloads page and run it (you will be prompted for Administrator permission).

1. API Website Name: Select the name of the API website you created.

2. API Binding: Select the website binding you wish to use.

3. Evolution Common Database: Enter a ConnectionString for your Common database. You may click the Build button to launch a simple editor to make input easier.

Click the Test button to test if the server is reachable.

WARNING

If, for security reasons, you would rather use Integrated Security, please ensure that you add the user IIS_APPPOOL\<your-evonet-api-application-pool-name> as a db_owner to your SQL databases, as, while the test may work using your currently logged in user credentials, the IIS website ApplicationPool is the user that will run the program under IIS.

4. UI Website Name: Select the name of the UI website you created.

5. UI Binding: Select the website binding you wish to use.

6. Menu Bar: Options and utilities. Warning: if you Refresh, please recheck your ConnectionString as it will replace any changes with the currently configured value or the default template.

You can now click the Install button to perform the installation. Output from the installer will be displayed in log format.

The installer will launch your default browser and browse to the Host name of the UI web site you created and should get a response without any errors displayed.

If no errors were reported, you may skip ahead to System Configuration to locate your Evolution Companies.

INFO

If the installer reports any errors or the site displays an error message, please see our Troubleshooting API Startup section and Troubleshooting UI Startup section.

TIP

You can run the installer as many times as you like to correct issues without causing any harm.

TIP

Startup performance of your websites can be greatly improved by following this performance tip.

MANUAL INSTALLATION

If you have problems or want full control of the installation, you can follow the Manual Installation guide.

Upgrading

Upgrading to a new version of Evo.NET is as simple as downloading the latest version of the IIS Installer from the Evo.NET Downloads page and running it. Your previous choices and configuration will be remembered so you can immediately click the Install button to effect the upgrade.