Interact installation preparation

Prior to undertaking an installation of Blue Prism Interact it is important to ensure that the architecture is configured to support the installation. Multiple systems are required to support the installation of Interact.

Planning

Before carrying out the installation, the following conditions must be met:

  • A SQL Server must be available to host the Blue Prism component databases, such as, Authentication Server , Hub, Audit, Interact, InteractCache and so on. Administrator-level access is required during the installation process. See Minimum SQL permissions for more details.
  • A Message Broker server must be available hosting RabbitMQ Message Broker.
  • A Web Server for the co-existing Hub (see prerequisites below) and Interact installations
  • Administrator access to the devices where Blue Prism Interact is to be installed must be available. All devices must meet the minimum specifications and the devices must be able to communicate with each other over the local network, including communication with your Blue Prism Database.
  • The account performing the installation must have access to the hosts file. This is typically stored in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts or %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.

When planning your deployment, the following points should be considered:

  • Will the database be added to an existing database server or will a new one be commissioned?

    Blue Prism recommend that databases are kept on separate database servers.

  • Is there sufficient space and resources to host the added databases?

    You should check and ensure that sufficient disk space and compute resources can cope with the additional load.

  • What authentication mode is required for the SQL database (SQL Native or Windows Authentication)?

    This is your IT organizations decision.

  • Has the Message Broker server been setup and configured to support the installation of Hub?

    A Message Broker server is required to complete the installation of Hub.

  • Do all devices where Blue Prism Hub is to be installed meet the minimum requirements (including version 4.7.2 of the .NET Framework)?

    See Software requirements and permissions for details.

Prerequisites

See Software requirements and permissions for details of software requirements and minimum SQL permissions.

Installing Interact requires the following prerequisites:

  • Blue Prism Hub requires a Message Broker server to be installed and configured.
  • The Message Broker server build is a generic setup and base install of a RabbitMQ Message Broker service. It is recommended that the default passwords are changed and any security requirements such as applying SSL certifications are completed by your IT department.

    To complete the Message Broker build, the following need to be downloaded:

    Installation guidance is provided here: https://www.rabbitmq.com/install-windows-manual.html

  • Blue Prism Hub is installed on the web server and therefore requires Internet Information Services Manager (IIS) and the .NET Core components installed. These need to be pre-installed to enable a successful installation of Blue Prism Hub. See Install and configure the web server – Hub for more information.

  • The Interact system is a Web Server and therefore requires IIS Web Server and the .NET Core components installed. These are all installed as part of a successful installation of Blue Prism Interact using the Blue Prism Hub and the Blue Prism Interact installation media.

  • You will be creating the following websites with the Interact installer – you should define the URLs based on your organizations domain:

    Website in IIS

    Default URL

    Websites with a UI for use by end-users

    Blue Prism – Interact

    https://interact.local

    Websites for use by the application only (services)

    Blue Prism – IADA

    https://iada.local

    Blue Prism – Interact Remote API

    https://interactremoteapi.local

    The default URLs shown above are suitable for a standalone environment, such as a test environment. Your organization’s DNS and Domain structures must be considered when choosing host names for your installation.

    These are in addition to the websites created by the Hub installer, see Hub install preparation for a list.

  • Certificates – During the installation process you will be asked for the SSL certificates for the websites being setup. Depending on your infrastructure and IT organization security requirements this could be an internally created SSL certificates or purchased certificates to protect the websites. The installer can be run without the certificates being present, though for the sites to operate, the bindings in the IIS websites will need to have valid SSL certificates present. See Configure SSL Certificatesfor details.
  • By default, IIS Application Pools are used. Application pools must have access to the application files and certificates that are created during installation for data protection and authorization. These certificates are BluePrismCloud_Data_Protection and BluePrismCloud_IMS_JWT which are located within the default Windows certificate folder. If using Windows Authorization for access to SQL server, this will need to be configured manually. For more information, see Default application information.

  • By default, the ‘Local System’ account is used for services. This account must have access to application files. If using Windows Authorization for access to SQL server, this will need to be configured manually.