Install the Blue Prism Decision Model Service

The Blue Prism Decision Model Service is available using two different technologies:

  • As a Windows service
  • As a Linux container

Only one of these needs to be installed. You should install the version that most suits your organization's technical infrastructure.

Install the Windows service

The Blue Prism Decision Model Service includes the Model Learning API that is used by the Decision plugin. The Decision Model Service installer must be used to install the Windows service before the Hub installation is carried out as you will need to enter the details into the install wizard.

To watch the Decision Model Service installation process using the MSI, see our Blue Prism Decision Model Service installation video.

Prerequisites

  • A Windows server with:

    • Intel Dual Xeon Processor

    • 8 GB RAM

    • Windows Server 2016 Datacenter or 2019

    This is the same specification as required by Blue Prism Hub. For more information, see the Web Server requirements in the Blue Prism Hub Install Guide.

  • 150 MB of disk space on the Windows server.

The Decision Model Service can be installed on the same server as Blue Prism Hub, or it can be installed on a different server. If you run it on a different server, you may need to create some firewall rules to allow two-way communication, namely allow requests on the port where Decision Model Service is running.

Installation steps

Download and run the Blue Prism Decision Model Service installer, available from the Blue Prism Portal, and progress through the installer as shown below. The installer must be run with administrator rights. Alternatively, this can be run as a silent install.

The Blue Prism Decision Model Service installer is available in multiple languages, but the language cannot be changed from the MSI user interface.

To run the installer in a language other than English:

  1. Open Command Prompt and change the directory to the location where the installer is stored.
  2. Type the following command, changing the LOCALE value to the language you require:

    Copy
    msiexec /i "Decision Model Service 1.2.0.msi" LOCALE="ja-JP"

    You must ensure that the name of the MSI entered in the command line matches the MSI file name, and that the LOCALE represents the language you want to use. The example above will run the installer in Japanese. The languages available are:

    • "fr-FR" – French
    • "de-DE" – German
    • "es-419" – Spanish
    • "ja-JP" – Japanese
    • "zh-Hans" – Simplified Chinese

Step

Installer page

Details

1

Welcome

Click Next.

2

License agreement

Read the End-User License Agreement and if you agree to the terms, select the check box and click Next.

3

Destination folder

Specify the required installation folder. The default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Blue Prism Limited\Decision Model Service, but you can choose your own using the Change button.

Click Next.

4

Decision Service Setup

Configure the Decision Service.

You need to:

  • In Port, 50051 is the default port number. If you want to use a different port, enter the port number that the service will run on.
  • In Server Key Path, enter the path for the server.key file for the model host.
  • In Server Certificate Path, enter the path for the server.crt file for the model host.
  • In CA Certificate Path, enter the path for the ca.crt file for the model host.

Click Next to install the model service.

5

Installation complete

The final completed screen displays when the installation completes successfully.

If the installation fails, the View Log option gives details of the error that was encountered.

Click Finish.

If you open Services, you can see the Decision Model Service listed, with the Startup Type set to Automatic.

Silent installation

Installing the Decision Model Service by silent installation via command line acts as your acceptance of the End User License Terms.

  1. Download the Blue Prism Decision Model Service installer from the Blue Prism Portal.
  2. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
  3. Run the following command:

    Copy
    msiexec /i "<msi path and filename>" /passive /l log.txt INSTALLDIR="<Enter your install directory>" DECISION_PORT=50051 DECISION_SERVER_CERTIFICATE_KEY_PATH="<path>\server.key" DECISION_SERVER_CERTIFICATE_PATH="<path>\server.crt" DECISION_CA_CERTIFICATE_PATH="<path>\ca.crt"

    Where:

    • <msi path and filename> is the relational path to the msi. If the command is being run from the same location as the msi, then this is just the filename.
    • <Enter your install directory> is the location where you want to install the Decision Model Service.
    • 50051 is the default port. If you want to use a different port, change this value.
    • <path> is replaced with the full path of the certificate and related files created in Generate an SSL Certificate.

Install the Linux container

The Blue Prism Decision Model Service container includes the Model Learning API that is used by the Decision plugin. This container must be deployed and running before the Hub installation is carried out as you will need to enter the details into the install wizard.

To watch the Decision Model Service installation process using the container, see our Blue Prism Decision Model Service installation video.

Prerequisites

  • A Docker host is required that is capable of running Linux containers.

    • Blue Prism recommends that your production environment uses a Linux server as the host. Docker Engine is required to run the Decision Model Service container, for more information see the Docker help: Install Docker Engine.
    • For POC or Dev environments, a Windows server can be used. Docker Desktop is required to run the Decision Model Service container, for more information see the Docker help: Install Docker Desktop on Windows.
  • 500 MB of disk space for the container.

Installation steps

  1. Open the Decision Model Service container page on DockerHub.
  2. Copy the pull command from the container page and run it in the command line. For example:

    Copy
    docker pull blueprism/decision-model-service:<version>

    Where <version> matches the version number shown on the Tags tab on DockerHub.

  3. Set the container running using the following command:

    Copy
    docker run -d -v "<Absolute path of certificate location>:/certs" -e server_key="/certs/server.key" -e server_cert="/certs/server.crt" -e ca_cert="/certs/ca.crt" --restart always -p 50051:50051 blueprism/decision-model-service:<version>

    Where:

    <Absolute path of certificate location> is replaced with the full path of the certificate created in Generate an SSL Certificate.

    <version> is replaced with the version number of the Decision Model Service container.

  4. Check the container is running using the following command:

    Copy
    docker ps -a