This guide walks you through installing Appian on a single machine with MySQL database for use in a local, non-production environment. While this guide uses the Windows operating system and MySQL database as examples, similar steps apply for Linux installations and other databases.
This guide does not cover the steps necessary to complete an enterprise installation. See the Windows Installation Guide or Linux Installation Guide for enterprise installation instructions.
Download and install the following using the linked instructions:
Software | Download | Instructions |
---|---|---|
JDK | Download not required. The Appian installation includes OpenJDK 8. | |
MySQL | Download MySQL MSI Installer (Supported version) | Install and Setup MySQL Server |
MySQL Workbench | Download MySQL WorkBench | Install and Setup MySQL Workbench |
Download the following before you begin your Appian installation:
Software | Download |
---|---|
Appian Installer | Download the Appian Installer |
MySQL Connector/J Driver | Download MySQL Connector/J Driver (Supported version) |
Appian License Files | Follow Requesting and Installing a License |
Refer to the Prerequisites page and the System Requirements page for information on which version to download.
Note: Download the MySQL Connector/J Driver files as ZIP files.
localhost
and port: 3306
.root
and password of password
. Any values can be used, and they do not need to be unique to the local installation.Create a database schema by clicking the cylindrical schema symbol on the top left of the MySQL Workbench window as shown in the screenshot below.
Refer to the System Requirements page for more information.
During the installation and configuration process, you will install Appian and then use the configuration script to configure it.
The following placeholders are used throughout this document to keep the installation directories easy to read. Replace XXX in the example location with the version number, such as 161 or 171 for Appian 16.1 and 17.1 respectively.
Directory | Description | Example Location |
---|---|---|
APPIAN_HOME | Directory where Appian is installed | C:\appianXXX\appian |
REPO_HOME | Directory of the configuration repository | C:\appianXXX\repo\appian |
Tip: Note: Many variables throughout this guide, including these directories, will be encapsulated with angle brackets <>
such as in <VARIABLE>
. Any text or variables entered during installation should not include these angle brackets.
Appian is installed using a graphical installer. The installer automatically installs Appian in C:\appian
unless you specify another directory. Do not install Appian in a directory where another version of Appian is already installed. Do not use the following characters in the name of your installation directory: & ^ = ( ) <space>
To install Appian:
C:\
and name the folder appianXXX
, where XXX is the current version number of Appian to install. If you are installing a second instance of Appian, name it appianXXX_2
. These directories allow you to have multiple local installations of Appian.appian
and place it within C:\appianXXX
. This would result in a final target directory such as C:\appianXXX\appian\
.C:\appianXXX\appian\
.A Program Compatibility Assistant dialog may appear after the installer closes. This issue does not affect the Appian installation. If this happens, click This program installed correctly to dismiss the warning.
The configure script, configure.bat, is a command line utility that provides a menu-driven interface for executing configuration and deployment tasks. You will use the first three menu options during this part. Later, you will return to the configure script to complete the configuration and deployment.
Menu Item | Comments |
---|---|
1 - Create or select repository |
Creates the repository where your custom configurations will be stored. Important: This path must be different from the installation path. |
2 - Create initial backup of Appian installation | Creates a backup directory that does not include customizations. This backup can be used to restore the installation if you wish to undo custom configurations later. See Backing Up Appian for additional details. |
3 - Register an environment |
Allows you to create different environments with different configurations. You will only need to register one environment during this installation process. Note: Some names, such as xml and bat, are reserved and cannot be used as an environment name—see Registering an Environment for a complete list. |
To create a local configuration repository (REPO_HOME)
Open the command prompt, and then run the following command:
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<APPIAN_HOME>\_admin\_scripts\configure\configure.bat
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======================================================================
Configure Appian
This script assists with configuring Appian on various environments.
======================================================================
1 - Create or select repository
2 - Create initial backup of Appian installation
B - Back
Q - Quit
> 1
Enter path of repository directory
B - Back
Q - Quit
> C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
When you have finished, you will see something similar to the screenshot below (notice that more menu options are now available). The example in the screenshots uses C:\appianXXX\repo\appian as the path.
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======================================================================
Configure Appian
This script assists with configuring Appian on various environments.
======================================================================
1 - Create or select repository
2 - Create initial backup of Appian installation
B - Back
Q - Quit
> 1
Enter path of repository directory
B - Back
Q - Quit
> C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
Repository updated to C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
======================================================================
Configure Appian
This script assists with configuring Appian on various environments.
======================================================================
Repository location: C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
1 - Change repository
2 - Create initial backup of Appian installation
3 - Register an environment
4 - Validate configurations
5 - Deploy configurations
6 - Tools
B - Back
Q - Quit
>
To create the initial backup
Note: Note: Creating the initial backup takes several minutes. Wait for this to complete before proceeding.
To register an environment
You will need to use the name of the registered environment when configuring MySQL in the next part. The environment is referred using the placeholder ENVIRONMENT throughout the remainder of this guide.
Tip: If any paths were incorrectly entered during this section, these values can be modified in the file: <APPIAN_HOME>\_admin\_scripts\configure\.configure
.
Make the following changes to the custom.properties.<ENVIRONMENT> file:
<REPO_HOME>\conf
..<ENVIRONMENT>
extension, it may be due to your computer’s known extensions setting.Set conf.suite.SCHEME
to http by removing the letter s
at the end and uncommenting the line by deleting the #
sign:
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#conf.suite.SCHEME=https
which should now appear as
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conf.suite.SCHEME=http
Uncomment the following line, replacing <YOUR_VALUE> with your machine's fully qualified domain name (FQDN), which uses the pattern myhost.domain.com:
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#conf.suite.SERVER_AND_PORT=<YOUR_VALUE>:8080
which should now appear as:
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conf.suite.SERVER_AND_PORT=<YOUR_VALUE>:8080
.company.com
tag, and do not include the angle brackets <>
around YOUR_VALUE. A hypothetical FQDN is MY355COMP86NAME.acme.com
.Uncomment the following lines, and set the values equal to the JNDI name, jdbc/AppianDS
, used in <REPO_HOME>\conf\tomcatResources.xml.<ENVIRONMENT>
(do not use quotes around the JNDI names in this file):
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#conf.data.APPIAN_DATA_SOURCE=
which should now appear as
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conf.data.APPIAN_DATA_SOURCE=jdbc/AppianDS
<APPIAN_HOME>\services\bin\
.password.bat
), using the -p
option to specify a password.<APPIAN_HOME>\services\conf\service_manager.conf
to <REPO_HOME>\services\conf\service_manager.conf.<ENVIRONMENT>
. You will need to create the <REPO_HOME>\services\conf\
directory if you have not previously completed this step.Next, you will need to change the data source for your MySQL files from the default data source of MariaDB to a MySQL database.
To do this:
<REPO_HOME>\conf\tomcatResources.xml.<ENVIRONMENT>
.In the line below, replace the JDBC URL subprotocol mariadb
with mysql
and appian_primary
with your primary data source name, such as appianXXX_primary
:
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url="jdbc:mariadb://localhost:3306/appian_primary?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true&useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=utf8"
If your datasource name is appianXXX_primary
, this line should now appear as:
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url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/appianXXX_primary?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true&useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=utf8"
driverClassName
configuration value to com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
.The final configuration should look something like this:
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<Resource name="jdbc/AppianDS"
factory="com.appiancorp.tomcat.datasource.EncodedPasswordDataSourceFactory"
type="javax.sql.DataSource"
driverClassName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"
url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/appianXXX_primary?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true&useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=utf8"
username=""
password=""
initialSize="5"
maxActive="100"
defaultTransactionIsolation="READ_COMMITTED"
maxWait="30000"
minIdle="5"
minEvictableIdleTimeMillis="90000"
timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis="450000"
validationQuery="SELECT 1"
testOnBorrow="true"
/>
We are now ready to return to the configure script to encode the MySQL data source password for use by Appian. This capability is available from the 6 - Tools menu option.
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<APPIAN_HOME>\_admin\_scripts\configure\configure.bat
<REPO_HOME>\conf\tomcatResources.xml.<ENVIRONMENT>
.<Resource>
tag with a name of jdbc/AppianDS
username=""
line to include the username you previously configured for MySQL above, root
password=""
line to include MYSQL_PW_HASH that you generated above1
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======================================================================
Configure Appian
This script assists with configuring Appian on various environments.
======================================================================
Repository location: C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
1 - Change repository
2 - Create initial backup of Appian installation
3 - Register an environment
4 - Validate configurations
5 - Deploy configurations
6 - Tools
B - Back
Q - Quit
> 6
======================================================================
Configure Appian
This script assists with configuring Appian on various environments.
======================================================================
Repository location: C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
Select a tool to execute
1 - Encode passwords for use in data source configuration
2 - Configure Tomcat clustering by specifying a node name
B - Back
Q - Quit
> 1
Enter the password to encode for use in datasource configuration
B - Back
Q - Quit
> mypassword
Encoded password: p5Ccm85AkVo1JGo3PBU7eg==
======================================================================
Configure Appian
This script assists with configuring Appian on various environments.
======================================================================
Repository location: C:\appianXXX\repo\appian
Select a tool to execute
1 - Encode passwords for use in data source configuration
2 - Configure Tomcat clustering by specifying a node name
B - Back
Q - Quit
>
Appian requires the MySQL Connector/J driver, downloaded in the Requirements section.
<REPO_HOME>\
, create directory \tomcat\apache-tomcat\lib\
.lib\
folder.Copy the temporary license files from the Requirements section.
k3.lic
inside the <REPO_HOME>\server\_bin\k\win64
directory.k4.lic
inside the <REPO_HOME>\data-server\engine\bin\q\w64
directory.Caution: Warning: The license file names must exactly match "k3.lic" and "k4.lic" respectively. Any change to the file names will cause the Appian engines to not start properly.
Use the configure script to validate your environment's configuration and deploy Appian.
Open the command prompt, and then run the following command:
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<APPIAN_HOME>\_admin\_scripts\configure\configure.bat
Note: If you need to modify configurations when troubleshooting a local installation that fails to start properly, you must rerun these 4 deployment steps.
After you have completed the process above, you are ready to start Appian for the first time. Starting and stopping the system properly is very important for maintaining the highest levels of system availability. Improper shutdowns can cause system issues.
For your convenience, the instructions to start Appian are included below. See Starting and Stopping Appian for more information about stopping the system correctly.
Open the command prompt, and then run the following commands (wait for each to finish before starting the next):
<APPIAN_HOME>\services\bin\start.bat -p <password> -s all
<APPIAN_HOME>\data-server\bin\start.bat
<APPIAN_HOME>\search-server\bin\start.bat
<APPIAN_HOME>\tomcat\apache-tomcat\bin\start-appserver.bat
Appian has started successfully when the command line displays a message similar to:
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INFO [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start Server startup in 377928 ms
If any configurations are changed while troubleshooting, rerun Part Seven: Deploy the Configurations before starting Appian again.
Once started, you will be able to
.company.com
tag in the FQDN name.Administrator
and temporary password admin
.The default Administrator
account cannot access the Admin Console, so a separate account is required to complete the following steps.
The first thing that you should do after logging into Appian for the first time is configure it to connect to a business data source.
To set up the Business Data Source:
"jdbc/"
. root
and the password password
(not the hash).Enter the following connection string:
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jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/<BUSINESS_SCHEMA>?useOldAliasMetadataBehavior=true
where BUSINESS_SCHEMA is the one noted in the Requirements section, such appianXXX_business
where XXX is the Appian version number. Do not include quotations around the connection string and do not include the angle brackets <>
around BUSINESS_SCHEMA.
Quick Start Installation Guide