Installing the Software

Owned by Guy Avery
Last updated: Jan 31, 2024 by Charlotte Dakin-Norris
8 min read

Overview

Witness™ 4.0 has a single installer application that can be used for installing a single service on multiple hardware platforms or for installing several services on the same platform. When using the installer, it is important that you select the correct services and plugins for the required role of the hardware platform. Please refer to the System Design documentation to see what different roles you can configure for different hardware platforms. This design will change depending on the number of radars you will be using and whether you are implementing the resilience features.

Contents

Prerequisites

There are a number of prerequisites which must be installed prior to running the software. It is recommended that these are installed before installing Witness™. Please refer to Software Prerequisites for more information:.

Selecting Software Components

Open the installer application. Once running, move onto the licence page and confirm you accept the terms of the terms of the licence. Select your language. Once complete move onto component selection.

The predefined options for the components are as follows:

  • Complete: This installs a complete system onto a single platform. This is a good solution for testing, demonstration and small-scale trials but must never be used for production systems. If you require any integration plugins, then they should be selected at this point.

  • User Interface: This will just install the Helvellyn client. The client can be installed on multiple PCs, but you must have a licence for each instance.

  • Management Server: This will just install the Management Server service. If you require any integration plugins, then they should be selected at this point because they only work with the Management Server.

  • Track Engine: This will just install the Track Engine service. The Situational Awareness components are automatically installed with the Track Engine but are not available unless they are correctly licensed.

  • Mobile Server: This will just install the Mobile Server service. This allows the operator to access the Witness™ Mobile client.

  • Camera Controller: This will just install the Camera Controller service. Camera Plugins will be installed by default.

  • MongoDb Server: This will just install the MongoDb database service. This enables the service to be installed on separate servers where required, either as part of replica set for resilience or just to separate the database load from other services.

  • Custom: Custom is not a predefined option, but the installer will switch to custom if you select any combination of components that do not match the predefined options. For example, if you installed the Management Server and selected an Integration plugin then this would become a custom install.

Selecting different components may have an impact on what further pages appear during the install process. The installer will only ask for information which is required the selected components.

Additional Components

These can be installed through a Custom install. 

  • Integration Plugins: These are additional, stand-alone software components that can be integrated with Witness™. They are discussed and explained in full in Integration Configurations:. Tick the component boxes to add to the install.

Integration Plugins must be installed to each UI and Management Server, for every installation.

Installation Location

The installation location can now be chosen.

Configuring the Components

Having selected the required components, you must provide some basic settings, so the software knows how to start and find all the other components on the network.

Management Server, Camera Controller, Mobile Server and Track Engine Settings

The following fields must be completed when prompted:

  • Management Server Address (Required for Management Server, Camera Controller, Mobile Server & Track Engine Installs): This must be the interface address of the Management Server. This must be provided for all components so:

    • The Management Server knows what address to listen on so other services can connect across the network

    • All other services know where to find the Management Server so they can connect

Be careful using the loop back address (127.0.0.1). This will work for systems where all the services are on the same physical PC or server, but this will not work if you have services on different systems. If you are not sure which to use then we would always recommend you use the primary IP address of the system, not the loop back address. Lastly, never use the name localhost in place of the loop back address. If you are confident that you can use the loop back address, then always use the 127.0.0.1 IP address.

  • Use Auto-Discovery for services (Required for Management Server, Camera Controller, Mobile Server & Track Engine Installs): This option must be selected if you are using the resilient features and are installing two Management Servers. This enables all services to discovery which Management Server is currently the primary so they can successfully connect. This option is not required if you are only installing a single Management Server.

  • Use TLS for Services: This option is enabled by default. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is an encryption protocol that protects data when it moves between computers. 

  • Multicast Interface Address (Required for Management Server, Camera Controller, Mobile Server & Track Engine Installs): This field can be left at the default 0.0.0.0 where there is only one network adaptor in the system and where that adaptor is only configured with a single IP address. If the system has multiple adaptors or a single adaptor with multiple addresses (a setup usually referred to as multi-homing) then this field must be set to the IP address used on the interface which connects the system to the rest of the Witness™ services.

  • Multicast Address: The multicast address has two modes of working.
    One method uses failover in multicast mode, which has a multicast address of the form 239.x.x.x.
    The other method uses failover in unicast mode which is a pair of addresses separated by a comma for the Management Servers, with the first address being the Management Server you are installing the Management Server onto. For example, you have two Management Servers - MS1 with an IP address of 192.168.0.5 and MS2 with an IP address of 192.168.0.6. So, when installing onto MS1, the address would be 192.168.0.5,192.168.0.6 and when installing on MS2 the address would be 192.168.0.6,192.168.0.5.

  • Management Server Rank (Required for Management Server Installs Only): This field must be completed when you are installing more than one Management Server. The rank dictates which of the two servers is primary and which is secondary. A lower rank value (normally 0) indicates the primary server. A higher value (normally 1) indicates the secondary. If you are not using the resilient features, then this field should be left at the default value of 0.

  • Database Server Address (Required for Management Server Only): This is the address of one or more of the database servers that the Management Server is required to use. If you are using a single database, then should be the IP address of the database system. If you are using a replica set - for resilience - then typically you will need to provide three IP addresses, one for each server in the replica set. The IP addresses can be entered as a comma separated list i.e., 10.0.1.10,10.0.1.11,10.0.1.12

  • Database Name (Required for Management Server Installs Only): This must be completed with the name of the database used for this installation. Unless you have a specific requirement to change the name it should be left at the default value.

Database Settings

If you selected the MongoDb server as a component, then you will be asked for the database settings.

The following fields must be completed when prompted:

  • Use Replica Set: this should be selected if the database server you are installing is part of a resilient replica set.

  • Database Path: This is the location where the database will store its data. Depending on the size of the installation and the amount of data you need to record, the database can get very large. In this situation we would strongly recommend that the data is stored on a separate drive or partition to the operating system.

Copying Files

Once you have provided all the necessary settings, you need to select the Install button to copy all the files to disk. All the relevant files will be automatically copied to the default application folder: Program Files\Navtech Radar\Witness.

Final Settings

Once the selected components have been installed, a preset but editable Service Username and Password will be configured, or you can use a pre-existing account.

You will be prompted for some service settings:

  • Start service(s) after install: This option should be selected unless you have a good reason not to start the services. If you choose not to select this option, then the installed services can be started with a system reboot or by using the Services Control Manager (SCM).

  • Set service(s) to manual startup: This option prevents the services starting automatically when the system boots. This should never be used for a production system, only for engineering or test installations. With this option set, the services can only be started using the SCM, and this option can only be changed by reinstalling the services.

When ready, select Next and Finish on the final page to close the installer.

Safety is everything.