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Install App Builder on Linux

Introduction

To install App Builder on Debian or Red Hat Linux, you must get software dependencies installed and configured, download and unpack a .tar.gz file, create a configuration file, then start App Builder on the command line.

Known issue

Linux installations of App Builder have a known issue where reports are unable to be generated. This issue is prioritized to be fixed imminently. The issue does not exist with Windows installations.

Prerequisites

You must have the following:

  • A host that meets the system requirements.

  • A host account with root or sudo privileges. Use it for all actions on this page.

Get and unpack the software

To get the App Builder software, follow these steps:

  1. Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to get a copy of the App Builder 4.0 software.

  2. In a terminal, run the following commands to create an installation directory and unpack the downloaded file:

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    mkdir /app && cd $_
tar -C /app -xvfz PATH_TO/AppBuilder-*-lin.tar.gz

    Notes

    • Line 1: The choice of /app is arbitrary, as App Builder can run from any location where you have read/write access.

    • Line 2: If there is more than one .tar.gz file in PATH_TO, specify the exact filename.

Configure

To configure App Builder on startup, create an /app/appsettings.json file containing the following, with values substituted according to the table below:

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{
    "ConnectionInfo": {
        "DatabaseType": "DB_TYPE",
        "HostName": "DB_HOSTNAME",
        "DatabaseName": "DB_NAME",
        "UserName": "DB_USERNAME",
        "Password": "DB_PASSWORD"
    },
    "License": {
        "LicenseKey": "LICENSE_KEY"
  }
}
Line Value Replace with
3 DB_TYPE The backend database type: SQLServer, MySQL, or PostgreSql
4 DB_HOSTNAME The backend database server name or IP address.
5 DB_NAME AppBuilder (Recommended)
6 DB_USERNAME The backend database username.
7 DB_PASSWORD The backend database password.
10 LICENSE_KEY (Optional) Base64 encoded version of your App Builder license file. If omitted, you are prompted for it on first login.

Run

To start the App Builder server and log into it, follow these steps:

  1. Run this command to set the default server port number:

    export ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:80

  2. Run this command to start App Builder:

    dotnet vinyl.dll

  3. In a browser, open http://APP_BUILDER_HOST (where APP_BUILDER_HOST is the hostname or IP address of the host) and wait for the login page to appear.

    Tip

    Add the port number to the address if you changed it from the default :80 in step 1.