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Server setup

The server is set up once. Plan about an hour – most of it is the SQL Server download.

The complete guide with 22 chapters lives in the repository and ships as a PDF with every version. This page summarises the procedure.

What you need

  • A Windows server, or a Windows PC that is always on
  • Administrator rights on that machine
  • VehistraServerSetup.exe from the Serverwerkzeuge folder
  • A server name you can remember, such as FLEET-SRV01

Minimum requirements

| Item | Minimum | Recommended | | ---------------- | ------------------- | --------------------------------- | | Operating system | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows Server 2019 or newer | | Memory | 8 GB | 16 GB | | Free disk space | 20 GB | 100 GB on a data drive | | Network | 100 Mbit/s | 1 Gbit/s | | Backup | external disk | tape drive or NAS with versioning |

The server does not need to be powerful. For 150 vehicles and ten concurrent workstations, an ordinary office PC with 16 GB of RAM and an SSD is enough.

1. Install SQL Server Express

Vehistra deliberately does not install the database in the background – control over your server stays with you.

  1. Download Microsoft SQL Server Express from Microsoft.
  2. Choose the “Basic” or “Standard” installation type.
  3. Keep the suggested instance name SQLEXPRESS.

The server name consists of computer name and instance name, for example FLEET-SRV01\SQLEXPRESS. The backslash is part of it.

Why Express? It is free and allows databases up to 10 GB. 150 vehicles with ten years of history typically stay below 500 MB. Documents and photos live in the file system and do not count towards that limit.

2. Open the network

So the workstations can reach the server:

  1. In SQL Server Configuration Manager, under “Protocols for SQLEXPRESS”, enable TCP/IP and restart the service.
  2. Start the SQL Server Browser service and set it to “Automatic”.
  3. Add the required rules to the Windows Firewall.

If the database sits on the same machine as the program, these steps are not needed.

3. Create and share folders

Three folders are needed on the server: for documents, for backups and for updates. They are shared on the network with permissions set twice – in the share and additionally in the NTFS security settings.

4. The setup wizard

VehistraServerSetup.exe then walks through the setup in twelve steps:

| Step | What happens | | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | 1 System check | Operating system, rights, disk space | | 2 Detect SQL Server | Searches installed instances | | 3 Test connection | Establishes the connection | | 4 Database | Creates VehistraDB; an existing one is kept | | 5 Database structure | Creates tables and base data | | 6 Documents folder | Creates the folder | | 7 Backup folder | Creates the folder, ideally on another drive | | 8 Update folder | Creates the folder and latest.json | | 9 Network shares | Checks reachability and write access | | 10 First administrator | Creates the first user account | | 11 Final check | Verifies everything once more | | 12 Client configuration | Creates the .fmcfg file for the workstations |

After step 11 every line should read “IN ORDNUNG” (all good).

5. Set up backups

Configure a scheduled backup job before the first real data is entered – see Backup and restore.

If something does not work

VehistraServerCheck.exe checks connection, database, folders and permissions and names the cause in plain words. Common messages are listed under Troubleshooting.