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Installing Elasticsearch on a Remote Server

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Information for Network Administrators

There are three sections to installing Elasticsearch on a remote server. These are steps usually completed by a network adminstrator.

  1. Installing prerequisites on the remote server.
  2. Installing the Elasticsearch service.
  3. Configuring the Elasticsearch web application.
ClosedHow to Install Prerequisites for the Remote Server

  1. Create and configure your web server on Internet Information Services (IIS).

    Note: Ensure that ASP.NET 4.5 is installed on the web server.

  2. Download and install .NET Core 1.1.6 Windows Hosting Bundle Installer.

    See https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/dotnet-core/runtime-1.1.6.

  3. Reboot your web server.
  4. Download and install the 64-bit Java SE Development Kit (JDK) version 8 to your remote server.
  5. See http://www.madcapsoftware.com/downloads/jdk.aspx.
  6. When JDK 8 has been successfully installed, open the Environment Variables dialog on your server.
  7. Add a System Environment variable called “JAVA_HOME” that is pointing to the path where JDK was installed (i.e., C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_171\).
  8. Double-click the Path system variable.
  9. Click New.
  10. Add the string '%JAVA_HOME%\bin'.
  11. Click OK.
  12. To verify that JDK 8 is working properly, open a command prompt window.

  13. At the command prompt, type javac and click the Enter button. If you see javac options display below the command prompt, JDK 8 is working properly.

ClosedHow to Install Elasticsearch on the Remote Server
  1. Navigate to the Elasticsearch folder at the location where you have Flare installed (e.g., C:\Program Files\MadCap Software\MadCap Flare 14\Flare.app\Resources\Elasticsearch).
  2. Copy this Elasticsearch directory from your local machine to the remote server. The directory can be copied anywhere on the remote server.
  3. Open the elasticsearch.yml file in a text editor from the Elasticsearch\config directory you just copied over to the remote server.
  4. Find the string 'http.port: 9200' in this file. When you find it under the Network section, remove the # character from in front of the “http.port: 9200” string.
  5. Save your changes in this file.
  6. Open a command prompt window and navigate to the location of the copied Elasticsearch\bin directory.
  7. Type elasticsearch-service.bat install and click Enter.
  8. Type elasticsearch-service.bat start and click Enter. Elasticsearch is now running on your remote server.
  9. Copy the Web.ContentServices folder from your local machine where you have Flare installed (e.g., C:\Program Files\MadCap Software\MadCap Flare 14\Flare.app\Resources\WebHelp2\ContentServices\Web.ContentServices).
  10. Place this copy of the Web.ContentServices folder in the following location on the remote server: C:/inetpub/wwwroot.
  11. Create a folder titled “logs” within the Web.ContentServices folder on the remote server.
  12. Within the Web.ContentServices folder, open the appsettings.json file.

  13. Under ConnectionStrings, update the path to be used for the DefaultConnection.

    Note: Elasticsearch uses port 9200 by default. If you wish to change the port number, you can specify the port number in the DefaultConnection string (e.g., http://localhost: 9601). However, the port number must also match the http.port field in the elasticsearch.yml file.

  14. Under ContentServicesStartupConfigSettings, update the path to be used for the DataRootDir.

    Note: Ensure that the paths you provide for DefaultConnection and DataRootDir in the appsettings.json file have read/write permissions for the user account logging into the web server.

ClosedHow to Configure the Content Services Web Application

  1. Install the URL Rewrite Module. This is necessary to enable IP address security restrictions to work in your web.config file.

    See https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite.

  2. Within the Web.ContentServices folder, open the web.config file.

  3. Remove the comment characters from the <rewrite> and </rewrite> tags in this file.

  4. Modify YOUR_IP_ADDRESS with your desired IP address pattern . This restricts administrator access to your Content Services Portal for requests that originate only from IP addresses matching this pattern.

  5. Open IIS Manager.

  6. Right-click Application Pools, and select Add Application Pool.

  7. In IIS Manager, navigate to Sites > Default Web Site.

  8. Right-click Default Web Site and select Add Application.

  9. Enter the name of the Alias for your Elasticsearch website.

  10. Click the Select button and choose your Application pool.

    Note: You can use the default Application pool or create a new one for this service.

  11. Click the ellipsis button next to the Physical path field.
  12. Select the C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Web.ContentServices directory.
  13. Click OK. Your Content Services application is now displayed under Default Web Site in IIS.