Server Requirements for the Aptify Web Interface

Aptify provides web browser-based connectivity to the Aptify database. Using a standard web browser, a user can connect over the Internet and access the same user profile that is available when using the Aptify Desktop client.

To use the browser-based interface for Aptify, an organization needs to install the Aptify website on an web server on your network (outside the firewall to access from anywhere on the Internet or inside the firewall if you only want to support access over a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection).

This section describes the hardware and software requirements for a web server that will host the Aptify website. Note that the Aptify web server will typically be a different server than the one that hosts the Aptify database. This is the recommended approach.

The server requirements for the Aptify web interface are described in the following topics:

• Hardware Requirements
• Software Requirements
• Database Server Software Requirements
• Browser Requirements

Hardware Requirements

At a minimum, a computer that can run Windows Server 2012 and IIS 7.0 or Windows Server 2008 and IIS 7.0 can also function as an Aptify web server. However, Aptify recommends that an organization use a computer with at least the following specifications to host the Aptify web site:

• Intel Quad-Core Xeon 64-bit or newer, or AMD equivalent
• Eight (8) GB of RAM
• Two (2) 300 GB Disk Drives configured in RAID 1 format

Software Requirements

The following is a list of software requirements for a computer that will host the browser-based version of Aptify:

• The following operating systems are supported for the Aptify web interface:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with the latest service pack.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with the latest service pack.
    • These include the Microsoft Windows Server Web Edition operating system.
      
      

    Note Concerning Windows Updates

    Aptify recommends that you install the latest updates to the web server where you will be installing the browser-based version of Aptify.

• Microsoft IIS 7.0 or higher with ASP.NET 4.0.30319

  • When configuring the IIS Server 7.0, Aptify recommends that you install the following Windows features for a minimal configuration:

    When a feature in the list below shows child features, only those features are recommended for installation. When a feature does not list any child features, all of the child features are recommended for installation.

     

    • Web Server (IIS)
      • Web Server
        • Common HTTP Features
        • Health and Diagnostics
        • Performance
        • Security
        • Application Development
          • .NET Extensibility 3.5 
          • .NET Extensibility 4.5
          • ASP.NET 3.5
          • ASP.NET 4.5
          • ISAPI Extensions
          • ISAPI Filters
          • WebSocket Protocol
             
      • Management Tools
        • IIS Management Console
        • IIS 6 Management Compatibility
          • IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
             
    • Enable HTTP Compression.
  • To manually confirm that ASP.NET 4.0.30319 is available on the computer, follow these steps:
    
    
    1. Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager (from Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools).
    2. Select the Application Pools List from the console tree.
    3. Right-click on one of the application pools (for example, the DefaultAppPool) and select the Basic Settings option.
    4. On the Edit Application Pool dialog, confirm that 4.030319 appears in the .NET Framework version drop-down list.
        
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
  • This pre-requisite can be installed using the Microsoft .NET Framework Web Installer which can be downloaded at the following URL:
    
    http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653

• ASP.NET MVC 4
  • This pre-requisite can also be found at the following URL:
    
    http://www.asp.net/mvc/mvc4

• Aptify 6.0 Windows desktop application with an active Aptify Object Repository.
• Common Language Runtime Integration
  
  
  • See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms131048.aspx for more information on how to enable this feature.

Database Server Software Requirements

The database server must have Aptify 5.5.3 or higher installed to support the use of the browser-based interface to Aptify. The database server version must match the version of the Aptify web interface you are using (e.g., using the Aptify 5.5.4 web interface requires the Aptify 5.5.4 database server).

Browser Requirements

Aptify recommends installing Google Chrome on the web server for testing purposes. Chrome's Developer Tools (DevTools) can be useful when tracking down issues. See https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/ for more information about this toolset.

See End User Browser Compatibility for the Aptify Web Interface for more information on supported browsers for end-users of the Aptify web interface.