Basic Installation

• see System Requirements for supported variants

• Get MySQL database dump from Stages Support
• Download MySQL Installer for MySQL 8.0
• Install MySQL 8.0
  • Select Setup Type “Server only” is recommended
  • Install MySQL with config type “Server Machine”, default encoding “UTF-8” and service name “mysql80”
  • Adapt/check the following properties within ”[mysql]“ and ”[mysqld]“ section in “C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\my.ini” configuration file

[mysql]
default-character-set=utf8

[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8
max_allowed_packet=500M
transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED
lower_case_table_names=1
sql-mode = "STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION"
default-time-zone="+00:00"

• The default-time-zone parameter needs to be adapted to your servers' location if it is located outside of central Europe
• Restart the mysql service

• Create database, database user and grant privileges
  • Start MySQL cli in a windows commandline within path ”<MySQL installation path>/bin“:
    • mysql -uroot -p<mysql-root-password>
    • Execute the following commands:

create database stages;
create user 'stages'@'localhost' identified by 'pass';
grant all privileges on *.* to 'stages'@'localhost';
flush privileges;
exit;

• Import dump file into database “stages”
  • Unzip the file -or- customer specific dumpfile(*.sql) that has been sent to you
  • Execute the following command from commandline within path ”<MySQL installation path>/bin“

mysql -uroot -p<mysql-root-password> stages <[PATH TO DUMP FILE\stages7_mysql_content.sql]

• Get Oracle database dump and installation instructions from Stages Support

• Execute Stages installer as administrator (will be sent to you by Stages Support)

• Download MySQL JDBC connector (Connector/J 8.0 Platform Independent) MySQL 8.0
• Copy JDBC connector to ”<stages installation path>/stages/lib“ and rename the file mysql-connector-java-*-bin.jar to mysql.jar
• Edit ”<Stages installation path>/stages/conf/database.properties“ appropriately like in the following example:

torque.database.default.driver = com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
torque.database.default.adapter = DBMM
torque.database.default.url = jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/stages?zeroDateTimeBehavior=round&jdbcCompliantTruncation=false
torque.database.default.username = stages
torque.database.default.password = pass

• Activate the configuration
  • Windows Start Menu: Execute “Programs > Method Park > Stages > Update Configuration”
• Start Stages
  • Windows: Start the services “Stages Search” and then “Stages”

• Download Oracle JDBC connector for your Oracle version
• Copy JDBC connector to ”<stages installation path>/stages/lib“ and rename it to “ojdbc.jar”
• Edit ”<Stages installation path>/stages/conf/database.properties“ appropriately like in the following example:

## settings for oracle
torque.database.default.driver=oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver
torque.database.default.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@<IP/hostname>:<port>/<service_name(pdb)>
torque.database.default.username=<oracle-username>
torque.database.default.password=<oracle-password>

Hints:
Ensure that torque.database.default.adapter = DBMM is commented out or deleted
For none Oracle RAC databases (Cluster) - <port>/<service_name(pdb)> can be replaced by <port>:<sid>

• Activate the configuration
  • Windows Start Menu: Execute “Programs > Method Park > Stages > Update Configuration”
• Start Stages
  • Windows: Start the services “Stages Search” and then “Stages”

• see System Requirements for supported variants

• Get MySQL database dump from Stages Support

• yum install mysql-server
• Add the following properties to the end of the file /etc/my.cnf

[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8
max_allowed_packet=500M
transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED
lower_case_table_names=1
sql-mode = STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION
default-time-zone= +00:00

The default-time-zone parameter needs to be adapted to your server’s location if it is located outside of central Europe

• systemctl enable mysqld.service
• systemctl start mysqld.service
• mysql_secure_installation
  • complete the installation with your organizational policy
  • Proceed with the steps provided below
    • Create Database, Database User and Grant Privileges

Hint: If you execute “yum install mysql” MariaDB 5 will be installed, MariaDB 8 is not available

CentOS Linux 7 will reach end of life (EOL) on June 30, 2024

• rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
• rpm -Uvh https://repo.mysql.com/mysql80-community-release-el7-3.noarch.rpm
• rpm -import https://repo.mysql.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-mysql-2022
• yum install mysql-community-server
• Add the following properties to the end of the file /etc/my.cnf

character-set-server=utf8
max_allowed_packet=500M
transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED
lower_case_table_names=1
sql-mode = STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION
default-time-zone= +00:00

The default-time-zone parameter needs to be adapted to your server’s location if it is located outside of central Europe

• systemctl enable mysqld.service
• systemctl start mysqld.service
• cat /var/log/mysqld.log | grep -i 'temporary password'
• Copy the password for next step into clipboard
• mysql_secure_installation
• Complete installation with your Organizational Policy

• Start MySQL cli: mysql -uroot -p<root-pass>
• Execute the following commands:

create database stages;
create user 'stages'@'localhost' identified by 'Pass.1234';
grant all privileges on *.* to 'stages'@'localhost';
flush privileges;
exit;

• Import dump file into database “stages”
  • Unzip the file or customer specific dumpfile(*.sql) that has been sent to you
  • Execute to Import: mysql -uroot -p stages < /path/to/dumpfile/stages7_mysql_content.sql

• Get Oracle database dump and installation instructions from Stages Support

• Install RPM package “rpm -Uvh <stagesrpmpakage>.rpm (RPM pakage will be sent to you by Stages Support).

• Stages will be installed to ”/opt/stages“ by default. It can be installed to a different location if needed. The path must not contain whitespaces. A user with the name “stages” is needed to allow the command “stages start” to automatically start the Stages search engine. The user needs recursive read and execute permissions on the sub-direcory “elasticsearch” and additionally write permissions on “elasticsearch/data” and “elasticsearch/logs”.

• Download MySQL JDBC connector (Connector/J 8.0 Platform Independent) MySQL 8.0
• Copy JDBC connector to ”<Stages installation path>/stages/lib“ and rename the file mysql-connector-java-*-bin.jar to mysql.jar
• Edit ”<Stages installation path>/stages/conf/database.properties“ appropriately like in the following example:

torque.database.default.driver = com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
torque.database.default.adapter = DBMM
torque.database.default.url = jdbc:mysql:localhost:3306/stages?zeroDateTimeBehavior=round&jdbcCompliantTruncation=false
torque.database.default.username = stages
torque.database.default.password = Pass.1234

• Download Oracle JDBC connector for your Oracle version
• Copy JDBC connector to ”<stages installation path>/stages/lib“ and rename it to “ojdbc.jar”
• Edit ”<Stages installation path>/stages/conf/database.properties“ appropriately like in the following example:

## settings for oracle
torque.database.default.driver=oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver
torque.database.default.url=jdbc:oracle:thin:@<IP/hostname>:<port>/<pdb>
torque.database.default.username=<oracle-username>
torque.database.default.password=<oracle-password>

Hint: ensure that torque.database.default.adapter = DBMM is commented out or deleted

• Activate the configuration
  • execute “stages stop” followed by “stages update”
• Start Stages
  • execute “stages start”

Normally Stages is started by the “root” user and then drops its privileges to the “stages” user after successful startup. In high risk environments, Stages can now also be started with a user id other than root. It can be enabled via the STAGES_NONROOTSTART variable in …/bin/rc.conf. If enabled, the same user id starting the service will also be used to run the service.

Please note that privileged ports below 1024 cannot be opened in this configuration, so the normal HTTPS port 443 cannot be used. The non-root setting can only be used when the Tomcat connectors are configured to use ports higher than 1024 and e.g. a reverse proxy is being used to allow normal access via HTTPS.

How to configure the user that Stages service should run as?

1. Edit stages.service file:

• vi /etc/systemd/system/stages.service
• add the line User=<username> within the [Service] section (IMPORTANT: DO NOT ADD QUOTES AROUND THE USERNAME)

2. Reload system manager configuration with systemctl command:

• systemctl daemon-reload

3. Additionally change the user ownership for all files below stages installation folder with following command:

• chown -R <username> /opt/stages

If you want to secure your MySQL connection with SSL you need to provide the server certificate to the MySQL driver. To do this follow these steps:

• Copy the server certificate pem file into the stages conf folder
• Create a Java trust store based on the MySQL server certificate:

$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -importcert -alias MySQLCACert -file ca.pem -keystore truststore.jks -storepass mypassword

* Change the database.properties and append the following to your JDBC url:

&clientCertificateKeyStoreUrl=file:/opt/stages/conf/truststore.jks&useSSL=true&clientCertificateKeyStorePassword=mypassword&enabledTLSProtocols=TLSv1.2

* The complete JDBC url should now look similar like this:

torque.database.default.url = jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/stages?zeroDateTimeBehavior=round&jdbcCompliantTruncation=false&useSSL=true&clientCertificateKeyStoreUrl=file:/opt/stages/conf/truststore&clientCertificateKeyStorePassword=mypassword

If you are using a virus scanner on your Stages server, please exclude all MySQL database files from analysis operations as this might corrupt your database. Also excluding Stages installation directory and Java installation directory might significantly improve Stages performance.

Depending on the desired performance and the purpose of your Stages Server, we strongly suggest to adjust the Java heap space according to the following values:

Total system RAM recommendations:

• Low-range system: 12288 MB or more
• Mid-range system: 16384 MB or more
• High-range system: 32768 MB or more

Java Heap Space recommendations (50% of total system RAM):

• Low-range system: 6144 MB
• Mid-range system: 8192 MB
• High-range system: 16384 MB

Please check System Requirements for Stages for detailed information on the range levels.

To adjust the Java heap space settings please proceed as follows:

• Open file “<Stages installation path>\stages\config.bat”
• Modify the red colored setting:

set TOMCAT_OPTS=–JvmMx= <RAM in MB>

• Open a cmd with administrative permissions and navigate to folder “<Stages installation path>\stages\bin”
• Reinstall the Stages service: reinstallService.bat
• Restart Stages service: net stop stages and net start stages

• Open file “<Stages installation path>/stages/bin/rc.conf”
• Modify the red colored value:

CONF_TOMCAT_OPTS=“-Xmx <RAM in MB> m -XX:+UseG1GC -XX-OmitStackTraceInFastThrow”

• Restart the Stages service: stages restart

If a customer specific metamodel has been migrated from Stages V6 to V7 by a Method Park product consultant, this metamodel will be provided as *.mm file. To install the metamodel please proceed as follows:

• Copy the *.mm file to directory: “<Stages installation path>\stages\conf\model”
• Open a CMD with administrative permissions
• Stop the Stages service: net stop stages
• Navigate to folder: “<Stages installation path>\stages\bin”
• Execute command: update.bat
• Restart the Stages service: net start stages

• Copy the *.mm file to directory: “<Stages installation path>/stages/conf/model”
• Stop the Stages service: stages stop
• Execute command: stages update
• Restart the Stages service: stages start

Since Stages 7.9.7.0: How to install the correct fonts

Until Stages 7.9.6.1: How to install the correct fonts

• Execute the Stages license installer with administrative permissions on the Stages server.
• The Stages service will be restarted automatically.

• Extract the .tar.gz archive to folder “<Stages installation path>/stages/conf”.
• Restart the Stages service: stages restart

Please refer to here.

Please refer to here.

After successful installation process - Stages is accessible via web browser by URL https://stages.localhost. As Stages is delivered with a self signed certificate your browser will warn you that the certificate is not trustworthy. For a first test you can instruct the browser to direct you to the website anyhow. After that please configure a trusted certificate.

Log in with the “root” user and the provided password. Click on the “Superuser” link in the bottom left corner of the navigation and change the password to a secure and unique one.

Users

Delete all users except Superuser and Default, especially the demo users.

Workspaces

Delete the workspaces “Samples” and “Proof of Concept” or move them under “Archive”.

Groups

Delete all groups starting with “Samples …”.

Further setup

Please contact your Method Park Product Consultant to further adapt the Stages process content for productive usage.