Install ROAD Web Clients

This guide is targeted at system administrators to install web based ROAD clients in your environment

Content of this page

Pre-requisites

DPE is required

ROAD clients require an instance of DPE running in a network accessible from where the ROAD client will be running.

The minimum DPE version required is v2.4

ROAD Service is required

To use ROAD clients, you need at least one running ROAD Service in a network accessible from where the ROAD client will be running.

The minimum ROAD Service version required is v1.3

Install Hosted ROAD Clients

To install ROAD Clients, you can either host it yourself using a web server (e.g. IIS) or using our Docker images for the ROAD clients.

Choosing the right hosting method

Docker and self-hosting are both valid and supported methods of serving the ROAD Clients.

If you are using Windows Server or similar, IIS is probably the easiest way for you to serve the ROAD Clients.

If you are using a Linux-based server, Docker is a user-friendly way to serve the ROAD Clients and the Mongo database alike.

Install ROAD Clients: Docker

Installing ROAD Clients using our Docker images and docker-compose.yml is the simplest.

Request your DAVID Systems docker credentials now!

In order to pull the ROAD Clients' docker images, you will need credentials. You can request them by sending an email to david_support@davidsystems.com

MongoDB also included!

Our docker-compose description also contains a MongoDB database for an even easier installation!

You can use this to painlessly install MongoDB with no extra effort.

Multiple docker-compose files are available to deploy services individually or together.

Prerequisites

Docker & docker-compose

Docker needs to be installed. You can get Docker here.

We recommend using docker-compose and the docker-compose.yml file we provide to manage all ROAD Clients in one command. You can get docker-compose here.

Firewall

In the likely case that you want the ROAD client applications to be reachable from the outside, you need to configure your firewall to open the TCP ports specified in the docker-compose file (by default 8181, 8383 and 8484).

Login to the David Systems docker registry

To use the docker images provided by our docker registry, you first need to login using your credentials.

BASH

docker login -u <docker-registry-username> -p <docker-registry-password> https://docker-registry.davidsystems.com:443

Run ROAD Clients and MongoDB with docker-compose

The recommended way to install and run ROAD Clients is to use our all-in-one docker-compose file.

Run ROAD Clients and MongoDB together, in one command

In a shell, in the same directory where the settings.json and the docker-compose.yml file are located, run the following command to start all ROAD Clients and MongoDB.

BASH

docker-compose -f docker-compose-mongodb.yml -f docker-compose-road-clients.yml up -d

Run ROAD Clients and MongoDB separately

In a shell, in the same directory where the settings.json and the docker-compose.yml file are located, run the following commands to start all ROAD Clients, and MongoDB, separately.

BASH

# Run MongoDB
docker-compose -f docker-compose-mongodb.yml up -d
# Run all ROAD Clients
docker-compose -f docker-compose-road-clients.yml up -d

Note on versions (for advanced use-cases)

For advanced admins, you can select a specific version or versioning scheme for ROAD Clients...

Similar to most docker images available on public registries such as docker-hub, the docker images are tagged with the following:

major and major.minor: the latest supported image of a specific version. This is the recommended option so you can get important fixes for a specific stable version.
e.g.:
- docker-registry.davidsystems.com:443/road-clients/road-admin:1
- docker-registry.davidsystems.com:443/road-clients/road-admin:1.1 ← This is the recommended option
major.minor.patch: a specific version, you want to stick to a specific version that works for you
e.g. docker-registry.davidsystems.com:443/road-clients/road-admin:1.0.148
latest: the latest development version. Use at your own risk.
e.g. docker-registry.davidsystems.com:443/road-clients/road-admin:latest

Install ROAD Clients: Self-hosted

This paragraph is about the installation of ROAD clients using a self-hosted website.

In this guide, we will take IIS as an example, but other website hosting technologies will work similarly.

Prerequisites

Self-hosted HTTP(S) Website

To serve the ROAD client application pages, you need a web server, and a website configured for the ROAD clients inside it.

Firewall

In the likely case that you want the ROAD client applications to be reachable from the outside, you need to configure your firewall to open the port you previously configured in IIS for the ROAD client applications.

Installing ROAD Clients

For every ROAD client you are installing copy all its files in the folder configured to be the root of the application when configuring the HTTP(s) server (e.g. IIS).

Next steps

After installing ROAD Clients, either using a self-hosted option or docker, you need to configure the clients' settings.json.

You can find more instructions how to do this here.