Setup Guide - Overview

Welcome to Kepion! In the following overview, we'll walk you through everything you need to set up and know before you start installing Kepion in your own environment. Please carefully review the information below to ensure your installation goes as smoothly as possible. 

Software Requirements

You must have installed everything in the following list to set up and use Kepion. We recommend you first install all of the required software and then perform a single reboot to register everything at once. 

• Relational SQL Server
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 or later (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019*)
  • Edition: Enterprise, BI, Standard**

• OLAP SSAS Server
  • Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2012 or later (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019*)
  • Edition: Enterprise, BI, Standard**

• Web Server
  • Microsoft IIS 7.0
  • .NET Framework 4.5/4.8
  • SQL Components based on the installed SQL version
  • SQL Version: SQL 2012/2014/2016/2017/2019
  • Install Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Analysis Management Objects
  • Install Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 ADOMD.NET
  • Install Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Native Client

* If you are downloading SQL Server 2019, please also download the SQL Server 2019 Cumulative Update.

** Learn more about Kepion SQL Standard Support.

Kepion Environment

A typical Kepion environment consists of three key components and two service accounts. It's up to you whether you want to configure these components on the same machine or separate ones.

Note:  When the credentials KepionSI and SSAS_SI are used across machine boundaries, then those credentials and the target machines must all belong to a common Active Directory service.

The components are:

• SQL Server: Where the relational SQL Database Engine is installed.
• SSAS Server: Where the SQL Server Analysis Services is installed.
• Web Server: Where the IIS is running.

The service identities are: 

• Kepion SI: A credential that determines the running context for the web server.  It is recommended to create a dedicated domain account as the Kepion SI.
• SSAS SI: A credential that determines the running context for the SSAS server.

Permissions

Check that you have the permissions necessary to configure the three components across the various servers within the environment.

Credentials

You also need to think about whether you want to use your own credential or create a new one: 

• Use your own credential: Generally comes in the form DOMAIN\USERNAME. This option is recommended if you're working in a development environment and have sysadmin privileges.
• Create a new credential: Likely need to request to be created on your domain (e.g., corp\kepionSI, corp\svc_kepion, etc.) If you are working in a production environment, it is recommended to have a dedicated credential for your Kepion SI.

We will go over credentials in more detail in later articles. Just start thinking about what would fit your needs best. 

Memory

To ensure optimal performance, you will need to review the memory configurations on both the SQL and SSAS servers. By default, SQL and SSAS servers consume all available memory on a server. Total memory consumption can lead to unexpected behavior and poor performance. 

The table below provides recommendations for memory allocation in a typical environment.  If each server is on its own machine, ensure that the host OS also has at least 2 GB of memory. We will cover this information in further detail during the setup process. 

Production Environment

Development Environment

Kepion Installation

If your system meets all the requirements above, go ahead and install Kepion. We have split the process into two parts: 

• Part 1: Configure SQL and SSAS 
• Part 2:  Standard Installation (Recommended)  OR Manual/Multitenant Installation
• (Recommended but optional) Go through the Setup Checklist to ensure proper installation

Note: All users will complete Part 1 in the same way. However, Part 2 can be completed the standard way (highly recommended for most users) OR manually for either single-machine setups or multi-tenant setups.