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Quick Install Guide for SmartConnect 2018

Published: Dec 13, 2023
Post Author Written by David Youngquist

The following is a step-by-step guide to quickly installing a new server installation of SmartConnect 2018

Installing SmartConnect 2018

  1. Right click on the “SmartConnect Installer V2018.1.59.exe” file and select “Run as administrator”. When the initial screen loads check the box to agree to the license terms and click on the “Next” button.
  2. Mark the components you wish to install. The components and their functions are as follows.
    • SmartConnect Database – If you do not have an existing SmartConnect SQL database, select this option. If you are adding a new machine, and already have a SmartConnect SQL database leave this option unchecked.
    • SmartConnect User Interface – This installs the actual user interface for SmartConnect. This is where you will perform the initial setup of SmartConnect and where you will be creating integrations.
    • SmartConnect Windows Service – This is the SmartConnect scheduling service. Select this option if you are intending to create integrations which run on a schedule. NOTE: This service should only be installed on a server machine, and you should only have 1 scheduler service installed per instance of SmartConnect. Do not install the scheduler service on any client machines, typically this is installed on the same SQL server where the SmartConnect database is located.
    • SmartConnect Web Service – This installs the SmartConnect SOAP web service. This service has been deprecated and is typically not installed unless you have created custom integrations that use the SOAP service. This service is no longer supported for new installations.
    • WCF Service – This installs the SmartConnect REST service and is required if you intend to run any maps that use the WCF Service. The SmartConnect Excel Addin and any maps that are going to be using real time data sources will require that this service be installed. Also, if you have created your own custom application that will run maps by calling the web service, you will also need to install this component.

In this quick installation guide, I will be installing only the components used in a typical installation, the database, user interface, windows service and the WCF Service.    Mark these components and hit the Next button.  

  1. The next screen asks you to Configure your SQL connection.   The fields in this screen are as follows.
    • Server – This is the SQL server\instance where you want the SmartConnect SQL database to reside.
    • Username – This is the SQL user that will be used during the installation. This user is not saved anywhere in SmartConnect, it is only used to create the SmartConnect database and the SmartConnect SQL user. This must be a SQL user, using an Active Directory user will not work. The SQL user needs to have the sysadmin role in SQL in order to have sufficient permissions to create the SQL database and the SQL user. Normally we recommend using the “sa” user, however any SQL user with the sysadmin role will work. In my example I am using the “sa” user
    • SC Database – This is what your SmartConnect database will be named, by default the name is SmartConnect, however you can give it any name you want.
    • SC Username – This is a SQL user that will be created for accessing the SmartConnect database. The initial connection to the database is made using a SQL user. This user is used for accessing the database so that you do not need to add your Active Directory users to SQL. The name defaults to “SmartConnect”, but once again you can change it to anything you want.
    • SC User Password and Confirm Password – This is the SQL password of the SmartConnect user. If you are doing a new installation, you can type anything you want in here, however be sure to make a note of it. If you are installing any additional client machines, you need to type in the SAME password you used initially.

My installation screen looks like this after I have added all the required fields.

  1. The next screen asks you to “Select installation folder”. We typically recommend leaving it at the default location, however you may change it to any location on the local hard drive. For my installation guide, I am leaving it at the default location of “C:\Program Files (x86)\”
  1. The next screen asks you for the credentials of the user that will run the Windows Service which is used for running the scheduled maps. This must be a domain user that has local machine administrative rights. The user does NOT need to be a domain administrator, as long as the user has local machine administrative rights, they will be able to start and run the SmartConnect scheduling service.
    • In this example, the domain is named “demo”, and the user is “eone”, and that user has local machine administrative rights.
  1. The next window asks you for the credentials of the user that will be used to run the WCF Web Service. The domain and user will default to the same credentials as the Windows Service; however, you can change this to a different user if you want. Typically, the best practice is to use the same user you used for the Windows service as this reduces confusion and makes troubleshooting easier. After filling in the information in this screen, click on the “Install” button to allow SmartConnect to finish the installation.
  1. The next screen only has the “Finish” button, and you will want to click on that to finalize the installation. SmartConnect should now be 100% installed and function. The next section of the article will show how to confirm that the installation is successful.

Confirming the SmartConnect Install was Successful

  1. The first step is to try and launch the user interface. SmartConnect will add an option to your start menu, select that and choose to launch SmartConnect. The very first screen will show you the name of the SQL server and the name of the SmartConnect database. In my case the SQL server is “EONE\EONESQL”, and my database is named “SmartConnect”. Click on the OK button to launch SmartConnect.
  1. If this is a new installation, you will be prompted to enter your registration keys. Enter in your registration key which should have been provided when you purchased the product. Click on the “License Agreement” button and scroll to the bottom to check the box that says, “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” and then click on the OK button. Then back in the “SmartConnect Registration” window click on the “Register” button. NOTE: The machine must have internet access in order to connect to the eOne registration service and verify the registration key. If the machine is unable to access the internet you will get an error.
  2. If the registration is successful, and this is a new installation, you will get a message telling you that “SmartConnect System Maintenance needs to run before you can continue”. This is so that SmartConnect can create the SQL tables and procedures needed for SmartConnect. If you are pointed at an existing SmartConnect database, you will not get this message. Click “OK” on the prompt to run the system maintenance if it appears.
  3. After the maintenance is complete the SmartConnect installation is functional. If you are doing a new installation, the “Map” screen will be blank, if you are pointed at an existing SmartConnect database, you should see all the maps that you have previously created. As long as the SmartConnect application opens without an error, you have verified that the SmartConnect user interface installed successfully.
  4. The next step is to verify that the SmartConnect scheduler service is installed and can be started. To do this open up Windows Services. (Windows + R and type “services.msc” and hit enter). This will open the Windows Services window. Scroll down until you see the “eOne SmartConnect Service”. ON a new installation the service will not be running. Right click on the service and pick “Start”. If the service starts and stays running, then it is configured correctly.
    • If the service refuses to start, or starts for a few seconds and stops again, it means that the user credentials you used in step 5 of the installation section of the guide is not a local machine administrator. You will need to add that user to the local machine administrator’s group in order to start the service.
  1. The next step is to verify that the SmartConnect WCF service is running. To do this, we need to open up IIS (Internet Information Services). To do this press Windows + R and type in “IIS” and hit enter which will open IIS. Expand the Server and expand the list of Sites in the list and look for the “SmartConnectWCF” site and highlight it. Then click on the “Content View” tab at the bottom of the page.
  1. In the “Content View” tab right click on the SmartConnect.svc” service and select browse
  1. The SmartConnect web service will open in your default browser. The first time you open the webservice the page will take a moment to open as it has to load all the features of the webservice. Subsequent actions will occur much quicker as all the elements will have loaded into memory on the IIS server. If the browser windows looks like this, then the installation and configuration of the webservice was successful.
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