Before you start your Control Center on-premises installation, check the necessary system requirements and perform a pre-checklist to avoid any problems during and after your installation.
Pre-installation checklist
Available access to the Windows accounts with administrative privileges and SQL system administrator
Warning
When installing NiceLabel software to multiple servers, manage all servers through the same Windows domain.
Internet access for the activation process
You need an Internet connection to activate Control Center. You don't need an Internet connection to the Windows Server where you installed your Control Center.
Prerequisites for the Microsoft SQL Server
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The Control Center database requires that you install SQL Server with case-insensitive collation.
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Enable the SQL Server Browser service, if you use instance names. This makes the instances visible to external clients.
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Enable the TCP/IP protocol for your SQL Server, if you install the SQL Server on a different machine than the Control Center Web page. Start SQL Server Configuration Manager, expand SQL Server Network Configuration and enable the TCP/IP for your server/instance.
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Enable the inbound connection towards the SQL Server. Start Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and add a new Inbound Rule to allow the program sqlservr.exe to accept incoming connections. You can find the program in the folder
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL<version_number>.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn. -
If the RPC port on the server that hosts your SQL database is blocked, the installation of your Control Center fails. Check that the RPC port on your SQL server is open. The RPC port number is usually 135 or 445, depending on your system configuration.
Installing Control Center on a Windows Server with enabled Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) role
Switch the Remote Desktop Server to Install mode before you install the applications on the server:
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Open Control Panel.
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Select Programs.
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Select Install Application on Remote Desktop Server.
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Browse for the installation executable, click OK and follow on-screen instructions.
Note
This tool is available only when installing the terminal server. It automatically puts the terminal server into execute mode when application installation is complete.
Port 8080 TCP availability on the computer where you intend to install the Control Center
Verify that the port 8080 TCP is not in use by some other application running on the same computer. NiceLabelControl Center occupies port 8080 to allow WebDAV access to the storage in Documents. If the port is already in use, choose some other port for Documents Server WebDAV communication. Enable the sysadmin server role defined on the SQL server to the entered user.
You can run Windows command-line utility netstat.exe to see a list of open ports on your computers.
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Open Command Prompt window.
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Enter the following command:
netstat -ano -
If you see that port 8080 is already in use, choose another port for Control Center, so you do not disrupt the existing application.
Allow HTTP verbs to enable WebDAV
Make sure that the following HTTP verbs are enabled on your Control Center server:
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HEAD
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OPTIONS
Read more information about HTTP verbs in Microsoft Documentation.
Post-installation checklist
Open ports in the firewall
Allow the following inbound communication:
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80 TCP: Inbound connections to the Control Center. The browsers on the workstations open the Control Center page.
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8080 TCP: Inbound connection to the Document Storage (WebDAV usage). You can choose a different port during the installation.
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6773 TCP:NiceLabel Proxy Service. Connection for application management streams and licensing.
If you use HTTPS traffic (SSL/TLS), enable it for all sites
To encrypt the traffic between NiceLabel clients and NiceLabel Control Center, enable HTTPS protocol for both sites, where NiceLabelControl Center runs:
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Default Web Site: Exposes the connection to the main Control Center UI.
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EPMWebDav: Enables integration of document storage in NiceLabel clients through WebDAV protocol.
If you enable HTTPS support, disable HTTP traffic. The clients cannot use both protocols at the same time. Remove binding to the HTTP protocol for both sites in IIS.
Enable full access permissions to the NiceLabel System folder
NiceLabel client requires full access (read, write, delete) to the System folder.
The system folder is at this location:
%PROGRAMDATA%\NiceLabel\NiceLabel 10\
This is usually not an issue, because folder %PROGRAMDATA% has write permission by default.
Open ports in the firewall
If you use Windows Firewall and it is running, installation adds the exceptions to the list of allowed incoming connections. If Windows Firewall is off, the exceptions are not added automatically. If you use another firewall, configure it manually.
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56416 TCP: Incoming connection from the Control Center to NiceLabelAutomation service that allows remote management of Automation service.
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6772 TCP:NiceLabel Proxy Service. Connection for application management streams and licensing.
Support for WebDAV to use files in the Document Storage
Install the WebDAV support to each machine that needs to access data inside a Document Storage repository. Windows desktop OS (Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10) has WebDAV support already installed. Add the WebDAV support for Windows Server OS manually. To enable WebDAV in Windows Server OS, see our Knowledge Base article.
Note
The "clients" are not only the NiceLabel Desktop Designer applications but any software accessing the storage in Documents, including NiceLabel Automation or even File Explorer.
If you use a proxy server, exclude local traffic from proxy
Bypass proxy server for local addresses or the client might not get the license from the NiceLabelControl Center, and files in Document Storage are not available. For more information see the Knowledge Base article.
Add Control Center to the Trusted sites
Add NiceLabelControl Center to the list of Trusted Sites in your browser. This allows the Document Storage plugin to run in your browser.