Hardware and software requirements
This section presents information about the environment needed to run an OpenKM server, listing the required and optional software and providing facts about their configuration.
This section aims at helping you to validate or define the production environment. However, the checklist is not exhaustive and needs to be completed with the user's experience.
For best performance, OpenKM stores the binary content of the document in the filesystem. So, in case you have a server for the database and another for the application itself, keep in mind that the OpenKM server needs enough free disk space to store all these documents plus extra space for other files like preview cache and extracted text and Lucene indexes.
Requirements
OpenKM can be installed on any operating system (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X) since it is a multi-platform application.
A Linux host is a good choice because it handles heavy I/O applications, works with OpenKM quite well, and is conveniently priced.
The only requirement to run the OpenKM is to have Java 8 (also called Java 1.8) installed.
Ensure you're installing OpenJDK 1.8; if you install JRE, the application will not run correctly.
Checking the Java version
- Open a terminal:
- On Linux or Mac OS X: Open a terminal.
- On Windows: press the "Windows" key + r, type cmd (or command) in the Run window, and press "OK" or open the "Prompt command" from the "Start > Programs > Accessories" menu.
- Type java -version and press Enter.
If Java is installed correctly on your computer, the name, and version of the Java virtual machine are displayed:
Java version "1.8.0_31."
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_31-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.31-b07, mixed mode)
If Java is not installed on your computer, it will fail to display the Java version. Then, you will need to install Java (see below).
If Java is installed but not included in the PATH, it will fail to find the Java command. Then, you will need to add $JAVA_HOME/bin/ in your PATH (see: How do I set or change the PATH system variable?).
Installing Java
For Windows users
If the required version of Java is not installed on your computer:
- Download it from the Oracle website (Java 8) and choose the right platform for your hardware and Windows version.
- Run the downloaded .exe file and follow the instructions displayed.
For Linux users
You can download Java 8 from the Oracle website (choose the right architecture). You can find RPM and TGZ packages to install. If you use Ubuntu, the following is a better method:
$ sudo add-apt-repository PPA:webupd8team/java
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
This way, your OpenJDK will be upgraded whenever a new release is available.
In case you have another OpenJDK installed (like GCJ), you can select the right one this way:
$ sudo update-alternatives --config Java
For Mac OS X Users
Java packages and instructions for installation are available from the Oracle website:
Recommendations
Hardware configuration
OpenKM runs quite well on any computer with a standard hardware configuration. For better performance, we recommend at least 4 GB RAM (have at least >=2GB of plenty RAM) and a fast hard disk like SATA or better.
A dual-core Intel-based CPU with 3.20 GHz should be fine for fewer users (30-50 concurrent users).
Have enough disk space for the document repository and its versions.
A Linux host is a good choice because this OS handles heavy I/O applications like this quite well, and it is not expensive.
It is highly recommended 64 bits architecture.
We suggest having a modern server with good performance.
Although OpenKM can be installed on a server with other applications, the best scenario is a dedicated server. Keep in mind that in a shared scenario, other applications can harm OpenKM.
For more information about hardware requirements, please consult with your sales & marketing representatives, as they should provide you with a hardware requirements estimation.
(See the questionary at the bottom of the page)
You can use your older history of documents and folders to get some of these values.
Browser support
OpenKM user interface is based on the GWT framework, which means the supported browsers are determined by GWT browser support.
Actual browsers supported:
- Firefox
- Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10, 11
- Safari 5, 6
- Chromium and Google Chrome
- Opera latest version
More information at GWT Browsers and Servers.
We encourage your browser to be updated to the newest version.
We recommend Firefox and Chrome rather than IE for several reasons; best performance, fewer security holes, follow the standards.
Operating systems
Linux (Known working configurations):
- Ubuntu
- Debian
- CentOS
- Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Linux is a more complex scenario because some packages aren't in the Red Hat official repositories by default.
Ubuntu is the preferred Linux choice. We run the tests against Linux distribution and build the packages for it. However, any recent Linux distribution should be usable as long as the:
- OpenJDK 8 is available.
- You can adapt the provided Linux scripts.
- Third-partyThirdparty software requirements
Windows (Known working configurations):
- For development: Windows 7, Windows 8
-
For deployment: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012
Databases
Known working configurations:
- MySQL
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL
- SQL Server
The application internally uses Hibernate; in fact, you should get it running from any supported Hibernate dialects; for more information, read Hibernate: SQL Dialects.
JVM
Although OpenKM can run with other JDK, we recommend using OpenJDK 8 (64 bits architecture is highly recommended).
LDAP
- Open LDAP
- Microsoft Active Directory
Small questionary
The average value is particularly interesting in questions where the expected answers are numerical.
Try giving them as much detailed information as possible for a more accurate estimation using this basic set of questions:
- Estimated number of concurrent users.
- Type of users (% of readers and % of writers).
- Estimated first-year number of files.
- Estimated number of files growing per year.
- Estimated document size average.
- Number of documents in the initial import
- Are these documents uploaded by users or by an automatic process?
- Most common document types (MS Office, OpenOffice, PDF, etc.).
The other more detailed questions below are a guide to describe the document management system problem to solve and may be helpful to estimate hardware requisites:
- Do you have an initial import of documents?
- If so, how many?
- If so, what is the size in GB of the data?
- How many records are created in a day?
- How many documents are made in a week?
- How many documents are made in a month?
- How many documents are made in a year?
- What is the expected repository size in GB for the first year ( initial import not included )?
- What is the typical document size in your repository?
- How many concurrent users are expected?
- How many of the simultaneous users are readers, and how many writers?
- Do you have some daily, weekly, or other kinds of periodic bulk uploads?
- If so, how many documents are uploaded?
- The bulk upload can be done during non-working hours?
- Will you have some integration with third-party applications?
- If so, describe the usage in terms of:
- Will it be used to read data?
- Will it be used to write data?
- How many expected queries per minute and hour?
- If so, describe the usage in terms of:
- What kind of documents did you manage, such as standard Office documents, PDF, or less common, like video, large TIFF files, etc.?
- Describe them, especially what you know is not the most common in the companies.
01/18/22
