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.

Caution

This section aims to help you validate or define the production environment. However, the checklist is not exhaustive and should be completed with the user’s experience.

Danger

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. 

Tip

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 OpenKM is to have Java 8 (also called Java 1.8) installed.

Caution

Ensure you install OpenJDK 1.8; if you install the JRE, the application will not run correctly.

Checking the Java version

1. 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 “Command Prompt” from the “Start > Programs > Accessories” menu.
2. 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 to 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:

1. Download it from the Oracle website (Java 8) and choose the right platform for your hardware and Windows version.
2. 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:

• Download
• Instructions

Recommendations

Hardware configuration

Tip

OpenKM runs quite well on any computer with a standard hardware configuration. For better performance, we recommend at least 4 GB of RAM (have at least >=2 GB of RAM) and a fast hard disk like SATA or better.

A dual-core Intel-based CPU at 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.

A 64-bit architecture is highly recommended.

Caution

We suggest having a modern server with good performance.

Although OpenKM can be installed on a server with other applications, the best scenario is to use a dedicated server. Keep in mind that in a shared scenario, other applications can adversely affect OpenKM.

For more information about hardware requirements, please consult with your sales & marketing representatives, as they should provide you with an estimation of hardware requirements.

(See the questionnaire at the bottom of the page)

Note

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.

Currently supported browsers:

• Firefox
• Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10, 11
• Safari 5, 6
• Chromium and Google Chrome
• Opera (latest version)

More information at GWT Browsers and Servers.

Tip

We recommend that you update your browser to the latest version.

We recommend Firefox and Chrome rather than IE for several reasons: better performance, fewer security holes, and better standards compliance.

Operating systems

Linux (Known working configurations):

• Ubuntu
• Debian
• CentOS
• Red Hat Linux

Caution

Red Hat Linux is a more complex scenario because some packages aren’t in the Red Hat official repositories by default.

Tip

Ubuntu is the preferred Linux choice. We run tests against Linux distributions and build the packages for them. However, any recent Linux distribution should be usable as long as the:

• OpenJDK 8 is available.
• You can adapt the provided Linux scripts.
• Third-partyThird-party 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

Note

The application internally uses Hibernate; in fact, you should be able to run it with any supported Hibernate dialect. For more information, read Hibernate: SQL Dialects.

JVM

Although OpenKM can run with other JDKs, we recommend using OpenJDK 8 (64-bit architecture is highly recommended).

LDAP

• OpenLDAP
• Microsoft Active Directory

Small questionnaire

Caution

The average value is particularly interesting in questions where the expected answers are numerical.

Try to give 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 annual growth in number of files.
• Estimated average document size.
• 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 requirements:

• 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 created in a week?
• How many documents are created in a month?
• How many documents are created 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 are writers?
• Do you have daily, weekly, or other kinds of periodic bulk uploads?
  • If so, how many documents are uploaded?
  • Can the bulk upload be done during non-working hours?
• Will you have 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 queries are expected per minute and per hour?
• What kind of documents do you manage, such as standard Office documents, PDF, or less common types like video, large TIFF files, etc.?
  • Describe them, especially those that are not common in most companies.

01/18/22