Hardware and software requirements

This section outlines the environment required to run an OpenKM server. It details the mandatory and optional software components and provides relevant information regarding their configuration.

Caution

This section is intended to help validate or define the production environment. However, the checklist is not exhaustive and should be completed by taking the end user’s experience into consideration.

Danger

For optimal performance, OpenKM stores document binary content directly in the filesystem. Therefore, when the database and application are hosted on separate servers, it is important to ensure that the OpenKM application server has sufficient available disk space. This storage must accommodate all document binaries, as well as additional space for supporting components such as preview caches, extracted text, and Lucene indexes.

Requirements

OpenKM is a multi-platform application and can be installed on any major operating system, including Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Tip

A Linux host is a solid choice, as it is well-suited for heavy I/O workloads, integrates reliably with OpenKM, and offers a cost-effective deployment option.

The only requirement to run OpenKM is that Java 11 be installed.

How to Check 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, the name and version of the Java Virtual Machine will be displayed.

openjdk version "11.0.20.1" 2023-08-24
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.20.1+1-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.20.1+1-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04, mixed mode, sharing)

If Java is not installed on your computer, the Java version will not be displayed. In that case, you will need to install Java (see below).

If Java is installed but not included in the system PATH, the system will not be able to locate the java command. In that case, you must add $JAVA_HOME/bin to your PATH environment variable. (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 Microsoft website and choose the right platform for your hardware and Windows version.
2. Run the MSI file and follow the instructions displayed.

More information at Installing on Windows 

For Linux users

You can download it from the Linux repositories.

apt install openjdk-11-jre

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

More information on installing Installing on Ubuntu and Debian.

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 (>= 2 GB of 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).

Ensure you have enough disk space for the document repository and its versions.

A Linux host is a good choice because Linux handles heavy I/O applications like this quite well, and it is inexpensive.

A 64-bit architecture is highly recommended.

Caution

We suggest having a modern server that performs well.

Although OpenKM can be installed on a server with other applications, the best scenario is a dedicated server. Remember that other applications can harm OpenKM in a shared scenario.

For more information about hardware requirements, please consult your sales and marketing representatives. They should provide you with an estimate of the hardware requirements.

(See the questionnaire at the bottom of the page)

Note

You can use your document and folder history to get some of these values.

Browser support

The OpenKM user interface is based on the GWT framework, which means the supported browsers are determined by GWT browser support.

Currently supported browsers:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome and Chromium
• Microsoft Edge

Caution

Although you can use other browsers, such as Safari or Opera, we suggest using the latest version of Google Chrome.

Tip

We encourage you to keep your browser updated to the newest version.

We recommend Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome because they offer the best performance, have fewer security holes, and follow the standards.

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 the tests against Linux distributions and build the packages for them. However, any recent Linux distribution should be usable as long as the:

• OpenJDK 11 is available.
• You can adapt the provided Linux scripts.
• Third-party software requirements

 Windows (Known working configurations):

• For development: Windows 7, Windows 8
• For production: Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 and later versions

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 11. A 64-bit architecture is highly recommended.

LDAP

• Open LDAP
• Microsoft Active Directory

Small questionnaire

Caution

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

Try to provide as much detailed information as possible for a more accurate estimate 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 added per year.
• Estimated average document size.
• Number of documents in the initial import.
• Are these documents uploaded by users or automatically?
• Most common document types (Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, PDF, etc.).

The more detailed questions below are a guide to describe the document management problem to be solved and may be helpful in estimating hardware requirements:

• Do you have an initial import of documents?
  • If so, how many?
  • If so, what is the size of the data in GB?
• 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 are writers?
• Do you have some 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 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 queries are expected per minute and per hour?
• What kind of documents do you manage, such as standard Office documents, PDFs, or less common documents like video and large TIFF files?
  • Describe them, especially those you know are not common in most companies.