Installing the HotDocs Core Assembly Service

This document is a step-by-step guide to installing the HotDocs Core Assembly Service, as part of an on-premise solution. You must complete each step in order when deploying the Assembly Service to your environment.

Prerequisites

• Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015
• Microsoft .Net Framework 4.6.2 or later
• HotDocs Hub system requirements
• Configure SQL Server

Default Install Location and a Note on Logging

The default location for the Core installation is: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\HotDocs. The HotDocs Core Assembly Service uses Serilog for logging, and stores the logs in a folder named Logs (located at the install location). If you want to change the log settings, you need to update the Web.config file.

To Install the HotDocs Core Assembly Service

1. Run the HotDocs Core Assembly Service installer, setupCore.exe.
2. Review and accept the License Agreement terms.
3. Click Next.
4. Enter your license key; if you do not have a license key for the Core Assembly Service, please contact your HotDocs sales representative.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the database server you want to use for the Assembly Service.
7. Select the type of user the installer uses to connect to SQL Server and set up your database; either:
• Windows authentication credentials of current user
• Server authentication using the login ID and password below:
1. Type the Login ID for the user you want to use to access SQL Server; this user must have dbadmin permissions for the selected server.
2. Type the Password for the specified user.

The application does not store or use this information post database setup.

8. Click Next.
9. Enter the following configuration settings for the Assembly Service database:
1. Name of the database to create – the name for the database used by the Assembly Service; by default, this is HotDocsAssemblyService
2. Database datapath – the default location of the Assembly Service database data files. This path is relative to the machine running SQL Server (e.g., \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.<InstanceID>\AssemblyServiceDBFiles – see Specifying File Paths for more information). This path needs to be accessible to SQL Server. If you do not know the location, contact your DBA.
3. Database logpath  – the default location of the Assembly Service database log files. This path is relative to the machine running SQL Server (e.g., \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.<InstanceID>\AssemblyServiceDBFiles – see Specifying File Paths for more information). This path needs to be accessible to SQL Server. If you do not know the location, contact your DBA.
4. SQL Server Login ID – This is the user that the service uses to connect to SQL Server. The user needs dbcreator permissions to the specified database; by default, if you're using IIS, this is often IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool.
10. Click Next.
11. Enter the following configuration settings for the Assembly Service:
1. Template Hub URL – the URL of the HotDocsTemplateHubApi application; see Get the HotDocs Template Hub API URL for more information.
2. User Service Authority – the URL of the HotDocs Identity Service application, typically https://{servername}/HotDocsIdentityServer/core, where servername is the name of the server on which Hub is installed.
3. Assembly Session connection string – connection string to the Assembly Service's session database; by default, this string is provided for you, but may need to be edited for some custom installations.
4. Assembly Storage connection string – connection string to the Assembly Service's storage database; by default, this string is provided for you using the database name set on the previous screen as the initial catalog value.
12. Click Next.

If something goes wrong during the installation process, or any time thereafter, you can use access the Core Assembly Service logs to help identify the issue. The logs are stored at the Assembly Service install location in a folder named Logs.

Next Step

Configure HotDocs Hub to use the Core Assembly Service