Overview

Every licensed Kiln customer can download an installer which has a wizard to help guide you through the various steps needed to get Kiln running on your server. For the vast majority of customers, the default configuration is your best bet for a successful installation.

This document guides us through the following step-by-step sections:

1. System Requirements
   1.1 Operating System
   1.2 Database Server
   1.3 Server Memory
   1.4 Storage
   1.5 Client Side
   1.6 Physical vs. Virtual Memory
2. Before you begin
3. Installer Walkthrough
   3.1 Welcome
   3.2 Prerequisites
   3.3 Settings
   3.4 Installation
   3.5 Kiln Storage Service Installer
   3.6 The FogBugz Installer
4. Advanced Instructions

 

Information

1. System Requirements

Kiln For Your Server is a complex product with many different components. Managing even a moderately-sized installation requires network administration, server management, and DBA work, as well as substantial hardware. Kiln On Demand offers the same features and security of Kiln without the hassle.

Kiln supports a narrow range of systems at the moment. Ensure you’re installing on a system that meets these requirements to receive support.

NOTE:

• Currently, Kiln cannot be installed on a Primary Domain Controller.
• Kiln must be installed on the same server as FogBugz so that the two applications can easily and securely exchange the data that enables their tight integration.
• When you run the Kiln installer, it recognizes your FogBugz Installer and asks if you want to use that as your FogBugz base.
• After the Installer has run and you enter your license information, everything should be set up.
• If you have a fully up-to-date version of FogBugz, you should also be able to simply enter your Kiln license information under Admin > Licenses and Kiln starts to work.
• Refer to the FogBugz System Requirements for more information.

1.1. Operating System(s)

Windows 2003 Server SP2 or later, Windows 2008 Server, and Windows 2008 Server R2 (sorry; Itanium not supported) with IIS 6.0 and later.

1.2. Database Server(s)

Microsoft SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 Express*, or 2012. (Full-Text Search is required for Kiln 2.8 and earlier.)

NOTE: The Express edition has a 10GB database size limit and 1GB RAM limit.

1.3. Server Memory

4 GB RAM minimum and 8 GB RAM recommended.

1.4. Storage

The bulk of Kiln data, your code, is stored in the KilnRepositories folder. The intense I/O within this folder necessitates the folder to reside on a physical disk, not a network share.

1.5. Client Side

On the client side, please make sure you are using one of our supported browsers.

Ensure all of these are the updated versions:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Internet Explorer 9 and 10
• Microsoft Edge

1.6. Physical vs. Virtual Machine

Running Kiln or the FogBugz or the Kiln bundle in a virtual machine is not generally recommended. Since Kiln is an extremely disk-heavy application, you could experience performance degradation. Refer to Running Kiln in a VM/Virtual Machine if you are considering running Kiln in a virtual environment.

2. Before You Begin

Note the following points before you begin the installation process:

1. The server might require a restart to finish: If it does, just restart the installer and it will pick up right where it left off. If possible, it is best to schedule the installation of Kiln during the off-hours if you are installing on a production machine.
2. Kiln requires some FogBugz components: We actually launch a seriously trimmed down FogBugz installer during the setup process which is totally normal.
3. You need to run the installer as a SQL and Windows administrator: We make changes to Windows and SQL Server that require administrator access. If your SQL Server is on another computer, you need to take extra care to make sure your user has the right privileges.
4. Kiln and FogBugz must run on the same server: Kiln and FogBugz share critical information with each other and must run on the same server.
5. Installation of prerequisites requires internet access: If your server is missing any prerequisites, the setup downloads and installs them for you. If your Kiln server does not have access to the public internet, you can install Kiln For Your Server without internet access.

3. Installer Walkthrough

3.1 Welcome

You can just click 'Next' because you have already got these instructions open.

3.2 Prerequisites

1. If Kiln needs any supporting software installed beforehand, click Install Prerequisites and it will launch Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer to get everything installed.
2. This varies depending on the state of your system. If you have asked the Kiln installer to install a SQL Express instance for you, this step can take a while.
3. If necessary, this may restart your server. Once it is restarted, the Web Platform Installer continues the installing prerequisites.
4. After finished, restart the Kiln installer.

3.3 Settings

The settings page lets you specify where to install the three main components of Kiln.

3.3.1 Website

• The Kiln website will be linked with a FogBugz install.
• You can select an existing FogBugz install or have the Kiln installer create a new FogBugz installation.
• Kiln is located at http://[your.fogbugz.url]/kiln
  NOTE: Kiln and FogBugz must be installed on the same server.

3.3.2 Database

• Kiln uses SQL server to store metadata about your code and code reviews.
• Basically, this is what we use to make the Kiln web frontend work.
• Your code is not stored here.
• You can choose any SQL Server 2005/2008/2012 or SQL Express 2008 instance.
• If you do not have one available, Kiln can install and configure a SQL Express instance for you during the prerequisites step.

3.3.3 Storage Service

• The Kiln storage service manages the Mercurial repositories that you create while using Kiln.
• We strongly recommend that you install the Storage Service on the same machine as the Kiln front end.
• It is slightly more secure, and it reduces complexity which makes managing your Kiln installation and getting helpful support from us easier.

3.4 Installation

Once you have selected these settings, the installation begins. The installer does the following:

1. Installs Kiln files.
2. Launches the Kiln Storage Service installer.
3. Launches the FogBugz installer to install or upgrade the FogBugz Base components.
4. Configures the Kiln website and database.
5. Launches Kiln in your default web browser to let you log on and install licenses.

3.5 Kiln Storage Service Installer

• This installer asks for some very basic information about where you want to install and where you want it to store your Mercurial repositories.
• Mercurial is very efficient about how it uses storage, but you need to ensure you put your repository directory in a place with plenty of available disk space (10GB minimum, likely more).

NOTE: As of Kiln 2.9.x, the Kiln Storage Service’s KilnRepositories folder cannot be located on a network drive.

3.6 The FogBugz Installer

If you have ever installed FogBugz, you will recognize the installer and probably realize that it is seriously shortened.

• The only critical thing here is setting up the FogBugz user.
• The web components and system services for both Kiln and FogBugz will run as this user.
• It is also used to connect to the SQL database. If SQL Server is on a different machine, make this a domain user.
• Log in to Kiln, and enter your licenses.
• This step takes you through the normal licenses installation procedure.
• If you already had FogBugz, log on to Kiln with a FogBugz administrator account and enter your Kiln licenses on the Admin > Licenses page.
• Otherwise, you can log in with the default built-in administrator account and enter your licenses.

4. Advanced Instructions

Using Mixed-Mode authentication to connect to the Kiln database:

• You needed to run the installer as a user with administrator permissions on the database.
• After Kiln is installed, you can change the connection string in the web.config file to use a specific database user, rather than a Windows user.
• The database user needs to be an administrator for the Kiln database.
• Replace Integrate Security=SSPI; with User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword; in the Connection String.
• You can now revoke permissions to the user that was set up by the installer (typically the FogBugz user).