Create Devolutions Server Instance

If you have recently received your serial licenses keys, please refer to the Getting Started topic.

For more information about any of the features in the deploy wizard, please consult their respective topic under the Server Settings chapter.

Multiple Devolutions Server instances can be hosted on the same server. Each instance resides in its own Web Application within IIS. The following steps are carried out using the Devolutions Server Console .

Procedure

  1. Install Devolutions Server Console on the web server. It is available from the Download page.
  2. Execute Devolutions Server Console with elevated privileges (run as administrator). This is performed by right-clicking on the application, and selecting Run as administrator .

All operations performed through the console are done with the credentials used to launch Devolutions Server Console . If you must use other credentials, you will need to launch another Windows session. The RunAs command does not offer the option of starting a process with elevated privileges. The Run as different user option can work only if the account is a member of the server's local Administrator group.

Run as administrator
Run as administrator

  1. In the Devolutions Server Console, click on the New button or the Install New Instance blue link to deploy a new server instance using the Basic Installation wizard. It is also possible to create an instance using the Advanced Installation wizard by selecting it from the drop down menu of the New button.
    Deploy a new Devolutions Server
    Deploy a new Devolutions Server

Advanced Installation

  1. The first dialog will run diagnostics on the server to verify if the IIS Server has all the necessary Web User Groups prerequisites installed and is ready to run Devolutions Server . Missing features are marked with an error icon. The Install Prerequisites button will install all missing features using a PowerShell script.Click on Close to continue. An internet connection is required for IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) , IIS Rewrite Module and IIS ASP.NET Core Module (ANCM) .
    IIS Features Diagnostic Dialog
    IIS Features Diagnostic Dialog
  2. The License Agreement needs to be accepted to proceed.
    Devolutions Server License Agreement Dialog
    Devolutions Server License Agreement Dialog
  3. Under Database , enter the server and database information. The user account used to create the database must have sysadmin privileges in the SQL Server instance. Consult the Database topic for more information. To use Windows Authentication to connect to the database, it is important to change the Application Pool Identity in the IIS Manager and set the proper permission of the service account on the SQL database. Please consult How to Configure Devolutions Server to use integrated security . The following article about Pre-Deployment Account Survey describe which accounts that can be created prior to deploy Devolutions Server .
    Database Dialog
    Database Dialog
  4. Under General , enter a custom Name and Description . Under Serial , provide a license serial that has been received by email upon buying the product. If you did not buy any Devolutions Server license yet, you may Request a 30-days trial .
    General and Registration Dialog
    General and Registration Dialog
  5. Under Installation Source , select to either Download from the web (latest version) or Install from zip file available from the Download page .
    Source Dialog
    Source Dialog
  6. Under General , select the Website , Web Application Name and Access URI required to reach the Devolutions Server web page. Under Installation Destination , set the Installation Folder where the instance's files will be located. The process to run Web sites has been granted the proper permissions under c:\inetpub\wwwroot . We recommend to create a new folder beneath it and create the Devolutions Server instance within this folder . Under Application Pool , set the Application Pool Name.

We do not recommend to set the installation folder to C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) . Devolutions Server is a web application and this could result in unwanted behavior and issues because IIS do not have enough permissions to run web applications that are located under those folders. If you want to set the web application folder in a location different than the default C:\Inetpub\wwwroot folder, the IIS_IUSRS builtin local machine group will need Read and Read & Execute permissions on the entire Devolutions Server web application folder structure.

Destination dialog
Destination dialog

  1. Under Administration Credentials , fill in the information to create a Devolutions Server Custom administrator account . All fields are required.
    Create An Administrator User
    Create An Administrator User
  2. Under Scheduler Service , when enabling the Install Scheduler service option, please set the proper Service Account. The following features depend on the Scheduler : Backup manager , Domain Users and Users Groups cache , Office365 Users and User Groups cache , Email notifications , Cleanup Logs and Privileged Access Management .
    Scheduler Dialog
    Scheduler Dialog
  3. Choosing to not install the Scheduler, you will get the following warning message.
    Scheduler Warning
    Scheduler Warning
  4. Under Recovery Kit , select the destination folder and file name of the Devolutions Server recovery kit file. Set a password to protect the Encryption Keys. If the Include sensitive data option is enabled, the SQL authentication credentials will be included in the recovery kit.

We recommend to protect the Recovery Kit file in a safe to avoid data loss if Devolutions Server has to be restored.

Backup the Encryption Keys Dialog
Backup the Encryption Keys Dialog

14. Under Settings , validate the configuration and click Install .
Settings Dialog
Settings Dialog

Once the installation is complete, a summary indicates if the Devolutions Server has been deployed correctly.

Progress Installation Dialog
Progress Installation Dialog

Test the installation

To test the server installation, click on navigate to the instance URL (e.g.: http://<Machine_Name>/) with any web browser or click on the Navigate to Website button in the Devolutions Server Console .

Devolutions Server Console
Devolutions Server Console

In some situations, the web page may not load properly. Ensure that the IIS IUSRS local built-in group has full read access on the encryption.config file located in the App_Data sub folder located in the Devolutions Server web application folder (i.e. c:\inetpub\wwwroot\dvls\App_Data). If there is still an issue, contact us at service@devolutions.net

To test the connection from a client by creating a data source in Remote Desktop Manager. Please consult the How to Configure Client Data Source for more information.