How to install Bonita as a service on Windows

In this tutorial we show how to install Tomcat with Bonita configured as a Windows service.

Software needed

For this tutorial you will need the following softwares:

  • Tomcat Windows service installer

  • Bonita Tomcat Bundle

  • Postgresql Database (or another database supported by Bonita)

Please verify the supported version in Installation/Basic Bonita Platform installation/hardware-and-software-requirements

Download and installation

Download the same apache-tomcat version (visible in Installation/Basic Bonita Platform installation/hardware-and-software-requirements) Choose the "32-bit/64-bit Windows Service Installer" installation.

  • Install apache-tomcat-x.y.exe. From now on we’ll call the installation path as %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%

  • Verify that Tomcat is well installed browsing the following URL: http://localhost:8080

Tomcat home page

  • Download the bundle BonitaSubscription-VERSION.zip (or BonitaCommunity-VERSION.zip for the community edition)

  • Unzip the bundle in a folder that we’ll call: %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%

Get the license (In case of Subscription edition)

  • Execute %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/tools/request_key_utils/generateRequestKey.bat

  • Use the generated key to get a license from the Customer Service Center. The license should not be a development license.

  • Move the received license file into the folder %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%/setup/platform_conf/licenses

Database configuration

  • Follow the documentation here to correctly prepare the PostgreSQL database

  • Configure the file %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/setup/database.properties to point towards the suited database (engine and BDM)

database-properties file

  • Execute the command "%TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/setup/setup.bat init" in order to initialize the Bonita database with the default configuration.

  • Verify that setup tool properly created the tables in the engine database.

database tables

  • Execute the command "%TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/setup/setup.bat configure" in order to configure file in the %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%. Those files will be copied to the tomcat installation.

This is an example with Postgres, any database works

Server configuration

  • Copy the folder %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/server/lib/bonita to %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%/lib

  • Copy the folder %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/server/conf to %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%/conf

  • Copy the application %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/server/webapps/bonita to %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%/webapps

Configure JVM properties

  • The file %TOMCAT_BUNDLE%/server/bin/setenv.bat contains all JVM parameters to use in the new installation.

  • The properties should be the following ones:

    • -Dorg.bonitasoft.platform.setup.folder=%TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%\setup

    • -Dorg.bonitasoft.engine.incident.folder=%TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%\logs

    • -Dsysprop.bonita.db.vendor=postgres

    • -Dsysprop.bonita.bdm.db.vendor=postgres

    • -Dcom.arjuna.ats.arjuna.common.propertiesFile=%TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%\conf\jbossts-properties.xml

    • -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

Replace the %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER% by the exact path where you move the setup folder, for example C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\setup

where we replaced the %CATALINA_HOME% with our new Tomcat directory

In order to apply these configurations to the new installation, you have to use the program %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%/bin/TomcatXw.exe (Where X is the Tomcat major version ), and replicate them in the Java Options field.

This is not a command line.

  • One property per line.

  • Attention, no space at the end of the line.

  • do not use environment variable. All path must be resolved.

  • do not set the -Xms and -Xmx option: use the field "Initial memory pool" and "Maximum memory pool".

Then for example

-Dorg.bonitasoft.platform.setup.folder=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\setup
-Dcatalina.home=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0
-Dcatalina.base=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0
-Djava.io.tmpdir=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\temp
-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager
-Djava.util.logging.config.file=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\conf\logging.properties
-Dorg.bonitasoft.platform.setup.folder=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\setup
-Dorg.bonitasoft.h2.database.dir=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\h2_database
-Dorg.bonitasoft.engine.incident.folder=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\logs
-Dsysprop.bonita.db.vendor=postgres
-Dsysprop.bonita.bdm.db.vendor=h2
-Dcom.arjuna.ats.arjuna.common.propertiesFile=C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 9.0\conf\jbossts-properties.xml
-Xshare:auto
-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8

is correct

tomcatw configuration

  • Setup %TOMCAT_INSTALL_FOLDER%/bin/Tomcat9w.exe -> Java -> "Initial memory" with a proper value based on your hardware and project requirements.

  • Do the same with "Maximum Memory pool" property. As an example, if your Operating system has 8 GB of ram you could setup Initial Memory Pool = Maximum Memory Pool = 4096.

  • Verify that in the Startup tab the "Mode" property is set to "Jvm".

tomcatw startup tab

System restart and test

  • Restart the Tomcat service to take in account the new updates.

  • Verify that the Bonita platform is available at the following address: http://localhost:8080/bonita

  • Connect with the technical user (default install/install) and do some tests:

    • Add an organization.

    • Assign profiles to users.

    • Deploy a simple process and test its execution.