Page Comparison

On this page:

System Requirements

Information about system requirements for flex.bi Enterprise installation can be found here: Requirements.

Our default setup

We have chosen Linux CentOS 8 as our default server platform and MySQL/MariaDB as a database engine, so these instruction apply for this specific setup.

However, flex.bi Enterprise can also be installed on older CentOS, Redhat versions as well as other distributions of Linux, by adjusting the available software, it's versions and installation methods. For example using rpm or apt-get or yum instead of dnf or PostgreSQP instead of MySQL.

Software Installation

The following are instructions for flex.bi Enterprise and the required software installation on Centos 8 operating system.

Java

Run the following command to install Java:

yum install jre

MySQL/MariaDB

Run the following command to install MariaDB server:

sudo yum install mariadb-server

...

On this page:

System Requirements

Information about system requirements for flex.bi Enterprise installation can be found here: Requirements.

Our default setup

We have chosen Linux CentOS 8 as our default server platform and MySQL/MariaDB as a database engine, so these instruction apply for this specific setup.

However, flex.bi Enterprise can also be installed on older CentOS, Redhat versions as well as other distributions of Linux, by adjusting the available software, it's versions and installation methods. For example using rpm or apt-get or yum instead of dnf or PostgreSQP instead of MySQL.

Software Installation

The following are instructions for flex.bi Enterprise and the required software installation on Centos 8 operating system.

Java installation

1. Run the following command to install Java JDK 11:

   Code Block
   sudo dnf install java-11-openjdk-devel

   
   

2. Run the following command, to test if the result matches the version you installed

   Code Block
   java -version

   
   

Install MySQL server

The CentOS 8 AppStream repository only contain MySQL 8.0 packages, so, to install MySQL 5.7, we need to do some prep-work.

1. Disable MySQL default AppStream repository.

   Code Block
   sudo yum install mariadb-server

   
   

2. Create a new repository file..

   Code Block
   sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/mysql-community.repo

   
   

3. Create a new repository file..

   Code Block
   sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/mysql-community.repo

   
   

4. Paste the following dat into the new repo file.

   Code Block

   [mysql57-community] name=MySQL 5.7 Community Server baseurl=http://repo.mysql.com/yum/mysql-5.7-community/el/7/$basearch/ enabled=1 gpgcheck=0 [mysql-connectors-community] name=MySQL Connectors Community baseurl=http://repo.mysql.com/yum/mysql-connectors-community/el/7/$basearch/ enabled=1 gpgcheck=0 [mysql-tools-community] name=MySQL Tools Community baseurl=http://repo.mysql.com/yum/mysql-tools-community/el/7/$basearch/ enabled=1 gpgcheck=0

   
   

5. Disable MySQL 8 repository.

   Code Block
   sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/mysql-community.repo

   
   

6. Enable repository for MySQL 5.7.

   Code Block
   sudo dnf config-manager --enable mysql57-community

   
   

7. Install MySQL 5.7.

   Code Block
   sudo dnf install mysql-community-server

   
   

Flex.bi

For security reasons we recommend creating dedicated flexbi user. Run the following command to achieve that:

...

• Perform the following actions to create new user for flex.bi databases:
  
  

  • Run the following command to connect to mysql:

    Code Block
    mysql -u root -p

    
    

  • Adjust and run the following command (in the example user's password is 'secret'):

    Code Block
    CREATE USER 'flexbi_private'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'secret'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `flexbi_private%`.* TO 'flexbi_private'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'secret'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

    
    

  
  

• If you need a remote access the server (using an admin tool like Sequel Pro), perform the following actions:
  
  

  • Run the following command to connect to mysql:

    Code Block
    mysql -u root -p

    
    

  • Adjust and run the following command:

    Code Block
    GRANT ALL ON flexbi_private.* TO 'root'@'<remote-ip-address>' IDENTIFIED BY 'PASSWORD'; GRANT ALL ON flexbi_private_dwh.* TO 'root'@'<remote-ip-address>' IDENTIFIED BY 'PASSWORD'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

    
    

    Note
    In the code example above, you should use the actual username on the remote machine instead of root (you can also use the root uset), the actual IP address of the remote machine instead of <remote-ip-address> and the actual password on the remote machine instead of PASSWORD.

    
    

Flex.bi

• Configure the eazybi.toml file:
  

  • Run the following command, to copy the eazybi.toml.sample file in the /config folder to a new file named eazybi.toml:

    Code Block
    cp eazybi.toml.sample eazybi.toml

    
    

  • In a text editor of your choice, open the newly created eazybi.toml file and make the necessary configurations:
    
    

    • Licence parameters
      • Change the name to the organisation name (it must be exactly the same as the name that you sent it to flex.bi, because the enabler is tied to this name)
        
        
    • General parameters, for example, specify:
      • If you wish to allow users to register themselves or only invite them
      • If you would like to allow public accounts or not etc.
        
        
    • Default URL parameters
      • Specify host and port that you will use to access flex.bi, for example, bi.company.com:8080
        
        

    • Mailer parameters

      • You can set up the name and address used for outgoing e-mails from this private instance, for example, like this:

        Code Block
        [mailer] from = "My private flex.bi <flexbi@mydomain.com>"

        
        

        Note
        In the code example above, you should use your dedicated e-mail address instead of flexbi@mydomain.com.

        
        

    • SMTP parameters

      • Specify your SMTP server parameters, in order to be able to send invitations, dashboards and error messages
        
        

• Add a systemd initialization script for flex.bi server:

  
  

...

• Open the port 8080 in your firewall to allow remote access to the flex.bi server:

  • Run the following command to open the port 8080:

    Code Block
    firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp

    
    

  • Run the following command to reload the firewall:

    Code Block
    firewall-cmd --reload

    
    

  • Run the following command to check if the port is open:

    Code Block
    firewall-cmd --list-ports

    
    

Google Chrome

• If you have installed and configured PhantomJS for previous flex.bi enterprise versions then remove PhantomJS settings from the eazybi.toml file by deleting the following lines:

  Code Block
  [phantomjs]location = "..."

  
  

• Run the following command to enable Google YUM repository:
  

  Code Block
  cat << EOF > /etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo [google-chrome] name=google-chrome - \$basearch baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/\$basearch enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub EOF

  
  

• Run the following command to install the package:
  

  Code Block
  yum install google-chrome-stable

  
  

• After you have installed Google Chrome, please restart flex.bi enterprise. During the startup, flex.bi will detect installed Google Chrome and will start to use it for PDF exports. 
  

  Note
  For additional information regarding Google Chrome installation please see Google Chrome installation instructions.

  
  
  

...

Run the flex.bi server

Finally, now you can start the flex.bi service using this code:

...

Configure the database connection in the wizard that should open once you connect for the first time using the database parameters from above.

...