Checkmate 5.5 Self Hosted Quick Start Guide
Introduction
Checkmate 5.5 offers a new web interface allowing all users in your environment to seamlessly access all of Checkmate’s features by connecting to a Checkmate Web Server on your network. This document will explain how to setup the Checkmate Web Server inside your network, and expose the software to the end user.
Overview of Checkmate Self Hosted Components
The following diagram presents the components which make up Checkmate’s self-hosted solution.
Figure 1 – Components of Checkmate Self-Hosted Solution
1. Database Server: This server hosts the Checkmate database. Minimum requirements are:
a. Windows Server 2003 SP2 or higher
2. Checkmate Server: This server process all of the data in the Checkmate database, and also runs other important Checkmate services such as the Live Downloader, EDL Server, Notification/Scheduled report sender, etc. Minimum requirements for this server are:
a. Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 or higher b. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SP1
c. 1 GHz or higher processor d. 1GB of RAM
e. Internet Access
3. Checkmate Web Server: This server hosts the Checkmate ClickOnce website. The web server is what all clients will connect to when they wish to log into Checkmate. As such, the server must be available via ports 80 and 443 over the network to all Checkmate users. In addition to hosting the ClickOnce website, the Web Server is also the gateway by which all Checkmate instances (including the Checkmate Server) connect to the database. The Server must have access to the database server on port 1433.
a. Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 or higher b. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SP1
c. 1 GHz or higher processor d. 2 GB of RAM
e. Internet Access
f. Must not have IIS installed, or any other services listening on ports 80 or 443 4. Checkmate Client: This is the computer which the end user runs Checkmate from. The
minimum requirements for this computer are:
a. Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 or higher b. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SP1
c. Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or higher d. 500 MHz or higher processor
e. 250MB of RAM
Although this document presents the four components of the Checkmate Self Hosted solution as separate machines, any component can be combined with any other component on the same machine. The simplest solution is to run all server components on one dedicated server.
Installing the Checkmate Web Server
Checkmate 5.5 is available to download from the Geotab website (available here:
Figure 2 – Checkmate Web Server Homepage
Creating a New Checkmate Database
When creating the database, Checkmate requires that you provide the following information: Company Name: The name typed here will be the name Checkmate gives to the database. Any user connecting to Checkmate will need to enter this name, and their user credentials to connect to the database.
Administrator Email: Checkmate requires that all users log into the system by entering a valid email address. When a new database is created, an Administrator’s email address must be provided. This user will be added to the database as a System Administrator, and will be the only valid Checkmate login after the database is created. Other user accounts may be added to the system after database creation.
Password: You must specify a password for the System Administrator account. Passwords cannot be blank.
If you choose the option ‘Create a new database on this computer’, the fields mentioned above are the only ones required to create the database. If you choose the option ‘Create a new database on a different SQL Server’, you will need to provide information on the SQL Server instance you wish to create the database on. The following fields are required:
Server name: This is the name of the computer where SQL Server is installed (an IP address is also acceptable), and the instance name of the SQL installation (if applicable). The format is: servername\instancename
Windows Authentication: If you are running Checkmate with a Windows\Active Directory account which has sysadmin access to your SQL Server, you can use Windows Authentication to create the database.
SQL Login/Password: Must provide sysadmin credentials to SQL Server to create the database. These fields are only required if Windows Authentication is disabled.
You also have the option to choose the initial size and location of the database files on the SQL Server. Checkmate will choose a default location if not overwritten by the user, in Windows 2003 it will be under All Users in Windows 2008 it will be under ProgramData.
Upgrading an Existing Database
Figure 4 – Form to create upgrade an existing Checkmate database
Accessing Checkmate ClickOnce Through the Web Server
Configuring Checkmate Services
The last step in setting up a Checkmate self-hosted environment is to setup the Checkmate services required to download and process data from your vehicles. This can be done on the same machine as the Checkmate Web Server or another machine if you prefer. To enable the Checkmate service, complete the following steps:
1. Log into Checkmate and launch the full version of the software from the machine you wish to run the Checkmate Service on
2. From the Checkmate home page, click Administration -> Options and select the Services tab.
3. Click Advanced -> More to list all available options.
4. Check all services required in your Checkmate environment. A detailed description of the most commonly used services can be found below.
Figure 6 – Checkmate Services
This computer processes data on the selected database: This service is required to view all reports within Checkmate. Every Checkmate setup should have only one Checkmate Server with this service enabled.
This computer runs database maintenance: This service is required to run any scheduled database maintenance on the system, such as data purge, export, etc.
This computer schedules enabled reports, notifications and web notifications: This service must be enabled to receive any email notifications, or scheduled reports.
Go Radio or Key through USB Downloader: This service runs any USB RF/Key downloader. It is required only if a USB Key or USB RF downloader is attached to the computer.
Go Radio through Ethernet Downloader: This service receives GPS data from any EDL’s located on the network (provided the EDL is correctly configured to point to the Checkmate Server). Is only required if EDLs are present on the network.
