Install on Windows Server with IIS

This guide installs DocView Capture on premises, on Windows Server with IIS. Use it when several people will use DocView Capture from their own PCs. The web app runs in IIS. One or more DocView Workers do the OCR, classification, extraction and export; you download them from the server when you need them.

What you need

• A server with Windows Server 2019 or later (Windows 10/11 works for a trial), and administrator rights on it.
• SQL Server 2019 or later on this server or another one. SQL Server Express is fine to start.
• The release files DocViewCapture-Web-<version>.zip and the deploy folder, side by side.
• For use from other PCs: a TLS certificate for the host name people will type, for example capture.contoso.local. HTTPS is required for scanning from other PCs and for DocView Workers on other computers.

See System requirements.

Install in four steps

1. Copy DocViewCapture-Web-<version>.zip and the deploy folder to the server, into the same folder.

2. Double-click deploy\iis\Install.cmd. Windows asks for administrator rights: select Yes. It installs IIS and the .NET Hosting Bundle when they are missing, then asks three questions (press Enter to keep a suggestion):

   • Site name in IIS - DocView Capture;
   • Port - 80 (or 8080 when 80 is taken);
   • Install folder - C:\inetpub\DocViewCapture.

3. Note the last screen. It shows the address of the setup wizard and the setup token:

   Next: finish the setup in a browser (about 3 minutes).
     On this server:          http://localhost/setup  (no token needed)
     From another computer:   http://capture01/setup
     Setup token:             K7QM-3XHB-PW9D-T2RA-6JNE
   

4. Run the setup wizard in the browser that opens (or from your own PC with the token): choose the database (SQL Server on this server is listed - Test connection, Create database), create your administrator, keep or change storage, set the site address (for example https://capture.contoso.local) and finish.

Then add a DocView Worker - next section. Without one, documents wait after scanning.

Add a DocView Worker

DocView Workers do the background processing. Install at least one, on this server or on other servers:

1. Sign in, go to Administration › Downloads and select Download on the DocView Worker card.
2. On the computer that will run it, unzip the file and double-click Install.cmd.
3. The DocView Worker connects to this server by itself and appears under Administration › DocView Workers within a minute.

See Downloads for what DocView Workers on other computers need (HTTPS address, shared storage, database access).

HTTPS and the site address

The installer creates an HTTP binding unless you give it a certificate. For use from other PCs:

1. In IIS Manager, open the site, select Bindings › Add, choose https, the host name and your certificate.
2. In DocView Capture, open Setup › Site address and enter https://<host name>.

Or pass the certificate to the installer: .\Install-DocViewWeb.ps1 -HostName capture.contoso.local -CertificateThumbprint <thumbprint>.

Sign in with Windows: install with -WindowsAuthentication, then map your Active Directory groups to roles under Users & roles › Windows groups. See Windows sign-in.

A SQL Server on another computer

The setup wizard connects to any SQL Server. If DocView Capture may not create databases there, ask your DBA to:

1. create an empty database, for example DocViewCapture;
2. give the web app access with db_owner: either the web server's computer account (for example CONTOSO\WEB01$) with Windows sign-in, or a SQL login you then type in the wizard.

DocView Capture upgrades its own database schema when it starts, so it needs db_owner.

Note: If your DBAs prefer to apply schema changes themselves, set "Database": { "InitializeOnStartup": false } in appsettings.Production.json and run DocViewCapture-Database-<version>.sql before each upgrade (safe to run more than once). The accounts then only need db_datareader, db_datawriter and EXECUTE.

Installer options

The installer creates the application pool DocViewCapture (no managed code, 64-bit, always running, recycled daily at 03:00), the site with preloading, gives the pool identity the folder rights it needs and, when SQL Server runs on this server, a SQL Server login that may create databases.

More than one server

• Shared storage. Every server must see the same page images: a share such as \\fileserver\DocViewCapture (give every application account Modify rights) or Azure Blob Storage - choose it under Setup › Storage before the first batches.
• Shared key ring certificate. DocView Capture encrypts secrets such as mailbox and SFTP passwords and cloud OCR keys. With several servers, they must all use the same certificate:
  1. Run deploy\azure\New-DataProtectionCertificate.ps1 once.
  2. Import the PFX into Local Computer › Personal on every server.
  3. Give the pool and service accounts read access to its private key (Manage Private Keys).
  4. Set "DataProtection": { "CertificateThumbprint": "<thumbprint>" } in every appsettings.Production.json.
• Load balancer. With several web servers, turn on sticky sessions so live progress keeps working. Set "ReverseProxy": { "Enabled": true } so sign-in history and IP rules see the real client address.

Upgrade

Take a database backup, put the new DocViewCapture-Web-<version>.zip next to the deploy folder and run deploy\iis\Install.cmd again. Nothing is asked; settings and documents are kept. DocView Workers are upgraded by running Install.cmd from a newly downloaded DocView Worker package. Upgrading from version 1.6 or earlier: Setup replaces the old service DocViewCaptureWorker with DocViewWorker and keeps its settings, its name in DocView Workers and its database access. See Upgrading.

Health checks

Both programs answer anonymous health checks, handy for load balancers and monitoring:

• /health/live: the process is running.
• /health/ready: the database and storage can also be reached. Before the setup wizard is finished it answers Setup required (503).

Next steps

• The setup wizard
• Downloads
• Configuration reference
• Security
• Troubleshooting