Linux FME Server Installation Checklist

Introduction

FME Server requires some preparation before an installation. This article will help with checklists for Offline and Online installations and silent installation options.

Please be advised that these instructions were tested with FME Server 2022 Express installation hosted on Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS 

Manual Online installation

1. Start a bash shell session as the root user. 

2. Update the system packages. Example:

apt update && apt upgrade

3. Download and install the dependencies for the FME Server component of the installation. Example:

sudo apt-get install zip unzip

4. Download the FME Server installer package from the FME Downloads webpage using the command wget <FMEServerInstallerPackageLinkAddress>. Example:

wget  https://downloads.safe.com/fme/2022/fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run

5.  Assign execute permission to the installer package. Example:

sudo chmod +x fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run

6. Run the Installer

./fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run 

Manual Offline installation

Following is a list of actions to perform before an offline installation-

1. Start a bash shell session as the root user. 

2. Download and install the dependencies for the FME Server component of the installation. Example:

sudo apt-get install <package-name>

3. Install Zip and Unzip

sudo apt-get install zip & unzip

4. Install Pearl 

sudo apt-get install perl

5. Postgresql [If your deployment architecture includes the PostgreSQL database server provided with the installation]

sudo apt-get install postgresql

6. Nginx [FME Server 2022 on Linux includes an NGINX reverse proxy that allows easy SSL configuration and the ability to choose ports under 1024 without root permission. HTTPS is configured on the NGINX reverse proxy rather than the web application server.]

sudo apt-get install nginx

7. Download the FME Server installer package from the FME Downloads webpage using the command wget <FMEServerInstallerPackageLinkAddress>.
For Example-

sudo wget  https://downloads.safe.com/fme/2022/fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run

8. Assign execute permission to the installer package.

sudo chmod +x fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run

9. Extract all files from the FME Server installer package with flags --noexec and --keep. These flags create a folder “fme-server” in the current directory. This folder will contain the contents of the FME Server installer, including the FME Engine .deb or .rpm package. Example:

sudo ./fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run --noexec --keep

Please note: Listing all FME Engines dependencies can be achieved by running a shell script if preferred.

10.  Get dependencies for the FME Engines component of the installation. This is done by running the default Debian package manager to show information about the .deb package found inside the “fme-server” folder mentioned above. Example:  

dpkg -I fme-engine-2022_2022.1.0.0.22618~ubuntu.20.04_amd64.deb

The command should provide the third-party dependencies listed under “Depends:”.

11. Download and install all these dependencies one at a time or all at once using 

sudo apt install libboost-chrono1.67.0

or

sudo apt install libboost-chrono1.67.0 libboost-filesystem1.67.0  libboost-iostreams1.67.0 …………

12. FME Server installer can now be run on an offline host to complete installation. Example:

./fme-server-2022.1-b22618-linux-x64~ubuntu.20.04.run

Listing all FME Engines dependencies using Shell Script

Please see below a sample shell script that can be used to list all the third-party dependency packages for the FME Engines component of the installation.
This script should be saved as a .sh file under the “fme-server” folder, should be provided execute permissions and then run. You will be prompted to provide the .deb file.

Note of caution- Although some testing has been done, this has not been thoroughly tested by our QA team.  It is therefore recommended that a customer looking to do this ensures they have tested the reconfiguration in a non-production environment to ensure all aspects of FME Server they require to function do so correctly.
 

#!/bin/bash
#ask user for deb file
read -p “Please_enter_the_deb_file:” file
sudo apt install postgresql -y 2>> errors.txt
sudo apt install nginx -y 2>> errors.txt
sudo apt-get install zip unzip -y 2>> errors.txt
sudo apt-get install perl -y 2>> errors.txt
#getting all package info
dpkg -I $file> package.txt
#Retrieving data after “Depends:” till end of line
awk '/Depends/' package.txt> OnlyDependencies.txt 2>> errors.txt
#Removing the word “Depends:”
sed 's/Depends://g' OnlyDependencies.txt> RemovedthewordDepends.txt 2>> errors.txt
#Splitting each dependency package name to a separate line
awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++)
if(match($i,",")>0)
line=line $i"\n";
else line=line $i;
sub("^\n","",line);
print line}' RemovedthewordDepends.txt> SplitInSeperateLines.txt 2>> errors.txt
#Removed all the commas at the end of the package name
sed 's/,//g' SplitInSeperateLines.txt> RemovedCommas.txt 2>> errors.txt
#Removed all the additinal info within brackets
sed 's/([^()]*)//g' RemovedCommas.txt> RemovedtheContentWithBrackets.txt 2>> errors.txt

Distributed Installations Checklist

Distributed Installation can run the same method online and offline. You, however, have to make sure that you can reach the database and FME Server File Share before installing. You will need to set up the FME Server User and create a mount for the file share.  Please see this article on Linux Mounting Options
 

Silent Installation Parameter Overview

This list provides all the required Parameters for different installations and a few helpful parameters. The documentation provides information on these parameters.