This section documents the typical Windows installation process for Omniscope, and discusses options for rolling-out and upgrading Omniscope in various organisational and network/desktop administration contexts.
Note: Omniscope is a Java application that runs on any operating system that supports a Java virtual machine, including full Windows 8 Tablets, Mac OS and Linux. There is a single Omniscope installer that is both 32 and 64-bit, and includes a bundled private version of 32/64-bit Java. The bundled Java is not accessible to any other application, and is independent of any other Java installations which may be on the machine. This minimises any security issues with Java, while maintaining wide platform deployment options. The activation process to upgrade Omniscope free Viewers to authoring Desktop and Server Editions is also supported on Mac OX and on other operating systems like Linux/Unix.
The minimum system specifications and requirements for running Omniscope are outlined here [1]. Omniscope has no dependency on any other software or program, other than the private Java Virtual Machine (PVM) which is bundled with full offline installers.
Single user typical Windows install sequences (32 & 64 bit). All free Viewer downloads come with a free 30-day trial of a full Desktop Edition. From version 2.5, the free trial offer/count-down screen is not displayed to users clicking on IOK files attached to e-mails and download links, only to users trying to open files which cannot be opened by the free Viewer. Free Viewer keys that suppress all trial offers can be used in corporate deployments
Omniscope is compatible with both 32 and 64 bit versions XP. Activation is on per account basis, please do not activate from admin install account.
Omniscope is compatible with both 32 bit and 64 bit version of Vista. Activation is on per account basis, please do not activate from admin install account.
Omniscope is compatible with both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7. However, XP Mode of Windows 7 is not supported. Activation is on per account basis, please do not activate from the admin install account.
Omniscpe is compatible with Windows 8, including full Windows 8 tablets. Windows 8 RC does not support Java, and therefore is not supported. Activation is on per account basis, please do not activate from the admin install account.
Omniscpe is compatible with Windows 10, including full Windows 10 tablets. Activation is on per account basis, please do not activate from the admin install account.
Many clients run Ominscope in virtual desktops, usually carved out of 64-bit servers with abundant RAM. Omniscope has not been tested with all types of virtualisation software such as Microsoft AppV, or any other similar programs.
The sub-sections at left cover various options for network roll-out installs and centralised deployment and corporate customisation, including any known issues and workarounds.
New documentation: This page relates specifically to Omniscope version 2.8 b313 (end Sept 2012) and later. If using Omniscope 2.6 or 2.7, or any build of 2.8 up to 312, see the older instructions [2].
If installed as a Windows Service, Omniscope Server/Publisher will start when your system starts, without a user account login required. This enables 'always-on' 24/7 services to remain running regardless of user account logins or logout.
On typical systems, this is the default option when installing Omniscope. Omniscope will be installed to the user profile under "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Visokio Omniscope app", and will not be available to other accounts. The same user account will be activated, and will also be used to run the service under.
Follow the steps above. But in this case, Omniscope is installed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Visokio Omniscope" or "C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope".
Regardless of installation location, activation is typically per-user. You must ensure that the service is configured to run as a specific user account, and that same user account must be activated by logging in and entering the key into Omniscope Desktop.
Follow the same instructions as above, but if you are a user with administrative privileges, you won't need to "run as adminstrator" when you launch the command prompt. You may find that Omniscope installs system-wide rather than per-user. See the relevant installation section above.
Log files can be found in "C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\scheduler".
By default the service uses the same memory limit as the desktop app, which is 1100mb on a 32-bit system or approx. 75% installed memory on a 64-bit PC.
Advanced users can customise this to free up memory for multiple schedulers or to squeeze more RAM out of a server.
To edit the service memory configuration, open wrapper.conf in your Omniscope installation folder typically in "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Visokio Omniscope app\service" or "c:\ProgramFiles\Visokio Omnisope\service" and edit the line "wrapper.java.maxmemory", specifying a number in MB. For example:
wrapper.java.maxmemory=1100 (32-bit limit)
or
wrapper.java.maxmemory=6000 (as recommended on an 8gb server running 64-bit)
The Visokio service will by default run in the 32/64-bit mode as chosen when first installed. By default this is 64-bit on a 64-bit PC and 32-bit on a 32-bit PC. If you are upgrading an older version of Omniscope you will need to replace "wrapper.conf" as detailed above in the installation section, otherwise an old configuration will be used.
To switch between 32-bit and 64-bit, reinstall following the steps above and choosing the right option in the installer, being sure to replace "wrapper.conf" as detailed.
Make sure you're using 2.8 b313 or later and have followed the instructions above carefully. See also Scheduler troubleshooting [4] and the flowchart PDF in this forum post [5].
If you try to install Visokio as a service on Vista, you will get a"OpenSCManager Failed - Access is Denied. (0x5)" error. On Vista, you need to log on as an administrator when you install the service, as detailed in the installation instructions above.
If your service will not start after it has been installed, please check that you have a clean installation of Omniscope with an updated "wrapper.conf" file as detailed above.
Also make sure the service is configured to run under a user account which has access to the Omniscope installation folder. Make sure the same account has been activated with your license key, and not another user account.
Repeat the installation steps carefully. Get in touch on the forums [6] if you still cannot get the service to start.
If you get out of memory errors (in the scheduler or service log files, in the program folder), please check that you have a clean installation of Omniscope with an updated "wrapper.conf" file as detailed above.
See above Memory configuration [7] section on how to increase memory and switch to 64-bit Java (if you are using a 64-bit machine).
You need to restart the service for the changes to take effect.
Scheduler as a service is unable to access files on mapped network drive, because these drive mappings are only available to a desktop user session on Windows.
The way to get around this issue is by using full UNC paths (\\machine name\path) in your DataManager models and source/output paths.
See System-wide database driver location settings [8].
This usually means the "wrapper.conf" is old and applies to an older version of Omniscope. Please check that you have a clean installation of Omniscope with an updated "wrapper.conf" file as detailed above.
Old documentation: This page relates specifically to Omniscope versions prior to 2.8 b313 (end Sept 2012). This includes all builds of 2.6 and 2.7, and any build of 2.8 up to 312. You should be using a newer version, please see the latest instructions [9].
Beginning with version 2.2, it is possible to run Enterprise Edition as a Windows Service. This enables always-on services to remain running regardless of user account logins or logout.
When you have installed the application and activated it with a valid Enterprise license, browse to the applications program folder (generally c:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope) and you will find a folder called 'Service'
Open the folder and double-click on 'Install Visokio Service.bat'. This will install the application as a service and start it. When you install the application as a service, it will run it as the "Local System" user. For security reasons the service cannot run logged on as the "Local System" user. You will need to change the service to make it log on as a user. To do this open the Services Control Manager from Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services. Select Visokio Enterprise, right click, then go to Properties, and choose the "Log on" tab, select "This account" and enter your account name and password, then press "OK". Now start the service.
You can now manage the service as you would any other by going to "Administrative Tools" in the Control Panel and choosing 'Services'.
Configuring scheduled tasks within the Scheduler is done in the same way as before (using the 'Visokio Scheduler' item in the Start menu) the only difference being that you cannot stop the application from here and the application continues to run after the interface is closed.
If you wish to uninstall the service you can go to the same folder and double-click on 'Uninstall Visokio Service.bat'.
By default the service has a fixed limit of 1100mb. For medium and larger data files this will need to be adjusted. We recommend allowing up to 75% of installed RAM, but if running the 32-bit version of Omniscope, limiting further to 1100mb.
To edit the service memory configuration, open wrapper.conf in your Omniscope installation folder typically in "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Visokio Omniscope app\service" or "c:\ProgramFiles\Visokio Omnisope\service" and edit the line "wrapper.java.maxmemory", specifying a number in MB. For example:
wrapper.java.maxmemory=1100 (32-bit limit)
or
wrapper.java.maxmemory=6000 (as recommended on an 8gb server running 64-bit)
The Visokio service will by default run with the version that has been installed using the installer. For example, if you install Omniscope in 64-bit (default on 64-bit machines), then the service will be configured to run in 64-bit mode. You can verify this, if the wrapper.java.command in the wrapper.conf ends in ...\x64\bin\java (see below). We recommend that if you are using 64-bit machine that you always use 64-bit Java. To switch to 64-bit Java simply change the path in the wrapper.java.command to the 64-bit version (see below for full path).
Note: You will need to restart the service in order for the changes to take effect.32-bit: wrapper.java.command=C:\Program Files (x86)\Visokio Omniscope\x86\bin\java
64-bit: wrapper.java.command=C:\Program Files (x86)\Visokio Omniscope\x64\bin\java
or
32-bit: wrapper.java.command=C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Visokio Omniscope app\x86\bin\java
64-bit: wrapper.java.command=C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Visokio Omniscope app\x64\bin\java
Troubleshooting
If you try to install Visokio as a service on Vista, you will get a"OpenSCManager Failed - Access is Denied. (0x5)" error. On Vista, youneed to log on as an administrator. From the Start menu browse to"Command Prompt", right click and "Run as administrator". Type cd andthe location of the Visokio service folder (generally c:\ProgramFiles\Visokio Omnisope\service) and press Enter then type 'InstallVisokio Service.bat' and press Enter again. This should install your service and start it.
If your service will not start after it has been installed, please check that you have Java in your system path. This can be done by going to the Control Panel, opening "System", choosing "Advanced" ("Advanced Settings" in Vista) and clicking the "Environment Variables..." button. A new window will pop up. Under "System variables" find "Path", click edit and, if the path to the "bin" folder in your java installation is not there, type it at the end (including the "bin").
Alternatively, edit the wrapper.conf file in the service folder of Omniscope's program folder. To use a system VM:
wrapper.java.command=C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_04\bin\java
Or to configure the service to use the bundled Java VM that comes with Omniscope:
wrapper.java.command=C:\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope\pvm6u4\bin\java
If you get out of memory errors (in the scheduler or service log files, in the program folder), see above Memory configuration [7] section on how to increase memory and switch to 64-bit Java (if you are using a 64-bit machine).
You need to restart the service for the changes to take effect.
Scheduler as a service is unable to access files on mapped network drive. The way to get around this issue is by using full UNC paths (\\machine name\path).
Before installing the application you need to delete your old wrapper.conf file generally at (c:\Program Files\Visokio Omnisope\Service). As there has been configuration changes to wrapper.conf file, and a new installation does not overwrite old wrapper.conf file.
To install Omniscope in a corporate administered network environment you may either install individually, or deploy (roll out) to multiple terminals from a central location. Once installed, you will then need to activate your installation(s) to increase functionality from the read/query/print-only free Viewer to the authoring Desktop (or Server) Editions. Omniscope licensing is on a per-account, not a per-machine basis. If you install using an Administrator account, you must activate using the User, rather than Administrative account. Installing to all accounts will result in all unactivated accounts having the free Viewer installed...usually a good thing.
There is only one installer file for all Omniscope Editions. Download the full installer from here [11]
The full installers which are self-contained (include the latest Java PVM) and do not trigger further downloads.
It is advisable for the Administrator to configure the appropriate proxy settings at installation, allowing Omniscope to activate and update itself online. This can be done from Settings > {Application-wide} Advanced > HTTP Proxy Settings. Another alternative is to deploy a plain-text properties file into the Visokio Omniscope program folder in Program Files. See Proxy Settings [12]for more information.
Installations can be either unactivated Omniscope free Viewers (read/query/print-only of .IOK files), or an activated Omniscope Editions able to publish data sets as .IOM Workgroup or .IOK Professional files. If the user is intending to use only the free Viewer, then Omniscope doesn't need to be activated. However, if the user needs an authoring Edition of Omniscope, then the installation needs to be activated. Activation is by-account. Omniscope should be activated while logged in to the User account, not the Administrator account used for the installation. If another user logs in to a different account on the same machine, they will see the free Viewer only. When upgrading to a newer version, it is best to have all users refresh their activation from Omniscope:
Help > Licensing & Activation > [Refresh]
Omniscope can be deployed to multiple machines in an administered network environment using either a 3rd party application deployment management suite that will simulate the log-in of an administrator and execution of the offline installer executable, or using the silent installation option detailed below.
Using the /S (capital "S") switch, the installer will run in silent mode. You can remotely execute the following command to install Omniscope without the usual sequence of interactive wizard steps. You may need to configure the installer to run in silent mode on next login.
Z:/path/to/OmniscopeOfflineInstaller.exe /S
See Silent installation [13] for more information.
It is also possible to roll out Omniscope without the installer. Please contact [3] Visokio for further information.
There is a single-installer for all editions of Omniscope available from http://www.visokio.com/download [14]
Omniscope can be installed and uninstalled in "silent mode", useful if you are rolling Omniscope out to multiple desktops automatically.
To use silent mode, add the "/S" switch to the installer or uninstaller executable. Note: silent uninstallation is only supported by Omniscope 2.6 b553 and later.
Omniscope 2.6+ has two installation modes: per-user and system-wide.
If you run the installer in interactive mode without administrative privileges, it will prompt you whether you want to elevate and install system-wide, or install per-user (in which case the files go in the user's profile).
In silent mode, the installer and uninstaller will modify the per-user installation; to modify the system-wide installation, the installer/uninstaller must be run as administrator.
To install:
To uninstall (32-bit OS):
To uninstall (64-bit OS):
[15]http://www.visokio.com/kb/corpinst [15]
Omniscope does not fully support the use of roaming user profiles in Windows. If your network uses roaming user profiles, problems may occur, such as:
Disable roaming user profiles for the accounts in question. Alternatively, contact Visokio [3] for a list of files/folders that must be preserved on the local machine.
This page explains how to install Omniscope on a server and use it through Windows Terminal Services (WTS). This page assumes you have a basic understanding of Windows operating system and WTS.
The environment used for validation were set up in the following ways:
The WTS environment used Remote Desktop Client version 6.0.2448.0, with Windows Server 2000 Service Pack 4 and Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.
Client operating systems tested were Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1, Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, and Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4.
A user account was set up using a Microsoft Active Directory domain user group.
Note: The Anonymous User profile was not tested.
The user account was set up on the server with a restricted Common User profile, with Read, Read and Execute, and List Folder Contents permissions. These permissions enable the user to operate the computer and save documents; the user cannot install programs or make changes to the system files or settings.
The server machine was running Microsoft Office XP Professional and Standard with Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer 6.0, Visio versions 2002 and 2003, Netscape Navigator
Download and fully-install the latest version by going to www.visokio.com/download [14].
Once downloaded, double-click the installer and follow the instructions.
It is important that you choose "Install for all users" and not "Install for current user"
Follow the the rest of the installer instructions and when prompted click Finish to complete the installation.
Please note that Omniscope activation is on a per machine, per account basis. This means that each account intending to use Omniscope will need to be activated separately. If concurrent use of the same machine is aniticapted, please see the discussi9on of setting maximum RAM limits per account here [16].
Choose Start > Programs > Accessories > Communication > Remote Desktop Connection.
In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, type the name of the server you want to access in the Computer Name box, or select a server name from the list.
Click Connect.
Log into the server.
Open Omniscope from the Terminal Services-based server.
Please refer to test scripts [17] for further information.
Please contact us [3],or use our support forums.
[6]
Although Omniscope is not officially supported on Citrix, many clients have been deploying Omniscope via Citrix without issues. Omniscope is a standard Windows application, so it should be possible to install and use Omniscope in these environments.
Activation
Activation on Citrix environment is the same as non-Citrix environment (per account).
On Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 (32- and 64-bit), you may find after installing Omniscope successfully that Omniscope won't start. You may get an error message indicating "Could not create the Java virtual Machine". This message can be seen when launching using "launch_debug.exe" in the installation folder.
This is due to a problem with Citrix 4.5 for which a hotfix is available.
Please see http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX115868 [18] for the hotfix, which should resolve this issue.
If you are unable to apply the hotfix, you can try reducing the memory allocated to Omniscope [16] to below 580MB, although this will limit Omniscope's capability.
Omniscope installs an optional installconfig.properties file containing advanced settings. Normally, you do not need to make any changes to this file. It is used to customise installations in advanced ways or to add diagnostics or fault-finding settings.
Corporate administrators may wish to use this file to tailor their rollout of Omniscope, for example, to support a centralised Java VM. This file is also used to re-direct Omniscope to use 64-bit Java installs [19], and to specify customised settings [20] to be available to installed Omniscope users. This file may also be used to assist in diagnosing problems starting or using the software (see below).
The installconfig.properties file contains plain text, editable by Notepad. It is located within the installation folder, in one of the following locations, depending on your operating system and installation options:
Within the file, comments are prefixed with a space and # symbol. See the description of all available properties in the example file, below. Uncommented properties must have no leading space nor #.
# This is the installation configuration file.
# This is used to configure initial startup of the application.
#
# All properties are optional, and if defined, each line must not contain redundant whitespace
# To enable/disable a property, remove/add the # sign (# means comment)
# This is an optional manually-specified Java VM installation folder.
# It should contain bin\javaw.exe, and should be Java version 5+
# JVM_DIR=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.5.0_14
# This is an optional manually-specified max memory cap for the Java VM, an integer specifying the
# megabytes to allow the JVM. Must be at least 64.
# If unspecified, 75% of physical RAM will be used as the cap.
# MAX_MEMORY_MB=300
# Optional property specifying additional space-separated JVM options. Default is blank.
# Example which enables "heap dump on out of memory", which generates files such as
# "java_pid4972.hprof" in the program folder, for submitting to Visokio for analysis
# (requires Java 1.5.0_07+ or Java 6):
# ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
# Optional property which if true causes output to be redirected to
# "Visokio_output_log.txt" in My Documents
# LOG_TO_MY_DOCUMENTS=true
# Optional property which, if true, disables the default heap tuning parameters
# which at time of writing are -Xms64M -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=20 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=30
# DISABLE_DEFAULT_HEAP_OPTIONS=true
Omniscope includes its own copy of Java, which has been selected to work correctly with Omniscope, and which means your system does not have any Java-related requirements.
In rare cases when fault-finding, you may be asked to use a different version of Java. You can specify a specific version of Java to use with Omniscope by editing installconfig.properties file's JVM_DIR property. Uncomment (by removing "#" at the start, and removing any leading spaces) JVM_DIR, and then specify the location of the Java installation folder, such as "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6".
For advanced users, Java and Omniscope can be customised using JVM arguments. The installconfig.properties file's ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS property should be uncommented (by removing "#" at the start, and removing any leading spaces), and the arguments added after the "=" sign with spaces between them, as seen in the examples below.
For example, if you experience a "stack overflow" error, after reporting the error to Visokio, you may be able to resolve the error by increasing your Java stack size, by including the installconfig property, adjusting the 2000 value upwards if necessary:
ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-Xss2000k
If you are running on Windows go to C:\Windows\Fonts and copy all the fonts you want to make available from Omniscope to another folder such as C:\our_fonts. Now edit the installconfig.properties file as explained above. Add a command line option to specify which fonts are available by uncommenting (removing the space & hash) at the front of the #ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS line and provide the following: -DinstalledFontLocation=c:\our_fonts (case sensitive). Below is an example of how the modified installconfig.properties line would look:
ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-DinstalledFontLocation=c:\our_fonts
Note:it is important that to copy rather than move your fonts from the C:\Windows\Fonts location. Also note that onlyTrue Type Fonts (with .TTF extension) files can be included.
To enable this, only when advised, ensure the ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS line is uncommented and includes the option "-XX+:HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError". For example:
ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
This will cause a heap dump (*.hprof file) to be written to the install folder should you experience an out of memory situation. When this occurs, deliver this file to Visokio for diagnosis if you believe the error to be unwarranted. More information... [21]
You can disable free trial prompts on start-up and from the Help menu by following the steps below. If you are in a corporate environment it is recommended that you install Omniscope for all users, rather than for each individual user, otherwise you will need to carry the steps below by modifying each user account's installconfig.properties.
Find this line in installconfig.properties
#ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
Replace with the following line:
ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-DdisableFreeTrial=true
If you have ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS property already enabled, add to the end
" -DdisableFreeTrial=true"
Find this line in installconfig.properties
#ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
Replace with the following line:
ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS=-DCHECK_UPDATES_AUTOMATICALLY=false
If you have ADDITIONAL_JVM_ARGS property already enabled, add to the end
" -DCHECK_UPDATES_AUTOMATICALLY=false"
See also:
When you first use a database connection, depending on the type of database, Omniscope may prompt you to download and locate the database JDBC driver. Omniscope tracks this location, so you don't need to enter it again.
However, if there are more than one user account running Omniscope on the same machine, then when running as a different user account, these settings won't be available and you or other users on the same machine will be prompted again on first use. This may be inconvenient if configuring a system for multiple user accounts, and can prevent a 'headless' Scheduler Server running as a Windows Service from working.
Use this approach if you have multiple users launching Omniscope Desktop on the same system, and/or wish to push out a configuration centrally to many PCs.
Use this approach if you're using the Windows Service to run the Omniscope Scheduler/Mobile Web Server without a logon session.
Database | propName | Typical propValue |
Ingres/Vectorwise | IngresSqlDriverSearch_driverDir | C:\Program Files\Ingres JDBC Driver\iijdbc.jar |
MySql | MySqlDriverSearch_driverDir | C:\Program Files\MySQL JDBC driver |
Oracle | OracleThinDriverSearch_jarFile | C:\Oracle\product\11.2.0\Db_1\jdbc\lib\ojdbc5.jar |
Postgres | PostgreSqlDriverSearch_driverDir | C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL JDBC Driver\postgresql-8.4-701.jdbc4.jar |
MS SQL Server | SqlServer2008DriverSearch_jarFile | C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server\sqljdbc_4.0\enu\sqljdbc4.jar |
If requested by Visokio Support, a class load log can be generated as follows. This is a .TXT file containing application startup diagnosis information.
Links:
[1] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/system-requirements
[2] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/windows-service-old
[3] http://kb.visokio.com/contact
[4] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/scheduler-troubleshooting
[5] http://forums.visokio.com/discussion/1700/scheduler-running-as-a-windows-service-troubleshooting/p1
[6] http://forums.visokio.com/
[7] http://kb.visokio.com/book/export/html/186#memory
[8] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/system-wide-jdbc-locations
[9] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/windows-service
[10] http://kb.visokio.com/book/export/html/186#java
[11] http://kb.visokio.com/getomniscope
[12] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/proxysettings
[13] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/silent-install
[14] http://kb.visokio.com/download
[15] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/corpinst
[16] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/omniscope-memory-allocation
[17] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/win/test-script
[18] http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX115868
[19] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/64-bit-configuration
[20] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/customising-installations
[21] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/memory-diagnosis
[22] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/class-load-logs
[23] http://kb.visokio.com/kb/installconfig