QEST Platform Pre-Installation Overview
- Krzysztof Kot
- Chris Kerr
- Anonymous
QEST Platform 4.81
Applies to All
This article provides a high-level overview of the infrastructure requirements for QEST Platform and outlines the pre-installation activities required to be carried out before installing the QEST Platform products.
Contents
Scope
This document provides a high-level overview of the infrastructure requirements for QEST Platform and outlines the pre-installation activities required to be carried out before installing the QEST Platform products.
This includes system requirements and prerequisites for the database server and application servers where QEST Platform desktop applications will be installed.
The target audience is IT professionals, IT managers, and technical managers. Some sections may require an understanding of network infrastructure.
Additional supplementary documents provide details for configuration of the environment to make it ready for Spectra QEST software installation. The scope of this document does not cover the actual installation process for the applications.
QEST Platform Desktop Applications Overview
Architecture
QESTLab is Spectra QEST’s Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and the core of the QEST Platform. It has been developed in Microsoft Visual Studio 6 (VB) and has a 2-Tier "Rich Client to Database" architecture. Supported database engines are Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 and later.
A standard installation involves one Windows Server running Microsoft SQL Server and one or more Windows Server Application Servers running the QEST Platform client software. Remote Presentation or Application Virtualization technologies (Microsoft Terminal Services, Citrix XenApp, Parallels RAS, or similar) are used to present QEST Platform desktop applications to the user.
The configuration and maintenance of the selected Remote Desktop or Application Virtualization technology is the responsibility of the customer (or their IT Department).
Application Server
System Requirements
| Application Server | |
|---|---|
| Minimum Hardware Requirements | 4 CPU Cores (or vCPUs) 4 GB RAM >1 GB free Hard Drive space |
| Software Requirements | Required: Windows Server 2008 or later (64-bit) (see Notes 2 and 3 below) Remote Presentation or Application Virtualization technology (Terminal Services, Citrix XenApp, Parallels RAS or similar) Adobe Acrobat Reader DC .NET Framework version 4.6.2 or later |
| Sizing | 30-50 users per application server |
The Application Server will run instances of the QEST Platform desktop applications (QESTLab Client, QEST Crush Station, and QEST Weigh Station) for each user. These are the most CPU and memory intensive QEST Platform modules and require greater hardware commitments as the number of users increases.
Each server with these specifications will be able to handle between 30 and 50 concurrent users. Once there are more than this number of concurrent users a new server should be introduced to lighten the load.
Notes
- 32-bit application servers are no longer supported – please plan to use a 64-bit installation of Windows Server 2008 or later.
- Microsoft support for Windows Server operates on a fixed life cycle. Versions prior to Windows Server 2016 are no longer in Mainstream Support and are not recommended for new implementations of QEST Platform.
- There is a known bug when using RemoteApp on Windows Server 2019 that affects use of QESTLab and the QEST Administration Console. At this time Windows Server 2016 is recommended for implementations using RemoteApp for application distribution.
Third-Party Software and Tools
- Adobe Acrobat Reader DC: This needs to be installed on the Application Server(s) for QESTlab to be able to preview native test reports.
- Microsoft Office Suite, specifically, a recent version of Excel (2007 or later). This must be installed on the Application Server(s) to enable the optional Dynamic Worksheets and External Test Reports features.
Full installation and configuration documentation can be found in /wiki/spaces/QPDWV/pages/1023836256.
Database Server
The QEST Platform database is a SQL Server database which requires an instance of Microsoft SQL Server installed.
We highly recommend using a Standard or Enterprise Edition of MS SQL Server as the Express Edition has significant limitations. Spectra QEST supports SQL Server 2008R2 and above. Express Edition may be used during initial implementation and acceptance testing, but the restriction on database size makes it unsuitable for use in a production environment.
It is recommended that the Database Server and Application Server are separate machines. This requires that:
- SQL Server instance is configured to allow remote connections
- SQL Server supports remote connections via TCP/IP or named pipes. TCP/IP communication is used for performance reasons and should be enabled for SQL Server. For more information on selecting a network protocol for SQL Server see Microsoft Technet.
- The port that the SQL Server instance is listening on is open and incoming connections are allowed from the application server by any firewalls. By default, this is port 1433.
Full installation and configuration documentation can be found in /wiki/spaces/QPDWV/pages/1023836256.
System Requirements
A separate machine guarantees more dedicated resources to executing the SQL queries initiated by QEST Platform applications. The Database Server (if separate) should have the specifications shown in the table below. It is not recommended to attach any other databases to this Server.
| Database Server | |
|---|---|
| Minimum Hardware Requirements | 4 CPU Cores >16 GB RAM >300 GB Hard drive space |
| Software Requirements | Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 or later (see Note 4 below) |
| Sizing | Database sizing requirements vary depending on the volume of data. As a guide an operation that has an annual output of 100,000 Work Orders, 150,000 Samples, 500,000 Tests/Inspections and 200,000 Test Reports will grow approximately 40 GB per annum. Almost 50% of this data is stored binary images (PDFs) of Test Reports. If these have been published to Construction Hive they can be purged from the database. |
Notes
- SQL Server Express Edition may be used during implementation, but the severe limitations on database size and performance make it unsuitable for production use.
As of the 2017 edition, SQL Server Express has the following limitations:- Maximum Number of CPU cores utilized: 4 cores
- Maximum amount of RAM utilized: 1 GB
- Maximum Database size: 10 GB
- For optimal performance, network latency should be minimized by keeping the database server and the application server(s) physically close. As a guideline, good performance requires latency under 1ms between these servers. If possible, connect the database server and the application server(s) to the same switch.
Care should be taken when designing a deployment in which one or more QEST Platform servers are virtualized. Please ensure that the physical hosts will remain proximate and that virtual switching does not add unacceptable latency overhead. - Microsoft support for Windows Server operates on a fixed life cycle. Versions prior to Windows Server 2016 are no longer in Mainstream Support and are not recommended for new implementations of QEST Platform.
- Versions of SQL Server prior to SQL Server 2016 SP1 are no longer supported by Microsoft and are not recommend for new implementations of QEST Platform.
Configuration
For details on configuring SQL Server for use with QEST Platform, please refer to the companion document /wiki/spaces/QPDWV/pages/1038584869.
QEST Platform Web Services Overview
Architecture
QEST Platform includes a family of web applications collectively called QESTField. These applications use the same central Database as the QEST Platform Desktop Applications detailed in the previous section.
QESTField incorporates tools for field testing (QESTField Tests), inspection reports and fillable PDF templates (QESTField Forms), and field work scheduling and work allocation (QESTField Scheduler).
QESTField App
Mobile devices can be provisioned to connect to the QEST Platform via the QESTField App. The QESTField App connects and authenticates via the QEST WebAPI to perform field activities (QESTField Tests and QESTField Forms).
QEST Platform Web Server
The QEST Platform Web Server runs as a web service within Microsoft IIS. It hosts the QESTField website as well as the QEST WebAPI.
QEST WebAPI
The QEST WebAPI is a set of JSON/RESTful end points which provide authentication and data services to the QESTField App.
QESTNet Server
The QESTNet server provides back-end services which interface the QEST Platform Web Services and the QESTField App with the QEST Platform Database.
QESTNet Server additionally provides integration services with third-party data stores.
QESTNet Server
System Requirements
| QESTNet Server | |
|---|---|
| Minimum Hardware Requirements | 4 CPU Cores (or vCPUs) 6 GB RAM >1 GB free Hard Drive space |
| Software Requirements | Required: Windows Server 2008 or later (64-bit) (see note 3 below) .NET Framework version 4.6.2 or later (see note 1 below) |
| Sizing | 100 simultaneous users for the minimum hardware and smooth scale-up with more powerful servers. This means approximately 500 users will be feasible on a powerful server. Scale-out flexibility for very large implementations provided via multiple federated servers with shared authentication services and load-balancing. |
Notes
- .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later is required. This can be installed via the QESTNet installer if the server has internet access.
- 32-bit servers are no longer supported – please plan to use a 64-bit installation of Windows Server 2008 or later.
- Microsoft support for Windows Server operates on a fixed life cycle. Versions prior to Windows Server 2016 are no longer in Mainstream Support and are not recommended for new implementations of QEST Platform.
QEST Platform Web Server
System Requirements
| Web Server | |
|---|---|
| Minimum Hardware Requirements | 4 CPU Cores (or vCPUs) 4 GB RAM >1 GB free Hard Drive space |
| Software Requirements | Required: Windows Server 2008 or later (64-bit) (see note 3 below) .NET Framework version 4.6.2 or later (see note 1 below) Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 or later |
| Sizing | For the minimum hardware we estimate up to 1000 users can be supported with peak request rates of around 100/second. This will scale up or out as required. |
Notes
- .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later is required. This can be installed via the QESTField installer if the server has internet access.
- 32-bit servers are no longer supported – please plan to use a 64-bit installation of Windows Server 2008 or later.
- Microsoft support for Windows Server operates on a fixed life cycle. Versions prior to Windows Server 2016 are no longer in Mainstream Support and are not recommended for new implementations of QEST Platform.
External Access to QEST Platform Web Services
As QESTField is primarily a field-data entry system it is necessary to provide access to the QEST Platform Web Server from outside the Company Firewall. Appropriate SSL certificates must be obtained for the required external QESTField URLs.
Test Environments
It is recommended that customers operate multiple QEST Platform environments to facilitate acceptance testing during routine use and product upgrades.
As it is not possible to install multiple versions of the QEST Platform modules side-by-side on one server, the additional environments will require additional application servers. However, as the test environment will contribute little additional load it is usually appropriate for all environments to share the same database server.
The environment described above is the "Production" environment. These servers must have high availability for many simultaneous users.
The second environment, recommended for all customers, is the "Test" environment. A Test environment allows for changes to a QEST Platform system to be implemented and verified without affecting users of the Production system.
The Test environment should be a near-exact replica of the Production environment, running the same QEST Platform version and being refreshed from backups of Production on a regular basis. This allows the Spectra QEST Services team to use the Test environment to investigate reported issues without risking data in Production.
Test environment servers do not have the same uptime requirements as Production, and can be scaled for fewer simultaneous users (typically 1-3). It is generally acceptable for all QEST Platform modules (QESTLab, QESTNet, QESTField, Web API) to share a single server in the test environment.
The third environment is the "Development" environment. A Development environment permits User Acceptance Testing (UAT) of upcoming QEST Platform releases in the lead-up to and during upgrade projects. For smaller implementations it may be acceptable to have the Test environment serve as the Development Environment during upgrade projects. Development environment servers do not have the same uptime requirements as Production, and can be scaled for fewer simultaneous users (typically 1-3). It is generally acceptable for all QEST Platform modules (QESTLab, QESTNet, QESTField, Web API) to share a single server in the Development environment.
Cloud Hosting
Spectra QEST does not provide a Software as a Service (SaaS) version of the QEST Platform applications at this time.
QEST Platform is verified to operate correctly on cloud-hosted Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings from Amazon (AWS EC2) and Microsoft (Azure Virtual Machines). For this configuration, we recommend replicating the architecture described above with one Database Server virtual machine and one or more Application Server virtual machine(s), running your choice of Application Virtualization software to distribute the applications to end users.
Spectra QEST does not recommend the use of Microsoft's Azure "SQL Database" Platform as a Service (hereafter referred to as Azure SQL PaaS) because of QESTLab's sensitivity to query latency. Due to the inherently multi-tenant nature of Azure SQL PaaS, Microsoft does not provide any guarantee of typical or maximum latency, nor is any data available regarding historical latency distribution on their platform. Similarly, Spectra QEST do not recommend hosting the QEST Platform Database on the Amazon Relational Database Service.
Spectra QEST has not verified the functionality of QEST Platform applications on the cloud-hosted Citrix Virtual Apps Essentials Service (formerly XenApp Express).
Obtaining the Latest Release
Spectra QEST will notify customers when the latest QEST Platform release relevant to their operation is available for download and installation. These installer files are usually made available on the Spectra QEST FTP server and can be accessed by logging on to ftp.spectraqest.com. For further details or to obtain the required FTP credentials, please place a request in the Service Desk Portal.
Remote Access
Remote access to the QEST Platform environments described above will be required for Spectra QEST staff. This will ensure that Spectra QEST is able to troubleshoot and assist with any issues in the most efficient manner. Remote Access will also allow Spectra QEST to help with software installations if required.
Spectra QEST staff can make use of any available remote access technology. Typical implementations use a VPN and Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol, but other solutions (including Microsoft RD Web Portal and TeamViewer) are acceptable.
Please test remote access thoroughly, especially from endpoints external to the network.
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