Question

I was wondering if you had a step-by-step setup guide for installing Kiln 1.0, 1.1, or 1.2 on my own server.

See "How Do I install Kiln 2.x?" for Kiln 2 installation.

Answer 1

Overview

Every licensed Kiln customer can download an installer which has a wizard to help guide you through the various steps needed to get Kiln running on your server. For the vast majority of customers, the defaults we've selected will be your best bet for a successful installation.

This document has a few sections:

1. System Requirements
2. Before you begin
3. Installer Walk-through
4. Advanced Instructions

1. System Requirements

Kiln supports a narrow range of systems at the moment. Make sure you're installing on a system that meets these requirements because we can't support anything else right now (sorry!).

Operating System(s)

Windows 2003 and 2008 server

Database Server(s)

Microsoft SQL Server 2005, MSSQL 2008, and SQL Server Express 2008

2. Before You Begin

Just a few things that we wanted to let you know before you begin the installation process:

1. The installer may require a restart to finish. If it does, the installer will pick up right where it left off once you log back on to the server. If possible, it's best to schedule the installation of Kiln during off-hours if you are installing on a production machine.

2. Kiln requires some FogBugz components. We actually launch a seriously trimmed down FogBugz installer during the setup process. Don't worry; This is totally normal :)

3. You need to run the installer as a SQL and Windows administrator. We make changes to Windows and SQL Server that require administrator access. If your SQL Server is on another computer, you need to take extra care to make sure your user has the right privileges.

4. If you want Kiln and FogBugz to work together, they have to run on the same server. At least the front-end components do. It is possible to have your DB and Mercurial repositories elsewhere.

3. Installer Walk-through

Welcome

The easy one. Just click Next because you've already got these instructions open (pat yourself on the back).

FogBugz Base

Kiln uses parts of FogBugz, specifically the authentication bits. This step either links the Kiln installation to an existing FogBugz installation on this machine, or allows you to install the core FogBugz components needed to get Kiln running. If you want fully integrated Kiln and FogBugz, they must be installed on the same server.

Kiln Storage Service

The Kiln storage service manages the Mercurial repositories that you create while using Kiln. We strongly recommend that you install the Storage Service on the same machine as the Kiln front end. It is slightly more secure, and it reduces complexity which makes managing your Kiln installation easier.

Database Instance

Kiln uses SQL server to store meta data about your code and code reviews. Basically, it's what we use to make the Kiln web front end work. Your code isn't stored here. You can choose any SQL Server 2005/2008 or SQL Express 2008 instance. If you don't have one available, Kiln can install and configure a SQL Express instance for you.

The Web Platform Installer

You'll see some instructions in the installer about this, but it worth breaking them out here. Once the initial configuration is complete, the web platform installer will:

1. Install Kiln and all of its pre-requisites
2. Launch the FogBugz installer to install/upgrade the FogBugz Base components
3. Launch the Kiln Storage Service installer
4. Ask you to set your FogBugz user as a DB owner of the Kiln DB
5. Launch Kiln in your default web browser to let you log on and install licenses

Kiln & Prereqs

The defaults here are all correct, so all you need to do is click Install. This step will install all of the Kiln files and all of the supporting software needed to run Kiln. This varies depending on the state of your system. If you've asked the Kiln installer to set up a SQL Express instance for you, this step can take a while. Go get yourself a cup of cocoa, and relax for a little while.

The FogBugz Installer

If you've ever installed FogBugz, you will recognize the installer and probably realize that it is seriously shortened. The only critical thing here is setting up the FogBugz user. The web components and system services for both Kiln and FogBugz will run as this user. It is also used to connect to the SQL database. If SQL Server is on a different machine, you will want to make this a domain user.

Kiln Storage Service Installer

This installer asks for some very basic information about where you want to install it, and where you want it to store your Mercurial repositories. Mercurial is very efficient about how it uses storage, but you will want to make sure you put your repository directory in a place with plenty of available disk space (10GB minimum, likely more).

Login to Kiln, and enter your licenses

For the duration of the beta, a 100 user license will come pre-installed with Kiln. After that, this step will take you through the normal licenses installation procedure. If you already had FogBugz, you will need to log on to Kiln with a FogBugz administrator account and enter your Kiln licences on the Admin -> Licenses page. Otherwise, you will login with the default administrator account and enter your licenses.

4. Advanced Instructions

If you've gotten this far you've already mastered Windows permissions entanglement theory. That's not advanced enough for you?

Using Mixed-Mode authentication to connect to the Kiln database. You needed to run the installer as a user with administrator permissions on the database. After Kiln is installed, you can change the connection string in the web.config file to use a specific database user, rather than a Windows user. The database user will need to be an administrator for the Kiln database. Just replace Integrate Security=SSPI; with User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;. Once you've done this you can revoke permissions to the user that was setup by the installer (typically the FogBugz user).

This section will continue to be filled out as people try, and we work to support, more complex environments for Kiln.

Answer 2

The installer works better as described: after installing on MSSQL 2008 the newly created local account for FogBugz has already a valid login and is configured as db_owner in the database.

I was wrong, Jason wrote that the Kiln-Database needs the FogBugz-User not the FogBugz-Database. Sorry.

Answer 3

You mention in this answer that one can download an installer, however the Kiln site says:

During the beta, Kiln is only available via On Demand. Once the beta is complete, we will be working on a licensed version of Kiln that will run on your servers.

Does that mean I can download a trial hosted version? We are currently FogBugz customers, and I am "licenced" on Kiln-on-demand

Answer 4

Purchased Fogbugz with Kiln, got an installer called: "Kiln-Setup-1.2.138.exe"

When installing, i come to the point where to: "Enter Database Instance", so I enter the name of our DB Server, and gets this:

---

Setup

The database is not accessible or does not exist. Please enter an existing database that you can access with this account.

OK