Configuring Aras Innovator (Optional)

Aras Innovator uses a configuration file to manage licensing and server information that is required to successfully start, locate, and connect to active components in its operation. You can customize and configure various aspects as per your requirements.

Aras Innovator supports Corporate Time Zone.

If your users access Aras Innovator from multiple time zones, you should configure Aras Innovator to have one corporate time zone that the Innovator Server can reference. This time zone is used for calculating things like when Project Activities become active.

Setting the Corporate Time Zone should be done before users begin to work with the system in production. If it is done after users have begun to use the system, you must get all users to log out of the system before enabling the Corporate Time Zone.

To set the Corporate Time Zone, use the following steps:

1. Log into Aras Innovator as an administrator.
2. From the TOC, select Administration --> Variables.
3. From the main toolbar, select Create a New Item.



4. Set the Name = CorporateTimeZone
5. Set the Value according to the registry key name of the required time zone.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones

6. Set the Default Value to the value which the variable should default to if the Value field is empty.
7. Save, Unclaim, and Close the Variable Item.
8. Log out of Aras Innovator.
9. Restart the World Wide Web Publishing service on the server running the Innovator Server tier of Aras Innovator.

The result is shown in the main Aras Innovator window. Aras Innovator displays only one time:

With the periodic changes to Time Zone information as well as Daylight Savings it is necessary that the time zone data within Aras Innovator be updated. Similar to Windows Updates, this new information needs to be loaded into your system.

1. Log into Aras Innovator as an administrator.

From the TOC, either click the search icon



that appears when you hover over Actions or select Administration>Actions>Search Actions:



The Search Grid appears.



2. Select Actions>UpdateTimeZoneInfo from the toolbar.

This saves the tzupdate.xml to your Working Directory.

3. Once the file is finished downloading, a File Dialog appears. Select the tzupdate.xml file that is downloaded.
4. Click OK when the update has completed.

This section provides the fundamental data enabling the Aras Innovator server to connect to the Aras Innovator database. Use this section to manually create custom connections to existing databases. Definitions of DB variables

The following is an example of a properly formatted DB Connection section of the InnovatorServerConfig.xml. Microsoft SQL Server database

<DB-Connection

 id="Innovator”

 database="InnovatorSolutions”

 server="localhost”

regular_uid="innovator_regular” regular_pwd="innovator_regular”

 dbo_uid="innovator”

 dbo_pwd="innovator” />

Edit the InnovatorServerConfig.xml file located in root of the install directory. C:\Program Files\Aras\Innovator

1. Id = Innovator Name you wish to appear in the drop-down list when accessing Innovator. If the id attribute is not present in the entry, then database name is used to identify the database when using Innovator. Select this name carefully, as it is also the name of the folder you vault files are stored in.
2. database = InnovatorSolutions name of the database you are connecting to.
3. server = Localhost the name of the SQL Server instance where the database is installed.
4. regular_uid = innovator_regularthe login to connect to the innovator_regular database user.
5. regular_pwd = innovator_regularthe password to connect to the innovator_regular database user.
6. dbo_uid = innovator the login to connect to the innovator database user.
7. dbo_pwd = innovator the password to connect to the innovator database user.

If desired, edit the UI Tailoring section of the ‘InnovatorServerConfig.xml’. This section of the InnovatorServerConfig.xml file allows the customer to modify the product name. UI Tailoring variable definition

The following is an example of a properly formatted UI Tailoring section of the InnovatorServerConfig.xml file.

<UI-Tailoring product_name="Aras Innovator” />

Aras Innovator Methods are compiled before execution. The default behavior of Aras Innovator is not to generate these methods temporary files. If this setting is enabled, these files are stored in the file system in the \Innovator\Server\dll folder of the installation. Because the files are generated at runtime, the DLL files generated in this folder do not list the Aras Corporation company name or the Aras Innovator product name in file properties. Further, the DLL files generated in this folder at runtime do not have a digital signature. To enable the generation of these files in the file system, you need to add the following tag to the InnovatorServerConfig.xml, found in the root of your installation folder.

<Innovator>

 <UI-Tailoring login_logo="...

 <IEClient RequiredSyncMode5="Never"/>

 <operating_parameter key="DebugServerMethod” value="true” />

 <operating_parameter key="debug_log_flag” value="false” />

To disable the use of this folder again, you simply need to change the value to false.

<Innovator>

 <UI-Tailoring login_logo="...

 <IEClient RequiredSyncMode5="Never” />

 <operating_parameter key="DebugServerMethod” value="false” />

 <operating_parameter key="debug_log_flag” value="false” />

Disabling the use of this folder has no negative effect on a production system.

Aras Innovator uses integration with the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Service. This service must be installed and configured to run Aras Innovator reports. Refer to the Aras Innovator - Microsoft Reporting Services Guide for details on installing and configuring the service. This document can be found at https://www.aras.com/support/ or in the Documentation folder of the Aras Innovator CD Image.

The Innovator Single Sign-On feature provides a mechanism for customers to take advantage of their existing user authentication scheme so that an Innovator login can be processed without the user entering an Innovator specific password. This new feature has been architected so that it can be easily configured to adapt to an Active Directory environment or, if the customer has another user authentication scheme, hooks have been included to integrate a non-standard method. Refer to the Aras Innovator 30 – Windows Authentication document. This document can be found in the Documentation folder of the CD Image and outlines configuring your Aras Innovator installation for user authentication.

The Aras Innovator Service is a Windows executable program that runs as a Windows Service. It is used to automatically run Aras Innovator Methods on a periodic schedule, as specified in the InnovatorServiceConfig.xml file. A single running instance of the Aras Innovator Service can be configured to periodically connect to any number of Aras Innovator Servers and for each Aras Innovator Server run any number of Methods. The standard Windows Event Viewer is used for logging of program status and error messages. Refer to the Aras Innovator 30 – Scheduler Service document for information on configuring your Aras Innovator installation to use this service. This document can be found in the Documentation folder of the CD Image.

When using the custom install option certain files must be configured to allow Aras Innovator components to work together. The Aras Innovator Server must know where the database is installed. For the system where Aras Innovator Server is installed, follow the steps outlined in section 0 DB Connection. The Database must point to the designated vault location. Use the following procedure to set up the vault:

1. Log in as administrator.

From the TOC, either click the search icon



that appears when you hover over Vaults to access the Search grid or select Administration>File Handling>Vaults. The following menu appears:



2. Click Search Vaults. The Search grid appears.

Click



. The Default vault appears in the Search grid.

3. Double-click Default to view the dialog box:



The following information appears in the fields:

1. Name: default (we are configuring the Default vault server)
2. Vault UrlPattern: this is the IIS path to the VaultServer.aspx. By default, this path should be: $[HTTP_PREFIX_SERVER]$[HTTP_HOST_SERVER]$[HTTP_PORT_SERVER]$[HTTP_PATH_SERVER]/vault/vaultserver.aspx
Note
Note: If the Vault Sever is installed on a separate machine than the Innovator Server, then the web alias may need to be hard coded: http://<servername>/<web_alias>/vault/VaultServer.aspx
3. Vault Url – This field is updated automatically after the vault information is saved.

Click the Add Identities icon



on the Replication Rule tab to specify who can create replication rules for the vault.

Click the Add Conversion Servers icon



on the Conversion Server Priority tab to add another conversion server to the list.

Click the



and



buttons to save, and unclaim the file.

4. The Vault Server should have access to the Aras Innovator Server and Database Server – The vault server must know the location of the InnovatorServer.aspx. Here is how to configure it:
1. Open the file vault.config. This file should be in the root of the installed directory for the Vault server, for example:

C:\Program Files\Aras\Innovator\vault.config

2. Change the key InnovatorServerUrl to point to the InnovatorServer.aspx. So,

<add key="InnovatorServerUrl” value="$[HTTP_PREFIX_SERVER]$[HTTP_HOST_SERVER]$[HTTP_PORT_SERVER]$[HTTP_PATH_SERVER]/Server/innovatorserver.aspx” />

becomes:

<add key="InnovatorServerUrl” value="http://<servername>/<web_alias>/Server/innovatorserver.aspx” />

The Aras OAuth server is an authorization server designed to handle the OAuth 2.0 protocol. You can install the Aras OAuth server on a different server than the Aras Innovator server which is suitable for a cluster environment. Use the following procedure to install the OAuth server separately and then configure other Aras servers to use it:

1. Select the OAuth Server feature and click Next.



2. The following screen appears.



3. Specify the OAuth Server name, the password for the OAuth certificates and the Application Server URL.
1. OAuth Server Name: enter a name of an Aras OAuth Server instance that you want to install. It should be the name of the application installed in IIS.
2. Password for OAuth Certificates: enter a password to protect the certificate private keys. The password can only contain alphanumeric symbols (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) and any of the standard printable ASCII characters (:_#$%&<> and others). The password cannot contain spaces.
3. Application Server URL: since OAuth Server is not a standalone application and is useful only along with the Aras Innovator Server, this field allows you to specify the Application Server URL for the instance of Aras Innovator you are going to use with this OAuth Server. The Application Server URL is of the following format:

http://<servername>/<web_alias>/Server/InnovatorServer.aspx Where:

• <servername> is the name of the server where the Innovator Server is running. For example, if running on the local machine, this is localhost
• <web_alias> is the name of the Aras Innovator Server Virtual Directory. This is the same Web Alias as specified in the section 3.3.8 Server Web Alias Setup.
4. Complete the installation.

Once you have installed the OAuth Server, you will need to complete the installation of the other Application servers and specify the required information for connecting to the OAuth Server. Install the Aras Agent Service or the Aras Innovator Server and configure them on a separately installed instance of the Aras OAuth server:

5. You should deselect the OAuth Server feature and press Next.



6. The following screen appears.



7. Enter the following information:
1. External OAuth Server URL: URL used by other OAuth components to access the previously installed Aras OAuth server. The URL has the following format:

http://<servername>/<oauth_server_name>

where:

• <servername> is the name of the server where the OAuth server is running. The name of the server should be accessible from the external host, so “localhost” and other loopback addresses are not appropriate for servername.
• <oauth_server_name> is the name of the Aras OAuth Server Virtual Directory. This is the same OAuth Server Name that you specified in the previous screen.
2. Password for OAuth Certificates: enter the password to access private certificates (.pfx) from the Local Path for Certificates folder.
3. Local Path for Certificates Folder: the full local path to the OAuth Certificate folder or to a copy of this folder where OAuth certificates were generated during the separate installation of the OAuth Server. The certificate folder must contain all the necessary certificates before this installation.
8. You may check Configure OAuth componentslater manually and continue with the installation. This will require changing the OAuth.config files and deploying certificates manually.

When using the custom install option certain files must be configured to allow Aras Innovator components to work together.

1. Run a custom installation to set up the new vault, which in this example, we call New.

The Database must point to the designated vault location. To set up the vault:

1. Log in as administrator.
2. Select Administration>File Handling>Vaults from the TOC. The Vaults menu appears.
3. Click Create New Vault. The following dialog appears:



4. Enter the following information in the appropriate fields:
• Name: New (The name of the vault server we are configuring)
• Vault Url Pattern: this is the IIS path to the VaultServer.aspx. Because this is not the default vault the URL should be hard coded:

http://<servername>/<web_alias>/vault/VaultServer.aspx

• When a vault is installed stand-alone, the default web alias is: http://<servername>/vault/VaultServer.aspx
• Vault Url: Leave blank. It gets filled automatically when you save the new vault.
5. Click the Save, unclaim, and close button.
2. The Vault Server should have access to the Aras Innovator Server and Database Server, meaning that the vault server must know the location of the InnovatorServer.aspx. Use the following procedure to configure it:
1. Open the file vault.config. This file should be located in the root of the installed directory for the Vault server, for example:
2. C:\Program Files\Aras\Innovator\VaultServer\vault.config
3. Change the key InnovatorServerUrl to point to the InnovatorServer.aspx. So,

<add key="InnovatorServerUrl” value="$[HTTP_PREFIX_SERVER]$[HTTP_HOST_SERVER]$[HTTP_PORT_SERVER]$[HTTP_PATH_SERVER]/Server/innovatorserver.aspx” />

becomes:

<add key="InnovatorServerUrl” value="http://<servername>/<web_alias>/Server/innovatorserver.aspx” />

4. Change the vault name in the file, to the name of the server we are using, in this case New.

<add key="VaultServerName” value="default” />

becomes:

<add key="VaultServerName” value="new” />

This tier of the installation is disabled by default. It is necessary to install the Agent Service if you plan to use Vault Replication or the Conversion Server. For more information about the Agent Service, refer to the Agent Service Guide. Conversion Servers are used to convert specific File Types into another file format. For example, the Aras CAD to PDF Converter converts CAD drawing files into its PDF files for use as viewable files on the CAD Document ItemType. In a typical Aras Installation, the Conversion Server is recommended to be installed on a separate server. Installing a Conversion Server on the server that has Aras Innovator installed causes a significant performance impact. Refer to the Aras Innovator 30 – Conversion Server Setup Guide for information on installing and configuring a Conversion Server. This document can be found in the Documentation folder of the CD Image.

You must install The Microsoft Visual C++ 2015, 2017, and 2019 Redistributable Packages on the Conversion Server. The links to these downloads can be found at Microsoft’s latest supported Visual C++:

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015, 2017, and 2019 Redistributable Packages (x64)
• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads

This tier of the installation is disabled by default. It is necessary to install the Agent Service if you plan to use either Vault Replication or the Conversion Server. The Agent Service is a Windows Service designed to handle other add-on services such as Conversion Server and Vault Replication. It works by actively listening to http/https requests from Aras Innovator Server on a dedicated port. The Aras Agent Service may be installed on a different server than the Aras Innovator Server. If installing on the same machine as Aras Innovator, you should run the ChangeGUID.exe file on the Installer as described in section 9.2 to avoid conflicts in current Aras Innovator installation. The Agent Service application should be installed to a separate physical directory.

1. When prompted for the installation directory, click Change and select a new directory, for example: C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\Aras\AgentService\



2. When selecting setup, choose Custom and then select only the Agent Service to install.



3. Specify the host name, port number as follows: <ServerName>:<PortNumber>.
4. TheAgent Service alias is a unique identifier for the Windows service name. The Full name is ArasInnovatorAgent_<alias>. The displayed name is Aras Innovator Agent (<alias>).



Note
The Agent Service can only be installed on a free port.
5. Specify the connection URL for the Aras Innovator Server as follows: <Protocol>://<ServerName>/<WebAlias>/Server/InnovatorServer.aspx



Application Server URL: since the Agent Service is not a standalone application and is useful only along with the Aras Innovator Server, this field allows you to specify the Application Server URL for the instance of Aras Innovator you are going to use with this Agent Service. The Application Server URL is of the following format:

http://<servername>/<web_alias>/Server/InnovatorServer.aspx

where: <servername> is the name of the server where the Aras Innovator Server is running. For example, if it is running on the local machine, the server is localhost <web_alias> is the name of the Aras Innovator Server Virtual Directory and consequently the name that is used to access the Aras Innovator Server. This is the same Web Alias that you specified earlier in section 3.3.8 Server Web Alias Setup. A best practice for a standard install is:

 http://localhost/$[HTTP_PATH_SERVER]/Server/innovatorserver.aspx

6. Copy the Agent Service Tag generated by the installer and save it to be added to the InnovatorServerConfig.xml in the root directory of the main Aras Innovator installation.



7. Configure OAuth Certificates.



8. Password for OAuth Certificates: Enter the password to protect the private keys of certificates. The password can only contain alphanumerical symbols (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) and any of the standard printable ASCII characters (:_#$%&<> and others). The password cannot contain spaces.
9. Local Path for Certificates Folder: the full local path to the OAuth Certificate folder or to a copy of this folder where OAuth certificates were generated during the separate installation of the OAuth Server. The certificate folder should contain all the necessary certificates.

You may check Configure OAuth componentslater manually and continue with the installation. This will require changing the OAuth.config files and deploying certificates manually.

10. Click Next.
11. Click Install to complete the installation.



12. After the Agent Service is installed, go to the Aras Innovator Server installation and add Agent Service tag, as copied from step 6 the into the InnovatorServerConfig.xml to specify the location of the Agent Service:

<AgentService InnovatorToServiceAddress="http://localhost:8734/" />

To use the Agent Service as an https service, you must configure the SSL certificate to be bound to an HTTPS endpoint in the default Kestrel configuration section. The “Certificate” subsection in the Kestrel HTTPS Endpoints configuration section is used for the certificate configuration from the file or from the certificate store.

To use the certificate from the file it is necessary to specify the path to the certificate file and the certificate password in the “Certificate” subsection:

“Kestrel": {

“Endpoints": {

 “HTTPS": {

 “Url": “https://0.0.0.0:8735/",

 “Certificate": {

 “Path": “SSLCertificate.pfx”,

 “Password": “password”

 }

 }

 }

}

• Path: a path to a file with a private SSL certificate generated for the current machine.
• Password: a password for the private SSL certificate.

The RSACrypt utility enables the encryption and decryption of different text values including XML configuration files. Usage:

RsaCrypt.exe [-c {key container name}] [-m] [-d] [-w] [-t {content}] file x-path x-path x-path...

where: []: they are used for optional arguments -c (key container name): a Key container name used in keys storage. -m: it uses machine key storage. -d: it decrypts values using the x-path in an xml file. -nw: the utility will finish without the additional confirmation of pressing the Enter key (press <Enter> to exit). -t {content}: it provides the content for encryption or decryption. Required parameters are ignored. file: the full path to an xml file. x-path: an x-path used to decrypt or encrypt xml-file values.

To use the certificate from the certificate store it is necessary to import .pfx certificate in the store and configure the Certificate subsection as in the following example:

“Kestrel": {

 “Endpoints": {

 “HTTPS": {

 “Url": “https://0.0.0.0:8735/",

 “Certificate": {

 “Subject": “subject”,

 “Store": “TrustedPublisher”,

 “Location": “LocalMachine”,

 “AllowInvalid": false

 }

 }

 }

}

• Subject: The subject name for the certificate to load. Parameter is required.
• Store: The certificate store to load the certificate from. Parameter is required.
• Location: The store location to load the certificate from. Default is CurrentUser.
• AllowInvalid: Indicates if invalid certificates should be considered, such as self-signed certificates. Default is false.

It is recommended that you restart IIS (World Wide Web Publishing service) after any change to the InnovatorServerConfig.xml file to ensure the changes are enforced on client PC machines.

1. From the Start menu select Start --> Settings--> Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Services.
2. Select the World Wide Web Publishing service.
3. Select Action --> Restart from the main menu.

If you would like to set up sending emails via Microsoft Graph API instead of Smtp Server, you can do it by modifying InnovatorServerConfig.xml file.

Modify InnovatorServerConfig.xml: Locate the Mail node and set value of the deliveryMethod attribute to MicrosoftGraphApi. For the clientId, clientSecret and tenantId put the values of your application taken from the Azure Portal

<Mail deliveryMethod="MicrosoftGraphApi” clientId="...” tenantId="...” clientSecret="..."/>