Before you run the installation program, review the following topics to plan your OpenEdge installation:

Read the Release Notes

The OpenEdge Release Notes describe known issues and other late-breaking product details that might not be in the OpenEdge product documentation. For more information, see "Issues Addressed" on the OpenEdge Content Portal at https://docs.progress.com/category/openedge.

Install a supported JDK

A supported Java SE Development Kit (JDK) must be installed on your machine prior to running the OpenEdge installation program. The JDK is not included with the OpenEdge software. For details about JDK requirements on each supported platform, see the OpenEdge 13 Platform Compatibility Guide.

During the installation procedure, you are prompted for the location of the directory in which the JDK is installed.

Note: After you have installed OpenEdge, then any change you make to the location or version of the JDK on your machine requires you to reconfigure OpenEdge. For more information, see Upgrade the JDK after installation.

Windows installation considerations

Before you launch the OpenEdge installation program on Windows, there are a number of factors regarding your target installation environment that affect the installation choices you need to make. These factors include:

  • The specific location in which to install the OpenEdge software
  • The location of the working directories that contain your applications, databases, and log files, which must be separate from the OpenEdge installation directory
  • The proper settings for the read-only .dll and .ocx files
  • Required software that must be installed beforehand

OpenEdge installation and working directories

Throughout this document, OpenEdge-install-dir represents the directory into which the OpenEdge software is installed. The default OpenEdge installation directory is C:\Progress\OpenEdge. However, during installation, you can choose a different location.

A working directory is a directory that contains your OpenEdge database and application files. The installation program prompts you to create a working directory from which to run OpenEdge. The working directory must always be separate from the OpenEdge installation directory.

CAUTION: Never run OpenEdge products from the directory in which you installed them. If you do, you could damage the OpenEdge software files.

Read-only .dll and .ocx files

Before you install any OpenEdge products in Windows, check the directory C:\Winnt\system32 or C:\Windows\system32 to see whether any of the .dll or .ocx files have the read-only bit set. If any .dll or .ocx files in this directory are read-only, you must reset them before installing OpenEdge. If you try to install OpenEdge with one or more related .dll or .ocx files set to read-only, OpenEdge generates a dialog box informing you that you must reset the .dll bit or .ocx bit and reinstall OpenEdge.

Required software to run OpenEdge products or components

Some OpenEdge products and components depend on the presence of other software or software elements to run as designed. These elements might be required either before you perform an OpenEdge installation or concurrent with the OpenEdge install you perform.

The required software may include one or more of the following:

  • Open Client Toolkit component—If you plan to install a product that contains ProxyGen, you might need to install and configure additional tools to allow the Open Client Proxy Generator (ProxyGen) to build proxies.

    For more information, see Open client toolkit in Use Open Client Toolkit.

  • OpenEdge SQL ODBC and JDBC Clients—The OpenEdge SQL ODBC and JDBC Clients are components of the OpenEdge Personal RDBMS, Workgroup RDBMS, and Enterprise RDBMS products. You can download them from Progress at http://www.progress.com/esd, using the OpenEdge SQL Client Access product.

Download the License Addendum file

When you launch the installation program, you are prompted enter product information about the OpenEdge license you have purchased from Progress. This information is captured in the License Addendum file, which contains the serial numbers and control codes for each of the OpenEdge products and components included in your license.

Your License Addendum file is accessible from the Progress Software Download Center. Before you run the installer, you must download this file, as explained in Obtain a License Addendum file.

When you run the installation program, you have two options for entering the license details contained in this file:

  • Load the License Addendum file. Recommended.
  • For each OpenEdge product that you want to install, enter the corresponding serial number and control code that is listed in the License Addendum file.

For more information, see Licensing.

Installation method choices

You can install OpenEdge release products using either of the following methods:

  • Online, interactive installation—This method prompts you to make installation choices online and record your input in dialog boxes. The dialog boxes appear programmatically as determined by the products you identify to install and the type of install you choose to perform. After you complete the installation, the Setup Utility initializes your choices, enabling you to use the products after the installation.
    Note: Online help is provided with the installation program, and is accessible from Help or a specific Help control. The online help provides information and details the procedures required to complete each installation dialog box.
  • Silent installation—A silent, or batch mode, installation does not prompt you to interactively enter your installation choices. A silent installation reads your installation values and settings as recorded in a response file. Using specific commands, you initiate your response file to run without user interaction. A silent installation supports either a complete or a custom installation.

Installation types

Your OpenEdge installation process depends on what products, components, and subcomponents you choose to install and the type of installation you plan to perform. The following table summarizes the installation options.

Table 1. Installation options
Installation option Purpose
Complete Automatically installs all mandatory, recommended, and optional components and subcomponents of the OpenEdge products you are installing.
Custom Installs all mandatory product components and subcomponents, but allows you to selectively install the recommended and optional components and subcomponents on a product-by-product basis.

This installation is recommended for more advanced users and provides the flexibility to distribute OpenEdge components on different machines, select product components to suit their business needs, and work around issues such as disk space limitations.

Note: When customizing an installation, Progress recommends that you consider removing only optional components and subcomponents. Removing recommended products might negatively affect a product's functionality.

Note that some OpenEdge products that you install have additional installation dependencies, prompting you to perform additional set up or installation tasks as part of the OpenEdge installation process. The OpenEdge installation program automatically determines certain product dependencies and guides you through the completion of these tasks.

If you are performing a Windows installation, ensure that you install an appropriate version of Microsoft .NET Framework on the machine on which you are installing OpenEdge. Microsoft .NET Framework is required for smooth functioning of OpenEdge development products. If you are using .NET in your application, you will need to install it as well.
Note: .NET is not included with the OpenEdge software. For details about Microsoft .NET versions and requirements, see the OpenEdge 13 Platform Compatibility Guide.

Share an OpenEdge installation on a Windows network

A network typically consists of the following hardware elements:

  • Application workstation—A computer on your network that executes the OpenEdge client or single-user software. This allows one or more users to access the database server machine.
  • Database server machine—The OpenEdge database server machine is a computer on your network that executes the OpenEdge server software. This software allows the database server machine to manage one or more OpenEdge databases.
  • Network file server machine—The network file server is a computer that manages file sharing and system security, coordinates station-to-station communications, and controls any attached peripherals, such as printers, disk drives, and modems.

On Windows, you can provide multi-client access to a single copy of OpenEdge that is installed on a network-accessible drive (server). To initiate this shared installation type, you must choose to install the Shared Network Installation component, also known as NetSetup, during the installation process. Then, using the appropriate NetSetup deployment option, you can install NetSetup regardless of whether you are performing a complete or a custom installation.

Note: Progress does not support installing one copy of the OpenEdge Application server products for multiple machines. Because there is only one set of configuration files, conflicts are likely to occur.

Custom installation bundles

An installation bundle is a subset of the OpenEdge software image that contains the products for which you are licensed, and provides a convenient means to replicate an installation throughout your environment

The advantages of the installation bundle are that you can easily copy and install it on multiple computers. It occupies lesser disk space on the target computer because it contains only the files of the selected products.

You can create the installation bundle that contains only the files required for the selected products using the OpenEdge custom installation bundle utility. When you run the installation program from the installation bundle that you created, only your selected OpenEdge products are installed.

For information about how to create a custom installation bundle on the Windows machine, see Create a custom installation bundle for Windows machines. For information about how to create a custom installation bundle on the Linux machines, see Create a custom installation bundle for Linux machines.

Technical product content and sample applications

OpenEdge technical product content and sample applications are available for online access and downloading from the Progress Content Portal at https://docs.progress.com.