Sitecore 9 Installation – Standalone

Here is a step by step guide of Sitecore 9 on-premise installation as a standalone instance. It is mostly for local workstation and integrated development environment.

Key points of this installation:

• Topology: XP0

• Solr is installed by default. It serves both content search and xConnect services. It requires secure access.
• Sitecore 9 is installed by SIF(Sitecore Installation Framework) PowerShell scripts.

Prerequisites:

• Windows 8.1, 10, Server 2012 R2
• Net Framework 4.6.2 or 4.7
• SQL Server 2016 or above
• IIS 8.5 or 10
• Java Runtime Environment 1.8+(JRE)
• PowerShell 5.1+
• Web Platform Installer 5.0
• Web Administration Module (IIS)
• Web Deploy 3.6 for Hosting Servers
• URL Rewrite 2+
• MS SQL Server Data-Tier Application Framework (17.1)
• MS SQL Server Transact-SQL ScriptDom

Download and Collect Installation Related Files:

• Sitecore License.xml
• Download Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (WDP XP0 packages).zip from https://dev.sitecore.net/
• Extract Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (WDP XP0 packages).zip to an install folder. For example, C:\Sitecore\sc902.
• Extract XP0 Configuration Files 9.0.2 rev. 180604.zip from previous step to C:\Sitecore\sc902.
• Download Solr 6.6.3 from http://archive.apache.org/dist/lucene/solr/6.6.3/ and extract to C:\Sitecore\solr-6.6.3
• Download NSSM from https://nssm.cc/download and extract to C:\Sitecore\nssm
• Here are the files collected.

Install Solr:

• Install JRE
• Download Java SE Runtime Environment 8+ from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/es/java/javase/downloads/jre8-downloads-2133155.html
• Setup JAVA_HOME variables

• Start Solr – run following script in Windows PowerShell as Administrator, then check solr instance at http://localhost:8983/solr

cd C:\Sitecore\solr-6.6.3\bin

.\solr start -p 8983

• Stop Solr – run following script in Windows PowerShell as Administrator

.\solr stop -p 8983

• Set up Solr as service – run below script in Command Prompt as Administrator, then fill the installer as the picture below. Once done, verify the service running from Service Manager.

cd C:\Sitecore\nssm\win64

nssm install solr6

• Add SSL to Solr instance (generate self-signed certificate and key)
  • Save following script to file “solrssl.ps1” (from Kam Figy’s blog: https://kamsar.net/index.php/2017/10/Quickly-add-SSL-to-Solr/).

 

param(
[string]$KeystoreFile = 'solr-ssl.keystore.jks',
[string]$KeystorePassword = 'secret',
[string]$SolrDomain = 'localhost',
[switch]$Clobber
)

$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

### PARAM VALIDATION
if($KeystorePassword -ne 'secret') {
Write-Error 'The keystore password must be "secret", because Solr apparently ignores the parameter'
}

if((Test-Path $KeystoreFile)) {
if($Clobber) {
Write-Host "Removing $KeystoreFile..."
Remove-Item $KeystoreFile
} else {
$KeystorePath = Resolve-Path $KeystoreFile
Write-Error "Keystore file $KeystorePath already existed. To regenerate it, pass -Clobber."
}
}

$P12Path = [IO.Path]::ChangeExtension($KeystoreFile, 'p12')
if((Test-Path $P12Path)) {
if($Clobber) {
Write-Host "Removing $P12Path..."
Remove-Item $P12Path
} else {
$P12Path = Resolve-Path $P12Path
Write-Error "Keystore file $P12Path already existed. To regenerate it, pass -Clobber."
}
}

try {
$keytool = (Get-Command 'C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_172\bin\keytool.exe').Source
} catch {
$keytool = Read-Host "keytool.exe not on path. Enter path to keytool (found in JRE bin folder)"

if([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($keytool) -or -not (Test-Path $keytool)) {
Write-Error "Keytool path was invalid."
}
}

### DOING STUFF

Write-Host ''
Write-Host 'Generating JKS keystore...'
& $keytool -genkeypair -alias solr-ssl -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -keypass $KeystorePassword -storepass $KeystorePassword -validity 9999 -keystore $KeystoreFile -ext SAN=DNS:$SolrDomain,IP:127.0.0.1 -dname "CN=$SolrDomain, OU=Organizational Unit, O=Organization, L=Location, ST=State, C=Country"

Write-Host ''
Write-Host 'Generating .p12 to import to Windows...'
& $keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore $KeystoreFile -destkeystore $P12Path -srcstoretype jks -deststoretype pkcs12 -srcstorepass $KeystorePassword -deststorepass $KeystorePassword

Write-Host ''
Write-Host 'Trusting generated SSL certificate...'
$secureStringKeystorePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String $KeystorePassword -Force -AsPlainText
$root = Import-PfxCertificate -FilePath $P12Path -Password $secureStringKeystorePassword -CertStoreLocation Cert:\LocalMachine\Root
Write-Host 'SSL certificate is now locally trusted. (added as root CA)'

Write-Host ''
Write-Host '########## NEXT STEPS ##########' -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''
Write-Host '1. Copy your keystore to $SOLR_HOME\server\etc (MUST be here)' -ForegroundColor Green

if(-not $KeystoreFile.EndsWith('solr-ssl.keystore.jks')) {
Write-Warning 'Your keystore file is not named "solr-ssl.keystore.jks"'
Write-Warning 'Solr requires this exact name, so make sure to rename it before use.'
}

$KeystorePath = Resolve-Path $KeystoreFile
Write-Host ''
Write-Host '2. Add the following lines to your solr.in.cmd:' -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ''
Write-Host "set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE=etc/solr-ssl.keystore.jks" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "set SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_PASSWORD=$KeystorePassword" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE=etc/solr-ssl.keystore.jks" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "set SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_PASSWORD=$KeystorePassword" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host ''
Write-Host 'Done!'

• Get it to your local and modify the “keytool.exe” path inside if need(line 37), see below.

• • Run follwing command in Windows PowerShell as Administrator.

cd C:\Sitecore\sc902

.\solrssl.ps1 -KeystoreFile C:\Sitecore\solr-6.6.3\server\etc\solr-ssl.keystore.jks

• • Enable a section in file “C:\Sitecore\solr-6.6.3\bin\solr.in.cmd” (line 94-97), see below.
  • Re-start the Solr service and check instance at https://localhost:8983/solr.

Install and Configure SQL Server:

• The SQL Server installtion is pretty much same as Sitecore previous version installation.
• When creating a SQL Server DB user, make sure it has “sysadmin” role. The login Id and password will be used in Sitecore installation script next.
• Enable Contained Database Authentication – run following sql script in SQL Management Studio

sp_configure 'contained database authentication', 1; GO RECONFIGURE; GO

Install Sitecore with SIF:

Sitecore Installation Framework(SIF) is a PowerShell module for handling the installation and configuration of Sitecore instances. It will install and configure Sitecore eco-system.

Run following script in Windows PowerShell as Administrator and type “Y” to continue if need.

• Register Sitecore Repository

Register-PSRepository -Name SitecoreRepo -SourceLocation https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-powershell/api/v2

• Install Framework module

Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework

• Install Fundamentals module

Install-Module SitecoreFundamentals

• Import above modules

Import-Module SitecoreFundamentals

Import-Module SitecoreInstallFramework

• Configure the PowerShell script below and save as “InstallSitecore9.ps1”. Before running, check and update parameters values to you environment.

#define parameters 
$prefix = "sc90"
$PSScriptRoot = "C:\sitecore\sc902"
$XConnectCollectionService = "$prefix.xconnect"
$sitecoreSiteName = "$prefix.local"
$SolrUrl = "https://localhost:8983/solr"
$SolrRoot = "C:\sitecore\solr-6.6.3"
$SolrService = "solr6"
$SqlServer = ".\SQLEXPRESS"
$SqlAdminUser = "sc9user" # replace it with your local SQL Server installation
$SqlAdminPassword = "Test12345" # replace it with your local SQL Server installation

#install client certificate for xconnect 
$certParams = 
@{ 
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-createcert.json" 
CertificateName = "$prefix.xconnect_client" 
} 
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @certParams -Verbose

#install solr cores for xdb 
$solrParams = 
@{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-solr.json" 
SolrUrl = $SolrUrl 
SolrRoot = $SolrRoot 
SolrService = $SolrService 
CorePrefix = $prefix 
} 
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @solrParams -Verbose

#deploy xconnect instance 
$xconnectParams = 
@{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-xp0.json" 
Package = "$PSScriptRoot\Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (OnPrem)_xp0xconnect.scwdp.zip"
LicenseFile = "$PSScriptRoot\license.xml"
Sitename = $XConnectCollectionService 
XConnectCert = $certParams.CertificateName 
SqlDbPrefix = $prefix 
SqlServer = $SqlServer 
SqlAdminUser = $SqlAdminUser
SqlAdminPassword = $SqlAdminPassword
SolrCorePrefix = $prefix
SolrURL = $SolrUrl 
} 
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @xconnectParams -Verbose

#install solr cores for sitecore 
$solrParams = 
@{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\sitecore-solr.json"
SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
SolrRoot = $SolrRoot
SolrService = $SolrService 
CorePrefix = $prefix 
} 
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @solrParams -Verbose

#install sitecore instance 
$sitecoreParams = 
@{ 
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\sitecore-XP0.json"
Package = "$PSScriptRoot\Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (OnPrem)_single.scwdp.zip" 
LicenseFile = "$PSScriptRoot\license.xml"
SqlDbPrefix = $prefix 
SqlServer = $SqlServer 
SqlAdminUser = $SqlAdminUser 
SqlAdminPassword = $SqlAdminPassword 
SolrCorePrefix = $prefix 
SolrUrl = $SolrUrl 
XConnectCert = $certParams.CertificateName 
Sitename = $sitecoreSiteName 
XConnectCollectionService = "https://$XConnectCollectionService" 
} 
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @sitecoreParams -Verbose

• Open the script file “InstallSitecore9.ps1” in Windows PowerShell ISE to execute or copy the scripts to run in Windows PowerShell as Administrator.
• Confirm Sitecore 9 installed successfully.