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Installation on Tomcat

signoSign/Universal is developed against the servlet specification 6.0. In this section, we will explain installation of the application using the example of a Tomcat servlet container. For operation on other web servers (e.g. WildFly), please follow the documentation provided by the respective provider. It can also be run in a docker container, for example.

Please also note that these instructions do not represent best practice and that commissioning and support should be carried out by qualified persons. As the manufacturer of the web application, signotec accepts no liability for incorrect configurations of the IT infrastructure.

Required software

The software products listed below are absolutely essential for running signoSign/Universal. With the exception of the database server, all the software products must be installed on the host. If the database runs on another host, it must be accessible.

The following components are required:

  • Java 21 or higher

  • Tomcat servlet container (10.x)

  • signoSignUniversal.war

  • Database (e.g. MySQL)

Install Java

Install Java (see above) on your system. You can either download Java directly from the Oracle website or use OpenJDK on Linux, for example.

Configure JAVA_HOME variable

Configure the ‘JAVA_HOME’ environment variable. Under Windows, go to the advanced system settings (‘Windows key + R’ → ‘sysdm.cpl’). In the ‘Advanced’ tab, you can configure a new variable using the ‘Environment variables...’ button. To do this, click on ‘New...’ in the new window and enter ‘JAVA_HOME’ as the name of the variable. The path must point to the installation directory of Java, e.g:

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk21.0_XXX

Then confirm the entry with ‘OK’ and close the other windows.

Install Tomcat

Download the Tomcat ‘Core’ in one of the above-mentioned versions from the official Apache Tomcat website. Whether you want to use the Tomcat as a ZIP or EXE (Windows Service Installer) is irrelevant for the operation of signoSign/Universal and can be freely selected by you. For a quick installation, especially for testing, the ZIP package tends to be easier to use.

Create user

signoSign/Universal accesses the users of the web server by default. In the example of Tomcat, the source for the created users can be defined in ‘server.xml’ in the folder ‘<TOMCAT-HOME>/conf/’. By default, Tomcat uses the file ‘tomcat-users.xml’ in the folder ‘<TOMCAT-HOME>/conf/’ as the user and role database.

Declare roles

signoSign/Universal supports two different roles. At least one of these roles must be declared.

When setting up a multi-client system, the section Multi-client capability must be taken into account.

Role

Rights

ssu-user

The ‘ssu-user’ role has access to the application and its own documents.

ssu-admin

The ‘ssu-admin’ role has access to the application and all documents of all users.

In the following example, the user ‘john’ is created with the password ‘password’ and the role ‘ssu-user’ in the ‘tomcat-users-xml’:

XML
<!-- file conf/tomcat-users.xml -->
<tomcat-users>
  <role rolename="ssu-user"/>
  <user username="john" password="password" roles="ssu-user"/>
</tomcat-users>

It is possible to use existing authentication systems. The relevant data source and realm must be defined in Tomcat. Further information can be found in the Apache Tomcat documentation.

TLS configuration (https)

The connection to signoSign/Universal via a secure HTTPS connection requires the corresponding configuration of the web server (Tomcat) or an upstream reverse proxy (or similar).

Further information on SSL and TLS configuration can be found in the Apache Tomcat documentation.

Database

signoSign/Universal requires a database from version 3.13.0. An H2 database (in-file) is used as standard. This database is only suitable for very simple use cases and should generally only be used for test purposes. It is strongly recommended to use a managed database, such as MySQL. More information on configuring the database can be found in the section Configuring the database.

Configure application

To make server settings, simply edit the desired settings in ‘settings.properties’, which can be found under ‘signoSignUniversal.war/WEB-INF/classes’.

To make the settings update-proof, individual settings can also be defined as system or environment variables or an external configuration file can be created.

Deploy web application

After installing Java and Tomcat, place the ‘signoSignUniversal.war’ file from the download package in the /webapps/ directory of Tomcat (<TOMCAT-HOME>/webapps).

Then start Tomcat via startup.bat (Linux: startup.sh) or the configured/installed service.

Call up web resources

After the Tomcat has started, you can call up the following resources:

  • Document Pool:
    http(s)://<DOMAIN>/signoSignUniversal/pool

  • Showcase demo:
    http(s)://<DOMAIN>/signoSignUniversal/documentation/showcase/index.html

  • Swagger UI:
    http(s)://<DOMAIN>/signoSignUniversal/documentation/swagger-ui.jsp

  • Technical documentation:
    http(s)://<DOMAIN>/signoSignUniversal/documentation/doc.xhtml

Troubleshooting

If Tomcat does not start, please check the following first:

  • Was a compatible Java version used?

  • Has the JAVA_HOME variable been configured correctly?

  • Was a compatible Tomcat version used?

If Tomcat starts but it is not possible to log into the application, check the following:

  • Have the user and role been configured correctly?

  • Does the Tomcat service have the required rights to create the H2 database as a file, or has the external database been connected correctly?