Installing Sisense

Applicable to Sisense on Microsoft Windows

The entire Sisense solution can be installed from one file, either locally or in a central place in your organization.

All Sisense components are installed with a default configuration, as follows:

• Sisense
• ElastiCube Manager
• Sisense Server Console
• ElastiCube Server

Note: To install Sisense, you must have Administrator privileges on the machine where you are installing Sisense and your environment must meet the Windows Minimum Requirements . In addition, Sisense must be installed on the C drive.

Note: Disable Internet Explorer's enhanced security option.

Note: If you are installing Sisense in Windows Server 2019, see Disabling Windows Defender Real-Time Protection.

To install Sisense:

1. Open the downloaded executable file to run the installation.
   Note: If your Window Firewall is active, click Allow access to continue installing Sisense.
2. If this is the first time you are installing Sisense on this computer, enter your username and password to confirm licensing and begin the installation process. If you have previously installed Sisense on this computer, the activation screen is not displayed.
   
3. Select Get Everything to run the default installation:
   

If you are upgrading your version, click Continue.

Installing Sisense behind a Firewall

The standard installation requires internet access to download the necessary components. For machines behind a firewall, or without internet access, you can download and install the full self-contained installation file.

For detailed instructions, see Installing Sisense Offline.

Recommended Antivirus Exclusions for Sisense

Some folders, processes, and services may have to be excluded from anti-virus scanning when you use anti-virus software. If these are not excluded, you may see unexpected behavior such as problems accessing or installing Sisense.

See Sisense's Recommended Exclusions for the complete list of services, processes, and folders that need to be excluded.

Customizing the Installation

This topic describes how you can customize the settings for your web server application during the installation process or after Sisense is installed.

For example, you can configure your server to use the Long index edition of Sisense if your ElastiCubes are expected to contain a table with over 300 million rows.

Note: You cannot customize the settings during an upgrade process. If you upgraded Sisense and want to customize settings, refer to the post-installation option described below.

To access the customization options during the installation process:

• While installing Sisense, click Customize Installation, and define the settings as described below.
  

To access the customization options after you have already installed Sisense:

1. Open the Control Panel, and go to Programs > Programs and Features. Right-click Sisense, and click Change.
2. Click Continue > Change Features, and define the settings as described below.
   

Settings

ElastiCube Server

Select the Long Index edition if your ElastiCubes are expected to contain a table with over 300 million rows.

It is not recommended to use this configuration setting for ElastiCubes in which the largest table does not include at least 300 million rows.

Performing a Silent Installation

This topic describes how to install Sisense silently.

You can install Sisense using the command-line interpreter, for example, when you need to run an installation on a remote machine.

You can also customize the installation using variables, for example, install Sisense without the sample dashboards.

To perform a silent installation:

1. Download the latest Sisense version.
2. Open the command line interpreter and enter the installation commands as follows:

• Full installation (without previous user activation)
  <Location of downloaded executable file>\SisenseLatestFull.exe -q -username="<>" -password="<>"

• Full installation (for user already activated by Sisense)
  <Location of downloaded executable file>\SisenseLatestFull.exe -q

• Full offline installation (requires a license key from Sisense)
  Note: To get an offline license, go to My Account and click GET KEY, or contact your Sisense Success Manager.
  After attaining your key, copy and paste it after -offlinelicense= (replacing <offline_license_key> in the example below).
  <Location of downloaded executable file>\SisenseLatestFull.exe -q -offlinelicense=<offline_license_key>

• Installation without Sample ElastiCubes and dashboards
  <Location of downloaded executable file>\SisenseLatestFull.exe -nosamples -q

• Choosing Sisense Website name and port
  <Location of downloaded executable file>\SisenseLatestFull.exe -q -webname=<website_name>

Silent Customized Installations

There are two options available for customizing silent installations: 

• bigdata: Add if you want to install the Long Index version of Sisense. Long Index determines how Sisense transforms your data when loading it in to an ElastiCube. Sisense builds your ElastiCube using pointers that represent your data. These pointers are used to find the actual values so no information is lost. To reduce memory consumption and improve performance, Sisense builds ElastiCubes with 32-bit pointers reducing the size of the pointers. You may experience “Out of memory” errors when working with big data such as: 300 million rows of numeric fields 2GB of string fields. For example, let’s assume that your data contains strings with a length of 1024 characters and 4,194,304 unique rows such that 1024*4,194,304 > 4GB in content after indexing, you should install the Long Index version of Sisense. By installing the Long Index edition, Sisense will use 64-bit pointers.
  Note: Sisense only recommends using the Long Index version for ElastiCubes in which the largest table includes at least 300 million rows. When working with data smaller than 300 million rows, you should use the default installation of Sisense for faster performance.
• webport: Add to customize the port that Sisense runs on.

For example:

SisenseLatestFull.exe -q -bigdata

To uninstall Sisense using the command-line interpreter:

In the command-line interpreter, enter:

<Location of downloaded executable file>\SisenseLatestFull.exe /q /uninstall

Installing Sisense Offline

The standard installation of Sisense requires internet access to download additional necessary components. To support machines behind firewalls, or without internet access, you need to download and install the full Sisense installation file. After you have installed Sisense, you need to provide an offline activation key.

The steps below describe how to install Sisense offline and activate it.

Prerequisites

Before installing Sisense offline, make sure you have the following installed:

1. Microsoft .NET 4.6.1 Framework
2. IIS – Internet information Services (Microsoft’s Web server), see the following instructions per your operating system
   Windows 7 or 8
   Windows Server 2008
   Windows Server 2012

Installing Sisense

Note: If you are installing Sisense in Windows Server 2019, see Disabling Windows Defender Real-Time Protection.

To install Sisense offline:

1. Download the latest full version of Sisense.
2. Open the installation file and click Run.
   
3. In the Welcome to Sisense window, click Activate.
   
4. In the Sisense Activation window, click Behind a Firewall. The product ID is displayed.
   
5. Copy the product ID.
   
   
6. On an online machine, open http://www.sisense.com/my-account/ and log in with your Sisense credentials.
   
7. In the My Account page, from the left menu, select GET KEY.
   
8. Paste your product ID from the Sisense installation into the field and click GET KEY. Your Offline License key is displayed.
   
9. Copy the key and paste it into the key area in the Sisense Activation window.
   
10. Click Sign In. Sisense is activated and you can begin to install it.

Related Topics:

If you have any problems installing Sisense, see the Installation And Upgrade FAQ.