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What Is Involved in Installing and Running ABM Service?

This part of the ABM Service documentation is for the person who installs and runs ABM Service at a site: the site's IT person, or a technician from the software supplier. It covers two products, each with its own setup: the ABM Service desktop app, installed on office PCs, and ABM Service Server, installed on a server so people can use ABM Service in a web browser. It also says what to check when either goes wrong.

What are the two ABM Service products, and which do I need?​

ABM Service comes as two products that are installed separately: the ABM Service desktop app, a Windows program for each office PC, and ABM Service Server, which runs ABM Service as a web site for each company you add. Install the desktop app on the PCs where staff open ABM Service from the toolbar of ABM (Advanced Business Manager) or from the Start menu; install ABM Service Server on one server when people should use ABM Service in a web browser.

  • The ABM Service desktop app needs ABM installed and working on the same PC, because it finds ABM's control database the same way ABM does. It does not need ABM Service Server: it starts its own small background part on each PC for the company it opens, and talks to ABM's databases directly.
  • ABM Service Server needs a SQL Server it can reach with SQL Server logins for the ABM company database and for ABM's control database. Each company you add in ABM Service Server Manager becomes a Windows service with its own web address, where office staff sign in with their ABM name and password. The Customer portal, for the service company's own customers, is on the same web address.

Both products can be installed on the same computer. They then share one ABM Service folder, with Desktop and Server inside it, and each has its own entries in Apps & Features. Only one ABM Service setup or uninstaller can run on a computer at a time, so run them one after the other.

Both are released on two channels. Customer sites use Production only; Development is the software supplier's own test builds.

Where do I download the ABM Service setups?​

Both setups are on the ABM Service download page, https://download.abm-portal.com/downloads/, under Current: the ABM Service Desktop card has Download the desktop setup, and the ABM Service Server card has Download the server setup. The address behind each button is permanent and always gives the newest release.

The download page also has:

  • Earlier, every release newest first, with each dated copy kept for 60 days.
  • A SHA-256 fingerprint on each current card, to check the file you downloaded is genuine.
  • Windows blocked the download? on each card, with a command that downloads the same file without the browser's warning.
  • A Development builds link at the top right, which leads to the software supplier's test builds. They are not for customer sites.

Every setup file is signed with the ABM Service code-signing certificate. Until a setup has installed that certificate's trust on a computer, the Windows permission prompt says the publisher is unknown; that is expected.

Full details:

How do I install the ABM Service desktop app on office PCs?​

Run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup once on each PC as an administrator; the app itself then installs for each Windows user, with no administrator rights, the first time they open it. The install is split into these two halves so that each user's copy can keep itself up to date.

  • The machine half is installed by the machine setup. It puts the seven launchers (six for ABM's toolbar buttons, and the one the Start menu entry runs), the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry, a first-run installer, a bundled copy of the app for offline first starts, and the update address into one folder for all users. It installs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime first if the PC does not have it. It can also be installed silently with /quiet from a deployment tool.
  • The per-user half is the app itself. The first time a Windows user presses an ABM Service button in ABM or opens ABM Service Desktop from the Start menu, a small window headed Setting up ABM Service downloads and installs it into that user's profile, then opens what was asked for.

After the machine setup, point each ABM toolbar button at the right launcher; the setup's finished page has Copy launcher paths for that. On a terminal server or a shared PC, you run the machine setup once and every Windows user gets their own copy.

Full details:

How does the ABM Service desktop app stay up to date?​

Each user's copy of the ABM Service desktop app updates itself from the ABM Service update address, with no administrator rights and nothing for IT to push. It checks every ten minutes while it runs, and when windows open; it downloads a new version in the background and installs it as soon as that user has no ABM Service window open, or offers it with a small ABM Service update window while windows are open.

What IT looks after:

  • The network: each PC needs HTTPS access to the update address, updates.abm-portal.com, which the machine setup writes into the file FEED_URL.txt in the ABM Service Desktop program folder. A PC that cannot reach it keeps the version it has.
  • The machine half: the launchers, the Start menu entry, the first-run installer and the bundled copy do not update themselves. Run a newer ABM Service Desktop machine setup over the old one when you want to refresh them.
  • The channel: a PC on the production channel only ever updates from production. A development build does not belong on a customer PC unless the software supplier asks for it.

To see which version a PC runs, look at the caption bar of any ABM Service window, or choose About on its File menu.

Full details:

What do I do when the ABM Service desktop app will not install, start or update?​

The ABM Service desktop app always says why it failed, in its own window, a message box or its log files, and the troubleshooting page lists each message with what to check. Most problems are one of: the machine setup failed (often the WebView2 Runtime), ABM's settings or its control database cannot be found or reached from the PC, or the PC cannot reach the update address.

The logs to read or send to your software supplier:

  • install.log in C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Desktop, for the machine setup and its uninstaller.
  • install.log and desktop.log in each user's %LocalAppData%\DP Systems\ABM Service, for that user's first start, the app and its updates.

To remove the desktop app, uninstall each Windows user's ABM Service Desktop entry in Apps & Features first, then the machine half once, as an administrator.

Full details:

How do I install ABM Service Server?​

Run the ABM Service Server setup on the server as an administrator, then open ABM Service Server Manager from the Start menu to add your first company. The setup installs the server manager and the service software that every company's Windows service runs; it does not use Internet Information Services (IIS), and it carries everything it needs, including the .NET runtime.

Before you start, check that the server has:

  • 64-bit Windows and an administrator account.
  • A SQL Server it can reach, with a SQL Server login for the ABM company database that can read, write and create tables, and a login that can read ABM's control database (usually called ABMControl). Windows authentication is not used.
  • HTTPS access to updates.abm-portal.com, because each company downloads the ABM web application, and every update of it, from the software supplier's update feed there.
  • A free port for each company, from 5080 upwards; the manager opens it in Windows Firewall itself.

The setup can also run silently with /quiet, and an older version can be installed over a newer one when you need to go back.

Full details:

How do I use the ABM Service Server Manager?​

ABM Service Server Manager is the one window for everything on an ABM Service server. Open it from the Start menu; it asks for administrator permission every time. It lists every company with whether it is serving, and has Add a company... at the top and two update lines at the foot.

Under each company are its buttons:

  • Start, Stop and Restart for the company's web server.
  • Update now to install the newest ABM web application straight away.
  • Settings... to change the port, the site name or the database connections, for example after a SQL Server password changes.
  • Open logs to read, copy or save the company's log files.
  • Remove to take the company off the server. The database is never touched.

Adding, changing, testing and removing a company can also be scripted from an elevated command prompt. Only one manager window can be open on a server at a time, and the setup and uninstall wait while it is open, so close it when you are done. ABM Service Server itself is uninstalled from Apps & Features once no company is left.

Full details:

How are a company's web address and databases connected on ABM Service Server?​

Every company added in ABM Service Server Manager is its own Windows service listening on its own port, connected to one ABM company database and to ABM's control database. People open http:// followed by the server's name, a colon and the company's port, and sign in with the name and password they use in ABM.

  • The company database holds the calls, customers and everything else people work on.
  • ABM's control database is read to sign people in: who the ABM users are, their passwords, and which companies each may open. Changes in ABM's own user list apply at each person's next sign-in; somebody already signed in stays signed in until they sign out, the company restarts or updates, or they leave it unused for thirty days, so restart the company in ABM Service Server Manager to sign everyone out at once.
  • The address serves plain http; ABM Service Server does not install a certificate.
  • Several companies can run on one server, each with its own port and address, sharing one copy of the web application. Apply at... in the manager sets the nightly apply time for every company that is answering it.

The system administrator, ABM user 1, can require an authenticator app for web sign-ins and give the service company's customers access to the Customer portal, from the Administration menu in ABM Service.

Full details:

How does ABM Service Server keep up to date?​

Two things on an ABM Service server update in two different ways. The ABM web application that people use updates itself from the software supplier's update feed every night at the apply time, midnight server time unless you change it with Apply at.... The server manager and the service software under it are updated only when someone runs a newer ABM Service Server setup.

  • Update now, under a company in ABM Service Server Manager, installs the newest web application straight away, after saying how many people are connected.
  • A new version that will not start is put back automatically: the company returns to the version it had, and that version is not tried again by the nightly update.
  • A newer server setup moves every company onto the new service software together, with about ten seconds offline, and puts them all back if one does not answer with the new version within a minute.
  • Update launchers appears at the foot of the manager only when some companies still run an older service software than the installed manager.

Every update restarts the company, which signs out everyone signed in to it, office staff and Customer portal users alike.

Full details:

What does the firewall need to allow for ABM Service?​

For ABM Service, a firewall needs to let in each company's port on the ABM Service Server, and let the server and every office PC reach the update address, updates.abm-portal.com, over HTTPS. The PCs need nothing let in, and both products reach SQL Server the way ABM (Advanced Business Manager) itself does.

  • Into the server, each company's port: incoming TCP on the port, from 5080 upwards, from every computer that opens the company's web address. ABM Service Server Manager makes the Windows Firewall rule itself when it adds the company: an incoming port rule for every network profile, named like the company's Windows service (AbmService- followed by the company's name) and grouped under ABM Service. Settings... moves it with the port, and removing the company deletes it. Any other firewall, or one between offices, you open yourself.
  • Out from the server, HTTPS to updates.abm-portal.com: each company downloads the ABM web application, and every update of it, from there. Without it a new company stays at no version yet.
  • Out from every office PC, HTTPS to updates.abm-portal.com: each Windows user's first start and every later update of the ABM Service desktop app come from there. A PC that cannot reach it installs the copy bundled with the machine setup and then stays on that version, unless a newer machine setup is run on it and each user uninstalls their own copy so that it is installed again from the new bundled copy.
  • Nothing into the office PCs: the ABM Service desktop app's background part answers only on the PC itself.
  • To SQL Server: the server needs to reach the SQL Server holding the company database and ABM's control database; each office PC reaches ABM's SQL Server exactly as ABM does on that PC.
  • The download page, download.abm-portal.com, is needed only on the computer you download the setups on.

Full details:

What does ABM Service change in the company database?​

ABM Service adds a few tables of its own to each company database, all named with the prefix ABM2_, and never changes ABM's own tables, procedures or views. The tables are created the first time somebody signs in or opens a screen after a version that needs them has started, all in one step: every change is made, or none is.

  • The company database's SQL Server login needs permission to create tables, and to add columns and indexes to them. Without it nobody can use the company until a database administrator grants it.
  • While the changes are being made, people see The database is being updated with a Try again button.
  • The ABM Service desktop app makes the same changes the same way, so whichever runs a new version first brings the database up to date for everyone.

Separately, the system administrator can apply recommended indexes, named with the prefix IX_abm2_, from the Database screen under the Administration menu in ABM Service. They are never added automatically. The Database screen removes only an index the current version no longer uses, and only when the administrator ticks it; your software supplier can remove the others if that is ever needed.

Full details:

What do I do when ABM Service Server goes wrong?​

Start in ABM Service Server Manager: each company's line says whether it is serving, and the line under it says whether it can reach its database. Then read the company's logs with Open logs, starting with the launcher file for the day.

The troubleshooting page works through what people report:

  • The web address does not open.
  • A company shows no version yet, or never updates.
  • A company keeps restarting, or shows Not answering.
  • The database line under a company is red.
  • Nobody can sign in, or one person cannot.
  • The database is being updated does not go away.

Before contacting the software supplier, note the ABM Service Server version from the manager's title bar and the web application's version from the company's line, and save the day's launcher and child log files with Save a copy....

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What does the installation guide leave to ABM and to the system administrator?​

Who can sign in to ABM Service, and to which company, is decided in ABM's own user list, not on the server or the PC: anybody who is an ABM user, has a password in ABM and has been given the company can sign in. Where in ABM a toolbar button is created is also ABM's own set-up; this guide says only which ABM Service launcher each button should run.

Inside ABM Service, the system administrator (ABM user 1, the only person who sees the Administration menu) looks after:

  • the recommended database indexes, on the Database screen;
  • whether web sign-ins need an authenticator app;
  • which of the service company's customers may sign in to the Customer portal.

How office staff use the screens, sign in, and deal with the app's messages from their side is in the office staff's own help, not in this installation guide.

What the setups and ABM Service Server Manager do not do at all, such as installing without internet access, turning updates off, e-mail alerts, Windows sign-in or renaming a company, is gathered in What Don't the ABM Service Installers and Server Manager Do?, with what to do instead.