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How to Add a Company in the Server Manager

Each company database of ABM (Advanced Business Manager) that people should reach in a web browser is added once, as a company, in ABM Service Server Manager. Open the manager from the Start menu, press Add a company... at the top of the window, fill in the two databases, and press Add. The company becomes a Windows service of its own with its own web address.

How do I add a company to ABM Service Server?​

Open ABM Service Server Manager, press Add a company..., fill in both database groups, test them, and press Add. The company is serving at its web address within a minute or two of its first start, once it has downloaded the ABM web application.

  1. Open Start, type ABM Service Server Manager, and approve the Windows permission prompt. The manager always runs as an administrator.
  2. Press Add a company... at the top of the manager window. The Add a company dialog opens.
  3. Type the company database's details in the first group, The company database: SQL Server, Database, Login and Password.
  4. Press Test under that group and wait for its answer.
  5. Check the second group, ABM's control database (the people, and who may open this company). It copies the server, login and password from the first group while you type, and its Database box starts as ABMControl. Change any of them if your control database differs, then press its Test.
  6. Check Name here, Port and Site name.
  7. Press Add. A progress window shows each step, and the new company appears in the manager's list.

Add runs both tests again for any connection you changed since it last passed, so an untested connection is never saved. Nothing is created until both pass.

What goes in the company database and control database boxes?​

The company database is the ABM company the web users will work in: the SQL Server name (with its instance name if it has one, as ABM itself uses it), the database name, and a SQL Server login and password that can read and write it. ABM's control database is where ABM keeps its user list and which companies each user may open; ABM Service Server reads it to sign people in.

Both groups need a SQL Server login and password; both are marked required. Windows authentication is not offered, because the company's Windows service runs under an account of its own that has no login on a SQL Server on another machine. If you leave the login blank, the dialog says: Enter the SQL Server login and password. followed by why.

In the Add a company dialog, the control database group copies the company group's server, login and password only until you type in its own SQL Server, Login or Password box. From then on it keeps what you typed. Its Database box is never copied and stays ABMControl unless you change it. That matters at sites where the company login cannot read the control database: give the control group a login that can.

The two connections are stored on the server encrypted for that machine, in the company's folder under C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Server. Their passwords are never written to a log.

What do the Test answers mean?​

Test opens the exact connection that will be saved and then checks that the database is the right kind. A green answer means it will work; a red one says what to fix.

  • The database answered, and it looks like an ABM database. The company database is right.
  • The database answered, and it looks like ABM's control database. The control database is right.
  • refused the login: wrong login name or password (or the login has no access). Check the login and password, and that the login is allowed into that database.
  • answered, but the database ... does not exist or this login cannot open it. Check the database name, or ask the database administrator to give the login access.
  • No SQL Server answered at the name you typed. Check the server name, that SQL Server is running, and that its port is open from this server.
  • Connected, but ... does not look like an ABM database (or ABM's control database). You reached a database, but not the right one: check the Database box.
  • Connected to the server, but the database could not be read, followed by SQL Server's message. The login got in but is not allowed to read the database's list of tables; ask the database administrator to give it access.
  • SQL Server error followed by a number and SQL Server's own message: a failure the dialog has no plainer words for. The message says what SQL Server objected to.
  • Enter at least the SQL Server and the database name. A box is empty.

The test can take up to about ten seconds when the server does not answer, while a small window says Testing the connection.

What are the name, port and site name for?​

Name here is the company's name on this server; Port is the number in its web address; Site name is how the company is shown in the manager and in Apps & Features.

  • Name here is filled in from the Database box of the company group while Name here is still empty, so if you type the database name one letter at a time it may hold only the first letter. Check it, and correct it, before pressing Add. It becomes the Windows service's name, shown beside the box as service AbmService- followed by the name. Because it also becomes a folder, it cannot be empty, cannot contain any of \ / : * ? " < > | or two dots in a row, and cannot end with a dot: a name such as "Smith & Sons Ltd." is refused with ends with a dot, which a folder name cannot carry., and taking the final dot off is enough, because spaces and an ampersand inside the name are allowed. Spaces at either end are removed when you press Add. It cannot be the name of a company already on this server.
  • Port is offered as the lowest free number from 5080 upwards. A port already given to another company is refused, even if that company is stopped, with Port ... already belongs to the company. Any number from 1 to 65535 is accepted, port 80 included, but the manager checks it only against the other companies, never against other programs on the server: a port another program already uses is accepted, and the company then cannot start its web server. The web address becomes http:// followed by the server's name, a colon and this port.
  • Site name is optional. When you give one, the company's Apps & Features entry reads ABM Service Web Server followed by the site name in brackets; otherwise it uses the company's name.

What happens when I press Add?​

The manager registers the company as a Windows service, opens its port in Windows Firewall, adds its Apps & Features entry and starts it. The progress window shows writing the company's configuration..., registering the Windows service..., opening the firewall port... and starting the company....

  • The Windows service is named AbmService- followed by the company's name, shown in Services as ABM Service Web Server with the name in brackets. It starts automatically with Windows, and Windows restarts it if it stops unexpectedly.
  • The firewall rule allows incoming connections on the company's port, for every network profile, and has the same name as the service.
  • The first start downloads the ABM web application from the update feed before it can serve anything, so for the first minute or two the company's line in the manager shows no version yet. It then shows the version and Running.

When the company shows Running, open its web address from another computer: you should see the ABM Service sign-in page, listing the ABM users.

If the manager is closed or the server restarts in the middle of an Add, the next time the manager opens it either finishes the Add or undoes it, and says which at the top of the window.

Why is Add a company refused?​

An Add is refused, with nothing created, when the server is not ready for it or the details would not work. The sentence appears under the first group, or in a message box.

  • is already a company on this machine. Pick another name, or open that company's Settings... instead.
  • The code-signing certificate is missing, or No update feed is configured. The server's own files are incomplete; run the ABM Service Server setup again, then add the company again.
  • The server software ... is not installed. The service software this manager expects is missing; run the ABM Service Server setup again.
  • pins no signing certificate, naming the file machine.json. A settings file left from an earlier installation is broken. Delete the file the message names and add the company again: the manager writes it again from the installed certificate. Running the setup again does not repair this file, even though the message offers it.
  • names no update feed, naming the file machine.json. Delete the file the message names and add the company again, or run the ABM Service Server setup again, which writes the update feed into it.
  • Another ABM Service Server Manager operation is changing this machine's web services, followed by (or an Apps & Features removal, or the server setup, is running). Only one add, settings change, removal or update of the server software may change the server at a time, and the manager window waits 30 seconds for the other one before giving up; a command-line command waits two minutes. The message names an Apps & Features removal and the server setup because they change the server too, but while an ABM Service Server Manager window is open, the setup, the uninstallers and the command-line commands wait for it to close rather than run. So when nobody else is on the server, try again after a minute. If it keeps happening, close the manager and open it again, because it finishes any interrupted change when it opens; if it still repeats, send manager.log, from C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Server\logs, to your software supplier.