Installation and Upgrade

Before installing Alyvix Service, first check that your setup meets the system requirements.

Note that Alyvix Service also requires Alyvix to be installed on the same machine. Alyvix, which we call Alyvix Core here to distinguish it from Alyvix Service, is a free and open source engine for designing and building GUI test cases that show what a task and its interface should look like and how they behave, and then later running them autonomously on the local Windows machine.

System Requirements

Note

Alyvix Service assumes that you have one virtual or physical machine exclusively dedicated to running Alyvix test cases.

You should check that your designated machine and the account on that machine meet the following requirements before you install Alyvix Service:

	Minimum	Recommended
Operating System	Windows 10 (64-bit) Pro or Enterprise	Windows Server 2016, 2019 or 2022 (English language)
	(32-bit versions of Windows are not compatible with Alyvix Service)
Processor	2 CPUs	2 CPUs base + 2 CPUs per session
Memory	4GB RAM	4GB RAM base + 4GB RAM per session
Graphics	24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA screen color depth
Remote Desktop	Users defined on Alyvix Service must have RDP access (through RDC mstsc.exe) to the machine itself (e.g. the user must be a Remote Desktop User, and the firewall must not be set to block local RDC)
	1 session only: No Windows Terminal Server available; 1 test case executed at a time	Multiple sessions in parallel: Windows Terminal Server allows multiple test cases to run at once
Application Permissions	Users defined on Alyvix Service must have the proper permissions to run and interact with the application interface being monitored

Versions

Alyvix Service Version	Required Alyvix Core Version	PostgreSQL Version
Alyvix Service 2.3.0	Alyvix 3.5.0	12.x
Alyvix Service 2.2.0	Alyvix 3.5.0	12.x
Alyvix Service 2.1.0	Alyvix 3.4.0	12.x
Alyvix Service 2.0.0	Alyvix 3.3.2	12.x

Installation Steps

The following steps will install Alyvix Service on your machine:

1. Request an Alyvix Service subscription

   Choose your preferred subscription plan and get in touch with us to request it, providing a machine IP from where you will download the software package. You’ll obtain access to our repository.

2. Install Alyvix Core

   Follow the installation instructions for Python and Alyvix.

3. Install PostgreSQL

   Download and run the most recent version of the PostgreSQL 12.X installer for the Windows x86-64 architecture. Be sure to run it in administrator mode.
   
   

   Click “Next” to accept all the defaults until it asks you to set the password. Change the default password to ensure the security of your system, and make a note of it so that you can configure Alyvix Service to use PostGre in the next step below.

   

   Continue clicking “Next” to accept the remaining defaults and complete the installation.

4. Install Alyvix Service

   Download the most recent version of the installer (alyvix_service_<version>.zip) from the repository, and run the setup.exe installer which can be found inside the .zip file in administrator mode.
   
   Set the database password from step #3 as follows:

   • Open the file C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\config.json in administrator mode

   • Paste the password in this line:
     "database":{.. "password": "<your_password>", ..}

5. Mandatory security configuration

   First save your HTTPS certificate files used for browser security as follows:

   • Create the folder C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\cert\

   • Save cert.crt as an HTTPS certificate recognized by your CA

   • Save cert.key as its (unprotected) password

   Note that the private key is all you need, you should not be asked for an additional password.

   Next, copy the JSON Web Token (JWT), which is used for API authentication purposes, from your monitoring system to Alyvix Service.

   • Create the folder C:\ProgramData\Alyvix\certs\jwt\

   • Copy the JWT certificate file from your monitoring system into the folder above, renaming it to public.pem.

6. Start Alyvix Service

   Run Alyvix Service within Windows Services Task Manager > Services Tab > Alyvix Service > Start

   

7. Monitoring system integration

   At this point Alyvix Service is installed and running, and you can now proceed to integrate it within a monitoring system.

Upgrading

The following steps will upgrade Alyvix Service to the latest version on your machine:

1. Uninstall the current version of Alyvix Service

   • Back up your Alyvix Service configuration file: C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\config.json

   • Back up your Alyvix Service HTTPS certificate: C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\cert\

   • Back up your Alyvix Service JSON Web Token (JWT) certificate: C:\ProgramData\Alyvix\certs\jwt\

   • Stop Alyvix Service: Windows Services > Alyvix Service > Stop

   • Close all Alyvix client windows (where appropriate)

   • Uninstall Alyvix Service: Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features > Alyvix Service > Uninstall

   • Remove residual Alyvix Service files (where appropriate): C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\

   • Remove old Alyvix Client scheduled tasks: Windows Task Scheduler > alyvix_client<..> > delete

2. Upgrade Alyvix Core

   Follow the instructions here

3. Install the new version of Alyvix Service

   • Run the Alyvix Service Installer (setup.exe) found in the Alyvix Service package

   • Set the database password by editing the file C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\config.json in administrator mode (or by restoring the backup file):
     "database":{.. "password": "<your_password>", ..}

   • Install your HTTPS certificate (or restore the backup files): Save the cert.crt and cert.key files in C:\Program Files\Alyvix\Alyvix Service\cert\

   • Install your JSON Web Token (JWT) certificate (or resture the backup file): Save the public.pem file in C:\ProgramData\Alyvix\certs\jwt\

4. Run Alyvix Service

   • Start Alyvix Service: Windows Services > Alyvix Service > start

   • Sign out of the current session

Uninstalling Alyvix Service

The following steps will remove Alyvix Service from your machine. Basically you will need to reverse the steps performed during installation.

1. Disable the relevant Alyvix Nodes within your integrated monitoring system.

2. Stop Alyvix Service under the Services tree: Start > Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services > Alyvix Service

3. Uninstall Alyvix Service: Start > Settings > Apps > Alyvix Service > Uninstall
   
   If desired, also uninstall PostgreSQL the same way.

4. Remove these two directories:

   • C:\Program Files\Alyvix\

   • C:\Program Data\Alyvix\

5. If desired, remove Alyvix Core and/or Python using the Alyvix uninstall instructions.