PST Flight Deck 9.2 - Deployment Guide

Core

The Core server is responsible for several aspects required for a functional PST Flight Deck system. In a typical configuration, the Core server hosts the PST Flight Deck Core service, the IIS instance hosting PST Flight Deck files, the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) upload directory, and any number of modules which may be installed. The Core service is responsible for communication with the PST Flight Deck system database and execution of scheduled operations. All deployed agents also check in and update the system through the Core server. Essentially, the Core service acts as the conductor of the entire solution.

A typical deployment of PST Flight Deck begins with the installation of a Core server. In most deployments, you will have more than one PST Flight Deck server, however for non-production installations it is possible to deploy all the components on a single server. It is not recommended to perform production migrations in a single server configuration.

For a successful installation, it is important that all of the requirements have been met prior to starting. If you have not done so, please review the Requirements Guide and this document to ensure all criteria for installation and configuration are met.

To install the first PST Flight Deck server:

1.Log into the PST Flight Deck server as the PST Flight Deck service account

2.Execute the PST Flight Deck MSI installer.

3.Follow installer prompts to provide the following information:

b.Review and accept the Agreement

c.Determine features to install and desired installation location

d.Select and validate the PST Flight Deck license file

e.Define the SQL server or instance to be used for the PST Flight Deck system database and validate access to the resource

f.Provide the PST Flight Deck service account and validate it

g.Provide Core PST Flight Deck server name or alias and method of communication to the server

h.Select the target and associated configuration for the project

i.Select the storage locations to be used for the PST Flight Deck modules

4.Select Install to begin the installation

5.Monitor to completion and select Finish to complete the installation wizard

Any additional node may be installed using the same installer but only selecting the modules desired for installation on that node. Typically, Extraction and Repair modules are installed locally to the BITS Upload directory for each Location.

Installation Considerations

Some organization’s security requirements do not permit interactive logons for service accounts. In these cases, it is necessary to have an additional account used as an installation account. If an alternate account is required to be used for installation, equivalent rights will be required for the installation account at the point of installation.

It is important to differentiate between the PST Flight Deck service account and other accounts which may be used as part of your PST Flight Deck deployment. Generally speaking, the PST Flight Deck service account is used during installation and is the account the services run as. When targeting an Enterprise Vault system for migration, the PST Flight Deck service account will be the same as the Enterprise Vault service account. Some targets, such as Exchange or Exchange Online, require multiple accounts with various elevated rights. Typically these accounts are not the same as the PST Flight Deck service accounts. For more information on the accounts required for your deployment, please refer to the Requirements Guide.

PST Flight Deck is designed to be able to function when using HTTPS to encrypt all module and client traffic to the PST Flight Deck server.

It is recommended to have the BITS upload location on a separate high performance disk from the remainder of the PST Flight Deck modules’ working directories. Doing so will promote improved performance and stability in all operations throughout your migration.

Core Post-Installation Tasks

Once the PST Flight Deck installer has completed, a few system configuration changes are needed to ensure proper functionality of the PST Flight Deck server.

Enable BITS

PST Flight Deck leverages the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to centralize PST files from Migration Agent machines to a desired PST Flight Deck server. For this process to work as expected, BITS must be enabled on the Core server’s IIS instance using the following process:

1.Open the IIS Manager

2.Expand the PST Flight Deck BITS Website and select the Uploads virtual directory

3.In the Features View center panel of the IIS management console, scroll to the bottom and double-click BITS Uploads

4.In the resultant options, select Allow clients to upload files and hit the Apply link in the “Actions” panel.

More details related to BITS can be found on the Microsoft MSDN site.