The following topics prepare you to install PSQL by providing an overview of the requirements, the major components included in PSQL, the installation options available, a detailed checklist to help you gauge your readiness to proceed with the PSQL installation.

You may need to know about the following requirements to complete a PSQL installation. This list supplements the software and hardware requirements found in the PSQL release notes.

You must have administrator rights to install PSQL Server, PSQL Vx Server, or PSQL Workgroup.

For PSQL installation to succeed, Windows systems require the following updates:

You cannot install an edition of PSQL on the same machine with another edition of PSQL. You must uninstall the other edition first. For example, PSQL Workgroup and PSQL Server cannot run on the same machine.

To upgrade from a previous version of PSQL, you must upgrade to the same edition of the new version. For example, if you are using PSQL Workgroup, you must upgrade to PSQL Workgroup and not to PSQL Server. To change editions, you must first uninstall the existing edition. The exception is that you may upgrade from PSQL Server to Vx Server, or from PSQL Vx Server to Server.

In a VM environment that supports live migration, an authorized PSQL instance – along with your application – can move from one host to another host with no impact to your end users.

So long as the host name is kept consistent, an authorized instance of PSQL can be moved to a different physical machine, or converted into a VM, or migrated to a different VM host. If you must change the host name, deauthorize the PSQL license key before moving, converting, or migrating. Each instance of PSQL, including those that are cloned or copied for VMs, requires its own permanent key even if the host name is the same. For more information, see License Models in PSQL User's Guide.

On Windows operating systems, PSQL offers complete and custom installation options.

On Linux, each edition has its own separate installation RPM or TAR file, which does not provide custom installation options. Raspbian uses a TAR installation.

On macOS, you can install using TAR, similar to Linux, or you can use a native Apple disk image (DMG) installer.

A complete installation is recommended for most users. It uses default installation settings and installs PSQL and all of its features to the standard location for each operating system.

A custom installation is recommended for users that need control over their PSQL installation. Custom installation allows you to install PSQL, along with only the features you select, in directory locations of your choosing. The customization is available for all Windows platforms except Nano Server and IoT Core.

PSQL is available in a Server, Vx Server, Workgroup, and Client installation. This topic lists PSQL products and the components of each product installation.

During a Custom install, PSQL features may be excluded with the PSQL product you are installing. The features listed here are optional, so if all the features in this section are excluded from the install, the PSQL product is still installed by default.

The following lists the optional features available with each PSQL installation, unless noted otherwise.

PSQL Access Methods include the PSQL Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) and the DOS Requester.

A set of nine custom controls that enable development environments that support ActiveX to easily access Btrieve data. The interface includes a data source control and eight bound data controls.

ADO.NET is a .NET managed data provider, built with 100% managed code. The data provider is a native wire protocol provider, which means that the data provider will not have to call out to unmanaged code-code outside of the .NET Framework-in the form of a database client.

The DOS VxD (Virtual eXtended Driver) (DOS client requester) is the Btrieve requester used for running DOS based applications via a Windows Command window. (Transactional access only)

The PSQL Distributed Tuning Objects (DTO) are used from visual development environments.

The Java Class Library (JCL) is used for direct transactional access to data files via Java.

The JDBC driver is used for relational access to data files using the Java programming language.

The OLE DB access method includes runtime binaries used for transactional and relational access to data files.

The PSQL Direct Access Components (PDAC) includes a set of Visual Component Library (VCL) components that allow direct transactional and relational access to PSQL Database Engines from within the Borland Delphi and C++ Builder Environments.

The minimum set of utilities used to manage, configure and maintain the various components of the PSQL database engines. The utilities included in this base set are installed as a set for all PSQL products and may not be individually excluded from installation.

The PSQL Cobol Schema Executor utility is used for providing SQL access to COBOL based applications.

PSQL Data Dictionary File Builder is used for creating and modifying Data Dictionary Files (DDFs).

The PSQL Control Center is used for creating and manipulating database objects and accessing database tables via SQL.

The PSQL System Analyzer utility is used for testing and troubleshooting network connectivity, viewing loaded modules and performing a component search.

The PSQL Engine and SDK user documentation is integrated into PSQL Control Center (PCC). The documentation library is accessed through the PCC interface on the Welcome view, in the Help menu, by pressing F1 (Windows) or Shift F1 (Unix). The Engine and SDK user documentation is also available online at the Actian website.

The components of the JRE needed by the following features are installed as part of PSQL:

PSQL features use the local version of the JRE installed by PSQL. PSQL installs a local version of the JRE only if the minimum required JRE version is not installed. If the minimum required JRE version already exists, PSQL features will use those files instead of installing another local copy of that JRE.

The following checklist helps you prepare for installation and includes a set of commonly asked questions to review before installation.

This checklist covers requirements to install PSQL. Each should be met before running the installation.

This topic contains some of the most common questions asked prior to installing PSQL. These questions represent special case scenarios that could possibly prevent a successful first-time installation. Before you begin installation, consider the situations represented by these questions, along with the Quick Checklist to determine if you have met all the requirements and if there are situations that need special attention.

The Server engine must be installed on the same computer where the database files are located.

PSQL Client must be running on each machine expected to access the database, whether or not the client is on the same machine as the server.

PSQL Client is installed with every database engine, so any engine can to connect to any other engine as a client.

PSQL Workgroup can be installed on the same computer where the database files are located, or it can be installed on other computers to access the data over the network.

PSQL Client is installed with every engine. If you access remote files through another Workgroup engine, the Client software is already installed, so you do not need to install Client separately.

If you plan to install PSQL in a clustered environment using Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS), first read High Availability Support in Advanced Operations Guide. This topic provides instructions for installing or patching PSQL in a clustering environment.

Running virtual machines (VMs) within an MSCS environment is typically quite involved. Consequently, running PSQL on VMs within an MSCS environment is more complicated than when not using VMs. Refer to the documentation from the various hypervisor vendors for running VMs within MSCS.

If you plan to install PSQL to a Microsoft Terminal Server or XenApp environment, you must be logged on to the console of the server as a user with system administrator rights to install. This can either be the physical console on the server or a remote console session.

If you install the Workgroup or the Client Cache Engine on a Terminal Services Environment, install the Engine to run as a service. For Workgroup, the default installation for a fresh install is to run as a service. For Client, the default installation is to run as an application, so you need to specify “run as a service” instead. If installed as a service, the Client Cache Engine service is set by default to auto-start. However, even though the Client cache service is running, an application does not use the Client Cache Engine unless the configuration setting for it is turned on (it is off by default). See Use Cache Engine in Advanced Operations Guide.

Only one instance of the database engine may run on any terminal server platform. You cannot run separate copies of the database engine within two or more terminal sessions. See the Actian website for the list of Terminal Server Environments supported by PSQL Server, Vx Server, Workgroup and Client.

The installation of the PSQL database engine in an Active Directory environment requires no special steps. Follow the installation steps as described in this manual for the product you have purchased.

You may install the PSQL database engine on a domain controller if you choose. Be aware, however, that activity on the domain controller may affect the performance of the database engine. For this reason, you may prefer to install PSQL on a server that is not a domain controller.

For Web applications, the Client must be installed on the same computer as the Web server. Multiple Web server platforms require a client on each platform.

We recommend that you use Client installations that are the same version as the database engine. If you choose, you may use a Client that is an older version than the database engine with which it interacts. In some situations, depending on the type of SDK access method used by your application, an older version requester will not work with the database engine. Your application will be unable to communicate with the database engine. For those situations, you must use clients that are the same version as the database engine.

Clients that are a newer version than the database engine may or may not function correctly. We cannot guarantee that newer Client versions will function correctly with older versions of the engine. Therefore, we recommend that you avoid the use of newer version Clients with an older engine.

Yes, it does matter. If you are installing a downloaded version of PSQL, do not place the install file in a location that is listed in the Path environment variables, as this can cause issues with file copying during install. Place the setup files in a location such as the Windows %Temp% directory.

The installation and upgrade should be performed during a period when all users are logged off the system and all data files are closed. As with any significant software installation, be sure to back up any important files on the target hard drive, including data files, before you begin the installation.

If you are performing an upgrade, keep the installation media and instructions from the old installation, in the unlikely event that you need to fall back to the previous version of the product.

PSQL clients running within Terminal Services client sessions can perform PSQL administrative functions by default. For example, a user with such a client can change configuration settings for PSQL, create DSNs, and use the Monitor utility. In prior releases, the ability to perform administrative functions was prohibited from the client.

To restrict this capability, a system administrator should follow these steps:

Yes, some default settings in a PSQL configuration need to be adjusted in certain situations. Typical instances of needing to adjust settings include any of the following:

For more information, see Configuration for Special Installation Situations, especially if you find unexpected behavior after installation.