MEO Prerequisites and Setup
Audience: Citizen devs
System/Security AdministratorsSkill Prerequisites:
System Administration and Maintenance
This section lists the prerequisites and configuration necessary for installing the Multi-Environment Orchestrator on your Plant an App environment.
Hardware and Software requirements
| Hardware requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| CPU | 2.4GHz single core (note that this is the minimum requirement and that it will vary according to your setup and needs). |
| RAM | 512MB RAM (note that this is the minimum requirement and that it will vary according to your setup and needs). |
| Disk space | 1000MB per managed Plant an App instance (note that this is the minimum requirement and that it will vary according to your setup and needs). |
| Network requirements | Outbound HTTPS port(s) open, required to connect to the VCS (Version Control System). Note that HTTP/S ports are also required for the traffic between MEO and your Plant an App application instance. See the "Choosing between HTTP and HTTPS" section, below. |
An outbound connection is also required to recover the MEO installation files from the Plant an App online repository, however this is not mandatory; the files in question can be transferred to your MEO host machine by other means.
| Software requirement | Version and notes |
|---|---|
| Operating System | MEO can be installed both on Windows and Linux-based operating systems: - Windows: 10, 11, or Server 2019. - Linux: any distro that can run Docker and its Compose plugin (see below). |
| Docker | Version 20.10 or later. |
| Docker Compose | This is a Docker plugin. Depending on your Operating System, it will come either bundled with Docker, or will need to be installed separately. Please see the official Docker documentation for more information. |
| MS SQL Server | 2014 or higher; Express/WebEdition/Standard/Enterprise editions. |
| VCS (Version Control System) Repository account | Supports GIT-based versioning systems (such as GitHub) that uses a PAT (Personal Access Token) for authentication. |
Network - Choosing between HTTP and HTTPS
- HTTP
When MEO is hosted on the same machine (or the same private network) as your Plant an App application instance, a non-TLS HTTP connection is usually sufficient.
- HTTPS
When MEO is hosted externally and the connection to your Plant an App application instance goes over the internet, we strongly recommend using HTTPS, which involves setting-up a TLS certificate.
- Advanced security
Other than using HTTPS, when your MEO instance is hosted externally (or on a different network that requires open-internet communication), you can also use a reverse-proxy between it and your Plant an App application instance; this provides an additional level of abstraction, control and protection against common web-based attacks, like a denial-of-service attack (DoS) or distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS).
For this end, you can use a dedicated webserver such as Microsoft IIS or Nginx.
Database setup
Two Databases must be created, one for each MEO component: the Identity Provider and the Environment Orchestrator.
Each DB must be provided with a db_owner user and subsequent username and password.