Due to the scalability of an Index Manager installation, system requirements will vary greatly depending on the type of system you are setting up. The below specifications outline the software required to run Index Manager. If you need help choosing hardware for the installation you should consult your FotoWare Certified Partner.
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012*
QuickTime 7.6.4 (Full installation)1
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.51
Microsoft Silverlight 41
Adobe Flash Player 101
Local Administrator privileges for service account
Client access to the Index Manager server requires opening of port 7000 in the server's firewall.
When installing on Windows Server 2008, the Local Security Policy may need to be modified. Look here for details.
* Application is 32-bit, but is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the operating system.
1 Will be downloaded automatically by the installer if it is not already present on the system.
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Recommended specifications |
Minimum specifications |
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Standard/Cameleon |
Enterprise |
Standard/Cameleon |
Enterprise |
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CPU2 |
Dual Core or 2 CPUs |
Quad Core or 4 CPUs |
Dual Core or 2 CPUs |
Quad Core or 4 CPUs |
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Memory |
4 GB |
12 GB + 2GB per extra core |
3 GB |
8 GB |
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Disk3 |
1 GB per 100 000 files + 800 MB per archive |
1 GB per 100 000 files + 800 MB per archive |
1 GB per 100 000 files + 800 MB per archive |
1 GB per 100 000 files + 800 MB per archive |
2 The major parameter for deciding the number of cores is the number of users. If performance is not satisfactory when the number of users increase, adding cores or CPUs will be the best solution.
3 Disk space required for archived files is not included. Always make sure there is 20-30% free space left on the disk after reserving space for Index Manager. NAS disks are not supported for index and data cache storage. Disk performance is very important. SAN disks with low or moderate caching will not have acceptable performance.
Adobe InDesign Server is required for Adobe InDesign document support
Adobe Distiller Server or PStill is required for certain vector file formats
Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Office 2010 is required for certain document file formats. Only 32-bit versions of Office is supported for indexing!
If installing Index Manager on a Windows Server 2008 R2, you need Microsoft Office 2010 to index Office documents. Indexing will not work properly in Windows Server 2008 R2 with Office 2007.
All FotoWare 7.0 applications report to the FotoWare Log Server which is installed alongside the server application. The communications between the server application and the log server uses UDP port 7000. Since the communications takes place internally on the server, you do not need to open UPD port 7000 in your firewall. However, you should be aware the Microsoft's DNS server can be configured to use arbitrary ports for communications, which could potentially distort communications with the Log Server if it should come to use UDP port 7000. Hence, you should make sure to block the use of port 7000 in the DNS server and make that port exclusive for FotoWare applications.
An NTFS disk is required for Index folders, and the index data folders must be on a local disk. It is recommended using the fastest available local disk.
NTFS disks are recommended for document storage because NTFS allow Index Manager to utilize the hotfolder system which provides instant notification of file system changes, a feature that is widely used throughout all FotoWare server applications. The index data folder cannot be located on a network volume. This is because only SCSI, Fiber channel or SATA connections provide sufficient bandwidth for acceptable performance. The configuration allows for a separate location of the index data folders, and if the Index folder is on a network volume the index data folder must be on a local disk. Index Manager can index Macintosh volumes on a Windows 2003 Server. However, if a Macintosh has been used to create folders on this volume and made use of Macintosh-specific characters (such as \, /, :, *, ?, “, <, >, and |) Index Manager cannot successfully index the folders. Also, you have to avoid "blanks"/spaces in the end of the folder name. To avoid such problems, create all folders on Macintosh volumes from the Windows server. Also note that this limitation does not apply to Macintosh file names, only folder names.
On NAS disks that are not based on the Windows server platform, automatic updating does not work. Other types of volumes (such as UNIX/Samba) do not support automatic updates. Background scanning must be enabled in the Document folder properties when using non-NTFS volumes in order to update the index correctly to reflect changes. Background scanning is slower than automatic updates, and depending on the number of files the update may be delayed by several minutes. The performance of the system is highly dependent upon available hardware resources. In certain configurations it may not be possible to index the maximum recommended number of files per server.
Read more about choosing between different storage options in the appendix.
With Service Release 5 of FotoWare Index Manager 7.0, compatibility with FotoStation and FotoWeb 6.0 clients has been discontinued. The current server software requires version 7.0 clients at Service Release 4 or 5.