Installation & Upgrades

Installation/Upgrade (ZIP)

Before you begin

  • Download Cascade CMS.
  • If you're upgrading your environment, be sure leave your existing installation directory in place to reference configuration files and customizations, and choose a NEW installation directory when prompted by the installer or when unzipping the ZIP file.
  • If you're installing Cascade CMS for the first time, make sure you've created and imported the default schema for the database vendor according to the corresponding instructions.

Edit the configuration files

  1. Unzip the ZIP file into a new Cascade CMS installation directory.
    • Note: leave the current installation directory as is because you'll need to reference files from the existing installation later.
  2. If using *nix/Linux, set execute permissions and ownership on the directory. Ex.:
    • chmod -R u+x /path/to/cascade
    • chown -R {user}:{group} /path/to/cascade
  3. Edit cascade.sh (Linux/*nix/Mac OS) or cascade.bat (Windows)
    1. @{cascadeJRE} - replace this string with the absolute path to your Java runtime folder which contains the bin sub-folder.
      • If you downloaded a full installer, which has the Java runtime bundled, enter the path to the jdk directory within the installer.
      • If you are choosing to use your own Java runtime, see configuring a Java installation.
    2. @{cascadeMemory} - specify the maximum amount of memory available to Cascade CMS by replacing this string with a string of the form -Xmx4096M  where 4096 is the size of the memory in megabytes. See modifying the heap size for more information or the "Requirements" section of the Release Notes for additional information about recommended memory allocation.
  4. Edit tomcat/conf/context.xml to configure the database connection.
    1. Remove the first line containing @{dbConf}.
    2. Uncomment the appropriate configuration for your database vendor.
    3. Replace the following strings as specified:
      • @{dbusername} - the username for accessing your database
      • @{dbpassword} - the password for accessing your database
      • @{dbhostport} - the hostname and port separated by a colon (e.g. localhost:3306)
      • @{dbname} - the name of the database to use
      • @{dbsid} - the SID of the Oracle database server, usually orcl
  5. Edit tomcat/conf/server.xml
    • @{dbschema} - for Oracle, change this to the schema name of your database. For MySQL and SQL Server, remove the string entirely (e.g. value="" ).
    • @{cascadePort} - the HTTP port on which Cascade will run (e.g. 8080). See modify application ports for more information.

Apply customizations (if applicable)

Manually apply any further customizations you've made to Cascade CMS, including:

  • Customizations to the tomcat/conf/context.xml file not including the database configuration (which is configured by the installer).
  • Customizations to the tomcat/conf/server.xml file not including the HTTP port (which is configured by the installer).
  • Customizations to the tomcat/conf/web.xml file.
  • Copying custom Asset Factory plugins, Publish Triggers, and custom authentication modules from the old/existing tomcat/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/lib directory to the new installation folder's tomcat/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/lib directory.
    • Note: The tomcat/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/lib directory will not exist in the new installation until the application has been deployed at least once. For this reason, the application will need to be started and stopped before copying over your custom JAR files.
IMPORTANT - The following files should not be copied from the old installation into the new installation as they can cause compatibility problems: tomcat/conf/context.xml, tomcat/conf/server.xml, and tomcat/conf/web.xml. Instead, they should be used only as a reference for updating the corresponding files in the new installation.

Start Cascade CMS (Linux/*nix, macOS)

  1. Open a terminal window.
  2. Change into the Cascade CMS installation directory (ex. /Applications/Cascade CMS).
  3. Type ./cascade.sh start

Start Cascade CMS (Windows)

The application can be started using one of the following methods:

Windows Service

If you chose to install the Windows service, it can be started using the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the Windows Services dialog box.
  2. Right-click on the Cascade CMS service.
  3. Click Start.

Command Line

  1. Open a command prompt.
  2. Navigate to the Cascade installation directory ( ex. C:\Program Files\Cascade CMS).
  3. Type cascade.bat start .
Note - Use only one of the methods described above, as using both will lead to a port conflict with two instances of the application running simultaneously.

Log in

Once the application is running, you should be able to access it in your browser by navigating to hostname:8080. Where hostname is the host name of the machine on which Cascade is installed and 8080 is the port configured during the installation.

The default credentials to log in are:

username: admin
password: admin

We recommend changing this password to something more secure immediately after logging in.

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