Installation & Upgrades

Installation/Upgrade (Windows)

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.

Remove the Windows Service (if applicable)

The Cascade CMS Windows service can be removed by following these steps:

  1. Open a command prompt using the Run as Administrator option.
  2. Change into to the Cascade CMS installation folder.
  3. Enter: removecascadeservice.bat

The Windows service with the name Cascade CMS will be removed.

Open the installer

  1. Right-click on the cascade-{version}-win.exe or cascade-{version}-win.jar file and select the Run as Administrator option to begin the installation.
  2. Read the statement.
  3. Check the box labeled I have read and understand the preceding statement.
  4. Click Next.

Select your installation type

  1. Select Full Cascade Installation. A full Cascade CMS installation will instruct the installer to install a fresh instance of Cascade CMS on the machine.
  2. Click Next.

Configure Cascade CMS

  1. Fill in (or browse to) the Cascade installation directory. Cascade CMS will install to C:\Program Files\Cascade CMS by default. Important: If you have a prior installation of Cascade CMS, pick a new/different installation directory or rename the previous installation directory before proceeding.
  2. In the Run Cascade CMS on port field, enter the port on which Cascade CMS will be accessed. The default port is 8080.
  3. Fill in the Maximum amount of memory Cascade can use (in MB) field. The default setting is 512. (NOTE: This setting is only applicable for those running Cascade CMS from the command line. If Cascade CMS will run via Windows service, memory settings will need to be configured after the installation is completed according to: Modifying the Heap Size.)
  4. Choose whether or not to Start Cascade CMS Automatically on boot. Selecting this option will install Cascade CMS as a Windows Service.
  5. Click Next.

Configure the database

  1. Select the Database type which will be used (MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle). Selecting Manual Configuration allows for configuring the database connection after the Cascade CMS installation.
  2. Fill in the Database hostname:port field with the hostname and port of the database server that Cascade will use.
  3. Enter the Database name to which Cascade CMS will connect. For Oracle, also fill out the Schema name and Oracle SID fields. In most cases, the Database name and Schema name should be the same.
  4. Fill in the Username and Password fields for accessing the Cascade CMS database. For Oracle, the Username must match the Schema name.
  5. Optional: Click the Test Connection button to test the connection to the database using the specified credentials.
  6. Click Next.

Complete the installation

  1. Read the Cascade CMS license agreement.
  2. Select I accept the terms of this license agreement.
    • Selecting I do not accept the terms of this license agreement. will prevent the installation from completing.
  3. Click Next.
  4. Wait for the Pack Installation progress bar to display [Finished] and Overall installation progress to display 1/1.
  5. Click Done.

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

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:

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

Command Line

  • Open a command prompt.
  • Navigate to the Cascade installation directory ( ex. C:\Program Files\Cascade CMS).
  • 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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