# Install ShopDB-Flask on Windows Server

**This is the route for a new site.** You run one `.exe`, answer a few questions,
and get a working application. Nothing here needs an internet connection, and you
do not need to know IIS, Python or MySQL.

If you are looking after an existing hand-built server, see
[INSTALL-WINDOWS-IIS.md](INSTALL-WINDOWS-IIS.md) instead - that is the manual
procedure, and the installer will not adopt a server it did not build.

---

## Before you start

You need **four things**. The installer supplies everything else.

| | What | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windows Server 2019 or newer | `winver` |
| 2 | The **IIS Web Server role** installed | Server Manager -> Manage -> Add Roles -> Web Server (IIS). Or run the PowerShell below. |
| 3 | Administrator rights on the box | Right-click PowerShell -> "Run as administrator" works |
| 4 | A decision about the database - see [Which database?](#which-database) | - |

Installing IIS, if it is missing (this needs no internet):

```powershell
Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeManagementTools
```

### Sizing the server

Small, and the reasons are worth stating so a site does not over-provision.
ShopDB serves one plant's own staff, not the internet: a busy instance handles a
few dozen concurrent users and a fleet reporting a few hundred PCs a day, and
both are trivial loads. What actually consumes resources is MySQL and the
uploads.

| | Minimum | Comfortable | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disk | 5 GB free (the installer refuses below this) | 40 GB | The application and Python are about 1 GB. The rest is MySQL, config-backup revisions, and uploads - branding, floor-plan blueprints, application installers and warranty proofs, which are the only ones that grow without bound. |
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB | MySQL wants most of it. The application itself is a Python worker per request. |
| CPU | 2 cores | 4 cores | Reports and the map are the heaviest reads and are cached. |

A VM is entirely normal. The one thing worth insisting on is that the database
directory and the backup directory are not on the same disk as anything you
would be sad to fill up.

### Getting the installer

The `.exe` is a release asset on the GitHub repository, not a file in it - it is
around 240 MB, which is well past what a repository accepts and well inside what
a release asset does. Take it from the release page for the version you want,
and keep it: you need the previous one to roll a release back, and you cannot
download it from your own server.

Every build is stamped with its version and ships a CycloneDX SBOM onto the
server, so `shopdb-admin.ps1 verify -Path <name>` answers "does this server
carry component X" without a network call - which is the question that arrives
on a Friday afternoon after a CVE announcement.

### If you get stuck

Raise an issue on the repository. Include the output of
`shopdb-admin.ps1 check -Json`, which reports version, IIS and pool state,
database reachability, Python version and installed plugins, and contains no
secrets - it is the single most useful thing you can attach, and it is designed
to be pasted.

---

The installer **checks all of this before it changes anything**, and it will not
let you continue until the check passes. You do not have to get it right first
time.

### Which database?

Two options. Pick before you start, because they ask different questions.

- **Use the bundled MySQL** - the installer puts MySQL 8.4 LTS on this server and
  creates the database for you. Choose this when the server has no database
  today. Simplest option, nothing to arrange in advance.
- **Use an existing MySQL** - the database already exists somewhere, and you have
  a hostname, a database name, a username and a password for it. Choose this if
  your site already runs MySQL, or a DBA looks after it.

If you are unsure: if nobody has given you database credentials, you want the
bundled option.

### SQL for your DBA (existing-MySQL option only)

The installer does not create the database or the user - it never needs
administrative rights on your database server. Ask your DBA to run:

```sql
CREATE DATABASE shopdb_flask CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'shopdb'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<a password you choose>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON shopdb_flask.* TO 'shopdb'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
```

The `utf8mb4` charset matters - the default on older servers is `latin1`, and a
latin1 database mangles any non-ASCII text you store.

---

## Installing

1. Copy the installer `.exe` onto the server. It is one file and needs no
   network.
2. **Right-click it -> Run as administrator.** Without this it cannot configure
   IIS, and it will tell you so.
3. Work through the wizard. The pages are:

| Page | What it wants | If unsure |
|---|---|---|
| **Server check** | Nothing - it reports what it found | Fix anything red, then "Check again". You cannot continue while something is red, and nothing has been changed yet. |
| **Features** | Which parts of the product this site uses | The defaults are fine. You can add more later; removing needs a new installer. |
| **Database** | Bundled or existing - see above | Bundled |
| **Database details** | Host, port, name, user, password | Only asked for the existing-database option |
| **Address** | How people reach the site | See [Own address or subpath?](#own-address-or-subpath) |
| **Client addresses** | Whether a proxy sits in front | See [Client addresses](#client-addresses) |
| **Location** | Where to install | `C:\shopdb-flask` is fine |

4. The install takes a few minutes. Most of it is Python and the database schema.
5. At the end you get the address to open. **Write it down** - it is also on the
   Start Menu as "Open ShopDB-Flask".

### Own address or subpath?

- **Its own address** - `http://yourserver:8090/`. Choose this on a server that
  is not already running a website. Simplest.
- **Under this server's existing address** - `http://yourserver/shopdb/`. Choose
  this when the server already serves something else and you do not want a second
  port or a new DNS name. This is what the reference site uses.

You cannot change your mind later without re-running the installer, because the
web interface has the address compiled into it.

### Client addresses

The application records who connects, and some features decide what to show based
on it. The wizard asks one question:

- **Clients connect to this server directly** - the normal answer. Pick this
  unless you know otherwise.
- **A proxy or load balancer sits in front** - pick this only if your network
  team has told you traffic reaches this server through something else first.

Getting this wrong is not dangerous, but the site will record every visitor as
coming from the server itself, and features that depend on location will not
work. It can be changed later by re-running the installer.

---

## First login

Open the address the installer gave you. With no users in the database yet, the
page offers to **create the first administrator**, then runs a short setup wizard
for site details, features and the floor map.

That first account is a normal administrator account. Use a real password -
this is the account that creates everyone else.

---

## Did it work?

From the Start Menu, open **ShopDB-Flask Console** and pick option 1, or:

```powershell
cd C:\shopdb-flask
.\shopdb-admin.ps1 status
```

You want to see the site started, the pool started, and `responding : yes`.

Day-to-day tasks - restarting, backups, logs, upgrades - are in
[OPERATE-WINDOWS.md](OPERATE-WINDOWS.md).

---

## If the install fails

**The server is left part-configured.** Whatever had been done before the failure
is still there. That is deliberate: it means re-running is able to pick up where
it stopped.

1. Read the error. It names the cause and what to do about it.
2. Fix that, then **run the same installer again**. Re-running is safe - it skips
   what is already done and does not touch your database or `.env`.
3. If you would rather start clean, remove it from **Settings -> Apps** first.

The full log is at:

```
C:\ProgramData\ShopDB-Flask\logs\shopdb-install-<date>.log
```

It records every step, including everything that was created. Send this if you
need help.

### Getting help from an AI assistant

These installs are often done with an assistant open in another window. Give it
real state rather than a description:

```powershell
.\shopdb-admin.ps1 check -Json
```

That prints one structured block covering the version, how the site is published,
IIS state, database reachability, Python version, installed features and any
errors. Paste it in. **It contains no passwords.** The install log is also safe
to share - the installer keeps secrets out of it deliberately.

Offline API reference for this server is served at `/api/docs` on the site
itself, and `docs\` in the install directory holds these runbooks.

---

## Upgrading

Run a newer installer over the top. It:

- backs the database up first, **verifies the dump is complete**, and refuses to
  continue if it cannot;
- restores from that backup if the schema migration fails;
- refuses to install an **older** build over a newer one;
- keeps your `.env`, your data and your `web.config`.

Nothing else is required. See [UPGRADE.md](UPGRADE.md).

> **Before your first upgrade:** confirm `mysqldump` is available - the console's
> health check reports it. Without it the pre-upgrade backup is skipped, and that
> is the one you would want if a migration went wrong. It ships with the bundled
> database option; for an existing remote database, ask for `mysqlclient\` to be
> included in your installer bundle.

---

## Removing it

**Settings -> Apps -> ShopDB-Flask**, or Add/Remove Programs.

That removes the website, the application pool, the firewall rule and the
application directory. It deliberately **does not** drop the database and does
not uninstall MySQL, so your data survives.

Take a backup first: `.\shopdb-admin.ps1 backup`

---

## Notes for the person who builds the installer

Building a bundle for a site is a separate job, documented in
[../deploy/windows/installer/README.md](../deploy/windows/installer/README.md).
Sites receive a finished `.exe`; they do not build one.
