Liquidoffice FAQ's

Process and Presentation Server Hardware

• Processor: Intel Xeon (Windows, Solaris, Linux), Oracle SPARC (Solaris)
• RAM: 4GB (8GB or more if hosting SQL Server)
• Storage: 10GB free

Database Server Hardware

• Processor: Modern multi-core Intel Xeon CPU
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: Recommended: Striped across at least 2 physical drives + redundancy. (Implies 4 physical drives and RAID 1+0)

Development Workstation

• RAM: 4GB
• Storage: 10GB free

Operating system requirements

Server operating system

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019
• Sun Solaris 10 or 11 (SPARC/x86/x64)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 and 7 (x86/x64)

Desktop client operating system

• Microsoft Windows 7 SP1
• Microsoft Windows 8.1
• Microsoft Windows 10
• Apple OS X10.10 and above (except Form Designer and Data Client)

Mobile client operating system

• Apple iOS 10 and later
• Android 4.4 and later
• Microsoft Windows 10

Technology platform (server and client management components)

• Oracle or Open Java SE JDK 8 (32-bit and 64-bit), 10 or 11

Database management system

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - 2017
• Oracle Database 12c
• PostgreSQL 9.4 and later or 10
• Apache Derby 10

Directory server

• Microsoft Active Directory 2012 to 2019
• OpenText Directory Services 16
• Oracle Internet Directory
• IBM Tivoli Directory Server 6.x

Content management server

• OpenText Content Server 16
• Microsoft SharePoint 2016
• Meridio 5
• WorkSite 9

Application server (for presentation layer)

• Apache Tomcat 8 or 9
• WebSphere 8
• Oracle WebLogic 12c

Browsers

Desktop

• Microsoft Edge 20 and later
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11
• Mozilla Firefox 52 and later
• Apple Safari 11 and later
• Google Chrome 55 and later

Mobile browser

• Apple Safari 10 and later
• Android browser 5 and later
• Google Chrome 55 and later
• Microsoft Edge 20 and later
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11

The LiquidOffice server stores the forms and processes and is responsible for rendering them for clients and running much of the script and processes behind them such as form routing and exports. For this reason, it is important to pay careful consideration to RAM, processor performance and hard drive speed.

It is also possible to increase performance, simplify management and help locate and resolve performance bottlenecks by splitting the components of LiquidOffice across multiple servers.

The three main components (processing server, presentation (web) server and SQL) can be installed onto separate servers. On larger systems with many users or where performance is important, separating the LiquidOffice process and web components from the SQL database would be the recommended configuration.

A clean install of Windows 2008 server will typically use less than the first 1GB of RAM for normal operation. This means that whatever is left can be used by SQL server and the LiquidOffice server.

On a dedicated server, a total of 4GB (1GB for Windows, 2GB for SQL and 1GB for LiquidOffice) should be adequate for a simple installation. If other applications are running, such as Exchange or an on-line defragmentation tool, it is important to have additional memory. Many LiquidOffice users, or users of the server, will require additional memory.

It is possible to have more than one instance of SQL running and each will require its own memory. Multiple databases on one "instance" share memory but SQL can have several isolated installations on the same server called "instances". Some applications such as Network Associates Protection Pilot virus scanner management tool may install their own instance of SQL to store information and statistics which will require its own memory in addition to the LiquidOffice instance!

SQL server will automatically use available memory, so if you have 4GB of RAM in your server and SQL is using up available memory, it doesn't necessarily mean that expanding your memory will result in a performance increase.

Although the requirements suggest up to 1.5GB of hard drive space is required, a full LiquidOffice installation takes up less than 512MB. The additional space is required for storing the online form templates and the data retrieved from online form submission.

As storage is cheap and it is impossible to buy a hard drive smaller than about 120GB, the space is rarely the issue. However, hard drives should still be given careful consideration. As hard drives are the only part of a server with physically moving parts, they are the slowest and often the bottle neck to performance. It is essential to have some form of fault tolerance on your servers hard drive configuration. For more information please see our Server Storage FAQ.

As the hard drive will be one of the main limiting factors on your server’s performance, we recommend you review the latest SAS drives.

With the right operating system, web server and SQL server version, full 64bit and multi-processor support is possible with the LiquidOffice server.

The speed of the processor will also have an effect on performance. For a ‘simple forms only’ LiquidOffice server, any modern server class processor will probably be suitable. More complex installations will require multiple core processors, probably in the form of Intel Xeon processors.

We recommend Windows 2008 or 2012 Server for LiquidOffice. Any edition including Standard or Datacentre will work.

We recommend you install the latest updates from the Windows update website.

Although LiquidOffice can be installed on the free SQL Server Express Edition for small systems or testing, we recommend the full version of SQL Server 2005 or 2008 (Workgroup, Standard or Enterprise) for larger systems.

LiquidOffice 16.4 is the latest version.

The new version, released in April 2018, has many new features that enhance the appearance and behaviour of web forms, improve the design experience, refine the portal user experience, and provide new options to share forms with others.

You can read our blog and download the latest release notes here.

By default, any usernames, passwords and form data transmitted between a client and server in LiquidOffice will be in clear text, via normal HTTP traffic. As a result, it is possible for a 3rd party to intercept and read the data. Although not usually a problem inside an organisation's own network, steps should be taken to secure remote or Internet access. During the installation of LiquidOffice, there is an option to enable SSL which can encrypt traffic with the same level of security as online banking if configured correctly.

By default, LiquidOffice uses a self-signed certificate. Self-signed certificates work exactly like a certificate purchased through an SSL Certificate Authority, except that they are not signed by a Certificate Authority. Instead they are signed by your server. Apart from that, the encrypted connection using a self-signed certificate is as secure as any other SSL connection.

For testing, internal use or if you have a guaranteed way of distributing the public key to your end users, this configuration is acceptable. However, if users outside of your control will be accessing the LiquidOffice system over the Internet, a Certificate Authority (CA) signed certificate is required. The CA verifies your identification and generates a certificate for your server for a cost of around £20 per year. GoDaddy, VeriSign, Thawte and Comodo can be used to provide the service.

Whether you need to replace your self-signed certificate or install a CA provided certificate, these instruction will take you through the process.

Step 1: Create the Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

We have assumed the default installation paths; if yours are different you may need to modify them. Replace the following variables as follows:

{FQDN} – Fully Qualified Domain Name of server, e.g. lo.epc.co.uk or *.epc.co.uk if you need access from more than one name

{OU} – Department responsible for the LiquidOffice server, e.g. ICT

{O} – Company name, e.g. ePartner Consulting Ltd

{L} – Location, e.g. Lightwater

{S} – County, e.g. Surrey

{PASS} – A strong password, e.g. a2sXk4lJvb

From a Command Prompt, type the following, pressing Return at the end of each line:

Path %path%;"C:\Program Files\Cardiff\Autonomy Process Automation\xmlserver\jdk\jre\bin" [RETURN]

CD \ [RETURN]

CD "C:\Program files\Cardiff\Autonomy Process Automation\xmlserver\xmlbase\conf" [RETURN]

Ren losKeystore losKeystore.bak [RETURN]

keytool -genkey -dname "cn={FQDN}, ou={OU}, o={O}, l={L}, s={S}, c=GB" -alias LO [line continues..]

keystore losKeystore -storepass {PASS} -keypass {PASS} [RETURN]

keytool -certreq -keystore losKeystore -storepass {PASS} -alias LO -file request.pem [RETURN]

This will create a REQUEST.PEM CSR file, which needs to be used to create the certificate. Below is an example of how the free OpenSSL utility can be used to create a self-signed certificate or, for general Internet and public access, how to request a CA signed certificate.

Step 2 (Option A for Testing Use): Create a Self-Signed Certificate with OpenSSL

Download and compile OpenSSL or for simplicity, the Shining Light Productions implementation includes a simple Windows installer. Either way, it is best to install OpenSSL on to a different PC than your live LiquidOffice server.

Open a Command Prompt on the OpenSSL PC and navigate to the OpenSSL\Bin directory. Then type the following, pressing Return after each line:

openssl req -new -x509 -extensions v3_ca -keyout ca.pem -out ca.crt -days 365 -config openssl.cfg [RETURN]

openssl x509 -in request.pem -out reply.pem -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.pem -days 365 -req -set_serial 1 [RETURN]

Step 2 (Option B for Production Use): Request a CA Signed Certificate

Go to the Certificate Authority web site of your choice, purchasing either a single server or wildcard SSL certificate. During the process it will ask you to upload the CSR, this means the REQUEST.PEM file (sometimes done by copying and pasting the contents of the file from Notepad in to a field on the CA web site). Once the process is complete it will issue you with a certificate file, in this case we are assuming it will be called REPLY.PEM but it may have another name or extension, so adjust the following lines as needed.

You will also need a copy of the CAs own public certificate, which should be downloadable from their site. In this case we will assume it is called CA.CRT but it may have another name or extension, so adjust the following lines as needed.

Step 3: Installing the Signed Certificate

Whichever method you use, you then need to copy the CA.CRT and REPLY.PEM files in to the CONF folder on your LiquidOffice server and enter the following lines, pressing Return after each:

keytool -import -keystore losKeystore -storepass {PASS} -alias ca -file ca.crt -trustcacerts [RETURN]

keytool -import -keystore losKeystore -storepass {PASS} -alias LO -file reply.pem [RETURN]

Restart your LiquidOffice service and the login page should now be available through a web browser on both HTTP://{FQDN} and HTTPS://{FQDN}

If users continue to use the HTTP link, their data will not be secure, so we would recommend disabling port 80, HTTP traffic to your LiquidOffice server from your firewall and only allowing port 443, HTTPS traffic.