2.2 Installing Vivinet Assessor

Before you install Vivinet Assessor, read Section 2.1.2, Security Considerations for important information about authentication on the supported Windows operating systems.

Ensure File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks is enabled in the Network Connections Properties dialog box before you begin the installation. Otherwise, the installation process may unexpectedly fail just before it completes.

Vivinet Assessor supports silent installations but does not support advertised installations. For silent upgrades, a silent removal of the old version of the software is required before invoking the silent installation of the new product version.

NOTE:

  • The installation program verifies that Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, Word 2003 or later, and Excel 2003 or later are installed. Vivinet Assessor does not support earlier versions of these applications. If you see requirement warnings for any of these applications, you need to update your computer, but the installation may still complete successfully. Installation fails if Internet Explorer 5.0 or later is absent.

  • The installation also checks for enough disk space and displays a message if you need to free some space. If this occurs, you can exit the installation program to free the necessary space, or you can free the space without exiting the installation program. However, if you choose to exit, you should free an additional 15 MB of space above what the installation program reports.

For more information, see the following topics.

2.2.1 Installing Vivinet Assessor

You can install Vivinet Assessor directly from the NetIQ web site.

When installing Vivinet Assessor, you have the option of:

  • allowing Vivinet Assessor to install a SQL using SQL 2014, or

  • pre-installing a version of an SQL server and naming the instance VASSESSOR.

NOTE:If you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 or later, you must manually grant 'NT Authority\System' the 'sysadmin' database role on the VASSESSOR named instance. For additional information about this, see Section 2.2.2, Installing an SQL Server.

Installing Vivinet Assessor

To install Vivinet Assessor, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to www.netiq.com/products/va/default.asp.

  2. When prompted, register or log in.

  3. Click the Vivinet Assessor Trial Package link.

  4. Click Save.

  5. Select a location in which to save the install package on your computer, and start the download.

  6. Navigate to the vivinetassessor.exe file you downloaded, and double-click it. This self-extracting ZIP file unpacks itself and automatically launches maininstaller.exe. A Welcome dialog box advises you that the installation process installs both Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and Vivinet Assessor.

  7. If you wish to pre-install a version of SQL Server yourself, click Skip SQL Server Installation.

Installing SQL Server 2014 Express

  1. The Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express dialog box identifies the location in which SQL Server 2014 Express will be installed. To change the location in which SQL Server 2014 Express is installed, click Browse and navigate to the new location.

  2. Click Next.

  3. On the License Terms dialog box, click I accept the license terms, then click Next.

  4. In the Feature Selection dialog box, verify the Database Engine Services is selected, then click Next.

  5. In the Instance Configuration dialog box, verify the named instance is set to VASSESSOR, then click Next. Do not change this value.

  6. in the Server Configuration dialog box, click Next.

  7. In the Database Engine Configuration dialog box, verify the current logged-on user is listed in the Specify SQL Server administrators list. If it is not listed, click Add Current User, then click Next.

  8. On the Error Reporting dialog, click Next.

The SQL Server installation program now performs the necessary installation tasks. Once the tasks are completed, you may be asked to restart your computer. If this happens, restart your computer, then re-start the Vivinet Assessor installer. Go to the C:\Temp\VivinetAssessor folder, or the location where you extracted the Vivinet Assessor installation files, and click MainInstaller.exe.

WARNING:If you only restart your computer and do not restart Vivinet Assessor installation program, Vivinet Assessor will not be installed.

Continuing the Installation of Vivinet Assessor

  1. Click Next to continue the installation of Vivinet Assessor.

  2. Click I accept the terms in the license agreement, then click Next.

  3. Click Next to accept the default location in which to install Vivinet Assessor, or click Change to select a different folder, then click Next. Install Vivinet Assessor on a local hard disk of the computer you are using. Installing on a LAN drive is not recommended; the additional network traffic will influence your results. The default directory is Program Files\Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor or the location where you extracted the Vivinet Assessor 4.0 installation files on your computer.

  4. Click Install to complete the installation process.

    The Vivinet Assessor installation program creates a NetIQ Vivinet Assessor program icon, which you can access from your Windows Start menu.

2.2.2 Installing an SQL Server

If you pre-install SQL Server 2014 or later, after completing the installation, you must manually configure the SQL server.

  1. Open the SQL Server Management Studio.

  2. Connect to the VASSESSOR instance of the SQL Server.

  3. In the Object Explorer pane, select Security > Logins.

  4. Right-click the NT Authority\System Account Name and select Properties.

  5. In the Object Explorer pane, select Server Roles > Server Roles

  6. Select the sysadmin checkbox.

  7. Click Save.

2.2.3 Vivinet Assessor Directories and File Types

During installation, a directory structure is created in the Windows Program Files folder. Vivinet Assessor directories contain the following files and file types:

Directory

Contents

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor

  • executable files (VAssessor.exe and varun.exe) for the Console and Scheduler/run engine. For more information, see Section 2.2.4, Vivinet Assessor Scheduler Service.

  • .dll files

  • Release Notes and PDF versions of Vivinet Assessor documentation: vivinetassessor_releasenotes.html, Messages.pdf, VivinetEndpoints.pdf, and AssessorUserGuide.pdf

  • error log in binary format, assessor.log, for all Assessor application errors

  • error files, if any unexpected errors occur (assert.err)

  • schema rules file (PropertyRuleSchema.xsd), which defines the building blocks for valid data and rule files used to perform the Configuration assessment

  • program fmtlog.exe, used to format log files

  • ASCII data file that contains any QoS definitions you configured (servqual.dat)

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor\BACKUP

Copies of your assessments for backup when you upgrade or uninstall the software

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor\Diagnoses

Vivinet Diagnostics files (.dgv) generated during a VoIP Quality assessment. For more information, see Section 7.9, Working With Vivinet Diagnostics.

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor\Help

Help files with file extension .chm

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor\MIBS

MIB files to help Vivinet Assessor interface with certain types of MIBs

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor\Samples

A sample assessment (Sample.aef) and a sample Configuration assessment rules file (SampleRules.xml) to help you run assessments.

Micro Focus\Vivinet Assessor\Templates

Microsoft Word templates (.dot) used to format Vivinet Assessor reports.

2.2.4 Vivinet Assessor Scheduler Service

The Vivinet Assessor Scheduler service (varun.exe) runs in the background to schedule and run VoIP Readiness Assessments and process their results. The Scheduler service should always be running. When not actively running an assessment, it waits idle, consuming few system resources. When an assessment is run or verified, the Scheduler is invoked to build and send instructions for the endpoints, which then run the requested VoIP traffic and send the results back to the scheduler. The Scheduler stores the results in the SQL database. The Vivinet Assessor Console communicates with the Scheduler using system events and status associated with the assessment in the database.

The Scheduler runs as a system service. When you log out, the Scheduler will still be running. Similarly, after an assessment has been started, you can close the Vivinet Assessor Console and the assessment will still run under the Scheduler service. Thus you can close and reopen a running assessment.

For more information, see Section 11.3, Scheduler Errors.

2.2.5 Uninstalling Vivinet Assessor

When you install a later version of Vivinet Assessor over an earlier version, the setup wizard automatically uninstalls the earlier version after a prompt. If you attempt to reinstall the same version of Vivinet Assessor over an existing copy, the setup wizard helps you perform an upgrade or repair installation.

During the uninstallation process, the following files are removed or remain in place:

  • Most Assessor files are removed except files that you created, or edited and renamed, such as assessment database files. The folders containing these files are also preserved.

  • The VAssessor named instance of a SQL Server is not removed when you uninstall Vivinet Assessor. Use the Add/Remove Programs > Microsoft SQL Server Control Panel option to remove the VAssessor named instance.

  • All System Registry entries are removed when uninstalling.

  • User Registry entries are not removed. To remove User Registry entries created by the Console and Scheduler components, open REGEDIT, highlight the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\NetIQ\Vivinet Assessor, and click Delete. All Registry entries are removed.

To uninstall Vivinet Assessor:

  1. Navigate to the Control Panel and double-click Programs and Features.

  2. Select Micro Focus Vivinet Assessor and click Add/Remove.

  3. In the Confirm File Deletion dialog box, click Yes.

  4. When the uninstallation is complete, click OK, and then click OK again.