Welcome to the “PilotFish Technology XCS eiConsole Installation” tutorial. This document will walk you through the steps necessary to register for, download, and install the XCS eiConsole. Before you get started, however, there are a few prerequisites to get the software up and running.
Prerequisites
To install the XCS eiConsole, your system should meet the following minimum requirements:
? 1 Ghz or better CPU / Processor
? 512 mb or more of RAM / Memory
? 128 mb of free hard-drive space
The XCS eiConsole can be installed on a Windows, Linux, or Mac operating system. You may also require a Java Runtime Environment (JRE), version 1.6 (6) or higher, though a software bundle including this is available for download.
In order to take advantage of PilotFish Technology’s provision of one free license copy to ACORD members, you must also be an ACORD member with a valid “acord.org” login.
To install the XCS eiConsole, you may also require administrative rights on the system in question. We utilize a “floating seat” licensing model which makes use of our licensing server, so if you are accessing the internet from behind a firewall or proxy you will also need information or access to those components (more on this later).
Acquiring the XCS eiConsole Installer
As a member of ACORD, you are provided one free license for the XCS eiConsole. In order to make use of this license, as well as to obtain a copy of the XCS eiConsole bundled with ACORD-specific functionality and features, you will need to first browse to “http://www.acord.org,” shown below in figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1: The ACORD.org Website
You will next need to login as an ACORD member, which can be done by selecting the “Sign In” link, shown below in figure 1.2 (highlighted in red).
Figure 1.2: The “Sign In” link
You will now be presented with a form asking for your user name and password (figure 1.3).
Figure 1.3: The login form
After entering this information and clicking “Sign In,” you should be logged into ACORD.org as a member. Next, we will need to locate the “Third-Party Tools” section of the website, which is located under the “Implementation” heading (shown highlighted in red in figure 1.4).
Figure 1.4: The “Implementation” section highlighted
The “Implementation” section has a table of links to other sections. The bottom-left link is for “Third-Party Tools,” so click / select this to go onto that section.
Figure 1.5: The “Third-Party Tools” link
You should find the PilotFish Technology XCS eiConsole link toward the bottom of this page, shown highlighted below in figure 1.6. Click this to see more information about the download.
Figure 1.6: The XCS eiConsole link
This next page will show you licensing information for the ACORD Standards. Please take time to read the presented license through in its entirety. If you agree to the terms of the license, select “Accept” and then click “Submit.” Please note that if you have not read or do not agree to the terms of the license, you should not continue from this point.
Figure 1.7: ACORD licensing agreement
You should now see the XCS eiConsole tool page, which will allow you to gather and view more information about the product, or proceed to download it. In order to do this, select the link shown highlighted in figure 1.8.
Figure 1.8: The download link for the XCS eiConsole
You will be redirected to the PilotFish Technology registration page, where you’ll be asked to enter some basic information in order to register as a user.
Figure 1.9: The registration form
Once you have submitted your registration information, you will be redirected to a confirmation page. This page will typically inform you that further registration information or steps as been sent to the e-mail you registered against.
Figure 1.10: The registration confirmation
The e-mail you will receive should have a URL or link within it, which you should click or visit in order to log in and download the XCS eiConsole. Figure 1.11 shows the login form. Please note that your password will be contained within the registration e-mail.
Figure 1.11: The login page
You will now be shown the XCS eiConsole download page. In order to download an XCS eiConsole copy, you will need to read to and agree to the licensing / user agreement provided by link at the top of the page. If you agree, select the “I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of this agreement” checkbox. If you have not read, do not understand, or do not agree to the licensing terms, you should not proceed further.
Figure 1.12: The XCS eiConsole download page
There are a variety of links and sections provided on the download page. Select the XCS eiConsole distribution you are interested in (typically by line of business), and then decide your installation type. The XCS eiConsole is available for Windows, Linux, and Unix distributions. There are also JRE-bundled variants for each, which you will require if you do not already have a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on your system. If you do not know for sure if your system has a JRE installed, or if you are unsure if your version is recent (1.6 or higher is required), opt for the JRE-bundled installer. Select the link you are interested in and your download will begin.
Installation
To install the XCS eiConsole, execute or run the installer file previously downloaded. The remainder of this tutorial assumes that you are running a Windows operating system, though the installation steps for other operating systems is generally identical or very similar. Once you execute the installer, you should briefly see a dialog initializing the installation.
Figure 2.1: The installation dialog
You should now be presented with a series of dialogs walking you through the installation procedure. The first such dialog requires only that you select “Next.”
Figure 2.2: The initial setup dialog
The next screen is for the licensing and / or evaluation agreement. Please read this agreement in its entirety. If you understand and agree to the terms of the license, select “I accept the agreement” and click “Next.”
Figure 2.3: The license agreement dialog
The next dialog screen will simply ask where you wish to install the XCS eiConsole. By default, the installer will recommend a “Program Files” directory. The location is not important to the XCS eiConsole runtime, so feel free to install the software where you prefer.
Figure 2.4: The destination directory dialog
The installation will now continue by copying, decompressing, and setting up the application.
Figure 2.5: The installation dialog
The XCS eiConsole should now be installed on your system.
Initial eiConsole Setup
The first time you launch the XCS eiConsole, you will typically need to provide licensing information in order to connect and authenticate with our licensing server. This requires you to provide your e-mail, password, and license key, all of which will have been provided in our original XCS eiConsole registration e-mail.
Figure 3.1: The license management dialog
The “Show Details” button will give you further information abou
t your current licensing and / or connectivity status. The checkbox labeled “Use secure connection” will determine if your licensing information is submitted via SSL over HTTP (HTTPS) or normal HTTP. Finally, the “Configure Proxy” button can be selected to enter proxy server information if your corporate or company infrastructure requires it.
Figure 3.2: The proxy configuration dialog
The requirement for proxy information varies from user to user, but if you experience any issues in connecting to the licensing server, there’s a fairly good chance that you are either behind a firewall or a proxy server. You may need to contact your network administration or infrastructure team in order to obtain this information.
After you have connected and authenticated against the licensing server, you should see the main eiConsole screen. Congratulations – your copy of the XCS eiConsole is now installed and running correctly!
Figure 3.3: The main XCS eiConsole screen