KNIME Server Installation Guide

KNIME AG, Zurich, Switzerland

Version 4.8 (last updated on 2020-10-30)
Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The installation owner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Launch the installer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Path to the system’s JDK location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Path to the installation folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
KNIME Server Executor configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
KNIME Server Workflow Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
KNIME Server license file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
KNIME Server port configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
KNIME Server mountpoint and Context Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
KNIME Server admin user configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
KNIME Server email resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Installing and launching KNIME Server, and final configuration steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Autoinstall file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Additional installer command-line flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Starting/stopping KNIME Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Automatically starting KNIME Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Defining a Linux runlevel script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Creating a Windows service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
KNIME Server Installation Guide

Introduction
KNIME Server is an enterprise-grade solution for Advanced Analytics workloads such as
sharing workflows, and executing workflows. The Server is based on the Tomcat application
server, and uses a core of KNIME Analytics Platform in order to execute workflows. The
KNIME Server installer can install both of these components that make up KNIME Server.
This document aims to give a quick overview of the steps needed to perform the installation,
and a short description of the options that can be changed at install time. After installation,
you can refer to the KNIME Server Administration Guide for detailed information about the
Server architecture, configuration options and general administration tasks. More details
about the functionality of KNIME Server are listed in the following paragraphs.

KNIME Server provides KNIME software users with a shared remote workflow repository.
Workflows can be uploaded to and stored on the server or retrieved from it to a local KNIME
workspace. Workflows on the server can be executed as jobs either as needed or as part of a
one time or periodically scheduled event. Additionally, workflows may be executed through a
web browser using the KNIME WebPortal or via generic SOAP or RESTful web service
interfaces which allow control from 3rd party applications. The KNIME Explorer view, which is
built into KNIME Analytics Platform can be used to log into remote repositories, control user
access permissions and schedule workflow execution tasks.

KNIME Server consists of two components: a server side component and a client interface.
The server side component is installed on an application server (Tomcat) together with a
KNIME Analytics Platform installation which will be responsible for executing workflows. The
latter is referred to as "Executor". The client interface allows interaction with the server
repository and is integrated in KNIME Analytics Platform (via the KNIME ServerSpace
extension), and KNIME WebPortal, or accessible via the REST API.

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Prerequisites

Server
• The operating system on the server can be either Windows, Linux, or macOS. The
following operating systems are officially supported:

◦ Windows Server 2012 R2, 2016

◦ Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and 18.04 LTS and derivatives
◦ RHEL/CentOS 6.7+ and 7.x

The server may also run on other operating systems, however, we neither test nor
support them through the KNIME Server standard support package.

• We strongly recommend a 64bit operating system with at least 8GB RAM and 4 CPU
cores
• Java Development Kit (JDK) 8, 64bit

A recent update of Java to version 8u272 will cause KNIME Server

installations to no longer be able to connect to a secured LDAP
authentication system. we recommend not updating the Java installation
 to version 8u272 on your KNIME Server. If you have already done this, we
suggest you revert it. If you run into any issues or need further information
please contact the KNIME support team at [email protected].

◦ Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.04: sudo apt install -y openjdk-8-jdk

◦ RHEL/CentOS 6.7+ & 7: install java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel via the package

manager

◦ For all other OS please download and install the latest JDK from the Oracle
Website

◦ Note that JDK >= 9 is not supported at this time.

• Local hard disk for workflow repository partition (SSD class — or equivalent)
• 250GB disk space on the workflow repository partition

For generation of images using the Chromium extension the following additional extensions
are required under Linux: * Ubuntu: sudo apt install -y libgtk-3-0 * RHEL 7/CentOS: sudo
yum install libXScrnSaver

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Client
• Operating system Windows, Linux, or macOS (independent from the server OS)

The installation owner

We recommend that both the Tomcat server as well as the KNIME Server Executor are
installed by the same user. This user does not need administration privileges. The
recommended user name is knime. No other user requires write access to any files created
during the installation.

This user must do the entire KNIME Server Executor installation including
unpacking of KNIME Analytics Platform and installation of all desired additional
 features. If additional features are added later with a user that cannot write to
the installation folder, the installation may appear to work normally, but causes
problems some time later which can be difficult to track down.

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

Installation
It is recommended that the entire installation process is performed by the same user, e.g
knime (see The installation owner above). Don’t install the server as Administrator or root
user! Follow the installation instructions step by step. Don’t skip anything unless it is marked
as optional.

The KNIME Server installer is a single JAR file that works on all supported platforms
(Windows, Linux, macOS). Use of the JAR file is described in the following sections.

Summary
We briefly describe the installation options available in this guide. For full details about any of
the options see the KNIME Server Administration Guide.

Before you start, make sure that the Java 8 JDK is installed (see Prerequisites).

Launch the installer

The installer is called knime-server-installer-4.x.y.jar (where x.y is the current release
number). The installer can be run by issuing the command (at the Linux terminal, or cmd.exe
prompt):

java -jar knime-server-installer-4.x.y.jar

Issuing the command will launch the installer GUI:

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

It is also possible to step through the installation via the command line. In this case issue the
command:

java -jar knime-server-installer-4.x.y.jar -console

Path to the system’s JDK location

The Java JDK version must be 1.8.x, and you should use the browse button to the select the
folder that contains the bin folder.

Path to the installation folder

The installation folder will (by default) contain all of the files that KNIME requires, which
includes Tomcat, the KNIME Server Executor and the KNIME Server repository. The
installation folder should be empty, and if it does not exist will be created. If prompted
choose OK.

KNIME Server Executor configuration

There are three options to choose from:

1. Select existing KNIME Server Executor (default): This means that you need to

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

have previously installed a compatible KNIME Server Executor using one of the
downloads from the KNIME Website. Note that the downloadable KNIME Server
Executor build contains the required extension, but a standard KNIME Analytics
Platform build will not be sufficient. In the latter case the "KNIME Executor
Connector" (in category "KNIME Server Executor (server-side extension)") must be
installed. The extension is available from the pre-registered KNIME Analytics
Platform update site. To install it run the KNIME Analytics Platform instance that
is intended to be the executor and navigate to File → Install KNIME Extensions…
and select KNIME Executor connector under KNIME Server Executor (server-side
extension). Finally, click on "next" and follow the instructions.
2. Install KNIME Server Executor: This will install a new KNIME Server Executor, and
will result in several additional steps that must be followed.
3. Disable server-side workflow execution: This option means that workflows cannot
be executed on KNIME Server.

KNIME Server Workflow Repository

KNIME Server stores all workflows, and related configuration information in the KNIME
Server Workflow Repository. The folder should exist on a local drive and have enough free
space to store the workflows and jobs. We recommend a minimum of 100 GB, although this
may need to be increased considerably depending on the intended use case.

By default, the KNIME Server Workflow Repository is created within the KNIME Server
installation folder. It is possible to use a different location (e.g. on another hard drive) or an
existing folder. In case the folder exists, the installer will not modify the folder, assuming that
you pointed it to the workflow repository of a previous installation.

KNIME Server license file

The KNIME Server application works only as expected if a valid license file is provided. If you
have not received a license file, please contact KNIME ([email protected]), or get in touch
with your local KNIME representative.

If you performed the installation without the license file, you can simply copy the KNIME
Server license file into the <knime-server-repository>/licenses folder. The file name must
end with .xml, and there is no need to restart the server after adding the license file.

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

KNIME Server port configuration

KNIME Server and its clients communicate by either HTTP, or HTTPS. Default ports are 8080,
and 8443. These ports can be changed in the range: 1024-49151.

KNIME Server mountpoint and Context Root

The KNIME Server mountpoint is used to describe the KNIME Server to the clients that
connect to it. For simple installations, the default name, or a simple name e.g. mycompany-
knime is usually appropriate. For an environment with multiple KNIME Servers, mountpoints
such as knime-server-prod or knime-server-dev would allow users to distinguish between
development and production environments. For a full description of the mountpoint see the
KNIME Server Administration Guide.

The Context Root (CONTEXT) is used to define the KNIME WebPortal URL. All WebPortal
functionality will be available at:

http://HOSTNAME:PORT/CONTEXT

KNIME Server admin user configuration

Many administrative tasks on KNIME Server can be performed by the administrator user, e.g.
setting workflow/file permissions, adding/removing users. The default username is
knimeadmin, and the password is set to the hostname of the machine. It is strongly
recommended that you change this password. If using LDAP authentication changes are
required to the server.xml file in <installation-path>/apache-tomee*/conf. Please refer to
the KNIME Server Advanced Setup Guide for full information.

KNIME Server email resource

The SMTP server, SMTP user, and 'from'-address can be altered. For advanced configuration
options consult the KNIME Server Administration Guide.

Installing and launching KNIME Server, and final configuration steps

The final four steps will install, and if successful launch KNIME Server. Under Windows a new
command prompt window will appear, closing this window will shutdown KNIME Server. The
penultimate page displays information about the installation, such as the URLs required to
connect to the server. The final page is able to generate an automatic installation script that

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

can be used to automate future installations.

Autoinstall file
Once successfully executed, the KNIME Server installer generates a file that can be saved.
The xml file is called auto-install.xml and describes all parameters that were set during the
installation process. In case you want to perform an installation using the same parameters
you can simply run:

java -jar knime-server-installer-4.x.y.jar <path-to>/auto-install.xml

Additional installer command-line flags

The installer reads out system properties specified on command-line, which are usually not
required in a standard installation but can be useful for automated (update) scripts.

• -Dknime.server.executor.memory=<value> (<value> is for instance 4G or 2500M)

The value specified is added to the KNIME Server Executor’s knime.ini file and
specifies how much memory a KNIME Server Executor is allowed to use at most. If not
given, a default is used, which is based on the system’s available main memory.
• -Dknime.server.nostart=true
If specified, KNIME Server is not started after the installation.

Starting/stopping KNIME Server

KNIME Server can be started and stopped using scripts in the <tomee folder>/bin folder. It
is highly recommended that you follow the steps in the following section Automatically
starting KNIME Server, this ensures that KNIME Server can be quickly and easily restarted.

For Linux/macOS restart with

<tomee folder>/bin/shutdown.sh
<tomee folder>/bin/startup.sh

and for Windows use

<tomee folder>/bin/shutdown.bat
<tomee directory>/bin/startup.bat

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or

apache-tomee.bat stop
apache-tomee.bat start

After restarting you should be able to access KNIME Server from both KNIME Analytics
Platform and KNIME WebPortal (in your web browser). More details can be found in the
KNIME Explorer User Guide and KNIME WebPortal User Guide.

The URL entered in the KNIME Analytics Platform mount point dialog is the same as for the
WebPortal and defaults to

http://<server>:8080/knime/

If you encounter problems please have a look at the log files (see section Log Files in the
KNIME Server Administration Guide for details).

In some cases it may take quite some time (up to several minutes) until the server responds
to requests on Linux systems. This is usually caused by insufficient entropy for the random
number generator used by Tomcat. A description on how to remedy this issue is included in
the KNIME Server Administration Guide

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

Automatically starting KNIME Server

In order to start KNIME Server after a reboot, you need to define a service (Windows) or a
runlevel script (Linux) that starts TomEE and brings it down at a machine shut down.

Defining a Linux runlevel script

Depending on your Linux distribution you can define a SysVinit start script or systemd service
as follows (as root user):

Ubuntu >=16.04, Redhat 7.x, and derivatives (Systemd)

1. Copy the whole folder to the root of your file system.

sudo cp -r <install-dir>/install-data/linux-runlevel-templates/systemd/. /

The folder includes the systemd service description for knime-server, a start script, and
a systemd override file that allows configuration of the service (such as file system
location or the userid under which the server should run).

2. Run

systemctl daemon-reload

3. Run

systemctl edit knime-server.service

Adjust the settings in the editor that will open, and save the changes. Make sure that
the User specified in this file exists on the system. Otherwise startup will fail.

4. Enable the service with

systemctl enable knime-server.service

Ubuntu 14 and derivatives (SysVinit)

1. Copy the runlevel script

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

<install-folder>/install-data/linux-runlevel-
templates/sysvinit/Ubuntu/etc/init.d/knime-server

or that is provided in the installation package to /etc/init.d/knime-server and make it

executable.

2. Copy the configuration file

<install-folder>/install-data/linux-runlevel-
templates/sysvinit/Ubuntu/etc/default/knime-server

from the installation package to /etc/default/knime-server. Adjust the variables in

this config file.

3. Enable the start script with

update-rc.d knime-server defaults

Redhat 6.x and derivatives (SysVinit)

1. Copy the runlevel script

<install-folder>/install-data/linux-runlevel-
templates/sysvinit/Redhat/etc/init.d/knime-server

or that is provided in the installation package to /etc/init.d/knime-server and make it

executable.

2. Copy the configuration file

<install-folder>/install-data/linux-runlevel-
templates/sysvinit/Redhat/etc/default/knime-server

from the installation package to /etc/default/knime-server. Adjust the variables in

this config file.

3. Enable the start script with

chkconfig --add knime-server

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KNIME Server Installation Guide

Creating a Windows service

If you want to start and stop KNIME Server automatically under Windows, you need to create
a Windows service. Run the batch file at <tomee-
folder>\bin\service.install.as.admin.bat as user Administrator. It will create a Windows
service called "KNIME Server" that can be started and stopped like any other Windows service
(Control Panel ⇒ Administrative Tools ⇒ Services).

You may want to change the memory settings for when TomEE is started as a service:

1. Start <tomee-folder>\bin\TomEE.exe as Administrator.

2. Go to the "Java" tab and change the "Maximum Memory pool" value.

In order to uninstall the service execute <tomee-folder>\bin\service.remove.as.admin.bat

as user Administrator.

If you want to know more details, have a look at the Tomcat documentation which describes
this process in detail.
In places where the Tomcat documentation references "Tomcat7" executables, replace their
names with TomEE.x86.exe or TomEE.amd64.exe depending on your architecture.

© 2018 KNIME AG. All rights reserved. 12

KNIME AG
Technoparkstrasse 1
8005 Zurich, Switzerland
www.knime.com
[email protected]

The KNIME® trademark and logo and OPEN FOR INNOVATION® trademark are used by KNIME AG under license
from KNIME GmbH, and are registered in the United States. KNIME® is also registered in Germany.