HL7Connect Requirements

Follow the steps below, before installing HL7Connect:

Obtain Licence Certificate.
Read and assess your system requirements.
Review browser requirements.
Review your database requirements.
Install the appropriate database server.
Download installation package

:. Licence Certificates

HL7Connect will not operate without a licence certificate installed.

There are two types of certificate available:

Evaluation Licence Certificate (ELC)
ELCs are provided at no cost when you register to download the HL7Connect evaluation version, with the trial ELC valid for 30 days from the date of installation. At the end of the 30 day trial period HL7Connect will cease to function until a Full Licence Certificate is purchased from www.hl7connect.com.
Once an ELC has expired, you will not be able to install another ELC, and must obtain, and install, a Full licence Certificate (FLC) to re-activate HL7Connect. Instructions for installing the FLC are provided when you purchase the certificate.
Full Licence Certificate (FLC)
Full Licence Certificates can be purchased from www.hl7connect.com. A FLC allows you to use HL7Connect indefinitely. It is possible to install a FLC without first installing an ELC.

:. System Requirements for Installation of HL7Connect

HL7Connect runs as a service on Windows NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003
Windows 95/98/ME are not supported.

Data such as interface configuration, user details and HL7 messages, are stored in a relational database. The database can either be located on the same workstation as the HL7Connect service or on an alternate workstation within the network.

If the database is to be located on an alternate workstation, then the specifications of this workstation must be considered in addition to the workstation hosting HL7Connect.

:. Hardware Requirements

The hardware requirements for HL7Connect will vary greatly depending on the throughput of messages, and the interface configuration. Disk storage depends on how many messages are received, and how long messages are stored in the database.

The minimum requirements for a small installation of HL7Connect, with few interfaces and low message traffic would be:

Intel Processor(s)
32MB RAM

As the scale on which HL7Connect is being used increases, correspondingly so do it's hardware requirements. If HL7Connect is being installed on a Windows NT or 2000 workstation, as an Enterprise HL7 Interface Engine, then the system should include the following specifications:

Intel 500MHz +
Windows NT 4.0 (sp4+) or Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003
512 MB RAM

:. Browser Requirements

Users interact with HL7Connect using a browser. The following browsers are supported:

Internet Explorer 4, 5, 5.5, and 6
Mozilla Firefox (version 1.0 +)
Netscape 6

Note: Netscape 6 is not completely supported due to bugs in the network browser "Gecko".

:. Database Requirements

HL7Connect uses a relational database for configuration and message storage, and is able to use standard commercial Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) products. As these products are costly and not always available, HL7Connect also includes an internal database server.

Use of a commercial RDBMS product is recommended, where available, for the following reasons:

RDBMS products are faster,
they offer better transaction based recovery,
and allow for backup of the database while the system is live.

HL7Connect requires high availability database support in order to function, and supports the following commercial RDBMS products:

Database Systems Supported:

Microsoft SQL Server (Versions 7.0 and 2000)
SQL Server v2000 was used as the primary RDBMS for HL7Connect development, and is the recommended server platform for larger enterprise critical sites using HL7Connect. (>1 messages/sec long term average).
Required: SQL Server Database Server and Microsoft ODBC Drivers locally.
NOTE: SQL Server v6.5 should not be used as it has a bug that leads to problems with auto-incrementing primary keys.

For information on how to install HL7Connect under SQL Server, please read this article
Interbase (Version 6)
HL7Connect has been tested against the Open Source release of Interbase v6.
NOTE: Older versions of Interbase have not been tested.
Required: Interbase Server and Interbase Client locally.
MySQL (Version 6)
HL7Connect has provisional support for MySQL.
NOTE: Requires MySQL version 4.1.8 or greater
Required: MySQL Server 4.1.8 (or greater) installed locally.
Sybase System (Versions 11.5, 11.9, 12)
Sybase System 11 & 12 Servers are supported.
Sybase servers may suffer from record locking problems. If this happens, then large or high-turnover tables (generally gwMessageStore, gwMessageQueue, and gwMessageErrors) should be set to use the Page Data Row Locking scheme rather than the All Pages Locking scheme.
Required: Sybase Enterprise Server and Intersolv ODBC Drivers.
Internal Server
The internal server is based on an implementation of DBIsam (http://www.elevatesoft.com).
Required: No system requirements.
NOTE: This is not suitable for high volume, mission critical use, but may be used for smaller non-enterprise critical installations.

Databases not supported:

Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access is not supported due to problems with record locking, and the inability to create and modify tables using SQL.

Databases to be investigated

Oracle
Informix
PostgreSQL

If the database that you wish to use is not listed here, you are welcome to request support for it, as the database platforms that are supported in the future will be done so on user request.

:. Configuration and Setup of Database

Unless the Internal database server option is chosen, HL7Connect will require a configured database available during the installation process. HL7Connect will not create this database, so it must be done by the Database Administrator (DBA). As a generalization, the following actions are required in this process:

Choose the Computer the Database Server (DBS) will reside on.
HL7Connect can co-exist with the DBS on the same computer, or on a different computer on the network, however the database must be available at all times.
Create the database.
HL7Connect database usage varies according to configuration. The working size of the databases will be driven by the rate of incoming messages, and the storage time set for them.
NOTE: HL7Connect.com recommends a starting size of 50MB with allowance being made for unlimited growth. The rate of growth in size should be monitored after each major change in configuration.
Note: All HL7Connect tables are prefixed with the letters 'gw' or 'hl7d_' to allow the HL7Connect database to be shared with other applications if desired.
Configure User Accounts.
HL7Connect uses two different SQL user accounts. The first account is required during installation, and provides running access to the database. This account should have select, insert, update and delete privileges to all the objects in the database. There is a break during the installation for these privileges to be applied if required. The details for the login is stored in the Windows Registry and is used continuously by HL7Connect.
The second account is used by the installation and upgrade routines to create and modify tables in the database. The user is prompted for these account details whenever these operations are undertaken. This account requires System Administration privileges and Database Owner (DBO) alias to the database.
A single user account with the required privileges can be used for both of the above, if appropriate.
Install and Configure ODBC access.
ODBC Drivers or Clients, as specified above for the database server, must be installed on the computer that HL7Connect is installed on. For ODBC Drivers, HL7Connect does not require a DSN - you can choose to specify server and database manually instead - however using a DSN is recommended.
Checking database access.
Prior to installing HL7Connect you should ensure that the DSN works. This can usually be done using the features built into the ODBC Driver

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