Install FastMaint Standard/ Professional editions

FastMaint can be installed and set up as one of two editions – Standard (single-user) or Professional (multi-user). It is possible to upgrade from Standard to Professional editions.

Application setup wizard

The first time FastMaint is used after you install/ upgrade it on a computer, it will automatically bring up the Application Setup wizard (this wizard is also available from the Administration menu). Using the Application Setup wizard one can quickly set up FastMaint as the Standard or Professional editions. The information below is ALSO provided by the Application Setup wizard during the set up process.

Setting up the Standard edition is a one-step process in the wizard. There are a few more steps if you want to set up FastMaint as the Professional edition or upgrade an existing Standard installation to FastMaint Professional. Before doing any upgrades remember to make a copy of your database (see related issues below for how to do this).

 

Set up Professional edition with built-in Microsoft Access (Jet) database

1. If you just want to upgrade from Standard to Professional run the Application Setup wizard from the Administration menu. Otherwise install/ upgrade FastMaint on the first computer. Start FastMaint – the first time it is used on the computer, it will bring up the Application Setup wizard.
2. Use the wizard to switch to FastMaint Professional. Follow the instructions to use an internal FastMaint database. Then select the option to set up a new shared FastMaint database. Select the “Change Database Location” button to enter the shared drive/ network location you want the database files to be kept. If you are upgrading from the Standard edition your existing database will be upgraded and copied to this location.
3. Log in into FastMaint using the “admin” account. The first time you log in you will be asked to set a password. Create FastMaint user accounts (item found under the Administration menu) and put them into the appropriate groups. You can also modify group rights if the default group rights do not match your needs.
4. If you have a license key for the software, enter it in the registration form (found under the Help menu). The license key (or registration code) will be stored in the shared database and be available to other computers that have FastMaint installed and will use this shared database. You will not need to enter it again on the other computers.
5. On each of the other computers you want to install FastMaint, run the FastMaint installer to install FastMaint. Start FastMaint. The first time it will automatically bring up the Application Setup wizard. Follow the instructions to use an internal FastMaint database. Then select the option to use an existing shared FastMaint database. Select the “Change Database Location” button to enter the shared drive/ network location you specified previously. Now logon to FastMaint. You can use the “admin” account or one of the FastMaint accounts you previously created.

Cannot connect to the shared database? See the related issues below for troubleshooting hints.

Set up Professional edition with Microsoft’s SQL Server database

1. You should already own licenses for Microsoft’s SQL Server (the free SQL Server Express editions will also work). Make sure that SQL Server is set up to use mixed mode authentication (windows authentication AND database user accounts). FastMaint needs a database user account to connect. Once you set up SQL Server, create an empty database on it for use with FastMaint. Create a database user account that has DDL administration as well as read+write access to the database (avoid using the SQL administrator account for security reasons). Set the default schema for this user account to “dbo” (database owner). Make sure that the password you have set for this database user is ten characters or less and contains only lower case letters and numbers (nothing else) – otherwise FastMaint will not store the password correctly. Make sure that the database recovery mode is Simple (the default SQL Server setting). Remember that regular database backups should be done.NOTE: If you are created the database on SQL Express edition turn off AutoClose. Databases created on SQL Server Express are set to AutoClose ON by default. You can turn AutoClose off on the database by opening it in the SQL Server Management Studio and running the following query on the database (e.g. named FastMaintDB):  ALTER DATABASE FastMaintDB SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF;
2. On each computer that needs to have FastMaint installed, under the “Control Panel”, “Administrative Tools”, select “Data Sources (ODBC)”. Set up a System DSN with an SQL Server based data source. Point to the SQL Server database you created for FastMaint (specify the default database to use). Use the database user account you created (do not use Windows/ Integrated security). Make sure that the language for the connection is set to “English”. Test the connection.
3. If you just want to upgrade from Standard to Professional run the Application Setup wizard from the Administration menu. Otherwise install/ upgrade FastMaint on the first computer. Start FastMaint – the first time it is used on the computer, it will bring up the Application Setup wizard.
4. Use the wizard to switch to FastMaint Professional. Follow the instructions to use an external SQL Server database. Specify the System DSN you set up in step 2. (Note: On 64-bit machines if FastMaint Professional cannot see the System DSN you created previously, you may need to delete the System DSN and then create it again using the 32 bit ODBC Manager found at C:WindowsSysWOW64odbcad32.exe) The set up wizard will initialize the empty SQL Server database. If you are upgrading from the Standard edition it can also transfer all your existing data over to the SQL Server database.
5. Log in into FastMaint using the “admin” account. The first time you log in you will be asked to set a password. Create FastMaint user accounts (item found under the Administration menu) and put them into the appropriate groups. You can also modify group rights if the default group rights do not match your needs.
6. If you have a license key for the software, enter it in the registration form (found under the Help menu). The license key (or registration code) will be stored in the shared database and be available to other computers that have FastMaint installed and will use this shared database. You will not need to enter it again on the other computers.
7. On each of the other computers you want to install FastMaint, run the FastMaint installer to install FastMaint. Start FastMaint. The first time it will automatically bring up the Application Setup wizard. Follow the instructions to use an external SQL Server database. Specify the System DSN you set up in step 2. Tell the Application Setup wizard that the database is already initialized. Now logon to FastMaint. You can use the “admin” account or one of the FastMaint accounts you previously created.

Related Issues

1. How do I make a copy of my maintenance database? How do I restore a backup?
2. How can I upgrade/ update from an older version of FastMaint?
3. Troubleshooting – FastMaint Professional cannot open shared Microsoft Access (Jet) database
4. How can I install FastMaint Professional on a network shared drive rather than install it on each computer?
5. Can I install FastMaint Standard/ Professional on a server and access it over the Internet?