Typefi Workgroup Server and InDesign Server installation example – Typefi Support

This article is an informal set of installation procedures on Windows Server—revised for InDesign Server 2020 and later. Your specific environment may be different. For upgrading instructions, see Upgrade Typefi Workgroup.

Prep

Adobe InDesign 2019 (and above) Server does not support installing on Windows Server 2012/R2. The Adobe InDesign Server installation package will install the latest version and requires internet connectivity, the ability to run JavaScript, and may be affected by certain security controls.

Download all required files (see list below).
Make internet access available to the server (recommended) or make preparations for offline activation.
Create (or have your IT create) a local administrator or a domain user account with local admin rights.
If you are planning to install Typefitter Server or Mathtools server or if you want to be prepared for potentially installing these in the future, grant this administrative account log on as service rights. This account will be used as the service account for Typefi and InDesign.
In our configurations, we call this account ServiceAdmin
See Add the Log on as a service right to an account.
Change User Account Control on Windows to Never notify.
Restart the system.

Downloads

Typefi Server for Workgroup, latest available version from ftp.typefi.com.
Typefi Designer Server, latest available version from ftp.typefi.com.
Typefi Server Plugins, latest available from ftp.typefi.com.
Adobe InDesign Server directly from Adobe.
Deliverables (scripts, fonts, and other materials used for projects).
Client Software: Typefi Designer, Typefi Writer, Typefi Typefitter.

Installation (abbreviated procedures)

These procedures are designed to help system administrators quickly deploy a Typefi 8 Workgroup Server.

1. Install the InDesign Server Service

Right-click the .zip file containing InDesign Server (IDS) to verify it is not blocked after downloading. Un-block if needed
Extract the .zip
Navigate to the Build folder in the extracted zip
Double-click the setup application which will start installing Creative Cloud setup immediately.
Double-click the Typefi IDS Server 20XX for Windows installer. This requires an internet connection. The installation is quite quick, and shows no success messages.
Restart the computer after Adobe InDesign Server is installed.
Launch the command line as administrator. Change directories to the Adobe InDesign Server installation folder. The default installation location is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign Server 20XX
Run this command: indesignserverservice.exe /install
When completed, you should receive a message: The transacted install has completed.

2. License InDesign Server

Right-click the .zip file containing your IDS license to verify it is not blocked after downloading. Un-block if needed.
Extract the .zip to a convenient location
Launch the command line as administrator. Change directories to the location you extracted the IDS license to in step 2. Run the following command:
```
adobe-licensing-toolkit.exe --precondition --install --filePath ngl-preconditioning-data.json
```
When completed, you should receive a message: Operation Successfully Completed
Keep the Command Line open for the next step.

3. Register and configure the InDesign Server Management Console

Command line should still be open and running as Administrator from the previous step. If not, launch the command line as administrator.
Change directories to the Adobe InDesign Server 20XX installation folder.
Run this command: regsvr32 InDesignServerMMC64.dll
You should receive a message that DllRegisterServer in InDesignServerMMC64.dll succeeded
From the same command line window, you can type MMC and launch the Windows Management Console.
Click File → Add/Remove Snap-In, and locate the InDesignServerService Snap-In. Select it and click Add, then OK.
Be sure the copyright year is visible. If the copyright is blank, you did not start the Command line as an administrator when loading the .dll in step 3.
1. Close the Management console and don't save anything
2. In the command line, type regsvr32 indesignservermmc64.dll /u to unregister the snap-in.
3. Quit the command line, then re-open it, making sure to right-click and choose Run as administrator
4. Run this command again: regsvr32 InDesignServerMMC64.dll
5. Try step 5 again
Richt-click InDesignServerService under Console Root in the left column and choose New → New IndesignServer instance.The instance will appear immediately but will have no port defined.
Double-click InDesignServerService in the middle column where it says no port to edit the properties and assign a port to the service; the default port is 8470. Click OK, then close the Console without saving console settings.This step is not intuitive, but it is critical as it sets up the registry.
If you are running a multi-instance version of InDesign, you will need to repeat steps 6 and 7 for every instance you are entitled to. Once the first instance has a port defined, every new instance you create will automatically increment the port number for that instance.

4. Run as service or a local account

For a basic environment that does not require the installation of Typefitter Server or MathTools server:

Use Windows search to launch the Services app
Locate InDesignServerService and edit properties.
Change the startup from Manual to Automatic.
Make sure Allow service to interact with desktop is checked.

For a more complex environment requiring Typefitter Server or MathTools server or both:

Use Windows search to launch the Services app
Locate InDesignServerService and edit properties.
Change the startup from Manual to Automatic.
Then, from the Logon tab, change the setting from Local System to the account you provisioned earlier. Do not start the service.

5. Verify InDesign installation

Command line should still be open and running as Administrator from step 3. If not, launch the command line as administrator.
Change directory into the Adobe InDesign Server folder (the default installation location is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign Server 20XX )
Type InDesignServer.com and press Enter.
This step requires internet connectivity.
It will start InDesign Server; if successful there will be a Server Running message, right above two Javascript Info messages. If this happens, press Ctrl + C and start it again.
Confirm it starts twice before moving on. Once again, Ctrl + C to end it.

6. Install Typefi Designer Server and Typefi Server for Workgroup

Run the Typefi Designer Server installer accepting all defaults; there is no need to change the installation path. This is a simple defaults-only installation and is very quick. Upon completion, open the .\Adobe InDesign 20XX Server\Plug-Ins folder and verify that a folder named Typefi was created.
Run the Typefi Workgroup Server installer. Although you may select all defaults, our suggested practice is to install to a dedicated volume or a designated app folder. The contents of this package include Apache Tomcat and Typefi Server Console files.
1. Open the Windows Services Console, and stop the Typefi Workgroup Server service. Change the Log on As settings to use the account you previously provisioned and used for InDesignServerService.
Reboot the server.
Once back up, verify InDesign Server is running. There should be two processes running: InDesignServerService and one or more variations of InDesignServer if you are running multi-instance InDesign.
If required, open firewall ports for port 8080 or any other ports you intend to use.

7. Provision key features

At this point, you have InDesign installed, as well as Typefi Workgroup Server installed. Now it‘s time to provision key features.

Open your web browser and visit http://localhost:8080. This should load a Typefi sign-in page. The password is admin/admin.
Go to Admin → Plugins and click Add Plugin to install the additional WAR files provided in your Deliverables. You will have a few of them. Each time you add a file, the process may take a moment and will populate the new action on that screen with an auto-refresh. Do not cancel or manually refresh the page. If you do not see the files uploading, this means a local security setting is affecting the system. As a temporary workaround, you may locate the Typefi installation folder, click on .\Typefi\Server\webapps and paste all the WAR files into that folder. You will see them self-extract within a few moments. If this happens, make a note of the issue so it can be resolved.
Go to Admin → Filestore and review the Filestore. At this point, I would not make any changes, but note that the Filestore is C:\ProgramData\Typefi\Filestore. You can change the location or leave it as is. If a change is made, be sure the directory exists and has full rights by the service account. This can be easily moved later by stopping the Typefi services, moving the directory, resetting security, and updating the path.
Go to Admin → LDAP. If you choose to use your directory services, this is the opportunity to configure it. There are many ways to configure LDAP, and some basic LDAP search query syntax knowledge is required. I am providing a common example here:
1. Server URL: ldap://yourservername.YourDomain.YourSuffix
2. Username: userwithdelegatedrightstodirectory
3. Password: password
4. Search Base: OU=Users,DC=YourDomain,DC=YourSuffix.
5. Additional Search Filter: Can be left as-is, or changed. In this example we use the "OR" logic to allow users from two groups: (|(memberOf=CN=Typefi-Users-Group1,OU=Typefi Groups,DC=YourDomain,DC=YourSuffix)(memberOf=CN=Typefi-Users-Group2,OU=Typefi Groups,DC=YourDomain,DC=YourSuffix))
6. Username Attribute: userPrincipalName. You will find "samAccountName" is most often the typical field, while sometimes "mail" is preferred.
7. Display Name: cn
8. Idle Session Timeout: Leave blank unless you require advanced security.
9. Click Save. Typefi inherently blocks passwords with < or > or & due to internal security features. If your users have those characters inside their passwords, they will not be able to sign in.
Go to Admin → External Applications and click InDesign. Configure the engine. A sample configuration is:
1. Name: 20XX
2. Host: 127.0.0.1 or localhost
3. Port: 8470
4. Filestore: if the filestore is installed on the same drive as the Typefi Workgroup server, this path will be filled automatically after the server restart in step 8. If the Filestore is on a different drive, enter the path.
5. Click Save and then refresh. You should see PDF Presets load.
Go to Admin → Superuser. Change the password if required.
Go to Admin → Licenses. Your organisation‘s Tech Rep will have your Installation Code. Once you enter it in, you must click Request License and await a second email. The second email will contain the license key. Follow the instructions in the email, and make sure you copy and paste the license key exactly as written in the email.
Restart the server once more, or at least restart the services.

Offline activation is possible. To complete an offline activation attempt, you will need to access the http://localhost:8080/license page on the Typefi Workgroup Server, click Add and add the installation ID. Then, click Request License. A new tab or window will open and fail to connect to our servers. Copy the URL from the address bar and paste (and go) from a system that has internet access. The result will be a key emailed to the customer contact. An alternative approach is to access the Typefi Server web interface from a system that is connected to the internet and proceed with normal activation.