On-Premise Installation Guide
Note
We are no longer releasing new updates to Incentives on-premise. We will continue to support on-premise until June 30, 2025.
Varicent Incentives comes in a desktop client version. This guide will help you install and configure the desktop client.
Introduction
Note
We are no longer releasing new updates to Incentives on-premise. We will continue to support on-premise until June 30, 2025.
Varicent Incentives comes in a desktop client version. This guide will help you install and configure the desktop client.
When you install Varicent Incentives on-premise, you're setting up a complex system where each part of the system communicates with the others to run many different processes.
In full, the Incentives architecture looks like this:
Incentives architecture and terminology
The Compensation Administrators use their client-side browser to access Incentives.
All operations performed in the admin client are sent to the REST API via HTTP and stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database.
Web users use their client-side browser to access Sales Portal to view their compensation statements or other reports.
All operations performed in the Sales Portal interact with the the Microsoft SQL Server database via Apache.
Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Sales Portal | A simple web browser that is the payee interface to the application. It sends HTTP requests to the web application server and receives HTML5 only. No browser plugins or add-ons are used. The classic version of Sales Portal is called Payee Web. |
Admin Web | A web-based application that is the plan administrator interface to the application. It is served up via Apache HTTP server. |
Database server | A server that hosts the Varicent model (database) which includes the application tables and the logic configuration on a MS SQL Server 2014 instance. It is supported by a combination of local and network storage for data and log files. Sufficient disk space is required to accommodate a growing database. The rate at which the database grows depends on individual usage patterns. |
Web application server | The Apache HTTP server that serves dynamic web pages to web browser requests by a payee via the Sales Portal. |
REST API application server | This application server hosts the REST API component that interfaces between the Admin Web and the database. The REST API service is shared by all environments. |
Tenant services application server | This application server hosts the tenant services component that interfaces between the REST API, the Varicent database, and Sales Portal. Tenant services is shared by all environments. |
Shared application server | This application server hosts shared components like PostgreSQL and the Scheduler service that interface with the REST API and tenant services. Shared applications are common to all environments. |
Admin web server | The Apache HTTP server that serves up Admin Web. |
This guide will show you how to set up Incentives on a single database server. If you are setting it up on multiple servers, you can find some additional help here: Multiple SQL server databases configuration.
This guide breaks down the installation process into five sections:
Pre-installation. In this section, you'll download the Incentives installation files, and all of the additional software you need. You should also review the Microsoft SQL database permissions with your database admin. At the end of this section, you'll have everything you need to get started.
REST API and tenant services. This basic setup will get the admin client up and running. At the end of this section, you should have created a model, added at least one admin user, and should be able to log in to the admin client.
Scheduler, SMTP, and Sales Portal. This section is required to set up automated tasks, give users access to Sales Portal, and allow emails to be sent from the admin client to users.
Model upgrader. Eventually, you'll want to update to the latest version of Incentives so you can take advantage of new features or bug fixes. At the end of this section, you'll be able to upgrade your models whenever you want.
Manual installation options. This section will explain how to manually install the admin client without using the ConfigSetter tool.