Install Centara POS

Centara POS is a Windows application that runs on a stand-alone in-store computer.

Installation concept

When the POS application is installed on a workstation computer, a bootstrap application is used to pull the POS application itself. It connects to the URL of Centara Server, passes in the network name of the workstation and the retrieves a POS application package based on the current POS configuration.

It is therefor necessary to complete the POS configuration on the server before installing the POS client application.

A basic configuration step is to download a specific version of the POS application to Centara Server so that the POS application can be distributed from there.

Installing a new POS application version involves preparing the server for the task of being able to distribute that version. That can involve adding new server plugin(s) which might require a manual DBCompare to be completed on the server.

When the POS application then runs the first time, it's first task is to create a database and then download data from the server.

To simplify, the client only needs a bootstrap application and the server URL to get started.

Server preparation

Complete the following steps to complete the server configuration part of the POS installation.

1. Download preferred POS version

   One of the tasks of Centara Server is to provide the client with the POS application installer. In order to do that, the preferred version of POS application needs to be downloaded to the server from Centara HQ.

   1. Click Admin > Server information > GetCentara

      

   2. Within the list of Centara Components, click POS > Core, check to see if the preferred version is set to Not Installed. If so, then click install to download the desired version to the server.

      

   3. For every POS Core version downloaded (installed), the POS Plugin of the same version must be downloaded (installed) as well. Click POS PLUGINS > Core, then click install for the same version as downloaded before.

2. Validate POS configuration

   1. Every POS workstation must be defined by it's network name only once in the Centara Server organization tree. One easy way to check this is first to view the client's host name by executing the command hostname within a console window. Then click and make sure your host name can be found within the list of names.

      

   2. A POS workstation will retrieve the configuration of the POS configuration entity having it's network name. Click on the given POS entity to review it's configuration.

   3. Make sure Software license property has bee attached and a value provided.

   4. If some changes were made, make sure to Publish those changes.

POS preparation

Now that the server is fully configured we need to pay our attention to the workstation client machine. We will need to install database engine, device drivers and then we need to install the POS application. There will not be any need to run traditional installers for that, we only need to run an application that will fetch the POS client from the server.

1. Install database engine

   1. Microsoft SQL server is needed for the POS to run, and LocalDB 2014 (version 12.0) is the free and recommended version to use.

      1. Open browser and navigate to http://get.centara.com
      2. Click SQL Server LocalDB 2014 to download the installer for SQL LocalDB.

         
      3. Run the installer accepting all defaults ending with Finish.

      4. Also install the other prerequisites listed on that page.

2. Install device drivers

   1. Install CCO and any needed OPOS drivers.

3. Install POS application

   The application PosBootstrapper.GUI.exe is an application executed on the workstation client and its task is to provide the server with the network name it needs to assemble and deliver a tailored version of a POS. The only thing needed to be manually entered is the Centara Server URL.

   1. In Centara server, navigate to Admin > Server information > Available downloads and click PosBootstrapper.GUI.exe to download it.

      
   2. When the program has downloaded, run PosBootstrapper.GUI.exe.

      
   3. Leave the installation path as it is: C:\Centara

   4. Type in the URL of your Centara Server and click Connect.

      
   5. View the list of matching POS and select the one matching your store.

      
   6. Click Install.

      
   7. Given the installation was completed successfully, the given folder should now be populated with files that are needed to run Centara POS. At this stage, a configuration file Centara.ini has been created to persist necessary information. Press Run to start it.

      
4. Run the POS

   Centara application folder keeps track of all versions of POS every installed. There for the application Centara.exe which is located in the Centara application root folder, is a pre-launcher application that takes care of selecting which version of the actual Centara workstation to run. It is important to always use Centara.exe to launch the POS application so that Centara Server can control which POS version is launched.

   1. Locate and run Centara.exe from the POS application folder

In case of a brand new installation, what happens now behind the scenes is that Centara discovers there is not data present, so it connects to Centara server to download a full set of data before attempting to initialize. Centara.ini configuration file provides the path to the server as well as the store ID. Centara POS retrieves the network ID from the operating system to identify the POS on the server. This information is given to the server for it to deliver the correct data.