FAST Installation and Setup

FAST is currently supported on Windows 10 and Linux CentOS 7. FAST is installed on Windows and Linux as a service but can be run as a service or a standalone application. If FAST is installed from a .tar or .zip archive, it cannot be run as a service, only a standalone application.

 

Windows Installation

 

FAST can be installed using the .exe installer or from an archive .zip file.

 

Install using exe

 

To install FAST on Windows, double-click the .exe installer and follow the on-screen instructions. 

FAST installs into C:\Program Files\Bluware\FAST.

You can also run the Installer in command line mode using the /quiet switch. Below is a sample list of additional command line switches that can be passed to the Installer.

• /install - installs the program (default).
• /repair - repairs the program
• /uninstall - uninstall the program
• /layout - create a complete local copy of the bundle in the directory
• /passive - displays minimal UI with no prompts
• /quiet - displays no UI and no prompt

Note: by default, the UI and all prompts are displayed during installation.

 

• /norestart - suppress any attempts to restart (default is restart)
• /log - logs to a specific file (default the log file is created in %TEMP%)

Example: <FAST_INSTALLER> .exe /passive /quiet /norestart

Note: The full list of command line switches can be found in Microsoft documentation at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/standard-installer-command-line-options.

 

Install using zip

 

   1. Download the FAST archive bundle (FAST_package_name.zip) to the desired location

       (path_to_FAST).

   2. cd path_to_FAST (from the command line) or open path_to_FAST in Windows File Explorer

   3. unzip FAST_package_name.zip (from the command line) or double-click on

      FAST_package_name.zip in Windows File Explorer.

 

WinFSP (Windows)

FAST installation does not automatically upgrade the virtual file system driver (WinFSP 2020.2). If an older version of WinFSP is found during installation, the installer will not continue. You must uninstall the previous version of WinFSP manually (which may require a reboot), then install FAST again. FAST will install the required version of WinFSP.

 

Running FAST on Windows

FAST is registered as a service during installation, but by default doesn’t start automatically. The user can:

   1. Run FAST as a service

   2. Run FAST as a desktop application (standalone application).

Both options can be further configured so FAST will start automatically every time the computer is started (for option 1) or every time a particular user logs in (for option 2).

 

Run FAST as a service

To run FAST as a service, start/stop the FAST service from the Task Manager or Services application.

By default, the FAST service will run under the local system account.

The FAST service can also be configured to run from a specific user account in the Log On tab in the FAST service properties. Consult with your local IT to determine the best configuration for your system.

When FAST is run as a service, its working directory for the configuration file, session database, and logs is located in the program data folder at %programdata%\Bluware\FAST.

 

Running FAST as a Desktop App

 

Prerequisite: If FAST has been installed from a .zip archive, you must create a config file (config.json orconfig.yaml) in %appdata%/Bluware/FAST.

To run FAST as a desktop application, simply start FAST.exe in the <installdir> \bin folder.

When FAST is run as a desktop application, its working directory for the configuration file, session database, and logs is located in the current user roaming profile at %appdata%\Bluware\FAST.
 

 

 

Linux Installation and Setup

 

FAST can be installed using the .rpm installer or from an archive .tar file.

 

Install using rpm

FAST installs into the /opt/bluware/fast directory.

 

Note: You must have Sudoer privileges to run these scripts. All rpm-related commands can be run from any location. For simplicity, we recommend running these commands from the directory containing the .rpm installer. 

 

• To install a new version or replace an installation with a clean install using the .rpm installer:

    $ rpm -ivh <FAST_Installer>.rpm

• To update an existing installation using the .rpm installer:

    $ rpm -Uvh <FAST_Installer>.rpm

• To remove an installation using the .rpm installer:

    $ rpm -e <FAST_Install_Name>

 

The directory structure when FAST is running from the root account:

• /etc/bluware/fast- contains the default configuration file which can be modified at the user’s discretion.
• /var/log/bluware/fast – contains FAST log files.
• /var/bluware/fast – contains session database.

 

Install using tar

 

Prerequisite: IT must allow mounting drives by non-privileged user by specifying (uncommenting) user_allow_other parameter in /etc/fuse.conf file

 

   1. Download the FAST archive bundle (FAST_package_name.tar.gz) for the specific Linux platform to the

       desired location (path_to_FAST). Currently, RedHat-7, RedHat-8, and Ubuntu-20.04 are supported.

   2. Change to the path_to_FAST directory:
       cd path_to_FAST
   3. Uncompress the tar.gz file:
        tar xvfz FAST_package_name.tar.gz
   4. Change the access permissions of the files and directories:
       chmod u+s FAST_package_name/bin/fusermount3

 

FUSE (Linux)

FAST requires that FUSE be installed on Linux systems. If FUSE is not already installed, you may need to install FUSE for your specific Linux distribution.
 

Running FAST on Linux

FAST is registered as a service during installation, but by default doesn’t start automatically. The user can:

   1. Run FAST as a service

   2. Run FAST as a desktop application (standalone application).

 

Note: To allow mounting by a non-privileged user, the user_allow_other parameter must be specified in /etc/fuse.conf. Consult with your local IT for more configuration options.

Both options can be further configured so FAST will start automatically every time the computer is started (for option 1) or every time a particular user logs in (for option 2).

Running FAST as a service

 

To run FAST as a service, start/stop the FAST service using systemctl commands.

You can run the systemctl commands from any location.

To check the status of the service:

  $ systemctl status fast.service

To stop the service:

  $ systemctl stop fast.service

To restart the service:

  $ systemctl restart fast.service

 

When FAST runs as a service, the working directories for the configuration file, session database, and logs are:

• /etc/bluware/fast – contains the default configuration file which can be modified at the user’s discretion.
• /var/log/bluware/fast – contains FAST log files.
• /var/bluware/fast – contains session database.

 

Running FAST as an Application

 

Prerequisite: Create a special scratch directory (path_to_working_dir) that must contain the config file for FAST. The session database and all the log files will be created and kept by FAST in that directory. Create a config file (config.json or config.yaml) in this directory. See FAST Configuration on page 13 for more information.

 

To run FAST as an application, simply start the FAST executable and specify the path to the working directory as an argument.

 

path_to_FAST/FAST_package_name/bin/FAST path_to_working_dir