An interesting point that I found when updating the "Current Version" thread. (PAW and Windows Server 2019)

[Alan Kirk]

As I've noted in that thread, PAW 74 was released this week. Finally it has support for Windows Server 2019.

I do not currently have a 2019 platform but am slated to get one in the not too distant future. Given 2019's much improved support for containerisation, whether this change will improve the dystopian nightmare that is the installation and running of PAW on a Windows environment remains to be seen. (It will continue to be the only significant piece of software I can think of that requires the user to go out and run scripts from a command line as part of the installation process in the 3rd decade of the 21st century, but hey, one thing at a time.)

Certainly I have long since lost the ability to give IBM the benefit of the doubt in such matters. Or anything else, really.

(Such as the fact that I received an e-mail this afternoon re my personal business account with IBM Italia. "La tua password IBM sta per scadere - Ti invitiamo a prenderne nota", which it then translated as "=> Your IBM password will expire soon - PLEASE READ". Gee thanks IBM, it's an Italian account, with IBM Italy, one which is based in Italy, with all of the internal settings set to "Italian". It's pretty safe to assume that I do actually know what the Italian sentence said, without the need for the English quasi-translation. What I don't know is why in the living h3ll I need to change a password that is several hundred characters of random gibberish long (meaning that it is waaaaayyy beyond the capacity of Watson to crack it; but then, working out a series of prime numbers is probably also beyond Watson) when I only changed it a couple of months back.)

They're also dropping support for "the capability to remain on Planning Analytics Workspace Classic" as from next July... if anyone cares that much.

(No, seriously, I have no idea whether they do or not. For obvious reasons.)

I suppose that I should probably offer thanks for finally supporting an O/S that is less than half a decade old... but get back to me when I have 2019 up, and ask me then.

[gtonkin]

Would be good to hear back on your progress and how your Marantis installation went. Specifically if it went as smooth ad download the engine, it installed and no prompts to register, pay etc. etc.

[declanr]

I did a quick run-through last night, admittedly not a Production system so fairly basic setup.

Spun up a 2019 VM and installed PA with basic mode 1 security models.
Then installed PAW74 on the same box.

Essentially the set up is the exact same as it was for Server 2016, differences were:
1/ From fix central there are separate installers for Server 2019 and Server 2016
2/ When running start.ps1 it does the usual checks to see if Docker is installed
- It used to then just run the install directly if it was missing
- Now it directs you to check https://docs.mirantis.com/mcr/20.10/ins ... ndows.html
- I pointed PS to a different folder, invoked the request to download the installer, and then executed the installer
3/ 2 minutes later I ran start.ps1 again and then it proceeded as normal
4/ All installed fine, I still set up the script to close down MongoDB cleanly on a server shutdown - I assume that's still needed in 2019 but it was quicker to add the script than actually check whether it's needed.

Again, not a production setup so not as rigorous as it could be but from a getting it running point of view - still straightforward (IMHO - I know this differs from Alan's).

I've not fully looked into the Mirantis side of things going on at Windows nowadays. I am hoping that it will continue to be that you can always (or at least for the foreseeable) just run it for free but if you want specific docker support from Mirantis then you need to pay for that.
And I doubt anyone who has had PAW issues in the past would have gone specifically for docker support as opposed to going to IBM.

[gtonkin]

Thanks for the feedback Declan - sounds very promising.

[thomaskday]

I too did a quick Non Prod install on a clean Windows Server 2019 yesterday.

Installation went surprisingly well (last serious attempt was some 2 years ago and it was horrid - resolving never to touch this "thing" again).
My only issue today is getting it now to work with SSL connecting to clients behind corporate firewall requirements and AppGate, though I suspect the fault is with me at this point.

Need PAW functioning to support PAfE. Testing on an alternative Slice with REST API connection is proving very stable and fruitful.

[jv_oz]

If anyone is interested, we have a full installation guide for PAW on Windows 2019 at https://exploringtm1.com/how-to-install ... rver-2019/. This also then includes a link for installing Mirantis Container Runtime on Windows 2019 and changing the drive used for Docker from C drive. Enjoy! JV