Installing the GCF

This chapter describes the installation of the Global Collaboration Framework and the basic configuration that is needed to test the connection to collaborating sites. For explanation of the more detailed configuration that is necessary the meet customer-specific requirements, refer to the configuration topics in this guide.

Installation and initial configuration of the Global Collaboration Framework consists of the following separate (but interrelated) tasks that should be performed at each collaborating site in the order listed:

1. Survey all collaborating systems to confirm that they meet the GCF system requirements described in Understanding the system requirements.
2. Install and register Meridian Enterprise extensions as described in Registering the Meridian Enterprise extensions.
3. Create the Global Collaboration Framework tables in the vault as described in Creating the tables.
4. Import the Global Collaboration Framework briefcase template as described in Importing the briefcase settings.
5. Modify the vault's VBScript code as described in Importing the VBScript code.
6. Install the Meridian Enterprise processors as described in Installing the Meridian Enterprise processors.
7. Share the local vault with the collaborating sites as described in Creating and editing a share.
8. Configure and schedule the Meridian Enterprise processors as described in Configuring the Meridian Enterprise processors.

Most of these tasks require you to copy files from the Global Collaboration Framework distribution package to various locations, possibly on several servers. In this guide, the following placeholders are used for these locations:

This installation is very much a manual task, and cannot be automated efficiently by a setup program due to the number of different systems and components involved (Meridian Enterprise, Internet Information Server, and Windows).