Setup Assistant Installation

The Posit Connect Setup Assistant is the best way to install and get started with Connect. The Setup Assistant provides a user-friendly UI to install, initially configure, test, and deploy Connect to your environment. The Setup Assistant uses a script that works across all supported Linux distributions, validates the cryptographic signature of the downloaded package, and includes support for offline use.

Note

The Setup Assistant is only available for first-time installations and cannot be used for making updates to your configuration. If you are upgrading from an older version to a newer one, please refer to the Upgrade section.

The Setup Assistant installs Connect and helps you set up basic configuration options, including:

The full list of supported features that can be configured using the Setup Assistant is provided in the Initial Configuration section. Features that are not available for configuration with the Setup Assistant can be configured at any time by editing the configuration file.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation, you must:

  • Meet the Requirements for Connect
  • Review the below checklist and verify that you have the required information

The following information needs to be provided for the Setup Assistant:

  • A license key (unless running an evaluation)
  • Version(s) of Python users need on the server
  • Version(s) of R users need on the the sever
  • Authentication integration details
  • Git credentials (optional)
  • The public server or hostname of the Connect server
  • SSL/TLS certificates (recommended):
    • Public certificate file
    • Private key file
  • SMTP mail server integration details:
    • The hostname or IP address of the SMTP server used for email delivery
    • Email address used by Connect to send outbound email
  • PostgreSQL database details (if you plan on configuring load balancing)
Note

Multiple members of your organization might be required to provide information. Organizing required information before starting the Setup Assistant is best practice and saves you time.

Step 1: Download and run the installation script

Note

Download and/or use of Posit Connect is governed under the terms of the Posit End User License Agreement. By downloading you agree to the terms posted there.

The installation script works across all supported Linux distributions, validates the GPG key of the downloaded package, and includes support for offline use. The installation script must be run by a privileged user or a user with sudo privileges.

To install Connect version 2024.03.0, download and run the installation script:

curl -Lo rsc-installer.sh https://cdn.posit.co/connect/installer/installer-latest-release.sh
sudo -E bash ./rsc-installer.sh 2024.03.0

The script:

  1. Downloads missing required dependencies
  2. Downloads the Connect package
  3. Installs Connect

After the installation is complete, you are given the choice to:

Troubleshooting Information

If you are not able to successfully install Connect using the installation script, then please review and complete the troubleshooting steps provided in the installation script output.

Step 2: Configure Connect using the Setup Assistant

The Setup Assistant is designed to step through several initial configuration options, with a primary focus on validating your licensing and authentication settings.

If you need to pause the configuration process:

  • You can close your browser.
  • Return to the configuration process later with the saved state.

Setup Assistant CLI flags

The Setup Assistant supports the following flags:

Option Function
-h Print help
-x Launches the Setup Assistant (requires Connect installation)

To use one of the flags listed above, execute the following command:

Terminal
sudo -E bash ./rsc-installer.sh <flag>

For example, if you want to launch the Setup Assistant after manually installing Connect, run:

Terminal
sudo -E bash ./rsc-installer.sh -x

Step 3: Additional integration and validation tasks

Upon completion, you are redirected back to this site for a review of additional recommended integration and validation tasks. These recommended integration and validation tasks are available in the Initial Configuration documentation.

Note

The Setup Assistant does not currently support license files or floating license server configurations. Refer to the Licensing table, shown below, for more information about supported Setup Assistant features.

Setup Assistant configuration options

The following features can be initially configured with the Setup Assistant:

Licensing

For more information, see the License Management section.

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included
Online Evaluation Yes
Offline Evaluation Yes
Online License Key Yes
Offline License Key Yes
License Files1 No
Floating License2 No

Authentication

For more information, see the Authentication section.

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included
SAML Yes
LDAP Yes
PAM Yes
OAuth (OIDC) Yes
Password Built-in Yes

Environments

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included Recommended Instructions
Python Installations Yes Install Python
R Installations Yes Install R
Recommended System Packages Yes

Web server

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included Recommended Instructions
HTTPS Yes This is recommended.
HTTP Yes
Proxy Server Can be configured post-setup. See the Proxy section.

Mail server

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included Recommended Instructions
SMTP Yes See the SMTP section of the Email Setup page.
Sendmail Not the recommended option, but if necessary, please use the Manual Installation option and reference the Email Setup documentation.
Disable Mail Yes Not the recommended option. If email is disabled, then several Connect features will not function.

Databases

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included Recommended Instructions
SQLite Yes Additional SQLite Information
PostgreSQL Yes Additional PostgreSQL Information

Additional configuration options

Setup Assistant Feature Support Included Recommended Instructions
Version Control Yes See the Version Control section.
Data Sources Can be configured post-setup. See the Data Sources section.
Load Balancing Can be configured post-setup. See the Load Balancing section.
Service, Audit, and Access Logging Yes Additional Structured Logging Information.

Setup Assistant post-installation procedures

Following the initial installation of Connect using the Setup Assistant, we recommend completing several integration steps and verification tasks, documented in the Initial Configuration section.

Footnotes

  1. Please use Manual Installation and follow the License files documentation.↩︎

  2. Please use Manual Installation and follow the Floating Licenses documentation.↩︎