Welcome to the CadTracker installation guide. We’ll walk through the simplest scenario for a single user, and also the recommended approach for organisations with multiple PCs and a local server.
Computers on the network
For this guide, we have four computers on our network:
- NAS for file storage
- Server, which will host the database
- Mary’s PC
- John’s laptop
Download CadTracker setup
The first step, of course, is to download the CadTracker setup file. Go to CadTracker.com.au, click Download, and then Download CadTracker for Windows. The file will be saved to your Downloads folder.
If you’re setting up CadTracker for multiple PCs, we recommend you move the setup file to a shared network folder. On our demo network, we’ll make a new CadTracker folder on our \\NAS\Software share.
Where should we start?
For multiple PCs, it’s best to install CadTracker on the PC or server that will host the database before installing it on any other PC. If you are a sole operator, you can host the database on your own PC or laptop.
When you start setup, Windows User Account Control will ask you if you want to allow the app to make changes to your PC. Genuine copies of CadTracker will show CadTech Software as the verified publisher.
Read and accept the terms of the Licence Agreement. Choose the install location. The default should be fine. Choose the start menu folder.
Set up database
We want to set up a database on this PC, the server. We’ll use the default instance name, database name and password.
It is possible to host more than one CadTracker database on the same PC or server. If you ever want to set up another database, simply run CadTracker Setup and enter a new instance and/or database name.
Components for the server
BakTracker is selected by default. We’ll use BakTracker to schedule backups for our new database.
As the server is not used as a workstation, we’ll deselect the Office and Acrobat plug-ins.
Another option to think about is the Updates mode. For a single user, you should select Internet updates. In a multi-PC environment, you probably don’t want every PC checking for updates from the Internet. In this scenario, it’s best to have one person in charge of rolling out updates. On this server, we’ll choose Setup file path, which means CadTracker will remember the path of this setup file. Each time CadTracker starts it will check to see if a new version of Setup is available in this folder. If a new version is detected, CadTracker will offer to install it.
Ready to install
CadTracker Setup will download the SQL Server installer and any other prerequisites to the Redistributables subfolder. When we install CadTracker on other PCs, the redistributables will not need to be re-downloaded.
The database setup creates a ConnectionStrings subfolder and adds a new connection string file. In a multi-PC scenario, this streamlines the setup for other PCs, as CadTracker Setup copies all connection strings from this subfolder.
Start CadTracker
If you have a license code, click I have a license code and paste your license code. For this guide, we’ll use a trial license.
CadTracker will connect to the database we just created. We’ll log in with the Administrator user name. There is no password yet, but we can set one later.
Welcome Wizard
As this is a new database, the Welcome Wizard is displayed. You can revisit the Welcome Wizard at any time by selecting File > Welcome Wizard.
We’ll enter the company name and website, and select a logo from our NAS. We’ll enter the office phone number, our admin e-mail address, and the office address. And we’ll select the contact info for the company letterhead.
We’ll also add Mary and John as contacts for our company. We’ll use the first name and surname as the user name.
The Drawings and revisions page is only important if your office produces drawings using AutoCAD. You can view examples of different settings by clicking Help me choose.
We’ll add a sample project to our shared Projects folder on the NAS.
Scheduled database backups with BakTracker
Now we’ll use BakTracker to create a scheduled backup of our database. Click Create a backup task and select the database connection string. Click Test connection to ensure that the connection details are correct.
Backup task
You may wish to select a different Destination folder. We’ll send the backups to the \\NAS\Backups folder. We’ll make a new a folder for CadTracker database backups.
We’ll use 7-Zip compression, which offers the best compression and smallest file size.
Task Scheduler
Under the Task Scheduler tab, we can set up a schedule for automatic backups. The default is to do one backup each day at 8AM, which for most users is sufficient. For our multi-user environment, we’ll take a backup every hour, starting at 9AM, and we’ll limit the number of backups to 10 per day, which means the final backup will be done at 6PM each evening. Click OK to save the backup task.
You can manually trigger a backup at any time by clicking Run backup task. You can see the messages from the backup here. Click Open destination folder and you will see the new backup we just created with the date and time in the file name.
Install CadTracker on Mary’s PC
Setup has detected the ConnectionStrings folder and automatically deselected the Set up database option.
Mary will be responsible for rolling out CadTracker updates in this organisation, so we’ll leave Internet updates selected.
Now we can start CadTracker and log Mary in with her own user name, Mary Jones. Mary can set a password by clicking her name at the top right, and clicking Change password.
Install CadTracker on John’s laptop
John’s laptop will check for CadTracker updates on the NAS, so we’ll select Setup file path for the Updates mode.
Now we can log in as John Smith, and set up a new password.
New version available from the Internet
When a new version of CadTracker is available, Mary will be notified.
If Mary saves the new version to the CadTracker folder on the NAS, the other users will be prompted to install it the next time they start CadTracker. To delay the rollout, Mary can download setup to a new subfolder. When she is ready to roll out the new version, Mary can copy the file into the main folder.
Because she chose to delay the rollout, she will have to manually run Setup on her own PC.
New version available on the network
The next time John starts CadTracker, he will be prompted to install the new version.
Questions or comments? Feel free to call or email us, or fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you soon.
- +61 7 3386 1422
- hello@cadtracker.com.au