Where can I find useful step-by-step instructions on how to construct HipChat Data Center?

[Myron L. Cramer]

I need additional users for my HipChat server but am being forced by Atlassian to upgrade to HipChat Data Center. Where can I find a useful set of step-by-step instructions on how to do this? Has anyone anywhere every successfully built HipChat Data Center? The Atlassian "instructions" are so sketchy they are totally useless to me.

the OVA HipChat application server is easy, but how do I build a "Load Balancer" whatever that is, or a Postgres database server, or a Redis cache, whatever that is.

I can handle the NFS server, the Active Directory integration and the SL certificate part, but the architecture drawing is no more useful to me than a drawing of a house would be to a construction contractor. It just lacks any actionable detail.

Also, is it possible to just use the Microsoft SQL server I am using with JIRA Software and Confluence? Do I have to use Postgre? What host operating systems can be used for all these other servers?

[Shanye]

Hi Myron,

Thanks for your feedback.

We do not support connecting HipChat Data Center to Microsoft SQL Server - PostgreSQL is part of the system requirements. The operating system used to host Redis, PostgreSQL, and reverse proxy/load balancer is not prescriptive, as long as these components can communicate with each other over the correct ports on your network.

The most in-depth documentation we currently have for setting up Redis, PostgreSQL, and the load balancer/reverse proxy can be found in the HipChat Data Center system requirements. Did you already have a chance to review this information?

If so and it wasn't helpful to you, could you give us an idea of how detailed you'd like the documentation to be?

For example, would you prefer to see:

A) step-by-step commands/instructions for installing each individual component of the Data Center, opening the configuration files, copy/pasting values, saving configuration files, etc.

B) additional higher-level requirements/guidelines for each component to clarify the boundaries for how you can/cannot configure the Postgres, Redis, load balancer/proxy servers

C) something in between

Thanks again.

[Myron L. Cramer]

Shayne,

Thank you for the reply. I have studied the link you refer to many times for many hours and it just does not provide me the information I need to even begin the installation process. It is even sketchier than the documentation for your terrific Confluence and JIRA Software products which I have successfully installed after needing multiple support tickets to fill in some of the many undocumented instructions.

The basic issue is that your documentation is written by your engineers for other engineers, and it assumes too much for the general IT customer.

Step by step instructions are really needed, especially for such an expensive commercial product.

I have a PhD in Physics and have constucted and maintain our entire corporate infrastructure on VMware at multiple sites and including hundreds of servers including Linux and Windows and thousands of users. Our Atlassian products support our project team supporting High Performance Computing (HPC) systems for one of our customers. If we can't figure out how to install your systems without having to go into a time-consuming reverse engineering design effort, then it is reasonable to conclude that you need better documentation.

Something similar to what Unanet offers for their timesheet system or Microsoft for their SharePoint 2016 product would be the gold standard. I am providing links in my next reply.

[Myron L. Cramer]

Here are the sample links of excellent installation instructions.

Unanet:

Unanet Installation. Note the navigation menu on the left. This is very important.

https://www.unanet.com/unadocs/unanet10_3/index.htm

==

SharePoint 2016: Microsoft

Installation and Configuration. Note the navigation menu on the left.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262957(v=office.16).aspx

SharePoint 2016: Shane Young's Outstanding YouTube step by step videos. Anyone can follow these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTlwWOqBWdQ&index=5&list=PLCGGtLsUjhm1TKCCVKYvoBs1duaqfCC76

[Shanye]

Thank you for the thorough feedback and examples of what you'd like to see from our installation guide, Myron. This is really helpful content and I will be passing it along to our internal teams.