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FreeTAKServer Install On Windows Computer

Below is the installation commands and comments for the installation of FreeTAKServer on a Windows computer. Please notice, the FTS team is not supporting Windows as an official OS for FTS. Please contact the original authors.

FreeTAKServer Manager For Windows

FreeTAKServer Manager has the ability to Start, Stop, Restart, Install, and Uninstall the FreeTAKServer & FreeTAKServer-UI.

release version 1.5.12

FreeTAKServer provides Situational Awareness and other capabilities such as:

  • sci-fi themed Web Administration
  • SSL Encryption Management
  • Health Monitor
  • Dynamically change IP / ports, start, stop FTS services from web UI
  • Service management
  • Federation Service (Connecting two or more FTS or TAK server instances)
  • Data Package upload and retrieval
  • Private data package (user to user)
  • Image transfer and storage
  • CoT recording in a database
  • Execution of common task list (using the ExCheck plugin for WinTAK; ATAK plugin only available to users with takmaps.com access)
  • User Management
  • Command Line Interface
  • REST API for creation of information such as emergency, Enemy units and so on

The preferred way to install FTS is by using Pip, that would solve all the required dependencies. The offline release requires additional manual work and has to be used only in the cases where internet connection is not available.

Install Instructions

Install python 3.11 from python.org

Download and run the installer. The current version is 3.12, but it makes use of Cython 3.x which is incompatible with several of the libraries used by FTS.

Choose the installer option.

Check pip, tcl/tk and IDLE and the Python test suite.

Make sure you add Python to environment variables for easy use.

Verify python environment

Check that python and pip are installed and working correctly. You should be able to open cmd anywhere and do this check:

python -V
pip --version
It should look something like this. 
E:\>python -V
Python 3.11.0

E:\>pip --version
pip 24.0 from c:\software\python\lib\site-package\pip (python 3.11)

E:\>

Install Python packages

Having checked that Python and pip are working install the requirements:

pip: Perform install one by one

pip install flask
pip install flask_login
pip install flask_migrate
pip install flask_wtf
pip install flask_sqlalchemy
pip install email_validator
pip install waitress

pip install coveralls
pip install coverage
pip install pytest
pip install flake8
pip install flake8-print
pip install pep8-naming
pip install selenium

pip: (alternate) Perform install from a file

From a file Paste these requirements into a .txt file requirements.txt for example: 

flask
flask_login
flask_migrate
flask_wtf
flask_sqlalchemy
email_validator
waitress
coveralls
coverage
pytest
flake8
flake8-print
pep8-naming
selenium

Change into the directory (cd) containing said requirements.txt file and run the command: 

pip install -r requirements.txt

conda/mamba (alternate) Perform install from a file

I recommend micromamba as it does not require that Python be installed a priori. * micromamba install

Create an environment. 

mamba create --name tak
mamba activate tak

Install the packages into that environment. 

mamba install lxml pathlib tabulate setuptools
mamba install flask flask-login flask-migrate flask-wtf
mamba install sqlalchemy flask-sqlalchemy 
mamba install flake8 flake8-print 
mamba install email-validator
mamba install pytest coveralls coverage
mamba install pep8-naming selenium
mamba install waitress

Install FreeTAKServer

When all the requirements have been satisfied install the FreeTAKServer and FreeTAKServerUI. 

pip install FreeTAKServer
pip install FreeTAKServer-UI

  • https://pypi.org/project/FreeTAKServer/
  • https://pypi.org/project/FreeTAKServer-UI/

Configure the FTS

After the installation has finished the server and UI may need some configuration.

The FTS server is configured with MainConfig.py.

After the installation has finished the services need to be configured.

Configure the FreeTakServer by editing the <site-packages>\FreeTAKServer\core\configuration\MainConfig.py file.

Path examples: * native Windows install: C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer\core\configuration\MainConfig.py * ZTI python virtual environment: /root/fts.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/FreeTAKServer/core/configuration/MainConfig.py * conda env named tak: C:\Users\user\micromamba\envs\tak\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer\core\configuration\MainConfig.py

Configure the FreeTAKServer-UI by editing the <site-packages>\FreeTAKServer-UI\config.py file.

Path examples: * native Windows install: C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer-UI\config.py * ZTI python virtual environment: /root/fts.venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/FreeTAKServer-UI/config.py * conda env named tak: C:\Users\user\micromamba\envs\tak\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer-UI\config.py

MY PATH EXAMPLE
C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer\controllers\configuration\MainConfig.py

# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-

import os
from pathlib import Path

currentPath = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))


class MainConfig:
    """
    this is the main configuration file and is the only one which
    should need to be changed
    """
    # this is the port to which clients will connect
    CoTServicePort = int(8087)

    SSLCoTServicePort = int(8089)

    # this needs to be changed for private data packages to work
    DataPackageServiceDefaultIP = str("0.0.0.0")

    # User Connection package IP needs to be set to the IP which is used when creating the connection in your tak device
    UserConnectionIP = str("0.0.0.0")

    # python_version = 'python3.8'

    # userpath = '/usr/local/lib/'

    # api port
    APIPort = 19023

    # Federation port
    FederationPort = 9000

    # api IP
    APIIP = '0.0.0.0'

    # allowed ip's to access CLI commands
    AllowedCLIIPs = ['127.0.0.1']

    # IP for CLI to access
    CLIIP = '127.0.0.1'

    # whether to save CoT's to the DB
    SaveCoTToDB = bool(True)

    # this should be set before startup
    DBFilePath = str(r'C:\\Software\\python\\Lib\\site-packages\\FreeTAKServer\\FTSDataBase.db')

    # the version information of the server (recommended to leave as default)
    version = 'FreeTAKServer-1.5.12 RC1'

    MainPath = str(Path(fr'C:\\Software\\python\\Lib\\site-packages\\FreeTAKServer'))

    ExCheckMainPath = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\ExCheck'))

    ExCheckFilePath = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\ExCheck\\template'))

    ExCheckChecklistFilePath = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\ExCheck\\checklist'))

    DataPackageFilePath = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\FreeTAKServerDataPackageFolder'))

    # format of API message header should be {Authentication: Bearer 'TOKEN'}
    from uuid import uuid4
    id = str(uuid4())

    nodeID = f"FreeTAKServer-{id}"

    # set to None if you don't want a message sent
    ConnectionMessage = f'Welcome to FreeTAKServer {version}. The Parrot is not dead. It’s just resting'

    keyDir = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\pubserver.key'))

    pemDir = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\pubserver.pem'))  # or crt

    unencryptedKey = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\pubserver.key.unencrypted'))

    p12Dir = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\pubserver.p12'))

    CA = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\ca.pem'))
    CAkey = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\ca.key'))

    federationCert = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\pubserver.pem'))
    federationKey = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\pubserver.key'))
    federationKeyPassword = str('defaultpass')

    # location to back up client packages
    clientPackages = str(Path(fr'{MainPath}\\certs\\ClientPackages'))

    password = str('defaultpass')

    websocketkey = "YourWebsocketKey"

The FTS server UI is configured with config.py.

MY PATH EXAMPLE
C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer-UI\config.py

# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
"""
License: MIT
Copyright (c) 2019 - present AppSeed.us
"""

import os
from os import environ


class Config(object):
    basedir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))

    SECRET_KEY = 'key'

    # This will connect to the FTS db
    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:///' + 'C:\\Software\\python\\Lib\\site-packages\\FreeTAKServer\\FTSDataBase.db'

    # certificates path
    certpath = "C:\\Software\\python\\Lib\\site-packages\\FreeTAKServer\\certs\\"

    # crt file path
    crtfilepath = f"{certpath}pubserver.pem"

    # key file path
    keyfilepath = f"{certpath}pubserver.key.unencrypted"

    # this IP will be used to connect with the FTS API
    IP = '127.0.0.1'

    # Port the  UI uses to communicate with the API
    PORT = '19023'

    # the public IP your server is exposing
    APPIP = '127.0.0.1'

    # this port will be used to listen
    APPPort = 5000

    # the webSocket  key used by the UI to communicate with FTS.
    WEBSOCKETKEY = 'YourWebsocketKey'

    # the API key used by the UI to communicate with FTS. generate a new system user and then set it
    APIKEY = 'Bearer token'

    # For 'in memory' database, please use:
    # SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'sqlite:///:memory:'

    SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS = False

    # THEME SUPPORT
    #  if set then url_for('static', filename='', theme='')
    #  will add the theme name to the static URL:
    #    /static/<DEFAULT_THEME>/filename
    # DEFAULT_THEME = "themes/dark"
    DEFAULT_THEME = None


class ProductionConfig(Config):
    DEBUG = False

    # Security
    SESSION_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
    REMEMBER_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = True
    REMEMBER_COOKIE_DURATION = 3600

    # PostgreSQL database
    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI = 'postgresql://{}:{}@{}:{}/{}'.format(
        environ.get('APPSEED_DATABASE_USER', 'appseed'),
        environ.get('APPSEED_DATABASE_PASSWORD', 'appseed'),
        environ.get('APPSEED_DATABASE_HOST', 'db'),
        environ.get('APPSEED_DATABASE_PORT', 5432),
        environ.get('APPSEED_DATABASE_NAME', 'appseed')
    )


class DebugConfig(Config):
    DEBUG = True


config_dict = {
    'Production': ProductionConfig,
    'Debug': DebugConfig
}

Start the Server

In order to run the server and the GUI two terminal windows must be opened and the commands below must be run:

SERVER START COMMAND 

python -m FreeTAKServer.controllers.services.FTS

UI START COMMAND 

cd C:\\Software\\python\\Lib\\site-packages\\FreeTAKServer-UI
set FLASK_APP=run.py
flask run

Connect to the Server

Now your server should be running. User = admin, Password = password and GUI link http://localhost:5000/

Uninstall FTS

To uninstall do: 

pip uninstall FreeTAKServer
pip uninstall FreeTAKServer-UI

Then in the C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer\ delete the FTSDataBase.db file.

In the C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\ path delete the FreeTAKServer & FreeTAKServer-UI folders.

Notes

Start FTS During System Start

If you would like to set up a Batch file (to run the server on a double click) use the commands below:

Create a .bat file to run the server on double click and on startup:

StartFreeTAKServer.bat

::START THE SERVER
ECHO ON
start cmd /k python -m FreeTAKServer.controllers.services.FTS
::WHEN RUNNING THE SCRIPT FROM A DIFFERENT DRIVE ADD THE `/D` SWITCH TO YOUR CD COMMAND
CD C:\Software\python\Lib\site-packages\FreeTAKServer-UI
set FLASK_APP=run.py
flask run
pause
To run this script at startup: Go to Run (WINDOWS + R) and Type shell:startup, and paste a copy of your StartFreeTAKServer.bat file there.

ERRORS

CoT error v1.5.13

More Info

FreeTAKServer documentation for end users

Description Link
User Docs: https://freetakteam.github.io/FreeTAKServer-User-Docs/
PyPi Install Docs: https://freetakteam.github.io/FreeTAKServer-User-Docs/Installation/PyPi/Linux/Install/
Server Download: https://github.com/FreeTAKTeam/FreeTakServer
Server Releases: https://github.com/FreeTAKTeam/FreeTakServer/releases

Helper tasks

To check python version python -V

To quickly check your IP ipconfig

Platform Concerns

gunicorn not available on Windows

gunicorn is not supported on Windows and is replaced by waitress.

Replace standard gunicorn command with waitress-serve. For example: 

gunicorn --listen=*:8000 myapp.wsgi:application
...becomes... 
waitress-serve --listen=*:8000 myapp.wsgi:application