So you want to be a Sitecore developer, or you are just curious what it is and want to give it a try, here is how you can start.
Sitecore provides a free 60 days trial for developers to try out Sitecore. First, you need to request one by going to Sitecore developer trial page, fill out the form, agree to the terms and conditions ( read them if you want ) and then click on “Request trial” button. You’ll receive an email telling you that your request is received and now starts the activation process, after a few hours you should receive another email with the 60-day trial license attached.
You should now have access to download the software. Under release information section you can find detailed installation guide (You’ll need to log in using your Sitecore profile to gain access to any resource in the download page), the guide is 60 page long so I’ll summarize the steps here to help ease the process.
First, you need to install the following prerequisites on your local machine:
- IIS 8.5 or IIS 10.0
- Windows 8.1/10 or Windows Server 2012 R2/2016
- .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later.
- Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2015 Redistributable.
- Visual Studio 2015 or later.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2016 SP1 or later
- MongoDB Server 3.6.6
- Microsoft ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server
- Microsoft Command Line Utilities 13 for SQL Server
- Solr 6.6.2 (Run Solr as a windows service)
- Microsoft PowerShell® version 5.1 or later
- Web Platform Installer 5.0
You need to configure the target SQL Server to allow users and logins to be contained at the database level by running the following script:
sp_configure 'contained database authentication', 1;
GO RECONFIGURE;
GO
Now we will start installing Sitecore 9 Update 2, from Sitecore downloads page https://dev.sitecore.net under Download options for On-Premises deployment click on Packages for XP Single, log in with your Sitecore Trial account if you’re not already logged in and Accept the agreement to start the download.
Once you have the .zip file downloaded unzip it, you should now see the following files.
- Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (OnPrem)_single.scwdp.zip
- Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (OnPrem)_xp0xconnect.scwdp.zip
- XP0 Configuration files 9.0.2 rev. 180604.zip
Keep the first two files as is and unzip the configuration files.
Configure Parameters in the SIF Configuration Files
Open sitecore-solr.json and xconnect-solr.json in any text editor and change Solr configuration if needed.
Pay attention to the values highlighted in yellow they should match what you have in your local environment.
Now open sitecore-XP0.json and xconnect-xp0.json and change the following parameters to match your local environment
- SqlAdminUser
- SqlAdminPassword
- SqlServer
Install the Installation Framework Module Using MyGet
-
- Open PowerShell as an administrator
- Run the following cmdlet
Register-PSRepository -Name SitecoreGallery -SourceLocation https://sitecore.myget.org/F/sc-powershell/api/v2 - Run the following cmdlet
Install-Module SitecoreInstallFramework - Run the following cmdlet to update Sitecore Installation Framework Module if a newer version exists
Update-Module SitecoreInstallFramework - Run the following cmdlet to make sure the installation is valid, and the module is available to use.
Get-Module SitecoreInstallFramework –ListAvailable
Using PowerShell to install Sitecore XP Single (XPo) topology.
- Create a folder to contain all installation files (e.g., SitecoreInstallation)
- Save the WDP files and the configuration files you’ve installed earlier and license file to this folder.
- The folder content should look like this.
- Add new PowerShell file call it install.ps1to the same folder.
- Edit the new file with any text editor and paste the following script.
#define parameters
$prefix = "xp0"
$PSScriptRoot = “C:\resourcefiles”
$XConnectCollectionService = "$prefix.xconnect"
$sitecoreSiteName = "$prefix.sc"
$SolrUrl = "https://localhost:8989/solr"
$SolrRoot = "C:\Solr-6.6.2"
$SolrService = "Solr-6.6.2"
$SqlServer = ".\SQL2016"
$SqlAdminUser = "sa"
$SqlAdminPassword="Password12345"
#install client certificate for xconnect
$certParams = @{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-createcert.json"
CertificateName = "$prefix.xconnect_client"
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @certParams -Verbose
#install solr cores for xdb
$solrParams = @{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-solr.json"
SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
SolrRoot = $SolrRoot
SolrService = $SolrService
CorePrefix = $prefix
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @solrParams
#deploy xconnect instance
$xconnectParams = @{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-xp0.json"
Package = "$PSScriptRoot\Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (OnPrem)_xp0xconnect.scwdp.zip"
LicenseFile = "$PSScriptRoot\license.xml"
Sitename = $XConnectCollectionService
XConnectCert = $certParams.CertificateName
SqlDbPrefix = $prefix
SqlServer = $SqlServer
SqlAdminUser = $SqlAdminUser
SqlAdminPassword = $SqlAdminPassword
SolrCorePrefix = $prefix
SolrURL = $SolrUrl
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @xconnectParams
#install solr cores for sitecore
$solrParams = @{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\sitecore-solr.json"
SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
SolrRoot = $SolrRoot
SolrService = $SolrService
CorePrefix = $prefix
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @solrParams
#install sitecore instance
$xconnectHostName = "$prefix.xconnect"
$sitecoreParams = @{
Path = "$PSScriptRoot\sitecore-XP0.json"
Package = "$PSScriptRoot\Sitecore 9.0.2 rev. 180604 (OnPrem)_single.scwdp.zip"
LicenseFile = "$PSScriptRoot\license.xml"
SqlDbPrefix = $prefix
SqlServer = $SqlServer
SqlAdminUser = $SqlAdminUser
SqlAdminPassword = $SqlAdminPassword
SolrCorePrefix = $prefix
SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
XConnectCert = $certParams.CertificateName
Sitename = $sitecoreSiteName
XConnectCollectionService = "https://$XConnectCollectionService"
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @sitecoreParams - Edit Paramter section with in top of script file as needed.
$prefix = "xp0"
$PSScriptRoot = “C:\resourcefiles”
$XConnectCollectionService = "$prefix.xconnect"
$sitecoreSiteName = "$prefix.sc"
$SolrUrl = "https://localhost:8989/solr"
$SolrRoot = "C:\Solr-6.6.2"
$SolrService = "Solr-6.6.2"
$SqlServer = ".\SQL2016"
$SqlAdminUser = "sa"
$SqlAdminPassword="Password12345" - Open PowerShell as an administrator, navigate to your folder and run the following command:
.\install.ps1
If all went well, go to your browser and type http://xp0.sc/ in the address bar and hit enter, if you see the below screen then it means you are all set.
To open Sitecore Launchpad go to http://xp0.sc/sitecore, enter Admin for user and b for the password.
Now you’re ready to delve into the platform and write your very first Sitecore component; there are a lot of resources out there that you can learn from. If you’re into books, I recommend starting with this great book Professional Sitecore 8 Development.
If you face any issues with the installation leave a comment or go to https://community.sitecore.net/ and see if your question already have an answer there.
