¶ Introduction
ThinMan is The Praim graphical software tool designed to perform the management and the monitoring of remote devices connected to a network. ThinMan interacts with remote devices on a network directly from the PC workstation or the server where it is installed.
ThinMan is available in both 32-Bit and 64-Bit versions. For the purposes of this guide it will be used 64-Bit version. The installation and requirements are identical between versions.
¶ Pre-Installation Requirements
ThinMan can be downloaded from My Praim.
For more details, refer to the section Download ThinMan installation and upgrade file
¶ Applicable Versions
ThinMan Advanced Version 8.1.0
¶ Hardware Requirements
Minimum recommended specification:
- 2.4 GHz Dual core processor
- 3GB available RAM
- 15 GB free disk storage
Further considerations:
- Allow 10 MB space per connected device
- For each ThinOX 11.x.x firmware version stored within the ThinMan Repository, allow 1.5GB of storage.
- For each Windows 10 IoT firmware version stored within the ThinMan Repository, allow 7 GB of storage.
- For each Agile version stored within the ThinMan repository, allow 200 MB of storage
¶ Software Prerequisites
ThinMan is supported on the following operating systems:
- Windows 8.0, 8.1, 10
- Windows Server 2012, 2012 r2, 2016, 2019
¶ Installation Procedure
After downloading the executable, copy it to an accessible location for the intended server and execute ThinManAdvanced_x64_8.1.0.exe.
Choose the installation language and select Next to continue:
ThinMan requires Microsoft Visual C++, the installation process will establish if a version is present or will install a version as part of the process. Select Install:
The ThinMan Setup Wizard will start. Select Next:
The License Agreement will then be displayed. Check these terms and conditions and if they are accepted, select the acceptance option and Next to continue:
Complete the customer information fields and select Next to continue:
The default installation folder is shown. To alter this, select the Change… option and navigate to where the installation files are to be installed. If leaving it default, select Next to continue:
ThinMan uses HTTP Port 20080 and HTTPS port 443 for communication with the Praim devices on the network. As part of the installation these ports can be changed, however we only recommend doing this under exceptional circumstances. To use the standard ports, select Next:
If a port conflict is detected the warning message below is shown from which the conflict can be resolved:
Installation is now ready to begin, select Install to start:
When the installation wizard completes, clicking Finish will launch the ThinMan console by default.
Note:
For more information about how to install, configure and upgrade ThinMan refer to the section ThinMan Installation, Configuration and Upgrade Procedures.
¶ Post-Installation Tasks
The first launch of ThinMan will then require activating a license (trial or yours).
¶ Activating a Trial version
To activate the trial version, you need to enter your MyPraim account credentials.
The Advanced Trial Edition will give you a maximum of 5 devices of each type for 30 days.
¶ Activating your license
On the ThinMan local console, go to Tools menu, select ThinMan License.
Click on the Import license file button. Select the license file that should have been provided to you through your reseller or direct from Praim.
Note:
For more information on how to activate your license, see the section ThinMan License Management.
¶ Alternative Installation
ThinMan Local Console is typically installed on a server which will allow an RDS connection to access the program. ThinMan can run on all versions of Windows Server and this can be both physical and virtual instances. It is possible to run ThinMan from regular desktop Windows, but Praim suggests using this method for testing purposes and always recommends that the application be installed on a dedicated server.
It is also possible to install the ThinMan Remote console on additional PCs. On the server where the local console has been installed, use any browser for connecting to the localhost/IP-address/DNS-name, choose to launch the Remote Console Setup.
As ThinMan is installed from an executable, it follows that ThinMan can be installed on a Windows instance in the Cloud. The same connectivity requirements still need to be applied, if these are maintained, there will be no noticeable difference where the ThinMan server is running from.
¶ Advanced installation options
ThinMan is self-contained, requiring no additional applications to function. It is possible to administer solutions with thousands of endpoints.
However, if it is expected to use certain features such as ThinMan Login or ThinMan Smart Identity, or the size of the endpoint estate will grow to the tens of thousands, then installing the ThinMan High Availability (HA) option is recommended.
The ThinMan HA feature is in the Admin feature pack and utilises an external database running either on MySQL or on HyperSQL which is the included default database engine.
Using an external database will provide faster response for installations with greater numbers of devices. Also, it is a requirement for having a Secondary ThinMan Server.
The Secondary Server is recommended in case it is necessary to provide a failover of the (Primary) ThinMan Server. Failover mode provides continuity of service for ThinMan in the event of the primary server being offline. This configuration is recommended when the features of the User+ addon are being used, namely ThinMan Login and ThinMan Smart Identity, services that are presenting user authentication on the endpoint prior to accessing a published resource.