Installing and Upgrading dsClient

The dsClient Desktop application is supported on Windows, Linux, and OSX platforms. If you launch the application from a web page it will be installed automatically, and you can skip down to Initial Setup. Otherwise, follow the instructions below to install and run the application.

The dsClient Desktop is designed to run on a client OS with graphics display capabilities, such as a laptop or desktop. It should not be installed on a platform with a server type OS, unless the server OS can provide equivalent graphics capabilities. If dsClient Desktop is installed on the same server as dsTest, dsTest performance may be affected.

The application must be installed on your local hard drive. Attempting to run from a network share or a cloud drive may result in serious performance impacts.

Java 8 or later. If your organization is licensed by Oracle you can download Java here; otherwise you can download and freely use OpenJDK. Be sure to chose the package that matches your OS.

Go to our our secure website and login using the user name and password supplied by our Support Team.

Select the directory that corresponds to the version of dsTest that you're running.

Click on the software package that suits your OS - Windows (.zip) or OSX/Linux (.tgz) - and then save it locally.

Create a directory for the application. In addition to the executable file, the application log and a client.properties file will be kept in the installation directory.

Extract the contents of the .zip (Windows) or .tgz (Linux/OSX) file into the directory that you created.

Linux: > <path to Java JRE directory>/bin/java -Xms2048m -Xmx4096m -jar dsClient.jar

Xms sets the minimum MBs of RAM reserved, Xmx sets the maximum. These values can be adjusted to suit the client platform environment and can be modified if necessary. However, we recommend the maximum be set to at least 4096MB, and neither should be set lower than 2048MB.

The README file included in your package contains instructions for pinning dsClient Desktop to the Windows taskbar.

The Linux distribution contains a launch script that you can modify. You should store your script in another location to ensure that it is not overwritten when you upgrade to a later application version.

To upgrade an existing application, simply extract the contents of the compressed file into the application directory and overwrite the existing contents.

The first time you run dsClient Desktop you will be prompted to accept the application's certificate and, after the application window opens, to select a directory for the application's library. You should select a directory other than the installation directory, such as another directory on your platform, or a directory on a network share. The only requirement is that the directory be accessible when you run dsClient. If you are not ready to choose a directory, you can cancel the process and the application will exit. If you do cancel the library selection, the process will repeat the next time you run the application.

For Windows installations, we recommend that you not use the Documents directory for your library as dsClient Desktop assumes that it owns all of the files in your library and it may disturb content intended for other applications. Likewise, you should not use your home directory in Linux but should instead create a sub-directory.

Refer to Data Storage and Management for more information about the application library structure, backing up your information, and application startup operations.