BL Banking is a portable application, which can be installed in different ways. The installation is largely automated by the installation program. Alternatively, you can copy the directory of an already installed application to another location or another storage media.
The application consists of program files and application data. The latter is among others about the keys for the bank connections, retrieved account statements, submitted payments, payment recipients, etc. These data are located in the subdirectory workspace of the program directory. The user of BL Banking must have write permissions on this subdirectory.
The application data can be stored separate from the program files. This is possible for all installation scenarios. For this also see the section Separate data storage.
All installation types support storing the signature files in the program folder, a USB stick, or a smartcard.
Section First initialization - Key directory contains instructions for storing signature files on a USB stick.
Section General functions - Use a smartcard describes how to migrate existing keys to a smartcard.
In the following, frequently used installation variants are briefly described. These scenarios are a selection of the possible combinations regarding data storage, multi-user and database.
Scenario: Each user in your organization has their own computer.
BL Banking is installed on the user's computer. All program files and application data are stored in the selected installation directory. This is a single-user installation.
Scenario: Each user runs BL Banking from various workstations, is expected to manage his own data, and should not have access to master data or payments entered by others (except the electronic distributed signature).
BL Banking is not installed on a user's computer but in a folder assigned to the user on the network drive. The application files and application data are stored in the selected installation folder. If you select a drive protected by the operating system registration, the data is additionally protected by this login. This operating mode is a single-user installation, too.
Scenario: A user plans to use BL Banking from different locations and computers.
BL Banking is installed on a USB memory stick. All application files and application data are stored on the USB stick. The application can then be started from any computer with the same operating system (e.g. Windows).
Scenario: The application shall be installed on the internal network centrally accessible for all users. The application data should be shared by all users.
In this case, BL Banking is installed in a network drive on a file server, accessible to all users. One of the users performs the installation and then creates additional users (see section General functions - User administration - Add users). All program files and the application data are located in the selected installation directory on the file server. On the workstation computers of the users, you only need to create a shortcut to the program, e.g. to \\server\share\blbanking\BL Banking.exe. This type of installation can also be combined with the separate data storage and the external database described below.
Szenario: The application shall run centrally on a terminal server and from there be available to all users. This variant is particularly suitable for connecting users outside the internal network, e.g. with a VPN over the Internet.
An administrator installs BL Banking in the same way as a single-user installation, however into a directory on the terminal server, e.g. in C:\Programme\BL Banking. Additional users are set up in the same way as for a multi-user installation. The result is a multi-user installation with common data storage. On the workstation computers, only the client program for the terminal server is installed. This type of installation can be combined with the separate data storage and the external database described below.
Szenario: The application data need to be stored separately from the program files. The program should be installed in a read-only directory, e.g. in a single-user installation in C:\Program Files\BL Banking or in a multi-user installation in \\server\share\blbanking on a file server.
To do this, an administrator installs the program into the read-only directory and for the application data selects a directory, on which the user has write permission, e.g. C:\ProgramData\BL Banking\workspace or \\server\usershare\blbanking\workspace for a multi-user installation.
Once the installation is complete, the location of the workspace directory is stored in the configuration file BL Banking.ini. If you want to create separate data directories for each user in a multi-user installation, you must use variables in the path to the workspace or create an individual program shortcut for each user. You will find detailed instructions on this in the appendix under Questions and answers, see Store application data separately.
Szenario: You want to use an external database instead of the H2 database supplied by default. This is generally recommended for a multi-user installation on a network drive, as described above.
Install the external database with the help of the installation program of the respective manufacturer. MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle are possible. In a network installation is also important to ensure that the database can be reached from all BL Banking clients in the network.
First, install BL Banking with the preconfigured H2 database and then switch to the external database. For this purpose click the button Migrate application data to different database in the preferences under Database.