BL Banking is a portable application, which can be installed in different ways. The installation is basically intuitive and is largely automated by the installation program. However you can also simply 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. All these data are located in the subdirectory workspace under the program directory. The user of BL Banking must have write permissions on the this subdirectory.
You can also store the application data 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 a 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. The scenarios chosen here are only a selection of the various possible combinations regarding data storage, multi-user and database.
Scenario: Each user in your office 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 colleagues (except the electronic distributed signature).
In this case, BL Banking is not installed on the user's computer but in a folder assigned to the user on the network drive. All 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 the Windows logon. This operating mode is a single-user installation, too.
Scenario: While traveling, you plan 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 employees. The application data should be shared by all employees.
In this case, BL Banking is installed in a network drive on a file server, accessible to all employees. A certain employee performs the installation and then creates additional employees (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 employees, 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 employees outside the internal network, e.g. with a VPN over the Internet.
In this case, an administrator installs BL Banking in the same way as a single-user installation, however here into a directory on the terminal server, e.g. in C:\Programme\BL Banking. The setup of additional employees is done in the same way as for the multi-user installation described above. Then you have a multi-user installation with common data storage. On the workstation computers, only the client program for the terminal server needs to be installed. Also this type of installation can be combined with the separate data storage and the external database described below.
Szenario: You want to store the application data 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.
Szenario: You want to use your own, external database instead of the H2 database supplied by default.
Please install the external database with the help of the installation program of the respective manufacturer. You can choose from MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. In a network installation is also important to ensure that the database can be reached from all BL Banking clients in the network.
If you are upgrading BL Banking to the version 1.10, a dialog box appears after restarting the program, in which you can enter the connection data to the external database. The same window also appears if you have installed the version 1.10 and then copied the workspace directory from the previous installation into the new program folder. After entering the connection data and subsequent logon to the program, the migration of the application data to the external database is performed.
In both cases, you can also first keep the preconfigured H2 database and later switch to the external database. For this purpose click the button Migrate application data to different database in the preferences under Database.