Installation Prerequisites

Install Third-Party Software

Before installing Appian, you must download and install the following third-party software:

In addition, you must download the following Appian software from Appian Community:

  • Appian 17.4 installer for your operating system
  • Latest hotfix package for Appian 17.4 (if available)

Obtain a Temporary Product License

A product license is required to start Appian after it has been installed. Long term product licenses can only be requested after Appian is installed. To request and install a temporary or long-term license, please follow KB-1316.

Note: If you are migrating from an older version and have a product license from a previous version of Appian, it is valid to use with this version.

Install Oracle JDK 8

Oracle JDK 8 must be installed prior to running the Appian installer. This section describes how to install JDK 8 and update the JAVA_HOME and PATH environment variables.

  1. Download JDK 8 from the the Oracle website:
  2. Run the setup executable, accepting all defaults for the installation.

Take note of the installation path. You will use this path when configuring the JAVA_HOME environment variable in the next step.

For more information about installing JDK 8, see Oracle's documentation.

Set the JAVA_HOME and PATH Environment Variables

After running the Java installer, you must configure the JAVA_HOME environment variable to use the installation path and update the PATH variable to use the bin directory for the JDK. If another JDK was previously installed, you must verify that it is set to the correct installation path.

To set the JAVA_HOME and PATH environment variables in Linux

  1. Using Bash, open the profile file located in the /etc directory.
    Note: You must have superuser rights to modify the profile file.
  2. Add the following lines to the end of the file where the value is the Java installation path:
export JAVA_HOME=\<value\>
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH:
  1. Save the file.

To set the JAVA_HOME and PATH environment variables in Windows

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
    Note: Instructions for accessing the Control Panel may vary slightly based on the version of Windows you are using.
  2. Click System and Security.
  3. Click System.
  4. In the left-hand pane, click Advanced system settings.
  5. Click the Advanced tab.
  6. Click Environment Variables.
  7. Under System variables, look for JAVA_HOME:
    • If it is present, verify that the installation path is correct for JDK 8.
    • If it is not present, click New, and then enter the following information:
Setting Value
Variable name JAVA_HOME
Variable value Installation path for JDK 8, for example,
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_x
  1. With Environment Variables dialog still open, select the Path variable, and then click Edit.
  2. Add the following value it if it is not present (note that each value is separated by a semicolon):

Important: If the JAVA_HOME environment variable is set to the installation path of another JDK version or a runtime environment that is not the JDK installation path, Appian will not start correctly.

Configure the Application User Account for Linux

Configure the UNIX user account and group that owns the application before running the setup program. A non-root user must have the following rights assigned when running the setup, and the APPIAN_HOME and JAVA_HOME directories must exist prior to running the installer.

For WebLogic, provide the oracle user that owns all directories created from the WebLogic installation with read, write, and execute access to APPIAN_HOME. This is best done by creating a group with these privileges, and adding the oracle user to it.

Directory or File Read Write Execute
Installation Package Yes No Yes

Increase Maximum Open File Limit for the Application User Account

The maximum allowable number of file descriptors available to the user running Appian may need to be increased. In order to determine if the limit needs to be increased, log in using the Appian application user account, and then run the following command:

ulimit -n

If the value returned by ulimit -n is less than 100000, then increase the limit by running the following command:

ulimit -n 100000

Repeat this procedure for all servers running any component of the Appian architecture in all environments. For example, if you are using development, staging, and production environments, then you would repeat this procedure on each one.

Note: If the value of 100000 exceeds the total number of open files allowable for the system, consult your operating system documentation for instructions on configuring the limit on the total number of open files (this typically located in /proc/sys/fs/file-max).

Verify the Server System Locale Setting

The system locale must be defined in order to install Appian. You will not be able to install Appian if the system locale is not defined.

In most cases, the system locale setting will already be set correctly. However, there is a rare issue that may be encountered on new or virtualized operating system installations. The instructions below describe how to verify the system locale on both supported platforms.

To verify the locale setting in Linux

  • Open Bash, and use the locale command to display the locale settings. If the locale is set, you will see something similar to the list below:


If the locale settings are not displayed, you must update or create the i18n file by doing the following steps:

  1. Open /etc/sysconfig/i18n in a text editor.
  2. Add the appropriate LANG= and LC_ALL= parameters. For example, if you are using English in the United States, you would define both parameters using en_US:

    LANG=en_US  LC_ALL=en_US
  3. Reboot the machine.

To verify the system locale setting in Windows

  1. Click the Start button, click Control Panel, click Clock, Language, and Region, and then click Region and Language Options.
  2. In the Region and Language dialog, click the Administrative tab.
  3. Verify that the desired system locale is set under Language for non-Unicode programs.

If the locale is not set correctly, make the necessary changes and reboot the machine.