Home → Supercharger KB → Getting Started → Installing Supercharger
2.1. Installing Supercharger
When you download Supercharger from our website, you get the Manager installer. Where should you install the Manager? It depends on how many Collectors you expect to have.
How Many Collectors?
One collector can usually handle thousands of forwarders. If this is an evaluation or you only plan to have one Collector, then you should probably just install the Manager on that one Collector. For more information check out the physical architecture article.
If you have multiple collectors we recommend dedicating your a modest sized VM as the Supercharger manager.
Simply run the downloaded installer on a domain server as a domain user who is in the local administrators group on the server that will be the central server for managing all your Collectors.
If you need to install Supercharger on a server that has ever had SQL Server 2016 installed please contact support first.
If necessary, the installer will first install the .NET Framework. Then it will install an instance of SQL Server Express. After those prerequisites, it will configure IIS to host the Supercharger web application which is the user interface for Supercharger. Finally, it will install the Controller service which, on the Manager, provides background management of the overall Supercharger environment and also allows you to manage local subscriptions if desired.
After installation
You, the installer, will automatically be added to the Administrators role in Supercharger. You can add more users to the various roles later in the Settings/Security area of Supercharger.
Once the manager is installed it will start your web browser and open Supercharger’s dashboard. You will see the current domain and the local server will show up as a Collector. If you’ve already created any Subscriptions on this server in WEC manually, they will show up in a few seconds if you expand the Collector tile. You can open the viewers for the domain, Collector, Subscriptions and Event Logs to see their details or to make changes.
Do you have other Collectors?
Just remote desktop in to those Collectors and then direct the local web browser back to the Supercharger web site. Its URL is the DNS name of the manager plus “/supercharger”. So if your manager is wecmgr.acme.local then direct your browser to http://wecmgr.acme.local/supercharger. If the Collector is in the same domain and you are logged into it as the same account as when you installed the Manager your authentication will probably be automatic. Otherwise you’ll be prompted for credentials of a user in the Manager’s domain who has been assigned to one of the roles within Superchargers Settings/Security page.
Once you are logged into Supercharger from the new Collector, click on Local Machine and download the Controller (agent) installer. You will be prompted the 2 data that are displayed on this page: 1) SQL Server DNS name – this is the same as the Manager, and 2) the Authenticator – this a security key changed every 24 hours that is part of the security controls Supercharger enforces to prevent rogue Controllers.
After you provide this information to the installer, the rest is automatic. Soon you should see the new Collector show up on the dashboard where you should approve it. After approval, within a short while a new tile will appear for the Controller and you’ll see any pre-existing Subscriptions or you can create a new one.