Installation and Configuration Guide: [Product name] [version]

Complete guide for installing, configuring, verifying, upgrading and removing a software product. The structure follows the installation information for users described in ISO/IEC/IEEE 26514:2022. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

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Contents

1. Introduction
2. System requirements
3. Pre-installation checklist
4. Installation
5. Post-installation verification
6. Configuration
7. Upgrade
8. Uninstall
9. Security hardening
10. Troubleshooting
11. Support
12. Appendix A. Glossary

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose and scope

This guide explains how to install [Product name] [3.2.0] on [Linux, Windows, macOS and container platforms], verify the installation, apply the initial configuration, upgrade from earlier versions and remove the product. Day-to-day operation is covered in the [Administrator Guide]; end-user features in the [User Manual].

1.2 Audience

This guide is for system administrators and DevOps engineers who have administrator or root access to the target host and are comfortable with a command line, package managers and basic networking (ports, DNS, TLS).

1.3 Installation overview

A typical single-node installation takes [20] minutes. The flow is:

1.4 Choosing an installation method

If you are unsure, choose the native package on a supported Linux distribution: it is the most widely tested path and the one support can reproduce fastest.

1.5 Conventions

Commands prefixed with $ run as a normal user; # means run as root or with sudo. Values in [brackets] must be replaced. Notes marked Caution describe a step that can cause data loss or downtime.

2. System requirements

2.1 Hardware

2.2 Software

2.3 Network

2.4 Accounts and permissions

• Root or administrator rights on the host for installation.
• A dedicated service account (created by the installer as [appuser]).
• A database role with CREATE rights on the target database.

3. Pre-installation checklist

4. Installation

4.1 Linux (Debian and Ubuntu)

1. Add the signing key and the package repository:

   curl -fsSL https://packages.example.com/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/example.gpg
   echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/example.gpg] https://packages.example.com/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/example.list
   

2. Install the package:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y productname=3.2.0
   

   Expected output ends with Setting up productname (3.2.0) ....

3. Enable and start the service:

   sudo systemctl enable --now productname
   

4.2 Linux (RHEL and compatible)

Run the following as a user with sudo rights. The repository file contains the signing key URL, so dnf verifies the package signature automatically; answer y when asked to import the key and check that its fingerprint matches [ABCD 1234 ...] from the download page.

sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://packages.example.com/rpm/example.repo
sudo dnf install -y productname-3.2.0
sudo systemctl enable --now productname

4.3 Windows Server

1. Download productname-3.2.0-x64.msi and check its SHA-256 checksum against the value on the download page:

   Get-FileHash .\productname-3.2.0-x64.msi -Algorithm SHA256
   

2. Run the installer silently with a log file:

   msiexec /i productname-3.2.0-x64.msi /qn /l*v install.log INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\ProductName"
   

3. The service ProductName starts automatically. Confirm with Get-Service ProductName; the status is Running.

4.4 macOS

macOS is supported for evaluation and development only, not for production. Install with Homebrew; the service then runs under your user account and stores data in $(brew --prefix)/var/productname.

brew install example/tap/[email protected]
brew services start productname

4.5 Container

services:
  app:
    image: ghcr.io/example/productname:3.2.0
    ports: ["443:8443"]
    env_file: ./productname.env
    volumes: ["app-data:/var/lib/productname"]
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  app-data: {}

Start with docker compose up -d. Pin the image tag; do not use latest in production. Keep productname.env out of version control because it holds the database URL and licence key.

4.6 Offline (air-gapped) installation

For hosts without internet access, download the offline bundle productname-3.2.0-offline.tar.gz on a connected machine, verify its checksum, and copy it to the target host with your approved transfer method. Then run:

tar -xzf productname-3.2.0-offline.tar.gz
cd productname-3.2.0-offline
sudo ./install.sh --offline --license-file ./license.key

The script installs the bundled dependencies, creates the service account and starts the service. Updates follow the same process with a new bundle.

4.7 Installation record

Record what you installed so that support and the next administrator can reproduce it.

5. Post-installation verification

6. Configuration

6.1 Configuration file

The main file is /etc/productname/config.yaml (Windows: C:\ProgramData\ProductName\config.yaml). Environment variables override file values; see the [Configuration Reference] for precedence.

server:
  public_url: https://app.example.com
  port: 8443
database:
  url: postgres://[email protected]:5432/productname
  pool_size: 20
logging:
  level: info

6.2 Parameters

Size the database pool from expected concurrency, for example $\text{pool\_size} \approx \text{peak requests per second} \times \text{mean query time in seconds} \times 2$.

6.3 Apply and validate changes

sudo productname config validate
sudo systemctl restart productname

config validate prints Configuration OK or the first invalid key with its line number.

6.4 Environment-specific settings

Keep one configuration per environment and change only the values that must differ. A typical split looks like this:

Store these files in version control without secrets, and inject secrets at deploy time from the secret manager.

7. Upgrade

Caution: Back up the database and /etc/productname before upgrading.

sudo productname backup create --output /var/backups/productname-pre-3.2.0.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install -y productname=3.2.0
sudo productname --version

Upgrade checklist:

1. Read the release notes for every version between yours and 3.2.0, especially breaking changes and deprecated parameters.
2. Run the upgrade on staging first with a copy of production data.
3. Take the backup shown above and confirm the archive is readable.
4. Upgrade, then repeat the checks in section 5.
5. Watch error rates and logs for one hour before closing the window.

Rollback: reinstall the previous package version and restore the backup with productname backup restore [file]. Rollback after users have written new data loses that data; agree the cut-off with the service owner.

8. Uninstall

1. Stop and disable the service: sudo systemctl disable --now productname.

2. Remove the package: sudo apt-get remove productname (Windows: Settings > Apps > ProductName > Uninstall).

3. Optional, irreversible: delete data and configuration.

   Caution: This permanently deletes all application data.

   sudo rm -rf /var/lib/productname /etc/productname
   

4. Drop the database and remove the service account if no longer needed.

9. Security hardening

10. Troubleshooting

11. Support

Before contacting support, run productname support-bundle and attach the generated archive (it excludes secrets). Include the product version, operating system, installation method and the step that failed.

Appendix A. Glossary

Standard and licence note

Structure aligned with ISO/IEC/IEEE 26514:2022, Systems and software engineering: Design and development of information for users, for the installation, configuration and maintenance information given to users. This template is original text written for this collection and reproduces no text from the standard; obtain the standard from ISO, IEC or IEEE for its normative requirements. Template licence: MIT.