How to install the full MSP Challenge Simulation Platform

How to install the full MSP Challenge Simulation Platform

Note that the "Full platform" installer is no more supported, but it is still available up to version 4.0.2. Follow below instructions only if you plan on using an older version of the client/server.

Only install the full platform if you intend to turn your computer into a server, i.e., a computer open to participants with the client to connect to, thus a computer open to outside connections.

This section pertains to fresh installations (so not upgrades) on Windows only.

When it concerns Windows, we currently support Windows 10, 11 (since 4.0-beta10) or Windows Server 2016/2019 only.

Start by just downloading the full-platform installer from the Download page and running it.

You'll be presented with an installation wizard. Just follow the steps. The installer will add the following shortcuts to your Start menu, and optionally on your Desktop (depending on whether you selected that option during installation):

• MSP Challenge Client: the same client application as you would get with client-only installation
• MSP Challenge Server Manager: the web application with which you control your MSP Challenge server, i.e., to set up and manage sessions.
• MSP Challenge Server Configuration Editor: an application with which you can create or alter session configurations

The server-side of MSP Challenge functions as a web application. The full platform therefore also installs and configures XAMPP, specifically a bundle of Apache2 web server, MariaDB database server and PHP8 (and Symfony since 4.0-beta10). It sets up a random root password for your MariaDB root user.

Note: As of version 4.0-beta9, the full platform uninstaller will also completely uninstall XAMPP. Previous versions did not do this during uninstallation.

Once installation is finished, the first thing to do is to navigate to your Server Manager web application in your browser. The address to this will depend:

• Are you still working on the Windows computer on which you ran the full-platform installer? Then it's best to just open your browser, and navigate to http://localhost/ServerManager
• Are you now working on a different (Windows) computer than the one on which you ran the full-platform installer? You'll first need to determine the IP address of the Windows computer on which you ran the full-platform installer. Then go back to your own computer, open your browser, and navigate to http://[enter.ip.address.here]/ServerManager For example, it could be http://192.168.0.99/ServerManager
• Perhaps you've had a fully-qualified domain name forwarded to the IP address of choice? Then the address should be http://[fully.qualified.domain.name]/ServerManager We note that we currently do not officially support SSL / https connections to the MSP Challenge server when using the Windows full-platform installer. If you'd like that, then use Docker (on Linux or Windows, see Option 1 above).

If you've figured out how to reach the Server Manager, just open it in your browser, and then follow the instructions here on how to control your own MSP Challenge server.