Native Windows install

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This install is based on Windows Server 2022 using:

Python 3.10 running in a virtualenv
Database: PostgreSQL
DICOM Store SCP: Orthanc running on port 104
Webserver: Microsoft IIS running on port 80
WinSW to run background tasks as services
Notepad++ for editing files
Database files stored on D:
OpenREM files stored on E:
With Physics (QA) images being collected and zipped for retrieval

The instructions should work for Windows Server 2016 and 2019; and will probably work with Windows 10/11 with some modification. Desktop editions of Windows are not recommended for a production OpenREM install.

If you are upgrading an existing installation to a new Windows server, go to the Upgrading to a new Windows server first.

If you are upgrading an existing Windows Server installation in-place, go to Upgrading a native Windows install instead.

If you are installing on a server with no internet access, go to Offline installation or upgrade to download the packages.

These instructions assume the following disk layout - there is more information about the reasoning in the box below:

C: OS disk
D: Database disk
E: Data disk

Initial prep

Creating folders

Why D: and E: drives?

OpenREM data are stored on drive E: to keep the data away from the operating system drive so that it is easier for building/recreating the server and knowing what needs to be backed up.

For the same reason, we will install PostgreSQL so that the database data are store on drive D: - this makes it possible to provide a different configuration of disk for the database drive, with different backup policies.

However, it is also possible to store all the data on the C: drive if that works better for your installation. In this case, it would be advisable to create a folder C:\OpenREM\ and create all the folders specified below into that folder.

You can also use different drive letters if that works better for your installation. In both cases paths will need to be modified in the instructions to suite.

Figure 1: Windows install folder layout

Create the following folders. The instructions here are for a CMD window but they can be created in Windows Explorer instead:

C:\Users\openrem>D:
D:\>mkdir database
D:\>E:
E:\>mkdir log media pixelmed dcmtk 7-zip static task_queue venv orthanc\dicom orthanc\physics orthanc\storage winsw

Set permissions

Right click on the E:\log folder and click Properties
In the Security tab click Edit... and Add...

If the server is connected to a domain

If the server is connected to a domain, the From this location: will have the name of the domain. Click Locations... and choose the name of the server instead of the domain name.

Enter the object name IIS_IUSRS and click OK
Tick the Modify Allow to enable read and write permissions
Click OK twice to close the dialogues
Repeat for the E:\media and E:\task_queue folders

Installing packages

Python

Download the latest version for Windows from https://www.python.org/downloads/ as long as it is in the 3.10 series. OpenREM v1.0 has not been tested with Python 3.11 yet.

Open the downloaded file to start the installation:

Customize installation
Leave all the Optional Features ticked, and click Next
Tick Install for all users - this will automatically tick Precompile standard library
Install
Click to Disable path length limit - might not be necessary but might be useful!
Close

Orthanc

Download the 64 bit version from https://www.orthanc-server.com/download-windows.php.

The download file might be blocked because it isn’t a commonly downloaded executable. Click the ... menu and select Keep. Then click Show more and Keep anyway.

Open the downloaded file to start the installation:

Click Next >, accept the agreement and Next > again.
Default install location, Next >
Select Orthanc storage directory - Browse... to E:\orthanc\storage, OK and Next >
Click Next > for a Full installation
Start Menu Folder Next >
Ready to Install Install
Finish

PostgreSQL

Download the latest version of PostgreSQL from https://www.enterprisedb.com/downloads/postgres-postgresql-downloads - choose the Windows x86-64 version. OpenREM v1.0 has been tested with PostgreSQL v14.5.

Open the downloaded file to start the installation:

Some Microsoft redistributables will install
Click Next > to start
Default Installation Directory Next >
All components Next >
Data Directory - browse to D:\database then Select folder and Next >
Create a password for the postgres superuser - you will need this to setup the database with pgAdmin 4 later
Enter it twice and Next >
Default port Next >
Default Locale Next >
Pre Installation Summary Next >
Ready to Install Next > and the installation will begin
Untick Launch Stack Builder at exit
Finish

gettext

Download the 64 bit static version of gettext 0.21 from https://mlocati.github.io/articles/gettext-iconv-windows.html. Use the .exe version (software install icon, not the zip icon)

Open the downloaded file to start the installation:

Accept the agreement Next >
Default installation directory Next >
Additional Tasks leave both boxes ticked Next >
Ready to Install Install
Finish

What is gettext for?

The gettext binary enables the translations to be available to users of the web interface. It is not essential if you don’t want the translations to be available.

Pixelmed

Download DoseUtility from from the page http://www.dclunie.com/pixelmed/software/webstart/DoseUtilityUsage.html - find How to install it (locally) near the bottom of the page and click the Windows executable that does not require Java to be installed link.

Open the downloaded zip file and open a new file browser at E:\pixelmed
Drag the contents of the zip file to the pixelmed folder

DCMTK

Download from https://dcmtk.org/dcmtk.php.en - look for the DCMTK executable binaries section, and download the 64 bit DLL build for Windows.

Open the downloaded zip file and open a new file browser at E:\dcmtk
Drag the contents of the dcmtk-3.x.x-win64-dynamic folder in the zip file to the dcmtk folder
You should end up with E:\dcmtk\bin\ etc

7Zip

Download the 64-bit x64 exe file from https://www.7-zip.org/

Type, or click on the ... to browse to E:\7-zip\
Install
Close

WinSW

Download the 64-bit x64 exe file from https://github.com/winsw/winsw/releases/tag/v2.12.0

Open a new file browser at E:\winsw
Drag the exe file to the winsw folder
Rename the exe file from WinSW-x64 to WinSW

Notepad++

Download the latest version of Notepad++ from https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

Open the downloaded file to start the installation:

Select a language OK
Welcome Next >
License Agreement I Agree
Install Location Next >
Choose Components Next >
Install
Finish (you can untick the Run Notepad++ option, we don’t need it yet)

IIS

Open the Control Panel
Search for windows features
Select Turn Windows features on or off
Start the wizard Next >
Role-based or feature-based installation Next >
Leave the current server highlighted Next >
Check the Web Server (IIS) box
In the pop-up dialogue for adding IIS Management Console, click Add Features
Next >
Features, Next >
Web Server Role (IIS) Next >
Expand the Application Development section
Check the CGI box, Next >
Install
Close

You can check the server is running by browsing to http://localhost/ on the server. You should see the default IIS Welcome page. It might not work immediately, check again in a few minutes.

Installing Python packages

Create and activate the virtualenv

Open a CMD window:

C:\Users\openrem>e:
E:\>py -m venv venv
E:\>venv\Scripts\activate
(venv) E:\>

Install OpenREM

Installing on a server with no internet access

Make sure the virtualenv is activated (command line will have the name of the virtualenv as a prefix: (venv) E:\), then navigate to where the openremfiles directory is that you copied from the computer with internet access, eg if it is in your desktop folder:

(venv) E:\>c:
(venv) C:\>cd Users\openrem\Desktop

Now upgrade pip and install OpenREM and its dependencies:

(venv) C:\Users\openrem\Desktop>pip install --no-index --find-links=openremfiles --upgrade pip
(venv) C:\Users\openrem\Desktop>pip install --no-index --find-links=openremfiles openrem

(venv) E:\>pip install --upgrade pip
(venv) E:\>pip install openrem==1.0.0b2
(venv) E:\>pip install wfastcgi

OpenREM configuration and database creation

PostgreSQL database creation

Start pgAdmin 4 - you will need the password you set when installing PostgreSQL

Create user

Click on Servers to expand, enter the password again
Right click Login/Group Roles, Create, Login/Group Role...
Name: openremuser
Definition, Password: add a password for the openremuser
Privileges: activate Can login? and Create database?
Save

Create database

Right click Databases, Create, Database...
Database: openremdb
Owner: openremuser
Save

Configure OpenREM

Open the E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem\openremproject folder and rename the example local_settings.py and wsgi.py files to remove the .windows and .example suffixes. Removing the file name extension will produce a warning to check if you are sure - Yes:

Edit local_settings.py as needed (right click Edit with Notepad++) Make sure you change the PASSWORD, the SECRET_KEY (to anything, just change it), the ALLOWED_HOSTS list, regionalisation settings and the EMAIL configuration. You can modify the email settings later if necessary. Some settings are not shown here but are documented in the settings file or elsewhere in the docs. For details on the final variable see Systems where Device Observer UID is not static.

Upgrading to a new server

If you are upgrading to a new Linux server, review the local_settings.py file from the old server to copy over the ALLOWED_HOSTS list and the EMAIL configuration, and check all the other settings. Change the SECRET_KEY from the default, but it doesn’t have to match the one on the old server. The database NAME, USER and PASSWORD will be the ones you created on the new server. For details on the final variable see Systems where Device Observer UID is not static.

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',  # Add 'postgresql', 'mysql', 'sqlite3' or 'oracle'.
        'NAME': 'openremdb',                     # Or path to database file if using sqlite3.
        'USER': 'openremuser',                   # Not used with sqlite3.
        'PASSWORD': '',                          # Not used with sqlite3.
        'HOST': '',                              # Set to empty string for localhost. Not used with sqlite3.
        'PORT': '',                              # Set to empty string for default. Not used with sqlite3.
    }
}

TASK_QUEUE_ROOT = 'E:/task_queue/'

MEDIA_ROOT = 'E:/media/'

STATIC_ROOT = 'E:/static/'
JS_REVERSE_OUTPUT_PATH = os.path.join(STATIC_ROOT, 'js', 'django_reverse')

# Change secret key
SECRET_KEY = 'hmj#)-$smzqk*=wuz9^a46rex30^$_j$rghp+1#y&amp;i+pys5b@$'

# DEBUG mode: leave the hash in place for now, but remove it and the space (so DEBUG
# is at the start of the line) as soon as something doesn't work. Put it back
# when you get it working again.
# DEBUG = True

ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
    # Add the names and IP address of your host, for example:
    'openrem-server',
    'openrem-server.ad.abc.nhs.uk',
    '10.123.213.22',
]

LOG_ROOT = 'E:/log/'
LOG_FILENAME = os.path.join(LOG_ROOT, 'openrem.log')
QR_FILENAME = os.path.join(LOG_ROOT, 'openrem_qr.log')
EXTRACTOR_FILENAME = os.path.join(LOG_ROOT, 'openrem_extractor.log')

# Regionalisation settings
#   Date format for exporting data to Excel xlsx files.
#   Default in OpenREM is dd/mm/yyyy. Override it by uncommenting and customising below; a full list of codes is
#   available at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee634398.aspx.
# XLSX_DATE = 'mm/dd/yyyy'
#   Local time zone for this installation. Choices can be found here:
#   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_zones_by_name
#   although not all choices may be available on all operating systems.
#   In a Windows environment this must be set to your system time zone.
TIME_ZONE = 'Europe/London'
#   Language code for this installation. All choices can be found here:
#   http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

DCMTK_PATH = 'E:/dcmtk/bin'
DCMCONV = os.path.join(DCMTK_PATH, 'dcmconv.exe')
DCMMKDIR = os.path.join(DCMTK_PATH, 'dcmmkdir.exe')
JAVA_EXE = 'E:/pixelmed/windows/jre/bin/java.exe'
JAVA_OPTIONS = '-Xms256m -Xmx512m -Xss1m -cp'
PIXELMED_JAR = 'E:/pixelmed/pixelmed.jar'
PIXELMED_JAR_OPTIONS = '-Djava.awt.headless=true com.pixelmed.doseocr.OCR -'

# E-mail server settings - see https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/topics/email/
EMAIL_HOST = 'localhost'
EMAIL_PORT = 25
EMAIL_HOST_USER = ''
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = ''
EMAIL_USE_TLS = 0         # Use 0 for False, 1 for True
EMAIL_USE_SSL = 0         # Use 0 for False, 1 for True
EMAIL_DOSE_ALERT_SENDER = 'your.alert@email.address'
EMAIL_OPENREM_URL = 'http://your.openrem.server'

IGNORE_DEVICE_OBSERVER_UID_FOR_THESE_MODELS = ['GE OEC Fluorostar']

Populate OpenREM database and collate static files

In a CMD window, move to the openrem Python folder and activate the virtualenv:

C:\Users\openrem>e:
E:\>cd venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem
E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>e:\venv\Scripts\activate
(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>

Upgrading to a new server

If you are upgrading to a new Windows server, do these additional steps before continuing with those below:

Rename E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem\remapp\migrations\0001_initial.py.1-0-upgrade to 0001_initial.py

Import the database - update the path to the database backup file you copied from the old server. These steps can take a long time depending on the size of the database and the resources of the server:

C:\Users\openrem>"c:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\14\bin\pg_restore.exe" --no-privileges --no-owner -U openremuser -d openremdb -W windump.bak

Migrate the database:

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py migrate --fake-initial

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py migrate remapp --fake

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py makemigrations remapp

Warning

Make sure you didn’t get a RuntimeWarning when running the last command - scroll back up to the command and check you don’t see the following:

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py makemigrations remapp
E:\venv\lib\site-packages\django\core\management\commands\makemigrations.py:105: RuntimeWarning:

Got an error checking a consistent migration history performed for database connection 'default': unable to
open database file

If you do, check the database name and password settings in the local_settings.py file. You will need to delete the file E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem\remapp\migrations\0001_initial.py before trying again.

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py migrate
(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py loaddata openskin_safelist.json
(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py collectstatic --no-input --clear

Create the translation files, assuming gettext was installed:

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py compilemessages

If this is a new install, not an upgrade, create the superuser account:

(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py createsuperuser

Webserver

Configure IIS

Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager from the Start menu or the Administrative Tools.
Click on the name of your server in the Connections pane on the left
Double click on FastCGI Settings
In the Actions pane on the right, click Add Application
In the Full Path: box type or browse to E:\venv\Scripts\python.exe
In the Arguments box type the path to wfastcgi.py: E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\wfastcgi.py
Under FastCGI properties, click on (Collection) next to Environment Variables and click on the grey … box
In the EnvironmentVariables Collection Editor click Add
Change the value of Name to DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE (must be upper-case)
Set the Value to openremproject.settings
Click Add again and add the variable name PYTHONPATH with the value E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem
Click Add again and add the variable name WSGI_HANDLER with the value django.core.wsgi.get_wsgi_application()
Click OK

Figure 7: Environment Variables Collection Editor

Under FastCGI Properties -> Process Model click on the Activity Timeout value and change it to 1200

Activity Timeout on slow running systems

If you encounter issues with long-running requests failing on slow running systems, you might try increasing the value of the Activity Timeout further.

Figure 8: Add FastCGI Application settings

Click OK to close the dialogue box

Create a new website

In the Connections pane expand the tree under server name
Expand the Sites folder, right click on Default Website and click Remove
Click Yes
Right click on Sites and click Add Website…
Enter Site name as OpenREM
Under Content Directory Physical path enter or browse to E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem
Click OK

Configure the new website

Click on the OpenREM site under Connections in the left pane
Double click on Handler Mappings
In the right pane, under Actions click Add Module Mapping…
In the Request Path box enter an asterix (*)
In the Module box select FastCgiModule (not the CgiModule)
In the Executable box enter E:\venv\Scripts\python.exe|E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\wfastcgi.py
In Name type OpenREM CGI handler (value of name is not important)
Click Request Restrictions and untick the Invoke handler only if request is mapped to: checkbox
Click OK twice to close the Request Restrictions dialog and the Add Module Mapping dialogue
When prompted Do you want to create a FastCGI application for this executable? click No

Quick test!

You can now browse on the server to http://localhost/ and you should see an “ugly” version of the website. It will look better after we have configured the static files, next!

Configure IIS to server the static files

Right click on the OpenREM site under Connections in the left pane
Click Add Virtual Directory
Enter static as the Alias
Enter or browse to E:\static as the Physical path
Click OK
Double click on Handler Mappings in the middle pane
Click on View Ordered List... in the right pane
Select StaticFile
Click Move Up in the Action pane on the right until StaticFile is at the top
There will be a warning about the list order being changed - click Yes to continue

Test the webserver

Browse to http://localhost/ on the server, or browse to the servername in a browser on another machine, and you should be able to see the new OpenREM web service.

Task queue

Running OpenREM on Windows 10 or Windows 11?

For non-server environments, where task executors don’t need to be persistent across system restarts, there is a shortcut for starting workers. You can start a single worker in a new console as follows:

C:\Users\openrem>E:
E:\>cd venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem
E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>e:\venv\Scripts\activate
(venv) E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem>python manage.py run_huey

If you want more than one worker to run tasks in parallel, you will need to repeat the previous steps for each additional worker in a new console.

You can stop a worker by pressing Ctrl + C in the appropriate console

If you cannot start a worker or you are getting error messages, please make sure that your current user has read and write permissions in the E:\task_queue directory.

OpenREM uses a task queue to run its background tasks. Therefore, we need additional Windows services that allow us to run these tasks separately from the web application.

To accomplish that we need to do the following:

Create local service account

First we need to create an account that will allow the IIS worker to control the task workers. Most importantly, to kill a task if necessary.

There is a difference if you are connected to an Active Directory or not. Whatever suits your setup, follow the guide A if you are not in an Active Directory or B if you are.

Guide A

For a Windows instance which is not associated to an Active Directory, it suffices to create a local user account:

Open the Search Tab
Search for Add, edit, or remove other users
In the menu, click Add someone else to this PC
In the left pane right click on Users
Click New User...
Fill in all fields with the data of a new user account (see image)
Untick User must change password at next login
Click Create
In the left pane click on Groups
Right click on IIS_IUSRS
Click Add to Group...
Click on the Add button
In the textfield, enter the username of the previously created account
Click Ok twice

Guide B

For a Windows instance that is connected to an Active Directory, or even a controller of one, follow this guide:

Open the Server Manager
In the navigation bar, click on Tools
Click Active Directory Users and Computers
In the left pane, expand your domain
Right click on Users
Hove over New
Click on User
Fill in all required fields with the data of a new user account
Click Next
Enter the new user password twice and untick User must change password at next login
Click Next and then Finish to create the service account

Creating worker services

Copy the file from

E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem\sample-config\queue-init.bat to
E:\winsw\

Make sure that the previously downloaded and renamed WinSW.exe file is in the same folder (E:\winsw\).

Double click the queue-init.bat file
Enter your Domain name or leave empty if not applicable
Enter the username of the previously created account
Enter the associated password
Enter the number of workers you would like to spawn, this number should no exceed the number of CPU cores available to your system
Wait for the services to get registered and started up (Notice: many windows may appear and disappear quickly)

Adjusting IIS Application Pool Identity

Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager from the Start menu or the Administrative Tools.
In the Connections pane expand the tree under server name
Click on Application Pools
Right click on OpenREM in the middle pane
Click Advanced Settings...
Under Process Model click on Identity and then on the grey … box
Select the Custom account: radio button
Click on Set...
Enter the credentials of the preivously created account. If you are in an Active Directory prefix ther usernmae with <YOUR-DOMAIN>\
Click OK three times

DICOM Store SCP

Copy the Lua file to the Orthanc folder. This will control how we process the incoming DICOM objects.

Copy the file from

E:\venv\Lib\site-packages\openrem\sample-config\openrem_orthanc_config_windows.lua to
E:\orthanc\

Edit the Orthanc Lua configuration options - right click on the file you just copied Edit with Notepad++

Set use_physics_filtering to true if you want Orthanc to keep physics test studies, and have it put them in the E:\orthanc\dicom\ folder. Set it to false to disable this feature. Add names or IDs to physics_to_keep as a comma separated list.

-- Set this to true if you want Orthanc to keep physics test studies, and have it
-- put them in the physics_to_keep_folder. Set it to false to disable this feature
local use_physics_filtering = true

-- A list to check against patient name and ID to see if the images should be kept.
-- Orthanc will put anything that matches this in the physics_to_keep_folder.
local physics_to_keep = {'physics'}

Lists of things to ignore. Orthanc will ignore anything matching the content of these comma separated lists; they will not be imported into OpenREM.

-- Lists of things to ignore. Orthanc will ignore anything matching the content of
-- these lists: they will not be imported into OpenREM.
local manufacturers_to_ignore = {'Faxitron X-Ray LLC', 'Gendex-KaVo'}
local model_names_to_ignore = {'CR 85', 'CR 75', 'CR 35', 'CR 25', 'ADC_5146', 'CR975'}
local station_names_to_ignore = {'CR85 Main', 'CR75 Main'}
local software_versions_to_ignore = {'VixWin Platinum v3.3'}
local device_serial_numbers_to_ignore = {'SCB1312016'}

Enable or disable additional functionality to extract dose information from older Toshiba and GE scanners, and specify which CT scanners should use this method. Each system should be listed as {'Manufacturer', 'Model name'}, with systems in a comma separated list within curly brackets, as per the example below:

-- Set this to true if you want to use the OpenREM Toshiba CT extractor. Set it to
-- false to disable this feature.
local use_toshiba_ct_extractor = true

-- A list of CT make and model pairs that are known to have worked with the Toshiba CT extractor.
-- You can add to this list, but you will need to verify that the dose data created matches what you expect.
local toshiba_extractor_systems = {
        {'Toshiba', 'Aquilion'},
        {'GE Medical Systems', 'Discovery STE'},
}

Save any changes.

Edit the Orthanc configuration. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Orthanc Server\Configuration and right click on orthanc.json and click Edit with Notepad++:

Add the Lua script to the Orthanc config:

// List of paths to the custom Lua scripts that are to be loaded
// into this instance of Orthanc
"LuaScripts" : [
"E:\\orthanc\\openrem_orthanc_config_windows.lua"
],

Set the AE Title and port:

// The DICOM Application Entity Title
"DicomAet" : "OPENREM",

// The DICOM port
"DicomPort" : 104,

Note

Optionally, you may also like to enable the HTTP server interface for Orthanc (although if the Lua script is removing all the objects as soon as they are processed, you won’t see much!):

// Whether remote hosts can connect to the HTTP server
"RemoteAccessAllowed" : true,

// Whether or not the password protection is enabled
"AuthenticationEnabled" : false,

You will also need to open the firewall for port 8042.

To see the Orthanc web interface, go to http://openremserver:8042/ – of course change the server name to that of your server!

Save any changes.

Allow DICOM traffic through the firewall

Type windows firewall in the Start menu to open Windows Defender Firewall
Click Advanced settings in the left hand pane to open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security
Click Inbound Rules in the left hand pane
Click New Rule... in the right hand pane
Click Port and Next >
Leave as TCP and specify port 104 and click Next >
Allow the connection, Next >
Leave the boxes ticked for When does this rule apply if that is appropriate, Next >
Name Orthanc DICOM port
Finish

Finish off

Restart Orthanc:

Launch Services from the start menu
Find Orthanc on the list and click Restart
Orthanc logs can be reviewed at C:\Program Files\Orthanc Server\Logs - the current log file will have the latest date and time in the filename - right click Edit with Notepad++

You can check if the port is running and allowed through the firewall using the Network tab of Resource Monitor.