System Requirements For Meridian Clients

The hardware requirements for Meridian clients are listed in the table below.

The software requirements include:

• One of the Windows desktop operating systems (with latest Service Pack) listed in Operating Systems.

  We recommend the 64-bit editions of Windows and Meridian.

• Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition (64-bit computers only, optional for 32-bit) for Local Workspace data management.

  It can also be managed by SQLite (included) by setting the WorksSpaceDB registry value described in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Cyco\AutoManager Meridian\CurrentVersion\Client.

  Note:

  Microsoft does not support connecting to SQL Server Compact Edition by a UNC path (Local Workspace on a network share). If your organization requires such a connection, the local workspace data can be stored in Microsoft Access tables instead if an OLE DB driver is installed. Microsoft Office includes a 64-bit OLE DB driver named the Office System Driver that can be used to connect to Access, Excel, and text files. The provider name is Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.<VersionNumber>.

  If Office is not installed, the driver is available as a separate download from the Microsoft Download Center by the name of Microsoft Access Database Engine Redistributable.

  For additional information, see Jet for Access, Excel and Txt on 64-bit systems at ConnectionStrings.com.

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.1 Full Profile (the Client Profile is insufficient)

• Some of the optional Meridian modules require the .NET Framework and other software to be installed.

  See the system requirements in the module's Administrator's Guide.

• TCP/IP protocol and DCOM access to the Meridian Enterprise server.

• For document viewing, a version of the Java Runtime Environment that is specified in the Oracle AutoVue Client-Server Deployment Installation and Configuration Guide for the version of AutoVue that is installed with Meridian.

• Sufficient access rights for installation of Meridian (that is, a member of the Administrators group of the computer).

• Any additional requirements for specific operating systems or Meridian releases that are documented in the Release Notes.

Client computer specifications should be determined by the most demanding application that is installed on them. This is particularly true for heavy duty 3D CAD applications such as Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, or SolidWorks. In such cases, you should always use a computer that meets at least the software manufacturer's recommended specification, not the minimum.

To use Meridian PowerWeb over the Internet or an intranet requires:

• A web browser capable of rendering HTML 5 markup and of running JavaScript components.

  The supported web browsers and additional requirements specific to each browser are listed in Web Servers and Browsers.

• For integration with authoring applications installed on the client PC and to manage downloaded documents in the local workspace, the Application Integration component must be installed on the client PC. Application Integration communicates with web servers independent of the web browser and must be set to Remote mode as described in Application Links In Remote Mode. The local workspace location must be set to the same path in both PowerWeb and in Application Integration options as described in Application Integration Options.

• By default, PowerWeb versions prior to 2017 use ActiveX controls that must be installed on the client PCs to transfer documents and perform batch operations. Newer versions of Meridian use built-in, server-side component by default. The ActiveX controls can be enabled in the newer versions for backward compatibility by enabling the Enable PowerWeb client components option in the user's preferences.

  In particular, the UseHTMLProgressComponent should be set to 0 and the DownloadDocumentWithRefs option set to 1 in each user's PowerWeb profile file for compatibility with Windows 7 when Windows authentication is enabled for the Meridian website. Importing documents by drag-and-drop does not work correctly with UseHTMLProgressComponent set to 0.

  Editing the PowerWeb user profile files (preferences) is described in general for other settings in Deploy Standard Preferences and Edit PowerWeb User Profiles. Also, the following options must be configured on the Security tab of Internet Options in Control Panel for each user:

  For either the Internet or Local intranet zone (as applicable for your environment), set all options under ActiveX controls and plug-ins to either Enable (recommended) or Prompt (and ensure the user always clicks Yes when prompted to use a control related to Meridian).

• On Windows 64-bit operating systems, Internet Explorer 10 and 11 open web pages in 32-bit processes only. This is for backward compatibility with ActiveX components. Therefore, Meridian Enterprise installs and runs 32-bit components when necessary, particularly for viewing documents.