Installing the SMART Migration server for Nextcloud

The SMART Migration server is the Windows program that runs every job the Nextcloud app plans. This topic takes it from nothing installed to a server that has claimed its first job.

Details to be confirmed

The installer and first-start screens are not yet described one by one; screen names will be added.

Check the prerequisites

A Windows machine or VM. See System requirements
A Windows service account to install and run SMART Migration with (recommended). Install and start SMART Migration for the first time with the account that will run the server as a Windows service: the database permissions then work without any manual setup. For a demo or test, any Windows account will do — accept the defaults.
- File shares: jobs run under the server's service account, so it needs access permission to every file share the jobs reference.
- High-security environments: the server can run under a separate account from the SMART Migration Windows UI.
An Entra ID app registration with a certificate for Microsoft 365 sources (NTLM credentials for SharePoint on-premises). See How to create and configure the app registration
The Nextcloud address and a dedicated administrator account. Use an app password for it (recommended), made under Settings → Security, not the account's own password.
The Team folders app, enabled in Nextcloud.
MetaVox (optional), if SharePoint metadata should follow the files to Nextcloud. It does not have to be installed first and can be added later; the app detects by itself whether it is there. See Metadata, MetaVox and SharePoint views
The installer and the licence key from your partner, who provides both the free trial key and, later, the production key, and who is activated in the app first (Set up SMART Migration for the app).

Run the installer

SMART Migration has two components, the SMART Migration IDE and the SMART Migration server. One installer, setup.exe, installs both automatically.

Run setup.exe
Start setup.exe as an administrator: you must be a local administrator on the machine to run it. Sign in with the account described above. It also installs what SMART Migration needs (the Visual C++ runtimes, WebView2, the Access Database Engine 2016, .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0 and the ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server) when the machine has internet access. On a machine without internet access, install these components by hand before you run setup.exe: see Required components, automatically installed when there is internet access.
SQL Server Express 2025: keep or opt out
SQL Server Express 2025 holds the repository, where SMART Migration keeps its working data. Keep it selected for the simplest setup. If you opt out, you need a SQL Server you can connect to at the first start; see the first start below.
PostgreSQL: keep or opt out
PostgreSQL holds the BI data and is required for Nextcloud. Leave it selected and it is installed on this machine — the recommended choice. If you leave it out, you must set up a PostgreSQL database server yourself later. Either way the choice is not important: the BI database can be moved to another server afterwards.

How the server runs: embedded in the IDE — when the IDE starts, the server (flowserver.exe) starts with it in the same Windows session — or as a Windows service under a service account, which must then have access to the database. The IDE and the server may run under separate Windows accounts for extra security. For a first setup, run everything under one account.

First start

Start SMART Migration and choose the initial setup
Start SMART Migration with the account described under the prerequisites. Starting it with elevated permissions, as administrator, is optional: it is only required for the advanced setup of a Windows service to run the jobs (step 4). It asks which configuration to use, under Select initial setup. Choose Nextcloud App.
The choice selects a database template that holds all the setup needed to work with the Nextcloud app. It is a ready-made, general setup of the kind you could build yourself: the app's processing is built from standard components in the IDE. That also lets you take ownership of the setup if you need customisations, because the whole IDE with all its functionality is available to you.
Connect the repository database
With SQL Server Express from the installer: nothing to do — the repository is connected automatically. The database is named SMARTMigrationNextcloud, and its files are in the folder %Public%\SMARTMigration_SQLServer.
With a SQL Server of your own (fully supported, but set up by hand): before the first start, create a database on the server and restore the template SMARTMigrationNextcloud.bak onto it — the same template that Nextcloud App selects in step 1; it is SMARTMigrationNextcloud.bak, in SMART Migration's program folder. Make sure the Windows account that runs SMART Migration — and the service account, if the server runs as a Windows service — has dbo access to the database, for example in SQL Server Management Studio. Then enter the server and database when SMART Migration asks.
Enter the licence key
Once the database is connected, a prompt appears. Enter the licence key — a trial or a production key from your partner.
If the machine has no internet access, use offline registration: choose Request offline key. Notepad opens with the steps to take to obtain your offline key.
Optional: run the server as a Windows service
This is not required. The server runs automatically inside the SMART Migration UI — the IDE, which is always available in every configuration, though not used day to day in a standard Nextcloud setup. To run it as a Windows service instead:
1. Start SMART Migration with elevated permissions, as administrator — a Windows requirement, even when your account is a local administrator. If you did not start SMART Migration with elevated permissions, restart the program.
2. Open the Account module and its General tab.
3. Choose Windows service configuration in the ribbon bar and select Run the job server as a Windows service.
What happens: a native Windows service is created, set to start automatically. Windows manages it and it follows all Windows service requirements. Start and stop it in the Windows services administrator.
Important
The service account must have access to the database and to any file shares the jobs reference; see the prerequisites.

Connect to the Nextcloud app

Give the server the Nextcloud address and app password
Use the address of this Nextcloud and the app password (not the account password) of the dedicated administrator account.
Check with a first job
In the app, create a Discovery job on the Jobs tab and set it to Ready. The server claims it on its next call. The licence key and its expiry then also show on the app's Settings tab, under Remote SMART Migration Server.