Using Virtuoso Open-Source Edition on Windows

Building Virtuoso on Windows requires some time and the user should be proficient with Windows software development. The build is not guaranteed to succeed out of the box.

Unless you plan to actually modify the Virtuoso code, we recommend using the binary distribution.

Getting Started with the VOS Binary Distribution for Windows

Prerequisites

• Pre-built binaries of Virtuoso 6.1.4 to 7.1.0 for Windows require the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package be installed. This can be downloaded from the following locations:
  • 32-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86)
  • 64-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x86_64)

• Pre-built binaries of Virtuoso 7.2.0 and later for Windows require the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable Package be installed. This can be downloaded from the following locations:
  • 64-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable Package (x86_64)

• Appropriate environment variables should be set before any of the steps below --
  1. Determine the root location for your Virtuoso installation. For best results, we recommend putting the ZIP (and/or the directory created upon its extraction) into the C:/Program Files/ (or C:/Program Files (x86)/, for a 32-bit Virtuoso on 64-bit Windows) directory. If you have installed other components from OpenLink Software, you may want to add the Virtuoso subdirectory to that directory (e.g., C:/Program Files/OpenLink Software/VOS7/).
  2. Start the System control panel (right-click My Computer and select Properties, or drill down through the Start menu -> Control Panels -> Administrative Tools -> System).
  3. Click to Advanced -> Environment Variables, and create a new system environment variable called VIRTUOSO_HOME, with this path (e.g., C:/Program Files/OpenLink Software/VOS7/virtuoso-opensource/) for its value.
  4. Locate the PATH system environment variable, and click to EDIT it.
  5. Add the string below to the end of the existing PATH value.
     
     IMPORTANT: Do not over-write the existing PATH value! Doing so will disrupt all use of your Windows environment.
     

     
     ;%VIRTUOSO_HOME%/bin;%VIRTUOSO_HOME%/lib
     

     
     
  6. Click OK or Exit buttons until you have fully exited the System control panel.
  7. The above environment variable changes will have immediate effect on any processes that start hereafter, but rebooting your Windows environment may be necessary in some situations.

Basic Installation

Simply unzip the binary distribution zip file to your chosen location (see Prerequisites, above). This will create a directory virtuoso-opensource, containing 6 subfolders:

bin
lib
hosting
database
vad
vsp

Note: The current Windows binary package is missing a php.ini file, required for PHP run-time hosting support. Please download a copy of this file, and manually place it in the database directory.

The default administrator username and password are both dba. We recommend immediately changing the password to secure your database.

By default, the Virtuoso server will listen for HTTP connections at TCP port 8890, and for SQL data access (via iSQL, ODBC, JDBC, OLE DB, ADO.NET, etc.) at TCP port 1111. These ports may be changed by editing the virtuoso.ini file.

Optional -- Create and Manage Virtuoso Windows Services

1. Start a CMD/DOS session (Start menu -> Command Prompt, or run %SystemRoot%/system32/cmd.exe).
   
   Note: On Windows Vista and later (including Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008, etc.), you MUST right-click on the "Command Prompt" icon and select the "Run as Administrator" option; else, the CMD session will not have the privileges necessary for the following steps to succeed, even if you are logged in as a Windows Administrator.
   
   
2. Verify your Virtuoso binary by typing in the command:
   

   
   virtuoso-t -? 
   

   
   Note: we also provide binaries with Java (virtuoso-javavm-t) and .NET CLR (virtuoso-clr-t) hosting support, which should be substituted for virtuoso-t throughout, if such hosting support is required.
3. Run the following command:
   

   
   cd %VIRTUOSO_HOME%/database
   

   
   
4. Create a new Windows Service with the following command --
   

   
   virtuoso-t +service create +instance "New Instance Name" +configfile virtuoso.ini 
   

   
   Note: If you have an existing Virtuoso service, the above will replace it. You can preserve the existing service and add a new one with the following command variant (changing the +service argument from "create" to "screate") --
   

   
   virtuoso-t +service screate +instance "New Instance Name" +configfile virtuoso.ini 
   

   
   
5. Once created, you can manage the Virtuoso service through the standard Windows Services Manager (Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services or Component Services). It will be listed as OpenLink Virtuoso Server [Instance Name]. You can also use the CMD/DOS commands in the table below. Note that the +instance and +service flags may be replaced by -I and -S, respectively.

   Action	Command
   List all Virtuoso services	virtuoso-t +service list
   Start a Virtuoso service	virtuoso-t +instance "Instance Name" +service start
   Stop a Virtuoso service	virtuoso-t +instance "Instance Name" +service stop
   Delete a Virtuoso service	virtuoso-t +instance "Instance Name" +service delete

Optional -- Register the VOS ODBC Driver

For best results, we recommend that you download and install the appropriate commercial Client Connectivity Kit, which is freely licensed for use with VOS.

1. Start a CMD/DOS session (Start menu -> Command Prompt, or run %SystemRoot%/system32/cmd.exe).
   
   Note: On Windows Vista and later (including Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008, etc.), you MUST right-click on the "Command Prompt" icon and select the "Run as Administrator" option; else, the CMD session will not have the privileges necessary for the following steps to succeed, even if you are logged in as a Windows Administrator.
   
   
2. Run the following commands:
   

   
   cd %VIRTUOSO_HOME%/lib
   regsvr32 virtodbc.dll  
   

   
   
3. As a result, you should see this message:
   

   
   DLLRegisterServer in virtodbc.dll succeeded.
   

   
   

Optional -- Create an ODBC DSN

1. Launch the ODBC Administrator (Start menu -> Control panels -> Administrative Tools -> Data Sources (ODBC)).
2. For most purposes, click to the System DSN tab. User DSNs are not typically necessary.
3. See this document.

Virtuoso Conductor -- the HTTP Browser-based Virtuoso Administration Tool

The Virtuoso Conductor is a HTTP-based administration tool, included by default in all Virtuoso instances. It can be accessed at the URL:

http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/conductor

For instance --

http://localhost:8890/conductor

-- or --

http://my-virtuoso-host.example.com:8890/conductor

The Conductor can then be used to install other Virtuoso VAD applications available by navigating to the "System Admin -> Packages" tab which presents you with a list of available Virtuoso VAD application packages to install, selecting those you require and install, at which point they will then become accessible as part of your Virtuoso server instance.

iSQL -- the Virtuoso Interactive SQL tool

To connect with the Virtuoso Interactive SQL tool (isql), run the following command from your DOS prompt:

isql 1111 dba dba

You should get a response like this --

Connected to OpenLink Virtuoso
Driver: 05.00.3028 OpenLink Virtuoso ODBC Driver
OpenLink Interactive SQL (Virtuoso), version 0.9849b.
Type HELP; for help and EXIT; to exit.
SQL> 

iSQL has a number of built in commands, like tables --

SQL> tables;
Showing SQLTables of tables like 'NULL.NULL.NULL', tabletype/colname like 'NULL'

TABLE_QUALIFIER  TABLE_OWNER  TABLE_NAME                 TABLE_TYPE    REMARKS
VARCHAR          VARCHAR      VARCHAR                    VARCHAR       VARCHAR
_______________________________________________________________________________

DB               DBA          ADMIN_SESSION              SYSTEM TABLE  NULL
DB               DBA          ADM_OPT_ARRAY_TO_RS_PVIEW  SYSTEM TABLE  NULL
DB               DBA          ADM_XML_VIEWS              SYSTEM TABLE  NULL
.
.
.
SQL>

Documentation, Tutorials, and More

Overall Virtuoso Documentation

Bundled documentation may be found at http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/doc/html. More recent updates are available online, at Virtuoso Product Manual and Open Source Edition Docs.

Bundled tutorials may be found at http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/tutorial. These are also available online, at http://demo.openlinksw.com/tutorial.

SPARQL Demos

A full SPARQL demo may be found online, or locally at http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/sparql_demo.

Virtuoso's built in SPARQL endpoint is at http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/sparql.

The iSPARQL Query-By-Example tool (if installed) will be at http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/isparql.

ODS Applications Suite

The OpenLink Data Spaces (ODS) applications suite includes a broad collection of distributed collaborative applications covering: blogs, wikis, shared bookmarks, file management, calendaring, email, photo galleries, discussion forums, polls, and more. Once installed, ODS applications will be available at http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/ods.

See Getting Started with ODS for more on setting up ODS.

BPEL Process Manager

To experiment with the BPEL Process Manager, visit http://<virtuoso-host-FQDN-or-IP-address>:<HTTP-port>/BPELGUI.