FirstSpirit: Technical requirements and recommendations

Explanation of terms used

Recommended / reference: For the recommended reference system configurations, Crownpeak

• carries out regular tests (with every release) so that problems are generally discovered before delivery.
• takes steps to eliminate errors based on error messages.   

Compatible: Compatible system configurations are / have been checked by Crownpeak and deemed functional. For these system configurations, Crownpeak

• carries out regular tests (depending on the market relevance of the configuration)
• takes steps to eliminate errors based on error messages.

Not supported: List of system configurations that are known to cause problems or are highly likely to cause problems.

For non-supported system configurations, Crownpeak

• will NOT take any measures to eliminate any problems that may arise.

Note: If a system configuration is not listed in this area, this does not mean that it is supported. It only means that no specific information is currently available.

Unless otherwise specified, FirstSpirit always works with the current version of a third-party component (operating system, JDK, servlet engine, application server, databases).

SaaS or on-premises?

All of the information and recommendations below relate to on-premises FirstSpirit installations.

Alternatively, FirstSpirit is also increasingly hosted as a SaaS model. In this case, the costs and responsibility for providing and updating the infrastructure are borne by an external service provider.

More information on this subject can be found in the blog post FirstSpirit as a cloud solution.

FirstSpirit Server

Operating system

Recommended operating systems (reference):

• Microsoft Windows Server (in the current version)
• Common Linux distributions, e.g., Debian GNU/Linux (in the current version), indicating the file systems:
  • ext (Extended File System) for a regular FirstSpirit Server
  • If applicable, NFS (Network File System) for FirstSpirit cluster environments

Compatible operating systems: FirstSpirit is also operated successfully with other operating systems and operating system versions, e.g.:

• Microsoft Windows Server
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Suse Linux Enterprise Server
• Ubuntu

A detailed list of compatible operating systems can be found here.

Not supported:

• Operating systems in the 32-bit version

The server only supports operating systems in the 64-bit version!

Hardware / Sizing

Due to the many (project-dependent) factors that influence the requirements regarding hardware dimensioning, architects or consultants from Crownpeak should always be consulted for a detailed assessment of the requirements and the necessary configurations.

Relevant scaling factors include:

• Number of editors working at the same time
• Number of projects on a server (main memory, preview)
• Number of pages in all projects (generation, backup)
• Size and number of media required (generation, backup)

For current recommendations with regard to calculating the CPU, hard disk space, or RAM requirements (especially for size “L” projects), please contact us or your project manager directly.

Java

Recommended JDKs:

• OpenJDK 11 (in the current version) *

Compatible JDKs: FirstSpirit is also operated successfully with other JDKs:

• Oracle Java 11 (in the current version)
• OpenJDK 17 (in the current version) *
• OpenJDK 11 (in the current version) *

More information about compatible JDKs can be found here.

Not supported:

• Oracle JDK < 11
• OpenJDK < 11
• Java implementations from other manufacturers (e.g., IBM JDK on Linux or Windows, Apple JDK on macOS for FirstSpirit Server, Azul VM), JDK under IA64

* Recommended: Use of the OpenJDK distribution Temurin / AdoptOpenJDK (HotSpot JVM). For more information see https://adoptium.net and https://adoptopenjdk.net.

The server only supports JDKs in the 64-bit version!

Announcement: Java 17

Beginning with the first FirstSpirit release in 2023 (2023.1), the recommended Java version for operating FirstSpirit will change to Java 17.

End of Java 8 support

Oracle Java 8 and OpenJDK 8 are no longer supported by FirstSpirit.

Background: FirstSpirit is operated successfully by customers and partners with a wide range of different third-party components (operating systems, JDKs, servlet engines, application servers, databases) and external libraries. Some of these components / libraries are no longer compatible with Java 8 in their current version. This applies, for example, to the internal “Apache Derby” database supplied with FirstSpirit. This means that updates can no longer be carried out for these third-party components / libraries, which is particularly critical for security-relevant updates.

Oracle has not provided any public updates for Java 8 since February 2019 and recommends that developers and end users transition to a higher Java version in order to continue receiving public updates and security enhancements.

With the end of Java 8 support, as announced before, also:

• the support for the Windows installer and the legacy tar archive (.tgz) for all Unix systems is dropped. We advise our customers to use the new installation method via the install archive (see Installing FirstSpirit (→Installation Instructions)) and
• the option of starting the FirstSpirit desktop applications via Java Web Start is no longer available. (The Java Web Start functionality is included in Oracle Java 8, but is not support from Oracle Java 11 on. OpenJDK does not offer a comparable technology). Therefore, SiteArchitect and ServerManager can now be started solely via the FirstSpirit Launcher (see FirstSpirit Launcher documentation).

The ramp-down phase for Java 8:

• started as planned in the second quarter of 2020:
  • First, the Java 8 compatibility tests were gradually reduced.
  • All definitions for Java 8 have been removed from the standard configuration files for the Java Service Wrapper (fs-wrapper[.isolated].conf, fs-wrapper-vendor.conf) provided by Crownpeak Technology GmbH. A Java version 11 or higher is now required to start the FirstSpirit server.
  • Oracle Java 8 and AdoptOpenJDK 8 are no longer included in the FirstSpirit Launcher JRE module
• As of FirstSpirit 2021-08, the byte code level was changed from Java 8 to Java 11. Since this release, all Java versions prior to Java 11 (LTS) are incompatible with FirstSpirit.

This means that FirstSpirit will no longer run with Oracle Java < 11 or OpenJDK < 11 and that no measures are taken by Crownpeak Technology GmbH to eliminate errors or problems that are related to Java < 11.

FirstSpirit desktop apps

Operating system

Recommended operating systems (reference):

• Microsoft Windows 10 (in the current version)
• macOS Monterey (12.4) (in the current version)

Compatible operating systems: FirstSpirit is also operated successfully with other operating systems and operating system versions, e.g.:

• Microsoft Windows
• Ubuntu
• macOS

A detailed list of known compatible operating systems can be found here.

Not supported:

• Microsoft XP and older
• macOS El Capitan (10.11) and older
• Operating systems in the 32-bit version

Only operating systems in the 64-bit version are supported on the client side!

Note on the compatibility of FirstSpirit with Apple Silicon:
With the company's own M1 processor, Apple switches to an ARM architecture. Applications that were developed for an x86 architecture (such as FirstSpirit) can still be executed using the “Rosetta 2” emulation technology. It is important to note that the Intel x64 version of Java has to be used.
Crownpeak is currently not aware of any problems when using FirstSpirit with “Rosetta 2”. However, native support of the ARM architecture is currently not planned for FirstSpirit.

Hardware / Sizing

Installing and operating the FirstSpirit desktop applications does not result in any special requirements with regard to hardware dimensioning. If you need information about sizing in the case of special requirements, please contact us or your project manager directly.

Java

Start via FirstSpirit Launcher (reference): The FirstSpirit desktop apps (SiteArchitect, ServerManager) are started via the FirstSpirit Launcher. The FirstSpirit Launcher provides a continuously updated, extensively tested, and license-free Java Runtime Environment which is rolled out when the Launcher is installed. This allows SiteArchitect and ServerManager to be operated in a preconfigured environment which is independent of the Java version on the client computer – even if there is no Java version installed at all.

FirstSpirit web apps

For further information on technical requirements of the FirstSpirit ContentCreator, see also chapter ContentCreator configuration.

Browsers

The point of reference is always the latest version of the Chrome browser available on the operating system in question.
Browsers that are similar to Chrome (such as Apple Safari) are also supported and tested, but functionality may be restricted (e.g., limited SVG support).

Recommended browsers (reference):

• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge *
• Mozilla Firefox

Compatible browsers: The FirstSpirit web apps are also operated successfully with other browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari **

* Reference only for FragmentCreator and ContentCreator

** FirstSpirit is fundamentally compatible with Apple Safari; however, the way in which the browser is implemented may cause restrictions in functionality which cannot be bypassed by programming (e.g., limited SVG support).

A detailed list of known compatible browsers can be found here.

Not supported:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Other web browsers, e.g., Opera

Hardware

Operating the FirstSpirit web apps does not result in any special requirements with regard to hardware dimensioning.

Servlet engine / Application server

The following application servers are supported for live use of FirstSpirit:

Recommended application servers (reference):

• Apache HTTP Server 2.4
• Apache Tomcat 9.0.31 or higher

Compatible application servers: FirstSpirit is also operated successfully by customers and partners with other application servers in different versions:

• Apache HTTP Server
• Apache Tomcat
• Microsoft Internet Information Server
• WebSphere Application Server *

* The support of WebSphere Application Server will be discontinued in the future.

A detailed list of known compatible application servers can be found here.

A servlet engine integrating version 3.0 of the servlet API is required in order to use the FirstSpirit web applications.

At the current time FirstSpirit is incompatible with Tomcat 10. Using a Tomcat version higher than 9.0 is also not recommended. Reason: Due to the change from Java EE to Jakarta EE and the associated change of the namespace (package) in Tomcat 10, extensive adjustments to the FirstSpirit web applications are required.

Not supported:

• Apache Tomcat > 9.0
• Apache Tomcat < 8.5
• WebSphere Application Server < 8.5
• JBoss Application Server 5

Databases

External database systems can be connected with FirstSpirit via JDBC (see Database connection).
The following database systems are supported for live use of FirstSpirit:

Recommended database systems:

• IBM DB2 10.5
• MariaDB 10.1.23
• MySQL 5.5.23
• Microsoft SQL Server 2016 | 2014 (only for Windows Server)
• Oracle 19.7.0.0
• PostgreSQL 11 (reference)

The integrated Apache Derby database is not suitable for live operation and should only be used for tests.

Compatible database systems: FirstSpirit is also operated successfully with other databases in different versions, e.g.:

• IBM DB2
• MariaDB
• MySQL
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL

A detailed list of known compatible database systems can be found here.

Not supported:

• IBM DB2 <= 9.4