CostX 7.

2 Network Configuration Upgrade

CostX 7.2 Network Configuration Upgrade

The instructions for downloading and upgrading CostX® in a Network Configuration are provided
below. Please note that these instructions are for upgrades from a previous version and are different
to the instructions for new installations.

In a network configuration, it is important to upgrade components of the system in the correct order.
This will minimise downtime and prevent licence errors. It is recommended that the entire process
below is reviewed before starting. This will allow any potential issues with the required steps to be
identified and resolved before the upgrade takes place.

To get started with your upgrade of CostX® in a Network Configuration, follow these basic steps:
1. Read IMPORTANT NOTES below.
2. Upgrade CostX® Server on your server.
3. Renew the licence(s) in CostX® Server Admin.
4. Upgrade the CostX® Clients on the users’computers.
5. OPTIONAL: Upgrade CostXL on the users’computers.

IMPORTANT NOTES
· CostX Server, CostX Server Admin, and CostX Client are all 64-bit applications and therefore
require a 64-bit version of the Windows operating system.

NOTE: CostXL is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. However, it only supports
opening drawings in the 64-bit version. If you need to open drawings from CostXL, please
ensure you have updated to 64-bit Excel.

· Check that your license is suitable for an upgrade. Purchased licenses under maintenance can
be upgraded. Licenses not under maintenance cannot be used with a different version of the
product to their original version. Contact your supplier or RIB CostX support for further
information.

· Ensure you are connected to the internet as the license will need to be renewed to verify the
existing license can be used with the new version. License renewal occurs automatically
when the new version of CostX® is run for the first time.

· Ensure your computer meets the CostX® Server System Requirements.

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Upgrading from version 7.1 or older:

· Restoring from a backup now must be done in the version the backup was created. In other
words, it's not possible to use version 7.2 to restore a backup file from an older version of
CostX. If you need to recover data from a backup, please restore the backup first before
upgrading to 7.2.

· Upgrading CostX Client to 7.2 requires restarting some of the Windows services for CostX.
Administrator permissions are required to restart services. If you do not have access to an
account with Administrator permissions, please contact your IT administrator for assistance.

· CostX 7.2 includes a new sign-in system. Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is required for
the new sign-in system to work. You will need to download and install WebView2 if it is not
already installed on your computer. For details, refer to the CostX and CostX Server System
Requirements.

· With the introduction of the new sign-in system, all CostXL users are required to re-
authenticate after upgrading to 7.2.

· The previous CostX Server Auth service has been removed, and the CostX Server Core service
now manages both the CostX Auth Server and CostX Core Server processes. The settings files
for the previous CostX Server Auth service have been moved from "C:\Program
Files\Exactal\CostXSvr\Auth" to "C:\Program Files\Exactal\CostXSvr\Identity". Similar
changes have also been implemented to the CostX Auth and CostX Core services.

· Accessing drawings stored in Box directly from within CostX is no longer supported.

Upgrading from version 7.0 or older:

· CostX 7.1 includes an updated version of the underlying PostgreSQL database (PostgreSQL 14).
Due to the PostgreSQL update:

o It is not possible to directly upgrade to CostX or CostX Server 7.1 from a version older than
6.9. If you are running version 6.8 or earlier, you must upgrade to version 6.9 or 7.0 first
before upgrading to 7.1. This limitation does not apply to CostX Viewer and CostXL.
o EXF files that were created in a version earlier than CostX 6.0 cannot be imported directly
into CostX 7.1. To import a pre-6.0 EXF file, you must first upgrade the file to version 6.x or
7.0 before importing the file. For detailed steps on how to do this, refer to the Importing
CostX Data topic in CostX Help.

· When upgrading to CostX Server 7.1, the upgrade process will automatically create a Zip
backup of the database before performing the upgrade. If the upgrade fails, you can use the
Zip backup to roll back CostX Server to the previous version you were using. For detailed
instructions on how to roll back a failed upgrade, refer to the Recover from a Failed Upgrade
section in the CostX Server Database Backup and Recovery document.

· To improve the security of CostX user accounts, we recommend that CostX System
Administrators implement a strong password policy which includes:

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o A password blacklist to prevent users from choosing commonly used passwords; and

o Password complexity requirements which mandate that the password contains at least 12
characters including at least an upper-case letter, a lower-case letter, a digit, and a symbol
(such as @#$%^&*!).

After upgrading to version 7.1, if the CostX Server password policy is weaker than
recommended, System Administrators will be prompted to review the password policy the
first time they log in to CostX Server Admin. Please review the settings carefully and update
as necessary. For more details, refer to CostX 7.1 Release Notes.

· For additional security, connections between CostX Clients and the CostX Server Auth and
CostX Server Core services are now encrypted by default, in addition to the encryption
already in place for database and server connections. If you are using a proxy server to route
traffic between CostX Clients and the server, the proxy server must be configured to tunnel
SSL traffic on ports 17001, 17002, 17012 & 17022 to prevent the proxy from interfering with the
communication.

Upgrading from version 6.9 or older:

· In CostX 7.0, there are several changes to the supported versions of the Windows operating
system, including removal of support for some older versions. Please review the CostX and
CostX Server System Requirements for full details.

· Supported RVT file versions have changed. Previously CostX supported RVT files from Revit
versions 2011 to 2020. In CostX 7.0, RVT files from Revit 2015 to 2022 are supported. Existing
drawings that use Revit versions prior to Revit 2015 will still continue to load.

Please note that native RVT files require significant computer resources and can take some
time to load. Load times can typically be reduced by ensuring the RVT file is in Revit 2022
format, and ensuring you have a high performance CPU and sufficient RAM (see System
Requirements). It is also possible to load Revit models in CostX® by exporting to other
supported formats such as IFC or DWF, which generally require significantly less resources
than the native RVT format.

· In version 7.0, there is a change to how compatibility works with revisions of CostX. In the
past, it was possible to use different revisions of the client and server together. From 7.0
onwards, the client and server must use the same revision. Customers will still be able to
share data with others using different revisions of 7.0.

· If any Code Library in your database contains Codes with a blank Code field and duplicate
Description fields (ignoring case), the upgrade process will automatically set the Code field to
"FIXME_<number>". After the upgrade, please check your Code Libraries for these entries and
update the Codes if needed.

· This release should fix issues that required setting the registry key
DisableOtherServiceStartup in CostX 6.9. If you still experience problems after the
upgrade, set this registry value to 2 instead of 1. Also please inform the support team so that
we can resolve any remaining issues.

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Upgrading from version 6.8 or older:

· CostX 6.9 includes an updated version of the underlying PostgreSQL database (PostgreSQL 10).
The CostX® Server installer automatically handles the database upgrade without the need for
any manual steps to be performed, however this does increase the time required for the
installation to complete compared to previous versions.

· Along with an updated version of the underlying database, CostX 6.9 includes an updated
database schema, and this has increased the disk space requirements. The database size will
be larger than the previous version, however how much larger it will be varies significantly
depending on the amounts of different types of data contained in the database. In testing,
the size increases were between 1.1x and 1.3x larger, with the most common increase being
about 1.2x larger. Please ensure you have adequate disk space before upgrading.

· After installing CostX 6.9, it may take some time to complete the database upgrade if you
have a lot of data in your database, particularly if you have many buildings. It is not possible
to give a specific time for the upgrade as there are many factors involved, including the
hardware and disk latency as well as the old version and amount of data. In testing we have
found that on average hardware, with 2000 buildings in the database, it can take up to 1 hour
to upgrade. Most databases will have less than 2000 buildings, but if there are more buildings
in the database, this time would increase. On the other hand, with better hardware such as
SSD the upgrade time would be significantly reduced. If the total upgrade time is a concern,
the following suggestions may help:

o To reduce the time the upgrade process will take, it is possible to archive buildings from
the database to EXF files prior to upgrade.
o Run a test upgrade on a similar spare computer to determine how long the upgrade will
take in order to properly plan for the real upgrade.
o For upgrades from very old versions, use a staged upgrade approach if possible, so that
the upgrade to CostX 6.9 is done using CostX 6.8 as the starting point. This will avoid the
extra time required to upgrade from an older version to 6.8.
o To minimize any inconvenience, it is recommended that the upgrade is started after
hours.

· CostX export files (.EXF) files will increase in size in a similar way to the Database. Smaller
EXFs will increase by a larger percentage when upgraded as a fixed amount of extra space is
needed for all EXFs which is more significant for smaller EXFs. This also applies to CostX
backup files (.EBK), and database transfer files (.DBTF).

· CostX 6.9 includes an updated underlying architecture that introduces CostX Server Core and
CostX Server Auth components which run as Windows services. CostX also has equivalent
CostX Core and CostX Auth components. As part of the architectural changes, the option to
use Server Processing, which allows you to specify that certain data intensive tasks are run on
the server, has been removed. Some of the tasks that were previously run using optional
server processing are now always processed on the server by the CostX Server Core service,
resulting in performance improvements. In coming versions, more processing will be done on
the server where appropriate, in order to provide further performance gains.

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CostX 7.2 Network Configuration Upgrade

· The database user 'costxexternal' which is provided to allow external database access now
has additional permissions to access the PostgreSQL tables for external database statistics and
performance monitoring. If required, to provide or remove access, the password for the
costxexternal user can be changed in CostX Server Admin under CostX Settings.

· The following additional TCP ports are used by CostX Server 6.9 (in addition to the existing
ports 17001 and 17002). Ensure that the new ports 17012 and 17022 are not being used by
other applications. Also, ensure these ports are not blocked inbound by any firewall or anti-
virus software.

Port Number Purpose

17012 The CostX Server Core service listens for HTTP connections on this port.
17022 The CostX Server Auth service listens for HTTP connections on this port.

IMPORTANT: Communications between CostX Client and CostX Server should not be exposed
to the internet or outside a secure LAN environment without using a VPN or other encrypted
tunnel.

Upgrading from version 6.7 or older:

· CostX Server Admin is included with the CostX Server installation and is also available as a
separate installer to allow remote management from another computer. From CostX 6.8
onwards, only 64-bit versions of Windows are supported for the separate CostX Server Admin
installer.

· Sketchup no longer supports 32-bit and therefore SKP files are now only supported in 64-bit
versions of CostX®. If you use a 32-bit version of Windows and need to work with SKP files, do
not upgrade to CostX 6.8 as these files cannot be loaded in the 32-bit CostX version.

· In CostX 6.8, the underlying reporting engine for Custom and Standard Reports was changed
to a newer version. Thorough testing has been conducted to ensure existing reports still
output in the same way as previous versions, however it is possible that in some rare cases
reports may have changed slightly. After upgrade, please check your reports are displaying as
desired.

· The system requirements have changed in CostX 6.8. Please review the CostX® and CostX®
Server System Requirements documents for full details, and take note of the following in
particular:
o Several changes to the supported versions of the Windows operating system including
removal of support for some older versions, and requirement to update to the latest
service pack for more recent versions. To ensure compatibility and security, it is
recommended that customers upgrade to the latest Windows Service Pack and all
Windows Updates are installed.
o The required runtime libraries have changed. Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable
Update 3 64-bit runtime libraries are now required for both CostX® and CostX® Server. To
load CPI drawings (.CPIXML files) (supported in the 64-bit version of CostX® only),
Microsoft .Net Framework 4.5 is also required.
o The minimum and recommended RAM for CostX® Server has increased.
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Upgrading from version 6.6 or older:

· CostX 6.7 supports password management features including minimum length, required
characters, password blacklist and password expiry. These features can be enabled by the
administrator in CostX Server Admin. For further information, please refer to the CostX Help
or CostX 6.7 Release Notes.

· CostX 6.7 provides native support for cloud storage of drawing files. To use this feature,
Internet access and an account with the chosen storage provider are required. Also, the local
drawing cache is now always enabled in order to support file downloads from cloud storage
providers. If disk space is a concern, the maximum size of the drawing cache can be reduced in
CostX Options.

Upgrading from version 6.5 or older:

· CostX 6.6 supports converting a Standard Report to a Custom Report. As part of the change to
support this, the underlying reporting engine for Standard Reports was changed to use the
same engine as Custom Reports and it is possible that in some rare cases, reports may have
changed slightly. After upgrade, please check your Standard Reports are displaying as desired.

· CostX 6.6 includes additional functions in custom reports. If you have a custom report created
with a prior version of CostX, you may encounter an error running reports that define
identifiers in the report scripts with the same name. Please refer to the CostX 6.6 Release
Notes for further details.

· CostX 6.5 R1 fixed an issue that could cause the count value of length dimensions to be
incorrectly updated after the length dimension was changed on the drawing. During the
upgrade, the upgrade program will check if any old dimensions are still affected by this issue.
If a Building contains affected dimensions it will be flagged as needing recalculation, and
when the user opens the Building, CostX will prompt whether to recalculate.

Upgrading from version 6.0 or older:

· As part of the change to support formulas in Dimension Groups, existing dimensions in the
database need to be upgraded. For customers with significant amounts of dimension data it is
likely to take a number of hours. It is recommended that the upgrade is started at the end of
the day and allowed to complete overnight.

· CostX now supports multiple drawing and workbook tabs. Opening multiple drawings at the
same time will use more memory and depending on the size of the drawings it is possible to
reach memory limitations on lower spec computers, which will impact performance. In this
case it is recommended that the Max. Open Drawings setting is reduced from the default
value of 4 to 1, or that more memory is added to the computer.

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Upgrading from version 5.0 or older:

· In version 6.0, the underlying database was changed to “PostgreSQL”, a highly respected,
mature and reliable database which provides higher performance, and faster speeds
particularly with large datasets and across the network. Therefore this is a major database
upgrade and will take some time. For most customers with significant amounts of historical
data it is likely to take a number of hours. It is recommended that the upgrade is started at the
end of the day and allowed to complete overnight.

· In version 6.0, the new PostgreSQL database may take more space on disk after upgrade.
Testing showed that the amount of required disk space varied and in some cases the space
needed was reduced depending on the contents of the old database as well as how long since
the old database was compacted. In the cases where it increased, the amount of space
needed was up to twice as much as was needed in version 5.0. Please ensure you have
adequate disk space before upgrading.

· In older versions of CostX, direct database connections were supported for the extraction of
data from CostX Server. From CostX 6.0, direct database connections are no longer supported.
Instead, the solution for any customer wishing to interface with other systems is CostX API.
Do not proceed with this upgrade if you have not transitioned from using a direct database
connection to using CostX API.

· As part of the CostX API enhancements in 6.0, there are some minor interface changes. Please
review the CostX API guide for details.

· If you have any custom reports which use the 'costxexternal' database user, please contact RIB
CostX support via our Support Portal for advice on upgrading.

· The database is no longer a single file, and the default locations of the database and backup
files have changed. If you have any automated scripts for backing up CostX® Server databases,
please review the CostX® Server Database Backup and Recovery Guide to ensure your
automated processes are not affected.

· The change to PostgreSQL also means that the CostX Client has a local database service
installed. If the client computers have a local firewall installed, please ensure connections are
not blocked from localhost on port 17005.

· In previous versions, the CostX, CostXL, CostX Viewer and CostX Server Admin installers were
provided in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. From 6.0 onwards, each installer is provided as a single
unified 32-bit / 64-bit installer which will automatically install the 32-bit files on a 32-bit
computer and the 64-bit files on a 64-bit computer, or in the case of CostXL it will match the
architecture of Excel. As in previous versions, CostX Server is only available in 64-bit.

· The process for transferring CostX® from one computer to another has been significantly
simplified. Please contact support for details prior to transferring CostX® to another
computer.

· Depending on the version you are upgrading from, the CostX® Server system requirements
may have changed.

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Upgrading from version 4.1 or older:

· Versions of CostX® prior to 5.0 used OpenGL 1.1 for rendering the drawings to the screen. In
CostX® 5.0 and above, to provide better performance, OpenGL 2.0 or Direct3D 9.0c are used
for hardware rendering and therefore a video graphics card that supports OpenGL 2.0 or
Direct3D 9.0c with up-to-date drivers is required. Please ensure your graphics card and drivers
are suitable before proceeding with the upgrade.

· If you are using centralized licensing, please note that there are two important changes in
versions 5.0 and above:
1. The existing restriction that all clients and servers including the licensing server must be
in the same country has now been removed. This now allows sharing of licenses across
countries where the time (see below) is the same.
2. The existing restriction that all clients and servers including the licensing server must be
within a 1 hour time zone range is now extended to 2 hours and is properly enforced.
Therefore, all clients and servers including the licensing server must be within a 2 hour
time zone range.

Upgrading from version 3.51 or older:

· The key change is that only 64-bit versions of Windows are supported for CostX® Server.
Please review the CostX® Server system requirements document for further details. If your
server is not 64-bit, DO NOT proceed with this upgrade.

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Upgrade CostX® Server on Your Server

Before Upgrade
a. Ensure your server meets the CostX® Server System Requirements.
b. Ensure you are an administrator of the server (your account is part of the Administrators
group on the server).
c. Check that your licence is suitable for an upgrade. Purchased licences under maintenance can
be upgraded. Licences not under maintenance cannot be used with a different version of the
product to their original version. Contact your supplier or RIB CostX support for further
information.
d. Ensure you are connected to the internet as the licence will need to be renewed using CostX®
Server Admin to verify the existing licence can be used with the new version.
e. Click the following link to access the CostX® Server 7.2 download:
https://techweb.rib-international.com/downloads/fetch.php?download=174
f. Download the CostX® Server 7.2 installer (CostX_Server_7.2_x64_en_install.exe).
g. Ensure all users are logged off from the CostX® Server, and back up your data.

TIP: If you are unsure about how to back up your CostX data, please refer to the CostX Server
Database Backup and Recovery documentation included in the doc folder under the CostX Server
installation folder.

Running the Upgrade

a. Once downloaded, run CostX_Server_7.2_x64_en_install.exe to start the CostX® Server
installation.
b. The Welcome Screen will be displayed, informing you that CostX® Server will be installed.
Click Next to continue the installation and follow the prompts.
c. At the end of the installation, the CostX® Server Upgrade Utility is launched and immediately
checks whether an upgrade is required. If so, it backs up the existing database and starts the
upgrade process.
NOTE: The upgrade to CostX Server 7.2 may take some time depending on the amount of data
in your database and the speed of your computer, in particular the speed of your disk drive.
During upgrade, the progress bar provides an estimate of the percentage complete of the
current section of the upgrade. The progress bar may stay at the same % complete for periods
of time, even though the upgrade is progressing. As there are a number of sections in the
upgrade, the progress bar will reset to 0% several times during upgrade as the new section is
started. If any upgrade errors occur, the upgrade is stopped and the errors are displayed in the
upgrade log. Take a note of the error log and contact your supplier or RIB CostX support for
assistance.
d. When the upgrade is complete, CostX® Server is automatically restarted.

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CostX 7.2 Network Configuration Upgrade

Renew the Licences Using the CostX® Server Admin Program

Licences must be renewed before they can be used with the new version of CostX®. Licence renewal
involves verification of the serial numbers by an online server over the internet to ensure they are
valid for the new version. Please ensure you have a working internet connection before continuing
with the activation.
CostX® Server Admin is used to administer the licences and users in the CostX® Server. If it does not
automatically start after the installation, double click the CostX® Server Admin icon on the desktop.

a. Once CostX® Server Admin has started, it will prompt for the name of the server. Enter the
DNS hostname of CostX® Server in the Server field and click OK.
b. The sign-in screen will be displayed. Sign in with your CostX administrator account.
c. After signing in, click the Licenses icon on the left to view the licences list.
d. Select each licence and click Renew on the right to renew your licences.

Upgrade the CostX® Clients on the Users’Computers

a. Ensure your client computers meet the CostX® Client System Requirements.
b. The CostX® 7.2 installer (CostX_7.2_x64_en_install.exe) is available for download using the
following link:
https://techweb.rib-international.com/downloads/fetch.php?download=173
c. Your browser may ask if you want to Open, Save or Cancel. Click Save and choose a location
such as a network drive so you can access the installer from all of your computers.
Alternatively, you can copy the installers to a USB flash drive so you can take it to each
computer to install.
d. Wait for the download to complete, then double-click on the installation file
(CostX_7.2_x64_en_install.exe) to start the CostX® Client installation.
e. The Welcome Screen will be displayed, informing you that CostX® will be installed. Click Next
to continue the installation and follow the prompts.
f. Check that you can successfully login to CostX® Server with CostX® 7.2.
g. Spend some time to check that the upgrade has converted your data correctly. Finding an
issue with data conversion immediately will allow it to be resolved in far less time.

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OPTIONAL: Upgrade CostXL on the Users’Computers.

NOTE: This section only applies if you have separately purchased CostXL (Excel Add-in).

a. Ensure your client computers meet the CostXL System Requirements (included at the back of
the CostX Client System Requirements).
b. CostXL 7.2 includes support for both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions of Excel in the one
installer. Download CostXL 7.2 (CostXL_7.2_en_install.exe) using the following link:
https://techweb.rib-international.com/downloads/fetch.php?download=176
c. Your browser may ask if you want to Open, Save or Cancel. Click Save and choose a location
such as a network drive so you can access the installer from all of your computers.
Alternatively, you can copy the installers to a USB flash drive so you can take it to each
computer to install.
d. Wait for the download to complete, then double-click on the installation file
(CostXL_7.2_en_install.exe) to start the CostXL installation.
e. The Welcome Screen will be displayed, informing you that CostXL will be installed. Click Next
to continue the installation and follow the prompts.

Restricted - Not to be reproduced without the express written authority of RIB Technologies Pty Ltd

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