Requirements
Area |
Requirements |
Operating
System |
- Windows 7
- Windows 7 Embedded Standard
- Windows Server 2008
|
Processor |
Intel® Pentium® IV, 2GHz or faster processor (or equivalent) |
Memory
Requirements |
2GB of RAM or higher |
Installation
Footprint |
Approximately 100 MB |
Database |
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 or higher |
Web
Server Technology |
IIS Server 7.0 or higher |
Logical ports used by application |
- 80: To send request to Standard Service from other machines.
- 8523: To access FbF bioServer’s WCF based web service.
- 8534: To access FbF bioServer’s Web Service.
|
The FbF bioServer is a high-speed, high-volume biometric transaction-processing
engine with an objective of eliminating the time and cost required to develop
and integrate a scalable biometric matching server.
The bioServer is designed to support scalable deployments
ranging from a single PC-class computer to hundreds of servers distributed
across a wide area network. With a
common strategy across such a large variance in operating capacity, the
bioServer is able to more effectively serve as a universal model for processing
biometric requests in both small scale and nation scale solutions. Further, this scalability will allow the
bioServer to more effectively be deployed in remote and distributed processing
scenarios where 1,000’s of local servers are required in the absence of
reliable network connectivity (e.g.
developing nations and military applications).
FbF bioServer is comprises of various components which are:
- FbF WCF Web
Service: FbF bioServer exposes its web service to receive
biometric-transaction calls from various clients. This web service sits on the
core component of FbF bioServer which is responsible for all the operations
done on FbF bioServer.
- FbF Web
Service (Standard Service): It is a
web service running on HTTP protocol provided by FbF bioServer for quick
integration of client applications with FbF bioServer.
- FbF Matching
Engine: This component is responsible for all the Identification and
Verification operations done on the FbF bioServer.
Figure 1, shows the different components of FbF bioServer and how
they are tied and communicate with each other. Figure also show how the client
application can communicate with bioServer as per their requirement on
different interfaces exposed to them.
(Figure 1)
Understanding bioServer Taxonomy
Taxonomy is basically process of identifying and dividing available resources
sharing similar properties into different groups. Taxonomy also allows defining
relationship schemes like parent-child hierarchy for parent groups and their
child groups (Ex. “Company” is a parent group which normally have different
departments like “Finance”, “Administration” and “Human Resource” as subgroups,
each of which can further have different “Team of workers” as third level
sub-groups under them)
Kingdom |
Phylum |
Class |
Order |
Family |
Genus |
Species |
78248 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
78248 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
FbF bioServer uses Taxonomy to classify the biometric data (Templates)
into different logical groups. Classification of data under different user
defined taxonomies makes it possible to dedicatedly run an instance of Matching
Server for a particular Taxonomy which is nothing but a set of Biometric data
(Templates). A FbF bioServer can have multiple instance of Matching
Server dedicatedly working on different taxonomy. (To know how to create
multiple instance of Matching Server, please refer to “Add\Edit a Matching
Server” section)
A matching server instance only operates on the Biometrics data registered
under the taxonomy it is running for (including its child groups). For example,
a fingerprint matching request sent to bioServer for Taxonomy
“78248:2:0:0:0:0:0:0” will be only matched against the data classified under the
given Taxonomy and its child group i.e. “78248:2:X:X:X:X:X” (where X could be
any number between 0 to 9) including Taxonomy “78248:2:1:0:0:0:0”
Some of the major advantages and features achieved by the
use of Taxonomy are:
- Biometric Data Isolation: Total Biometric data can be
divided under different Taxonomy groups which makes it possible to complete
isolate the biometrics of one group from others. To understand it
thoroughly, consider the case when the biometric data of 2 different
companies is stored on the same bioServer. By storing the Biometric data of
these 2 companies under 2 different taxonomies (Ex.
“78248:1:0:0:0:0:0:0” and “78248:2:0:0:0:0:0:0”), it is possible to
provide seamless isolation and privacy to each one of them from the other
during all the Biometric Processes like Enrollment, Generalization and
Matching.
- Load Distribution and Balancing: By dividing the
complete Biometric data logically under different taxonomies and running
multiple instances of matching servers (one instance per Taxonomy with
different configuration) the total operational load on a bioServer can
be divided and balanced easily.
Client - bioServer Communication Model
The following diagram demonstrates the sequence of communication across the
various FbF components and custom application components in case of FbF Basic
communication model.
Client Application imports the references of “FbF Standard Service”
(webservice interface exported by bioServer) and uses its APIs to send
different type of request to bioServer. In return, bioServer send the responses
back to the calling application in asynchronous call back events of the
corresponding APIs (if implemented by the calling application)
Client Applications only have to create request (using FbFHelpers wrapper
class) and send them to FbF bioServer and parse the response return to them
by the bioServer. This enables developers to rapidly develop biometric
applications without having any detailed knowledge of biometrics.
Downloads
Description |
Download |
FbF bioServer - Administration Guide (BSRVR20-AM01) |
PDF file (1,226 kB) |
FbF bioServer - Quick Start Guide (BSRVR20-QS01) |
PDF file (1,052 kB) |
FAQ
Q: What is FbF bioServer License?
A: FbF bioServer License is a combination of different sub-licenses which are
provided to you as per your requirements. Few of these sub-licenses are
mandatory to run the FbF bioServer and others are optional depending on what
Biometric modality you want to work on (Like Fingerprint, Face, Iris etc).
Following sub-licenses are possible in a FbF bioServer License:
- Fulcrum
Server (Mandatory)
- Fingerprint
Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you
want to perform fingerprint matching on FbF bioServer)
- Face
Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you
want to perform Face matching on FbF bioServer)
- Iris
Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you
want to perform Iris matching on FbF bioServer)
Q: What type
of network environment is required in order to connect to FbF bioServer? Can I
just use a household wireless environment?
A:
There is no special network requirement for connecting to FbF bioServer. You can
connect and communicate with FbF bioServer in “Large Scale Active Directory
Driven Environment” or even in a “House Hold Wireless Network”.
Q: What is
Taxonomy and how can I generate Taxonomy?
A:
Taxonomy is simply a Unique Identifier to segregate the biometric data into
different logical categories. You can generate taxonomy by yourself or call
Fulcrum Biometrics support executive for help. BioServer must have atleast one
taxonomy in order to function properly.
Q: Is it
possible to change License server details after bioServer installation?
A:
Yes, changing License server details is very easy using FbF bioServer
Administrator Utility. Follow below mentioned steps to change License server
details:
Run FbF bioServer Administrator Utility and go to “Server Configuration”
tab.Stop FbF bioServer using Stop button present on FbF bioServer Administrator
Utility.Change License server IP and port under the section “Server”.Click on
“Apply” button. If everything is correct then you will receive a success
message, else if any of the input provided is not correct then you’ll receive an
error message.
Q: What type
of installation media is available to install FbF bioServer?
A:
FbF bioServer is available in two different installation medias.
Standalone Installer - Self extracting executableWindows Embedded 7 Standard -
Preconfigured with FbF bioServer for "out of the box" experience.
Q: What is
FbF bioServer (WE7S)?
A:
FbF bioServer (WE7S) is a “customized” Windows Embedded 7 Standard (WE7S)
operating system with FbF bioServer preinstalled on it. We have customized
the Windows E7 Standard as per the requirement and packaged FbF bioServer with
that to give users an “Out Of Box Experience (OOBE)” when they install the
operating system on a computer.
Q: Do I need to have
any license to install FbF bioServer ( WE7S)?
A: Yes, in order to
install and run FbF bioServer ( WE7S), user needs to have 2 different
licenses.
-
Windows E7S Run Time
License: This license is pre-built into the FbF bioServer image provided to
you.
-
FbF bioServer License: This is an explicit license user need to have in order to run FbF
bioServer on any machine.
Q: What is FbF bioServer License?
A: FbF bioServer License is a combination of different sub-licenses which
are provided to you as per your requirements. Few of these sub-licenses are
mandatory to run the FbF bioServer and others are optional depending on what
Biometric modality you want to work on (Like Fingerprint, Face, Iris etc).
Following sub-licenses are possible in a FbF bioServer License:
-
Fulcrum Server (Mandatory)
-
Fingerprint Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform
fingerprint matching on FbF bioServer)
-
Face Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform Face
matching on FbF bioServer)
-
Iris Fast Matcher (Optional: Required if you want to perform Iris
matching on FbF bioServer)
Q: What does an FbF bioServer License looks like?
A: FbF bioServer License (applicable to other Fulcrum Licenses also) comes
in two forms to solve 2 most common scenarios.
-
Movable USB Dongle Based License: USB Dongle (License container) based
licenses are best suited for development environment because they are not
bound to any specific machine hardware. USB dongle (License Container) can
be plugged in to any machine and installed within a couple of minutes. When
the development is over, USB dongles can also be used in production
environment also.
-
Immovable File Based License: File (License container)
based licenses are hardware bound licenses. License file is generated
using a unique key which is generated on the target hardware. Files
based Licenses are best suited for Production environments (Server
Machines, Kiosks Client Machines)
Q: Can I install FbF bioServer WE7S on my development machine where I
have installed Visual Studio for developing client applications?
A: No. FbF bioServer WE7S is an operating system with trimmed
functionalities which would require a dedicated hardware. It can be installed on
any hardware having x86 or x64 architecture. In such scenarios you can use FbF
bioServer Standalone Installer.
Q: What is the recommended hardware configuration for host machine running FbF
bioServer WE7S?
A: FbF Server is highly scalable and flexible solution which makes it
capable of even running on “Atom” processor based net-books having very limited
processing power to a high end rack mounted servers with multi core processing
units. So the right answer to this question would be: “It depends on your
business requirements”
For Example:
-
If you are building a small scale attendance system for a specific group of
people or something similar to that, a medium desktop hardware (with C2D
processor, 4 GB RAM) would be suffice to run the FbF bioServer.
-
2. If you are targeting for a large scale solution, you should select a more
power hardware which can handle the expected processing load.
Below is the different Hardware Configuration required to install FbF
bioServer WE7S.
- Minimum Hardware Requirement:
- Intel Atom Processor
- 2 GB of RAM
- 100 GB of Hard Disk (More hard disk space may be required depending on
quantity of biometrics data)
- DVD ROM Drive or USB 2.0 Ports for installation. If you prefer to
perform the installation using a Universal Flash Drive (UFD), please
make sure that target hardware supports booting from USB ports.
- Recommended Hardware Configuration:
- Intel P4 Core 2 Duo Processor
- 4 GB of RAM
- 100 GB of Hard Disk (More hard disk space may be required depending on
quantity of biometrics data).
- DVD ROM Drive or USB 2.0 Ports for installation. If you prefer to
perform the installation using a Universal Flash Drive (UFD), please
make sure that target hardware supports booting from USB ports.
Q: I have downloaded FbF bioServer (WE7S) image and I have a machine
with the recommended hardware configuration. How should I proceed for
installation?
A: The image contains the content of a bootable DVD or UFD. Follow the steps
below in order to install and configure FbF bioServer WE7S on your target
hardware.
- Unzip the downloaded content and copy the same into a bootable DVD drive or a
Bootable UFD. (To learn how to create and boot your machine from a bootable UFD,
read the relevant FAQs)
- Insert the bootable DVD\UFD into the system and reboot the machine.
- If your system’s BIOS is configured to boot from DVD ROM\USB Stack,
system will automatically start booting from bootable media. To learn how to
configure the BIOS of your system to boot from bootable media like UFD,
please read the relevant FAQs.
- Follow the onscreen instruction during installation of FbF bioServer WE7S. Like:
- Accept EULA before stating the installation.
- Allows you to Partition, Format and choose the Drive Partition on
which you would like to install FbF bioServer WE7S.
- Time Zone and Language Settings to use after installation.
- Your system will reboot 2~3 times during the installation. It is
recommended to remove the bootable media (DVD \UFD) before the reboot
else system will boot from the bootable media again and the installation
will start from the beginning. If this happens, simply remove the
bootable media and reboot the system. Installation will automatically
continue from the point it was paused earlier.
- Certificate Installation: When the FbF bioServer WE7S installation
is complete, certificate installation is the one last step which needs to be
performed as a part of post installation process. This certificate is a
mandatory component of FbF bioServer and is completely machine dependent.
Hence, it needs to be installed explicitly after everything is installed on
the target machine. Follow the steps below in order to install the
certificate on your FbF bioServer Machine:
- Login to an Administrative Windows Account on FbF bioServer Machine.
- Reach to the pre-installed FbF bioServer directory on the path
“<Root Drive Letter>:\Program Files\Fulcrum Biometrics\FbF
bioServer\Certification”.
- Run the SelfCert.exe with elevated privileges. To do this, right
click on “SelfCert.exe” and click “Run as Administrator” option.
- This action will execute a small program which will generate and
install license on your machine. Depending on hardware, License
generation may take a couple of minutes. Let the process complete.
- When the certificate will be installed successfully, you will
receive a notification message for the same and also a request to reboot
the machine.
- Reboot the machine to finalize the installation and configuration of
FbF bioServer.
Q: I have completed the FbF Server WE7S installation but Login prompt
won’t let me log in to Windows? I do not have the password to login.
A: FbF bioServer WE7S Contains Windows Embedded 7 operating system along
with pre-configured FbF bioServer 2.0 on it which runs under the pre configured
administrative user called “FbF bioServer”. Please contact an authorized
representative of Fulcrum Biometrics about your situation. We will help you out
with everything you need.
 |
Making any kind of changes to operating system,
configuration or programs installed on it is not encouraged without
consulting Authorized Representative of Fulcrum Biometrics. |
Q: I have completed the installation of FbF Server WE7S, how can I
connect server machine to my Local Area Network?
A: FbF bioServer WE7S is preconfigured to connect to join the available
network (wired or wireless, whichever is available) and acquire the IP address
from DHCP. Follow the steps below to connect FbF bioServer Machine to the LAN.
-
Wired Network:
- Connect the Ethernet cable to the LAN network adaptor (RJ45
connector) of FbF bioServer Machine. Make sure that the Ethernet
cable has a sound connectivity to the network backbone on the other
end.
- FbF bioServer will automatically acquire the IP address from the
LAN’s DHCP server. You can consult your network administrator to
know the IP Address assigned to FbF bioServer Machine (Machine name
is FBFBIOSERVER-PC). Alternatively, you can ping the FbF bioServer
machine name which will reveal the IP Address acquired by the
machine.
- If there is no DHCP Server is available on the LAN, FbF
bioServer will fail to acquire a valid IP Address. It is highly
recommended to consult an authorized representative of Fulcrum
Biometrics in this situation. Before making any changes to the
operating system. If you are an advance user, after consulting a
Fulcrum Biometrics Administrator, you can manually login to FBF
bioServer machine and set suitable static values for “IP Address”,
“Subnet Mask”, “Default Gateway” and “DNS Server”. To learn how to
login to a valid Windows account on FbF bioServer Machine, refer to
the relevant FAQs.
 |
FbF bioServer WE7S image comes with generic wired
Ethernet card driver which works with most of the wired
Ethernet adaptors. If in case the drivers for the
network adaptor are not installed, you will have to
install it manually by logging in to a valid windows
account on the FbF bioServer Machine. |
- Wireless Network:
- Make sure that wireless network you want FbF bioServer machine
connect to is up and broadcasting.
- Login to FbF bioServer’s Windows Maintenance Account and connect it
to the desired wireless network. You may have to provide wireless
network connection keys depending on security applied on your wireless
network.
- Make the FbF bioServer wireless network adaptor to remember the
wireless network with respective login credentials and configure the
adaptor to join the same wireless network every time.
- On successful connection, FbF bioServer will automatically acquire
the IP address from the wireless LAN’s DHCP server.
- If there is no DHCP Server available on the wireless LAN, FbF
bioServer will fail to acquire a valid IP Address. It is highly
recommended to consult an authorized representative of Fulcrum
Biometrics in this situation. Before making any changes to the operating
system. If you are an advance user, after consulting a Fulcrum
Biometrics Administrator, you can manually login to FBF bioServer
machine and set suitable static values for “IP Address”, “Subnet Mask”,
“Default Gateway” and “DNS Server”.
 |
To learn how to login to a valid Windows account on FbF
bioServer Machine, refer to the relevant FAQs. |
 |
FbF bioServer WE7S image comes with generic Ethernet card
driver which works with most of the wired Ethernet adaptors. If in
case the driver for the network adaptor is not installed, you will
have to install it manually by logging in to a valid windows account
on the FbF bioServer Machine. |
Q: My FbF bioServer WE7S is connected to the LAN, how can I remotely
connect to it using Windows Remote Desktop Connection (RDP)?
A: FbF bioServer operating system is preconfigured to accept Remote Desktop
Connections from other machine in the same Local Area Network on port number
“33891”. You should consult a authorized representative of Fulcrum Biometrics to
get Windows Maintenance Account’s User Name and Password.
-
If you know the IP Address of FbF bioServer Machine: Open the Windows RDP
tool on your machine and use “<FbF bioServer IP Address>:33891” to connect
to FbF bioServer.
-
If you do not know the IP Address of the bioServer Machine: Open the Windows
RDP tool on your machine and use “FBFBIOSERVER-PC:33891” to connect to FbF
bioServer.
Q: Can I install different third party software that I need on FBF bioServer
Machine? Or can I use the IIS installed on FbF bioServer Machine to host other
items?
A: The operating system and other supporting software installed on FbF bioServer WE7S machine are specially tuned to specific settings to achieve high
performance along with maximum stability. And in order to maintain the same, it
is highly recommended and encouraged running FbF bioServer in a controlled
environment on a dedicated machine. Installation of any third party software or
any kind of modification in the operating system may impact performance of FbF
bioServer.
Q: What type of network environment is required in order to connect to FbF
bioServer ? Can I just use a household wireless environment?
A: There is no special network requirement for connecting to FbF bioServer. You
can connect and communicate with FbF bioServer in “Large Scale Active Directory
Driven Environment” or even in a “House Hold Wireless Network”.
Q: Does the Windows Embedded Standard 7 "Build an Image" option replace my
existing Windows OS or add the new OS and allow running both?
A: Installation of FbF bioServer WE7S requires a separate hard drive
partition for installation. All the content on the select partition are erased
in the early stages of installation. Hence, it is highly recommended to take the
backup of all the valuable information on the target partition before proceeding
for the installation process.
The correct way to install FbF bioServer WE7S is to boot the machine with
an FbF bioServer bootable DVD\UFD and follow the on screen instructions to
complete installation.
Yes, you can install multiple operating systems along with FbF bioServer on
different partitions of a hard drive of your system with a limitation that you
would be able to boot into and run only one operating system at a time.
Q: I have installed FbF bioServer as instructed on a standalone machine and
connected it to LAN. Is there any post installation configuration required in
order to bring the FbF bioServer up in running state?
A: Yes, a machine specific certificate needs to be installed on the machine as a
part of post installation configuration. This certificate is a mandatory
component of FbF bioServer and is completely machine dependent. Hence, it needs
to be installed explicitly after everything is installed on the target machine.
Follow the steps below in order to install the certificate on your FbF bioServer
Machine:
Please contact an authorized representative of Fulcrum Biometrics and he will
assist you with the situation.