Installation Directory
The installation directory is the directory in which an InterSystems IRIS instance is installed. In general, this directory should be empty before installation. Throughout the documentation, this is referred to as install-dir. Once InterSystems IRIS is installed, it is impossible to change the installation directory.
There are several restrictions to what you can specify as the install-dir. The directory must be a fully resolved physical path, containing no symbolic links. The name of the directory can only use characters in the US ASCII character set, and cannot contain a caret (^). Also, InterSystems IRIS cannot be installed into a directory that is:
-
a UNC (non-local) path.
-
at the root level of a drive (such as C:\).
-
anywhere under the \Program Files directory.
If unspecified during installation, install-dir uses a default value. This default varies by platform, installation type, and user choice, as shown in the following table:
|
Platform |
Installation Type |
Default Directory |
|---|---|---|
|
Windows |
attended | C:\InterSystems\Iris (or IrisN when multiple instances exist), unless installing user specifies otherwise. |
| unattended | C:\InterSystems\Iris (or IrisN when multiple instances exist), unless INSTALLDIR property specifies otherwise. | |
|
UNIX®, Linux, macOS |
attended | No default; installing user must specify.
Do not choose the /home directory, any of its subdirectories, or the /usr/local/etc/irissys directory. |
| unattended | No default; ISC_PACKAGE_INSTALLDIR parameter required. |
Reusing Installation Files
In general, you should install InterSystems IRIS to an empty directory. If you specify a non-empty directory (for example, the directory of a different, previously uninstalled instance), your new installation of InterSystems IRIS automatically reuses any relevant files, like iris.cpf and your license file. While this can be useful for certain use cases like configuring failover clusters, this can cause issues if these files are invalid or incompatible with your new installation. For example, installation will fail if the license is expired, and your instance will not start if there are invalid configuration parameters in iris.cpf.
