Installation

This guide walks through installing VIN on Windows or Linux, activating a license, and verifying the console is healthy. VIN ships as native installers; download links on your dashboard are gated by your license and expire shortly after they are generated.

Before you start

1. Portal account — Sign up at /signup and open your dashboard.
2. License — Activate free Community (6 months) or wait for a Professional / Enterprise key after requesting a quote. The signed key appears on the dashboard.
3. Host — A dedicated VM or bare-metal host is recommended for production.
4. Outbound network — Licensing is online-only. The install must reach the vendor portal to validate seats, machines, and revocation. See Licensing.
5. Ports — Allow inbound HTTPS (or HTTP on lab installs) to the VIN console from your operators’ networks. Exact ports depend on the package defaults; confirm in the installer summary or service unit after install.

Recommended host sizing (starting point)

Increase disk if you retain long audit history, report artifacts, or large script logs.

Windows

Steps

1. On the dashboard, download the Windows installer (.exe or .msi) for your edition.
2. Run the installer as a user with permission to install Windows Services.
3. Accept the install path (default is fine for most sites).
4. Finish the wizard — VIN registers as a Windows Service and starts automatically.
5. Open the console URL shown at the end of setup (typically https://localhost or the host name you configured).
6. Sign in with the bootstrap admin (or complete first-run setup if prompted).
7. Go to License, paste your portal license key, and save.
8. Confirm the License screen shows your edition, seats, and a successful online validation.

Service control

• Start / stop / restart VIN from Services (services.msc) or PowerShell (Get-Service, Restart-Service).
• Logs live under the install directory’s logs folder (and Windows Event Log for service lifecycle events).

Firewall

Allow inbound traffic on the console port for operator workstations. If the host cannot reach the portal outbound (HTTPS), activation and ongoing validation will fail.

Linux

Choose the package that matches your distribution:

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

# Replace with the exact filename from your dashboard download
sudo dpkg -i vin_*.deb
# If dependencies are missing:
sudo apt-get install -f -y

RHEL-family (.rpm)

sudo rpm -Uvh vin-*.rpm
# or
sudo dnf install ./vin-*.rpm

Portable archive (.tar.gz)

tar -xzf vin-*.tar.gz
cd vin-*
sudo ./install.sh   # registers systemd unit when supported

After package install

1. Confirm the service is active:

   sudo systemctl status vin
   sudo systemctl enable --now vin
   

2. Open the console in a browser (https://<host> or the URL printed by the installer).

3. Complete first-run admin setup if shown.

4. Open License, paste the key from the portal dashboard, and save.

5. Verify online validation succeeds (edition, seats, environments, machine limits).

Logs and config

• systemd: journalctl -u vin -f
• Application logs: typically under /var/log/vin or the install prefix’s logs/ directory
• Configuration and data: under the install prefix / config/ (paths vary by package — see the installer README printed on first start)

Connectivity & licensing (all platforms)

Licensing is online-only for every deployment, including air-gapped-looking on-prem sites: the VIN process must reach the vendor portal to validate its license.

• Container images can still be side-loaded from a docker save / offline bundle for restricted registries, but outbound reachability to the portal remains required.
• Seat, environment, and machine limits are enforced from your portal entitlement.

Full model: Licensing.

First checks after activation

1. Dashboard loads and shows inventory / status widgets for your edition.
2. Users — invite teammates and assign roles (do not share the bootstrap admin).
3. Inventory / SSH — add a lab host and confirm agentless connectivity.
4. Security / Monitoring (Community+) — run a scan or pull host metrics once.
5. Cloud Hub / Kubernetes / FinOps (Professional+) — connect credentials only after vault and environment scoping are understood.

Updates

Updates are manual and controlled — VIN never auto-updates.

1. Your portal dashboard surfaces when a newer version is available.
2. Download the matching Windows or Linux package for your edition.
3. Schedule a maintenance window; stop the service if your runbook requires it.
4. Run the new installer / package upgrade over the existing install.
5. Start the service; data migrations run automatically on upgrade.
6. Re-check License validation and smoke-test Dashboard, Inventory, and one write path (e.g. a script dry-run).

Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Contact support via your portal organization or the contact / demo form for paid editions.