Setup

This section covers the installation and setup required for PacketQC.

1. On-Premises Installation on a Single Device

This deployment is designed for an on-premises environment where all application components are hosted on a single Windows or Linux device using Docker containers. The system consists of a frontend user interface, a backend processing engine, and a PostgreSQL database, all operating within the same local deployment environment.

_images/setup-onpremsingledevicearchitecture.png

Fig. 1 On prem single device setup for PacketQC

To ensure stable and reliable operation, the host device must have sufficient compute, memory, storage, and network resources to support all three containers concurrently.

Key considerations

  • CPU: The host machine should be provisioned with adequate CPU capacity to support backend processing workloads, especially when handling large PCAP files or multiple analysis requests.

  • RAM: Sufficient memory must be available for Docker, the backend engine, the database, and the operating system to operate without resource contention.

  • Storage: Storage capacity should also be planned carefully, as uploaded PCAP files, CBOM files, generated reports, database records, logs, and Docker volumes may grow over time depending on usage frequency and file size.

  • Security: The device should be placed in a controlled on-premises environment with appropriate access restrictions.

  • Architecture: Suitable for organizations that require a self-contained on-premises deployment, where uploaded network artifacts such as PCAP and CBOM files remain within the organization’s environment.

For detailed information on the required system specifications, please refer to the System recommendations section. The installation steps are provided in the following subsections.

System recommendations

Component

Recommendations

Web Browser

Preferably the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge

PostgreSQL

Version 18 or above

Docker Engine

Version 29 or above

CPU

3 cores

RAM

4GB

Storage

2GB for Docker images, with additional storage allocated for the PostgreSQL persistent volume

Installing PacketQC

For Windows installations, double-click install-start.bat to begin the installation. For Linux installations, such as Ubuntu, navigate to the linux folder and run bash install-start.sh to begin the installation.

During the installation process, you will be prompted to enter a PostgreSQL password. This password will be used to set up the initial PostgreSQL login credentials, so please keep it secure.

_images/setup-windowsscriptinstallation.png

Fig. 2 Windows installation script
_images/setup-postgrespassword.png

Fig. 3 Setting up PostgreSQL password

PacketQC will begin running once installation is complete. install-start.bat/sh can also be used to start PacketQC after it has been stopped. To stop PacketQC, run stop.bat/sh.


Uninstalling PacketQC

PacketQC can be uninstalled using uninstall.bat/sh. During the uninstall process, you will be prompted to confirm whether the following items should be removed:

  • Docker Secrets, such as the PostgreSQL password

  • Docker Images, which are PacketQC images stored locally on the host system

  • Docker Volumes, including data stored in PostgreSQL

  • The .env file, which contains application configuration settings

After PacketQC has been uninstalled using uninstall.bat/sh, it can be reinstalled at any time by running install-start.bat/sh.

Note

Recovering your PostgreSQL password

If you lose your password, you can retrieve it from the PostgreSQL container by running the following command. Replace container_id with that of your PostgreSQL container.

docker exec -it container_id cat /run/secrets/postgres_password