https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/categories/admin-guide/ Recent content in Admin guide on Step Documentation Hugo -- gohugo.io en Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/download/ Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/download/ This page provides an overview of the available downloads for the various Step components. Step CLI The Step CLI (Command Line Interface) provides an interface for building, executing, and deploying automation packages within Step. CLI for Step Open Source The CLI of Step Open Source can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page of Step. Following binaries are available, depending on your platform: Windows: step.exe Linux and Mac: step After download, put the executable corresponding to your platform in your PATH. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/chart-configuration-samples/ Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/chart-configuration-samples/ This page provides practical configuration examples for common Step Helm chart deployment scenarios. For a complete reference of all available Helm values and their detailed descriptions, please refer to the Helm Values documentation. Additional Resources: Access enterprise download section - For obtaining access to Step Enterprise artifacts and Docker images Release notes of the Helm Chart - Latest chart versions and changelog Database configuration Step supports two database backends: MongoDB (default) and PostgreSQL. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/requirements/ Mon, 29 Nov 2021 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/requirements/ On-premise requirements Below is a list of minimal hardware, system, and software requirements to set up Step. The specified versions of third-party software correspond to the ones officially tested and supported. Step Controller Step DB per Step Agent OS Redhat, SLES, Debian, Windows 7 to 10, Windows Server 2012 to 2022 Redhat, SLES, Debian, Windows 7 to 10, Windows Server 2012 to 2022 Redhat, SLES, Debian, Windows 7 to 10, Windows Server 2012 to 2022 Software: Oracle/Hotspot JDK 21 to 25 installed MongoDB 5. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/agent-runtime-images/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/agent-runtime-images/ Exense provides official agent runtime Docker images that serve as the execution environment for Step agents. These images are required starting with Helm Chart 1.2.0 and Step 27+. See the Chart release note page for details. If the official images do not meet your needs, you can build your own. See Creating your own Step Agent images. Available images The latest tag is always available for each image and always points to the most recent version. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/agent-sizing/ Tue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/agent-sizing/ Agents are responsible for executing automation (automated test, load test, etc) through Keywords. Their resource requirements can vary significantly depending on the type of automation, the automation tools used, and the nature of the application under test. This guide provides practical recommendations to help you size agents effectively for reliable, stable, and performant execution. For the general platform requirements and sizing recommendations, refer to the Requirements page. Why Agent Sizing Matters Properly sizing your agents is critical for ensuring predictable and efficient automation execution. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/agent-configuration/ Wed, 01 May 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/agent-configuration/ Agent endpoint The agent exposes a REST service to the Controller, which is consumed by the controller to execute Keywords. The endpoint of this service is called agent endpoint. The agent endpoint is configured automatically at agent startup and is communicated to the controller at registration. If required, the endpoint can be tweaked as follow: Agent port Per default the agent lets the system find a free port automatically at startup to listen on. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/agent-provisioning-configuration/ Wed, 01 May 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/agent-provisioning-configuration/ When running in Kubernetes, Step supports automatic provisioning of Agents (i.e. automatic provisioning of the containers responsible for executing Keywords). This page describes how to enable and configure the Agent provisioning. For information on using Agent provisioning, please refer to the Agent Provisioning page. Notes: Agent provisioning is part of Step Enterprise and is supported as of version 25. It has been designed to work with the official Step Helm Chart. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/ Tue, 25 Oct 2022 06:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/ This section groups the technical documentation to install Step on-premise based on the archive distribution. For a quick setup it is recommended to start with the Quick setup guide. More details are available in the component installation guides listed below. It is recommended to install the components in following order: Database installation Controller installation Agent(s) installation https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/ Tue, 25 Oct 2022 06:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/ This page aims to guide you through the process of installing Step in a Kubernetes environment using the official Helm chart and Docker images of Step. The Docker images and Helm charts are part of Step Enterprise and are only accessible to customers having access to the enterprise registry. As the Step Docker images are not published in a public Docker repository, this page will also explain how to download them and to store them into your company’s private repository. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/download/material_request/ Mon, 29 Nov 2021 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/download/material_request/ Enterprise customer credentials Enterprise customers receive their credentials to access to the Step Enterprise artifacts (Enterprise release, Docker images and Helm Chart) from the Step support upon request. Main point of contact for any issue related to access request is support@exense.ch. Nexus and Docker private repository Nexus access Step Enterprise artifacts are now published to our Nexus in the ‘distribution’ repository. The Enterprise repository can be accessed via https, preferably using a Web browser at https://nexus-enterprise. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/dbinstall/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/dbinstall/ MongoDB This page contains information on installing and configuring MongoDB to be used with Step. Supported version We do support MongoDB version starting from 4.0.x up to 5.0.x. Installation Follow instructions at : MongoDB documentation Configuration If you want to tune your MongoDB instance, you will find all necessary information on the official website at : MongoDB configuration and maintenance. Activate authentication (optional) For activating the authentication between the controller and the MongoDB server, the following actions have to be taken: https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/create-custom-agent-image/ Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/create-custom-agent-image/ That page aims to guide through the process of creating your own Step Agent images. Currently, only Linux systems are supported, so below explanation / examples assumes your base Docker image is a Linux based one, such as Debian. Before building a custom image, consider whether the official Step agent runtime images already meet your needs. Step provides ready-to-use runtime images including Java, browsers, and WebDrivers. For the full list of available images, see Agent Runtime Images. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/ Tue, 25 Oct 2022 06:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/ https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/controllerinstall/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/controllerinstall/ This page contains information on installing and configuring the Step Controller. Prerequisites Step requires at least Java 21 installed on your machine to run. Depending on your platform, make sure to install at least the Java JDK 21 on the machine(s) running Step component(s). Binaries download The latest version of the Community Edition of the Step controller can be downloaded from our Github repository at : Step. The latest version of the Enterprise Edition of the Step controller can be downloaded from our Nexus repository by enterprise customers at : Step Enterprise (Refer to Material request if you haven’t received your access yet) https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/agentinstall/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/binaries/agentinstall/ This page explains how to install, configure and run a Step agent. Installation Java agent The Step agent requires at least Java 21 installed in order to run. Depending on your platform, make sure to install at least Java JDK 21 on the machine(s) running Step component(s). The latest version of the Community Edition of the Step agent can be downloaded from our Github repository at : Step. The latest version of the Enterprise Edition of the Step agent can be downloaded from our Nexus repository by enterprise customers at : Step Enterprise (credentials are provided upon requests) https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/backup/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/backup/ Data Model Step data are organized as collections into MongoDB. Each collections contains a specific type of data, which are explained below : artefacts : the test plans definitions functions : the keyword definitions parameters : the user defined parameters resources : the uploaded files (datasheet, keyword jars etc…) executions : the executions entries, tab Executions > Execution list reports : the detailed executions steps of an execution measurements : any measurements registered during an execution views : additional information about executions (tab Performance, Error etc…) screenInputs : entries defined under the Admin > Settings > Screens users : the registered users into Step controllerlogs : some startup logs Backup Complete backup Assuming you are running MongoDB with the default settings (host localhost, port 27017, no authentication), you can perform backups following below instructions. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/housekeeping/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/housekeeping/ Automatic housekeeping Automatic housekeeping is provided as part of a standard Enterprise package only. As a Community user, please refer to the manual purge guide. Main concept Automatic Housekeeping allows the controller to automatically delete executions based on a configurable Time To Live (TTL) value, which defines the maximum retention period. This reduces manual maintenance, ensures consistent cleanup of related data, and prevents the accumulation of orphaned entities in the system. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/migration/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/migration/ After upgrading Step to a new version, some additional tasks may be required. General migration process Before starting the migration Stop existing controller and agents Stop the related services if they were installed as such or terminate directly the corresponding Java processes otherwise. Backup Database: before any migration task, make sure to backup your database following this instructions. Controller: if you intend to reuse the same data folders of the step’s controller, we recommend to backup them as well. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/migration-chart/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/migration-chart/ The Helm Chart of Step is versioned independently of Step itself. This page contains information related to the upgrade of the Helm chart of Step itself. For the upgrade of Step refer to Upgrade / Migration General migration process Migration to a newest version of the Chart usually requires nothing more than a Helm upgrade, unless some specific migration tasks are mentioned on that page. For instance, upgrading from version 0. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/helmvalues/ Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/installation/kubernetes/helmvalues/ Helm values Values that could be used are listed below. Note that the listed values applies to the latest Chart version (current 1.2.0), some of them might not be available in previous versions. Image parameters Name Description Default value image.repository Controller and Agent images repository base name "" image.pullPolicy Controller and Agent images pull policy Always imagePullSecrets Registry secret names as an array [] Commons parameters Name Description Default value commons. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/admin-views/ Fri, 03 Apr 2020 09:25:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/admin-views/ Grid Agents views You can check the current capacity and usage of the entire platform at any given time by browsing the Grid view, which is accessed from the Status menu. Detailed views The other menu items in the Status menu allow to get in-detail information of current grid capacity and usage. For instances, by tokens: Agent pools view This is an advanced view which will be part of our cloud offering. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/customization/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/customization/ Cosmetics Cosmetics customization is only available as part of step enterprise Customization of step’s static resources (images, stylesheets, …) is made possible in a generic way using the two following properties: cosmetics.folder: This property points to a local folder on the controller’s host in which alternate cosmetic resources are stored (conf/cosmetics/ by default). cosmetics.interceptedResourceList: A comma-separated list of resources which are supposed to be replaces with custom resources. Defaults to step-variables. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/troubleshooting/ Thu, 28 Feb 2019 14:08:01 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/troubleshooting/ General troubleshooting guidelines Controller Startup issues If you encounter any startup issues, please make sure to check the following : An instance is not already running (address already bound to port) Nothing is running on ports you defined in the step.properties configuration file (default port 8080 for the http application and 8081 for the grid endpoint) A MongoDB instance is running on the server and port you defined in the step. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/agent-runtime-image-migration/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/admindocs/maintenance/agent-runtime-image-migration/ Overview Starting with Step 29, we are introducing a new naming convention for all agent runtime Docker images. This change improves consistency, clarity, and maintainability across the Agent runtime images. Important: This change affects ALL Step agent runtime images, not just specific ones. Plan your migration accordingly. What’s Changing New Naming Convention All agent runtime images will follow a new, more structured naming pattern: Base Runtime Image (Java + Chromium) Old Image Name New Image Name docker. https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/grid-proxy/ Wed, 10 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/grid-proxy/ The Grid Proxy connects secondary Kubernetes clusters or namespaces that host agents (but not the controller or other Step services) to the primary Step grid. It forwards agent registration and execution traffic, and, when enabled, also manages dynamic agent provisioning. What is the Grid Proxy? The Grid Proxy is a Step component deployed in each secondary cluster (or namespace). It has two primary roles: 1. Agent connectivity The Grid Proxy forwards registration requests from the agents in the secondary cluster to the agent grid of the primary cluster (running in the controller). https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/jkskeystore/ Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/jkskeystore/ Both the controller, for its web application, and the agent, for the agent services, support SSL and require a Java KeyStore in JKS format for the certificates and keys. This short tutorial will show you how to generate a KeyStore in JKS format based on .key and .crt files. To generate it, you will need : the private key used to create your certificate request (.key file) the private key password (if any) the certificate generated with the previously transmitted certificate request (the . https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/encryption-manager/ Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100 https://step.dev/knowledgebase/30/setup/configuration/encryption-manager/ The encryption manager is a central component that provides encryption services for Step components that need to store sensitive values (like credentials for instance). The encryption manager is for instance used by the parameter module to store protected parameters. Enable the encryption manager The encryption manager can be enabled from the step.properties with the following property: plugins.EncryptionManagerControllerPlugin.enabled=true When starting a controller with the encryption manager the first time, a new RSA key pair will be generated and stored under the folder bin/encryptionManager.