Getting Started with GeoServer

Congratulations on your choice to take your data to the world with GeoServer. It can be installed on many different operating systems since it is a Java application, as long as a Java Virtual Machine exists for that operating system. It takes advantage of multithreaded operations and supports 64-bit operating systems.

This chapter will cover, in detail, the steps that will bring you to a successful installation. Although, we will explain the whole process in detail, do not be afraid. As soon as you finish reading it, you will have your running copy of GeoServer. The steps will be illustrated in two scenarios, a Linux Mint 18, and a Windows 7 machine. We chose these two as they cover the majority of users. Because Mint is a Debian derivative, the installation process can easily be reproduced on other similar distributions, for example, Debian or Ubuntu.

We'll talk about the advanced settings most useful in taking your configuration to a production environment in Chapter 10, Securing GeoServer Before Production, and Chapter 11, Tuning GeoServer in a Production Environment.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• System requirements
• Obtaining GeoServer (latest 2.10.2)
• Installation on Linux Mint
• Installation on Windows 7
• OS independent installation
• Basic security measures by changing the default username and password