After setting up the dcm4chee PACS server from previous tutorials, you will learn how to access it from a different workstation on the network.

First you need to make sure that Windows firewall or any other firewall software installed on the PACS server is not blocking the server IP address and PACS server port to the outside world. For testing purposes and to make things easier you can disable the firewall.

Since the server will always be online you need to use a fixed IP address for the server as you don’t want to have the IP address changing every now and then or you will be unable to access the server anymore. There are several tutorials on the internet to teach you how to fix an IP address; just search in Google.

The IP address of our server is 192.168.1.106 to find the IP address for your server you can go to command prompt and type:

ipconfig /all

Scroll all the way up and under IPv4 Address is your IP address. dcm4chee default port is 11112. Now we got all what we need to establish a connection. Open OsiriX on your Mac and go to Preferences and select Locations. Click on Add new node. Put the IP address, port, AETitle, and description. It should like this:

Make sure you check the boxes next to Q& R (Query and Retrieve) and Send. Q& R allows Osirix to query the PACS server for patients and retrieve the data set the user asks for. Send allows OsiriX to send data sets stored locally on the machine running OsiriX to be stored in the PACS server. Close the preferences window.

Now we need to store some patient data on the server. We do that by loading a data set in OsiriX then send it to be stored on the server. Open a DICOM data set in Osirix. In this example, we will be using a CBCT DICOM data set from the Hitachi MercuRay CBCT scanner. You can load a DICOM set under File menu. After the data set loading is completed, select it and click the Send button from the toolbar on top.

You can follow the status in Osirix by installing Growl app.

Now it’s time to test Q & R function. Click on Query button from the OsiriX top bar. You should be able to search for the data set you just uploaded using different search criteria. OsiriX comes loaded with many powerful tools that let you query the server for data either by patient name, date, modality…etc. It also allows you to specify to which workstation you want to retrieve your data to.

Set Retrieve to your Mac OsiriX workstation if it not set already from the drop down menu. Click Retrieve.

Depending on your server/workstation hard drive speed, network speed, and data set size; it can take from less than a minute to several minutes to download the data set to your local machine.

Double click on the data set to open it.

Congratulations!! You’ve just managed to link an Open Source PACS server (dcm4chee) to an Open Source PACS workstation OsiriX!

It is possible to send different types of data sets to the PACS server and not only CT data sets but since many oral and maxillofacial radiologists as well as dental schools use Cone Beam CT (CBCT) in their practice we decided to use a CBCT data set as an example.

As you can see, we setup the dcm4chee PACS server under Windows 7 Pro running  Parallels Dekstop 5. While this is not the best setup and you’ll need a dedicated PACS server for your work; it helps to show how powerful a Mac computer can be and  it make things easier for us for writing this tutorial!

Running dcm4chee as a Windows service or daemon will enable dcm4chee to run during start up and in the background without user intervention. You don’t need to click ‘run.bat’ file found under apps/dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.x/bin every time you want to start the PACS server.

Here are the steps with pictures on how to accomplish that. Please make sure everything is running correctly before doing this step. (This tutorial is a continuation on the previous tutorial)

First,  execute install.bat

Open the command prompt from Start>Run
Type cmd and press Enter

Navigate to C:\apps\dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7\bin
Type install_service.bat

You will get different options (client, server, uninstall)

Since we will be running dcm4chee as PACS server, we will select the server option. Type ‘install_service.bat server’ without quotes and press Enter.

To avoid the error message: “The specified module could not be found.”, “Failed creating java …\jvm.dll”  which can be seen by going to Windows Event Viewer (usually happens with JDK6)

we need to do an extra step. We need to point the missing dll files to Java. Click on Start>Right click on Computer (or My Computer in XP) and select Properties.
From the left sidebar select Advanced system settings>click on Environment Variables.  Under System Variables click New. For variable name use JAVA_HOME and in Variable value put C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_17

We need also to add %JAVA_HOME%\bin to the system PATH environment variable, so java could find file mscvr71.dll

Make sure you include ; before %CommonProgram…. This will ensure proper formatting.
Reboot your computer and login to Windows. Open your web browser and type the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/dcm4chee-web

Congratulations!!

If for any reason you want to stop the service, go to Start> right click on Computer>Manage. Go to Services and in the list you will see dcm4chee service. It should say Started.

You can right click on it and select Stop.

dcm4chee is an open source PACS software that can be used for storing, managing and retrieving medical images  It fully implements the DICOM protocol designed for healthcare. It is written in Java programming language for versatility and performance. It can run under Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It supports different databases such as: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server..etc

dcm4chee can be integrated with PACS workstation software or viewers such as: OsiriX, K-PACS, ClearCanvas…etc

Since many dental professionals use Windows as their primary operating system it would be easier to install dcm4chee under Windows. In addition, compression libraries such as JPEG 2000 LS are still not available under Windows 64 bit and Mac OS. So we will use 32bit version of Windows as our server’s operating system. We will be using Windows 7  since it is going to be the main stream operating system ; however, the tutorial should also work for Windows Vista or XP.
MySQL database is an open source database and it is used by millions of users. In fact, Marcilan is powered by MySQL database. So we will use MySQL as our main database. Enough talk and take me to the tutorial! !

In this tutorial we will go in details and step by step installation of dcm4chee under Windows 7 Professional 32 bit and using MySQL database.

Note: For full more detailed information for  installation  dcm4chee for different operating system and databases, please refer to the link here

Minimum System Requirements:

JDK 6 or higher
512 MB RAM
200 MB hard disk space (additional to archive storage disk space)
400 MHz CPU

Download:

1. Download the latest binary of dcm4chee (currently v 2.14.7) from dcm4chee Source Forge repository. Select the version that matches the database we will be using dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7.zip

   

2. Download the binary distribution of JBoss Application Server 4.2.3.GA from their website (Do NOT download v5 as it is incompatible!)

   
   After clicking the download button, select jboss-4.2.3.GA-jdk6 which is compatible with Java Development Kit v6 (JDK6)

   
   

3. Download the latest binary distribution for MySQL from MySQL website. The current GA (Stable) version for production use is 5.1. Click on the link. Select Windows MSI installer.

   
   You can register if you are interested in receiving updates or you can skip the registration process.
   
   

4. Download Java Development Kit 6 (JDK6) from Sun website. Download JDK 6 update 17 under Java SE Development Kit.

   
   
   You can register to receive latest updates or skip the registration process.
   
   

5. Download the Audit Record Repository (ARR). The ARR maintains an audit log of all transactions within the archive. This is necessary for HIPAA and IHE. (If your country does not require HIPAA, you might want to skip this step). We will need to download the version that matches our database option (mysql). Download dcm4chee-arr-mysql-3.0.8.zip.

   

Installation:

1. Extracting the downloaded files and setting up the directories

Create a new folder in C:\ and rename it to apps. The directory path should look like this C:\apps

Copy jboss-4.2.3.GA-jdk6.zip, dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7.zip and dcm4chee-arr-mysql-3.0.8.zip (if you have HIPAA or want to maintain ARR see step 5 of downloads above).

Extract all of them into separate categories. Do them one by one.

After you finish extraction all of them, go into each folder, select the folder you see, right click>Cut or CTRL+X and hit Backspace or move to the previous directory and right click>paste or CTRL+V. Windows will complain that the same folder name exist. Click Yes to proceed. This will save us time navigating in the command prompt (avoid double directories). Do this for jboss-4.2.3.GA-jdk6.zip, dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7.zip and dcm4chee-arr-mysql-3.0.8.zip (if you require HIPAA or want to maintain ARR see step 5 of downloads above).

The final folder structure should look like this

2. Copy files from JBoss to DCM4CHEE

Copy files from JBoss to dcm4chee. Dcm4chee consists of components that run within the JBoss application server platform. This step will copy the JBoss runtime files to the dcm4chee directory. Make sure that the JBoss folder name in ‘C:\apps’ is ‘jboss-4.2.3.GA’ before you continue.
Navigate to: ‘C:\apps\dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7\bin’

Type:
install_jboss.bat c:\apps\jboss-4.2.3.GA

3. Installing MySQL database and creating dcm4chee database

Install MySQL database and create dcm4chee database (Follow the screenshots)

You can select Standard Configuration or Detailed Configuration. For easier setup follow the Standard or select Detailed if you know what you are doing.

Check Install As Windows Service. This will allow MySQL to start automatically when Windows starts. Check also Include Bin Directory in Windows Path.

Put your root (administrator) password. Save this in a secure place! If you check Enable root access from remote machines, it will allow your IT admin or PACS admin to access the database remotely.

If you decide to go for Detailed Configuration. You will get the following screens. (Skip if you followed the Standard Configuration)
Since we will be running JBoss server and MySQL, we select: Server Machine

Select the option based on your concurrent number of users

If you are going to use non-latin characters like: Japanese, Chinese, Farsi…etc, select Best support for multilingualism otherwise select Standard Character set.

The rest is the same as in Standard installation.

Now we need to create a database for dcm4chee. To do so we initiate the pacsdb database instance using  dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7/sql/create.mysql

Go to command prompt and type:

mysql -uroot -p

Input your MySQL root password. Now you will get: mysql>

Type the following  line by line including the ; at the end and press Enter key at the end of each line.

create database pacsdb;
grant all on pacsdb.* to 'pacs'@'localhost' identified by 'pacs';
\q

Then type:
mysql -upacs -ppacs pacsdb < c:/apps/dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7/sql/create.mysql 

For more information, refer to dcm4chee MySQL database setup here

4. Deploy the Audit Record Repository (ARR)

Execute the command install_arr.bat   in the command prompt in the bin directory of dcm4chee and include the path to dcm4chee-arr-3.0.8 as seen in the screenshot.

5. Installing Java Development Kit and Setting up the environment variable for JAVA_HOME to JDK location

To set up the environment variable to JDK location, right click on my computer>Properties>Advanced System Settings> Environment Variables

Here we are referring to the installed version of JDK 6 update 17. If you are using a different version go and check your program files under Java.

Click Ok. Now Reboot your Windows for changes (Environment variables) to take effect.

6. Launching DCM4CHEE

We are ready to test all the work we did previously. Go to command prompt again and navigate to dcm4chee-mysql-2.14.7/bin then execute run.bat

Allow access for Java through Windows Firewall

In the command prompt you will notice lines moving up quickly. (It might take a minute or two to finish loading).  You shouldn’t see any errors like access denied or couldn’t create connection. Otherwise, something has gone wrong from the previous steps.

If everything is right you will see a window similar to this:

Check the last line. Started!!

7. Login into the web interface

Now keep the command prompt open. Open your web browser and  go to  http://localhost:8080/dcm4chee-web/

You should get dcm4chee web interface

Now for the username type: admin
and the password is also: admin
Click Log in.

Cross your fingers!

Congratulations! you just managed to install a web server, setup a database, and deploy a fully functional  free PACS that can be used to interface with your Cone Beam CT (CBCT) machine, CT, MRI, ..etc and your viewing software in your imaging center or dental school for all your imaging needs.

In part 2 of the tutorial we will see how to make dcm4chee starts automatically with Windows to avoid the console window all together.