# Configuration Manager: what lives where

The server-side companion app, screen by screen: SQL Settings, the eleven System Folders, Active Directory domains, the read-only License panel, workflow's External Applications and Export Data, and the Health exclusions — plus the Apply-per-screen rule that governs all of it.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 15 minute read · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/configuration-manager-what-lives-where

**By the end of this page you'll know which of the seven screens holds the setting you're after — and the split that organizes everything: the web interface's System Settings govern how Content Central *behaves*; Configuration Manager governs how it's *plumbed into the server*.**

Configuration Manager runs on the Content Central server itself (Start Menu, under Content Central; Windows asks for administrator elevation — that's expected). Its home screen is seven tiles; two rules apply everywhere:

- **Apply is per-screen.** Each screen's **Apply** saves that screen and returns home; **Back** discards silently — there's no unsaved-changes prompt and no global save.
- **Every screen except SQL Settings needs a working database connection** — deliberately, since SQL Settings is where you *fix* the connection. A "Could not connect to SQL Server…" warning when opening other screens points you there.

## SQL Settings

The connection: **Server Name\Instance:**, **Database Name:**, **Port Number:** (0 for default or dynamic), and the **Admin Login** / **User Login** credential pairs, each testable — **Test Admin Login**, **Test User Login**.

The big button is **Create/Update Database** — it creates the database on a fresh install ([the install guide](/content-central/administration/install-content-central) walks that) and *updates* it during upgrades. Take the update path's warnings literally: back up first, stop the services, and the progress window means its banner — "Do not close Configuration Manager, restart this server, or start Content Central services until this update finishes." The close button stays disabled while it runs; that's the design, not a hang.

## System Folders

Every storage root in one place — eleven rows, from **Document root folder:** and **Incoming File Capture root folder:** through **Coding Queue**, **Deleted Content**, **Index**, **Unprocessed**, **Reports**, **Thumbnails**, **Capture-Form Templates**, **Workflow Export**, and **Document Secondary**.

One rule governs the whole screen, quoted from its own validation: "No folders on this page can be the same as or a sub-folder of another." The tidy-looking plan of nesting them all under one parent *as each other's subfolders* is exactly what it blocks — give each root its own branch.

Moving a root here changes where Content Central *looks*, not where files *are* — relocations are a [move-the-server-class operation](/content-central/administration/before-you-move-content-central) with the files copied first.

## Active Directory

The **Domains** list (**Add** / **Delete**) with per-domain settings: **Enable Active Directory Authentication**, the **Fully Qualified Domain Name:**, and an **Active Directory Login** (the account Content Central uses to talk to AD) with a **Test Login** button. Fuller story in [Set up Active Directory login](/content-central/administration/set-up-active-directory-login). One guard worth knowing: a domain with users still on it can't be deleted — "Delete all users in Content Central that use this domain before deleting the domain."

## License

Read-only, and meant to be: **License Status:**, **Users Licensed:**, and the **Machine ID:** (click it — it copies). There's nothing to enter here; [How user licenses work](/content-central/administration/how-user-licenses-work) explains why, and what to do with the Machine ID.

## External Applications and Export Data

Both exist for workflow's benefit:

- **External Applications** registers programs workflow actions may run — a **Name:**, the **Location:** of the executable, and an **Argument List:** where `$object` stands in for the workflow's document. Scoped by catalog/document-type visibility.
- **Export Data** registers named output files (CSV or text) that workflow export actions write to — a **Name:** and a **Location:**.

Registering here, using in workflow there — which is also why both screens refuse to delete an entry a workflow action still uses.

## Health

One list: the Content Central services, with a checkbox per service — and the semantics that trip people: **checked means excluded from health monitoring** ("Excluded services will not be monitored and will appear as 'ignored' in system health reports"). It exists for distributed installs where a service runs on another server this machine can't see. On a single-server install, leave everything unchecked.

## The two-sides cheat sheet

| You want to change… | Go to |
| --- | --- |
| Where documents, indexes, or the coding queue live on disk | Configuration Manager > **System Folders** |
| The SQL server, database, or its credentials | Configuration Manager > **SQL Settings** |
| AD domains and the AD service login | Configuration Manager > **Active Directory** |
| Email, security, capture, approval, queue *behavior* | The web interface > **Administration** > **System Settings** |
| Users, catalogs, workflow, templates | The web interface > **Administration** |

**Success check:** open each tile once on your server and confirm it opens clean — any "Could not connect" or schema warning on the way in is Configuration Manager telling you which screen actually needs your attention first.

## What's next

- [Install Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/install-content-central)
- [Set up Active Directory login](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/set-up-active-directory-login)