Orthanc

A open source lightweight DICOM server. It has a a plugin mechanism to add modules. see its official page for more information.

Installation

1. Update update package repositories.

   sudo apt-get update -y
   

2. Install the packages and dependencies.

   sudo apt-get install -y orthanc
   

3. Now, orthanc is installed. Go to http://localhost:8042/app/explorer.html, where port number is defined by your configuration (the default http port of orthanc is 8042).

4. Install plugins

   1. DICOMweb: provide support of the DICOM web standard.

      sudo apt-get install -y orthanc-dicomweb
      

   2. Orthanc Web Viewer: provide a web viewer of medical images.

      sudo apt install orthanc-webviewer
      

   3. Osimis Web Viewer: an advanced image viewer

      • Option 1: Install & set up locally. See here for more information.

        • Download the LSB (Linux Standard Base) binaries. Download.

        • Move/copy the .so file to /usr/share/orthanc/plugins.

        • Restart Orthanc

          sudo /etc/init.d/orthanc restart --verbose
          

        • Go to http://localhost:8042/app/explorer.html

        • Default username is orthanc and password is orthanc

      • Option 2: Setup using docker image (need to have Docker installed). See Osimis Installation guide or Osimis Quickstart for more information.

        • run

          sudo docker run -p 8042:8042 -p 4242:4242 -e WVB_ENABLED=true -v /home/username/orthanc-storage:/var/lib/orthanc/db osimis/orthanc
          

        • Go to http://localhost:8042

        • Default username is orthanc and password is orthanc.

      Note

      The basic Orthanc Web Viewer can only access images from series level, while Osimis can access images from study and series levels. They can coexist.

5. (optional) Change configurations

   1. Create a configuration file if it does not exist.

      sudo Orthanc --config=/etc/orthanc/configuration.json
      

      • Where /etc/orthanc/ is the folder stored the Orthanc main configuration and plugin configurations.

   2. Modify the related configuration file and fields.

   3. Restart Orthanc

      sudo /etc/init.d/orthanc restart --verbose
      

Uploading files

Uploading through the DICOM protocol(recommended)

• Upload a directory

  sudo storescu -v IP 4242 -aec ORTHANC --scan-directories /pathToDir
  

  Note

  Port number 4242 is Orthanc’s default dicom port.

• Upload a single dicom file

  sudo storescu -aec ORTHANC 4242 /pathToDicomFile
  

Uploading through web browser (drag and drop)

Files can also be upload via the web GUI from http://localhost:8042/app/explorer.html#upload

Troubleshooting

Where to find the log file?

Everytime the Orthanc service starts, it will generate a new log file in /var/log/orthanc/ for Linux or in C:Program FilesOrthanc ServerLogs for Windows.

Where to find the configuration files?

In /etc/orthanc/. You can run the command below to to create a orthanc main configuration file and attach to the orthanc server. Each plugin also has its own configuration file inside the folder.

sudo Orthanc --config=/etc/orthanc/configuration.json

Failed to restart Orthanc after adding the osimis viewer

You might need to add the read permissions of the the .so file by:

chmod o+r /usr/share/orthanc/plugins/libOsimisWebViewer.so

If you start orthanc with –verbose parameter, you will be able to view the log in /var/log/orthanc/Orthanc.log

How does Orthanc store its database?

See https://book.orthanc-server.com/faq/orthanc-storage.html