Web+Center For Linux
Installation and Configuration Guide
Version
6.0
(2)
Tech Free Version
© 1996-2008 Internet Software
Sciences
December 2007
Installation Overview
Welcome to the Web+Center Installation and Configuration
guide. This document contains the
information necessary to install and configure the Web+Center web-based
customer support Help
Desk and contact management application in a Linux-based environment. This document only contains initial
installation and configuration information.
Please refer to the Web+Center User Guide for complete information on
how to use Web+Center product.
Installation Support is provided by:
·
Web-based FAQ, Help Desk Knowledgebase at http://www.inet-sciences.com/support/
·
Emails at support@inet-sciences.com
·
Phone based support at (650) 949-0942 (9 AM -5
PM PST Pacific Standard Time)
What is Web+Center?
Web+Center is a suite of four
web-based applications consisting of Customer+Center, a customer self
help web application, Tech+Center, a Tech Staff Help Desk web
application, Business+Center, a web Customer
Relationship Management CRM application, Pocket+Center,
an alternative Tech staff application designed to run on a Pocket PC PDA type
device for remote and wireless applications and Reservation+Center,
a facilities and equipment scheduling applications. The application is entirely web-based where
the server software is installed on one machine
and then clients access the application through any web browser (IE or
Netscape or others) over the network just like any website.
Hosting Options
for Web+Center
Web+Center can be hosted on your
own internal Linux Server or there are several ISP (Internet Service Providers)
and website hosting companies that offer Linux-based hosting services that can
also be used to host your
Web+Center
application. Listed in Appendix B is a
list of web
hosting companies that provide Linux with ASP and mySQL
database options. Hosting the Web+Center application at an ISP/Web Hosting company offers
a low cost (typically $10-$30/Month) high bandwidth and low security-risk
option for small businesses and organizations.
The product can be used for FREE for (2) techs or less. A license must be purchased if you use the
product for more than (2) techs. The
FREE version does not time out nor is it limited by the number of customers or cases, it is only limited by the number of registered
technicians. For more information on
licensing the Web+Center product, please visit on our
on-line pricing at:
http://www.inet-sciences.com/prices.html
Web+Center is a web-based ASP (Active
Server Pages) database application. Web+Center requires each of the
additional components listed below:
Sun ONE Active Server Pages (Formerly Chili-Soft)*
For
Information on Sun ONE Active Server Page, please visit:
http://store.sun.com/catalog/doc/BrowsePage.jhtml?catid=61836
*Note: The Sun ONE Active
Server Pages product must be purchased separately.
For
Information on MySQL running on Linux, please refer
to the website:
http://www.mysql.com/documentation/index.html
Apache
Web Server for Linux
The
product has been tested and designed using Apache Web Server Version
1.3.27
Hardware and Software recommendations
The Web+Center application installation only requires about 10 MB
of disk space including all of documentation.
As your database grows, database files will require some additional hard
disk space. We recommend allowing for a
disk space requirement of 20 MB to 50 MB.
To help maintain high
availability and reliability, it is recommended that “production” uses of Web+Center reside on a machine that is dedicated as a web
server where the proper backup, server maintenance, full time connectivity, and
reliable power issues are handled.
There are 9 steps to configure Web+Center
on a Linux platform running Apache Web Server, MySQL and
Sun One Active Server Pages Product.
Please perform the follow steps in the order summarized below:
Step 1 – Install Apache Web Server
Step 2 - Install mySQL Database Application
Step 3 – Install Sun One Active
Server Page Product
Step 4 – Download and Run the Web+Center Installation Program on a Windows machine
Step 5 – Transfer or network Web+Center files from the Windows based machine to Linux
Server
Step 6 - Instantiate the Web+Center Database and define the ODBC connectivity string.
Step 7 - Define Database Table
Schemas and populate with default values
Step 8 – Configure Database
Connectivity String for ODBC connection
Step 9 - Verify Web+Center
Operation and Set your SMTP Host address and organization name and reply email
address
Step 10 - (Optional) Change the URL directory
names of the applications
Step 1 –
Install Web Server – Apache Web Server
Apache Web Server must
be installed on Linux. Installation and
configuration of the Apache Web Server is beyond the scope of this installation
guide. For more information about the
Apache Web Server for Linux, please refer to the Apache Web Server Website at:
When installing Apache, check to see what default filename
it is configured to go to when a user provides a URL ending in a directory name
rather than a specific filename. (i.e. default.htm or
index.htm). Web+Center uses default.htm so
make sure Apache is configured to look for this file in this situation.
If the Apache Webserver is already
installed in your Linux environment, then please skip this step.
Web+Center
is a web-based database driven application and
requires a “backend” database to run all the database record creation and SQL
queries. Web+Center on Linux requires the MySQL database
engine. The Web+Center
product has been tested and designed using Version 3.23.49 while other versions
of MySQL should work.
Installation and configuration of the MySQL
database is beyond the
scope of this document. For information
and downloads of the MySQL database product, please
refer to their website at:
If the MySQL database is already installed in your Linux
environment, then please skip this step.
Step 3 –
Install the Sun One Active Server Pages Version 4.0
http://store.sun.com/catalog/doc/BrowsePage.jhtml?catid=61836
·
Enable Parent Paths must be set to “yes” within
Sun One to enable the system to access directories that are siblings of (at the
same level as) the directory where the code is executing. This is configured
from the Sun ONE Active Server Pages Administration Console using the Enable
parent paths setting. For further details see
http://docs.sun.com/source/817-2514-10/Ch3_ManageASP15.html
If Sun One Active
Server Pages is
already configured in your Linux environment, then of course it need not be
re-installed, however in that case you still need to make sure that “Enable
Parent Paths” is set to “Yes” as the default is set to “No”.
Step 4 –
Download and Run the Web+Center Installation Program on a separate Windows
based machine.
Download the Web+Center self-extracting executable installation program
from the Internet Software Sciences Web site into a local directory on a
separate MS Windows based machine. When selecting a download, be sure to
select the Web+Center 6.0 version. Earlier
versions will not be Linux compatible.
The Web+Center
installation program can be downloaded from the Internet Software Sciences web
site at:
http://www.inet-sciences.com/evaluations.html
The file that should be downloaded is
called webcenter60.exe.
Once the installation
executable is downloaded to a local directory, run the application by selecting
Start -> Run -> Browse and select the executable file that you just
downloaded.
Complete all of the
installation steps. The Web+Center installation
program only creates directories and places files into those directories. The default installation directory is:
c:\program files\Internet Software Sciences\web+center 6.0\…
Step 5 –
Transfer the Web+Center files from Windows Machine to
the Linux Machine
The Web+Center
files must be transferred from the Windows files directory to the Linux machine
and placed under the appropriate web server root directory so it can be
accessed as a website directory.
Using either FTP or a
network file share, copy all of the files and directories BELOW the web+center 6.0 directory into the httpdocs
or your webserver directory. Once this transfer is completed, you should
have the following directory structure on your Linux machine:
(Apache Web Server root)
httpdocs
TechCenter
CustomerCenter
BusinessCenter
PocketCenter
ReservationCenter
Language
Database
Documentation
wctempfiles
Step 6 – Instantiate
the Web+Center database and define the ODBC
connectivity string (DSN)
At this point, a new database must be instantiated and registered within
the system. See the Operating System and MySQL
documentation for details on how this is accomplished. As part of that exercise,
you will be asked to provide a database name together with a username and
password for the database. These values together with some others will be used
to create a “DSN string” which, depending on system details, will probably end
up looking something like
"driver={MySQL};server=localhost;database=MYDBNAME;uid=MYUSERID;pwd=MYPWORD"
… where the values for MYDBNAME, MYUSERID, and
MYPWORD, will of course need to be changed to reflect your particular
environment.
Make a note of this DSN string as it will be required in step (8).
If you are using a remote-hosted service provided by a third-party…
If you are running your system on a remote-hosted service provided by a
third-party vendor, then very likely this step will already have been performed
for you by the vendor when you established your service with them. In this case
look in their documentation or ask them for details on what this DSN string
should look like. A common practice is for the value of MYDBNAME to be the same
as the domain name this vendor established for you, while the values for MYUSERID
and MYPWORD will be the same as the user-name and password established by the
vendor for you to access their web-based “Control Panel” facility.
Step 7 - Define
Database Table Schemas and populate with default values
In the folder called “Database” is a file called Createwc60Linux.sql. This is an ordinary text file (that may be
examined and edited by any standard text-editor if you need to). This contains
the script that will define the database (declare the tables and the columns
they contain). This script
must be executed once the database has been successfully
registered with the system. It will instantiate all the necessary tables and insert a few default values in certain
configuration-oriented tables.
If you are using a remote-hosted service provided by a third-party…
If you are running your system on a remote-hosted service provided by a
third-party vendor, there is a good chance that support for the creation and
maintenance of the database is provided via a web-based utility called phpMyAdmin that is accessed via a menu choice labeled “Database
Manager” or something similar.
Look for this button as one of many choices on a screen called “Hosting
Control Panel” or similar.
In this case, if you click on the button labeled “Database Manager”, a
fresh screen window will appear containing two panels side-by-side.
At the top of the left-hand panel is a
link called “Home” and underneath it the name of your database. Click on this
name and the right-hand panel will now display a number of options that include
the ability to type SQL commands into a text box or to upload a text file
containing a script with SQL commands. You can use either option – either “upload” the file called Createwc45Linux.sql (click the
“Browse” button) or copy/paste the text contents of this file into the text
box, and then click on the button labeled “GO”.
Step 8 Configuring Database Connectivity
String
The
Web+Center applications uses an ODBC connector to
provide connectivity between the Web+Center
application and the Web+Center database running under
MySQL. This
takes the form of a character string containing certain parameters that will
have been defined in step (6) above.
You
must now insert this character string in certain code modules by editing them –
which can be done with any standard text editor.
This
string must be edited into two code modules – each of which exists as a text
file in each of the four application folders. (A total of 8
files). It is suggested that you first modify these two files in the folder called TechCenter and then see if the Tech+Center
Application works. Once you have established that you have a correct and
operational DSN string, then it is a simple matter to
replicate these two files by making copies of them in the other three folders –
namely BusinessCenter, CustomerCenter
and PocketCenter.
The
two files that need to be edited are called global.asa
and SetGlobal.asp. Edit the DSN string into global.asa at the appropriate spot (after the equal sign in
approximately line 42) and SetGlobal.asp (after the equal
sign in approximately line 65)
Remember
that this edit must be performed on all four (4) global.asa
files as well as all four (4) SetGlobal.asp files
(one of each in each of the four application directories). Because these files
are identical across all four directories, it is sufficient to only edit one
pair in one of the directories, and then replicate that pair to the other three
directories. The four directories involved are called TechCenter,
CustomerCenter, PocketCenter
and BusinessCenter
Step 9 Verify Web+Center
Operation and Set your SMTP Host address and organization name and reply to
email address
To access the Tech+Center
application, enter the following URL into your web browser:
http://<YourHostName>/TechCenter/
where
<YourHostName> is either:
·
your local machine name
·
Your domain name (www.mycompany.com)
·
The word “localhost” if browsing on the same
machine as the server
Login
into the Tech+Center
Tech+Center comes configured with
(3) default tech staff accounts with the following levels of permissions:
Tech Username
|
Password
|
Access Level
|
|
CSS-1000 |
Config |
Configurator (highest) |
|
CSS-1003 |
Tech |
Read/Write tech level |
|
|
|
|
These default tech staff accounts
are automatically available with the initial seed database. They should only be used to access the
system initially and they should be immediately modified or deleted once other
tech accounts are created. Refer to the
Web+Center Users Guide on how to edit or add Tech+Center accounts.
You should see the Tech+Center
login page static HTML page. In the
Login box, enter “CSS-1000” for the Tech ID field and “config” for the
password, and press the login button. This
will log you into Tech+Center as a “configurator” which is the highest level of
access into the system.
Note: If
the Tech+Center application does not appear, please review Appendix A for
common installation and configuration problems.
Important: Before registering any customers or entering new support
cases, we recommend you first configure your local SMTP host address and
organization from name and reply to email settings inside of Web+Center. These Web+Center
helps define and send
all of the automatic email notification messages to this outgoing SMTP host address.
Typically this will be provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
or corporate mail server and typically defined as the “outgoing SMTP mail
address”. For example, for Earthlink ISP
users, the SMTP mail address might use
smtp.earthlink.net
To set these value follow the
steps below:
·
Log into the Tech+Center using a “configurator”
level password. The system is initially
configured with a “configurator” level account with Tech ID = css-1000 and
password of “config”.
·
Click on the Administration button in the left
hand control panel
·
Click on the System configuration menu text link
at the top of the System Administration page
·
Click on the Configuration options link on the
Systems Configuration page
·
Scroll the window down if necessary to the Email
Addresses option area.
·
Set your local SMTP address into the box labeled
SMTP Mail Server Address. Replace any previous values that may have
been entered into the field.
·
Set the Default
Reply-To Address to a “reply to” email address like support@mycompany.com
·
Enter your organization or company name into the
Organization From Name field.
·
Press the Submit button located at the bottom of
the page to process these changes
·
The
same page appears again after processing the submit so
that any changes can be verified.
·
Verify that the SMTP Mailer server
address is successfully entered and press the Cancel button.
·
Close your browser to completely log out of
Tech+Center application
To access the Customer+Center
application, enter the URL of:
http://<YourHostName>/CustomerCenter/
where
<YourHostName> is either:
·
your local machine name
·
Your domain name (www.mycompany.com)
·
“localhost” if browsing on the same machine as
the server
Self register a customer by
clicking on the New User button. Enter
all of the registration information as instructed.
If the registration was completed
successfully, your Customer+Center application has been properly installed and
configured.
Business+Center uses the same 3
pre-configured tech accounts with the following levels of permissions:
Tech Username
|
Password
|
Access Level
|
|
CSS-1000 |
Config |
Configurator (highest) |
|
CSS-1003 |
Tech |
Read/Write tech level |
These default tech staff accounts
are automatically available with the initial seed database.
To access the Business+Center
application, enter the following URL:
http://<YourHostName>/BusinessCenter/
where
<YourHostName> is either:
·
your local machine name
·
Your domain name (www.mycompany.com)
·
The word “localhost” if browsing on the same
machine as the server
There are still numerous
configuration options available for site customization. Please refer to the Web+Center Users Guide
for information on additional configuration options.
The Web+Center user guide and
this installation guide are both installed as part of the Web+Center
installation and it is available on your local Web+Center system at:
http://<hostname>/Documentation/
If you have any questions or
problems, please check Internet Software Sciences Support options at
www.inet-sciences.com.
Pocket+Center
uses the same 3 pre-configured tech accounts with the following levels of
permissions:
Tech Username
|
Password
|
Access Level
|
|
CSS-1000 |
Config |
Configurator
(highest) |
|
CSS-1003 |
Tech |
Read/Write tech level |
These default tech staff accounts
are automatically available with the initial seed database.
To access the Pocket+Center
application, enter the following URL with your Pocket PC device.
http://<YourHostName>/PocketCenter/
where
<YourHostName> is either:
·
your local machine name
·
Your domain name (www.mycompany.com)
·
The word “localhost”
if browsing on the same machine as the server
To view or test the Pocket+Center on a full size screen interface, use the
special Pocket+Center test interface page by
accessing:
http://<YourHostName>/PocketCenter/testpocket.htm
Tech Username
|
Password
|
Access Level
|
|
CSS-1000 |
Config |
Configurator
(highest) |
|
CSS-1003 |
Tech |
Read/Write tech level |
These default tech staff accounts
are automatically available with the initial seed database.
To access the Pocket+Center
application, enter the following URL with your Pocket PC device.
http://<YourHostName>/ReservationCenter/
where
<YourHostName> is either:
·
your local machine name
·
Your domain name (www.mycompany.com)
·
The word “localhost”
if browsing on the same machine as the server
The default URL directory paths
for the Web+Center applications are:
Web
URL Application
http://<hostname>/TechCenter/ Tech+Center
http://<hostname>/CustomerCenter/ Customer+Center
http://<hostname>/BusinessCenter/ Business+Center
http://<hostname>/PocketCenter/ Pocket+Center
http://<hostname>/Documentation/ Documentation
http://<hostname/ReservationCenter Reservation+Center
If you wish to change any of
directory names, follow the following steps:
Tech+Center
Directory Name Change:
To
change the /TechCenter/ directory name, first rename
the directory from “TechCenter” to your new
name. Also change the “Tech+Center virtual directory name definition under
Administration…. System Configuration Menu… More Configuration
to your new directory name.
Customer+Center
Directory Name Change:
To
change the /CustomerCenter/ directory name, first
rename the directory from “CustomerCenter” to your
new name. Also change the “Customer+Center virtual directory name definition under
Administration…. System Configuration Menu… More Configuration
to your new directory name.
Business+Center
Directory Name Change:
To
change the /BusinessCenter/ directory name, first
rename the directory from “BusinessCenter” to your
new name. Also change the “business+Center virtual directory name definition under
Administration…. System Configuration Menu… More Configuration
to your new directory name.
Pocket+Center
Directory Name Change:
To
change the /PocketCenter/ directory name, rename the
directory from “PocketCenter” to your new name.
Documentation Directory Name
Change:
To
change the /documentation/ directory name, first rename the directory from
“documentation” to your new name.
Next Steps:
Once the system is installed and initially configured, one
should review the Getting Started Guide
(GettingStarted.htm or GettingStarted.doc) located in the \documentation
directory. This guide will help you
customize and configure your Web+Center application for your own business and
organizational requirements.
Support Options:
·
Web-based FAQ, Help Desk Knowledgebase at http://www.inet-sciences.com/support/
·
Emails at support@inet-sciences.com
·
Phone based support at (650) 949-0942 (9 AM -5
PM PST Pacific Standard Time)
From the main support page, click
on the Web-based support link to obtain an FAQ and knowledge based
search options as well as options to self-register and submit trouble tickets
and enhancement requests.
If you are experiencing problems
with your Web+Center product installation, we
recommend you first attempt to debug your installation using our installation
debugging tool which can be run by running the installtestlinux.htm debugging
tools page.
To run this installation
debugging tool, open the following web page with your browser and follow the
steps of the installation debugging tool at:
http://<hostname>/TechCenter/installtestlinux.htm. where
<hostname> is the ip or fully qualified host name.
This HTML file will provide
several tests to test database connectivity, Tech+Center logins and SMTP mail configurations.
Common Installation Errors:
Error: After submitting a case or registration the browser reports an ASP
error.
Solution: First, verify that the SMTP mail address set under
administration/configuration is specified and it is either a domain name or IP
address that web server can properly resolve.
Some users have experienced problems connecting to certain mail servers
due to their configuration and who they will accept mail from to prevent SPAM
from getting sent through their SMTP mail servers. It may be necessary to select a different
SMTP mail server if you cannot re-configure the SMTP server to communicate with
the Web+Center application properly.
To host the Web+Center product on
Linux requires the following software:
Linux
Apache
Web Server
Sun One
Active Server Pages
MySQL
There are many web-hosting companies and ISPs that offer
fairly low cost shared hosting services.
We have attempted to research and document some of the companies that
potentially may offer the correct platform software to install and run Web+Center. Internet
Software Sciences and Web+Center IS NOT connected in
anyway with any of the web-hosting companies listed below but we only offer
this list as a convenience to our customers.
Our list of companies below is broken into 2 tables. First is a list of web-hosting companies that
have been confirmed to be compatible with the Web+Center
software and offer all of the correct software options to successfully
implement a web+center system. The second table is a list of web-hosting
companies that appear to offer all of the necessary web-hosting components
(Linux, Apache, ASP and MySQL) but they have not been
confirmed.
If your company offers similar web hosting services and wish
to be added to this list of compatible web-hosting companies, please contact
Internet Software Sciences.
Confirmed
Compatible web hosting Companies
Website / Company
Non Confirmed Compatible web-hosting companies
Website
/ Company
http://www.valueweb.com
http://oneworldhosting.com
http://www.backboneinternet.com
http://www.smctechnologies.com
http://www.smctechnologies.com
Other Links to Linux Web-hosting vendors:
http://linux.isp-guide.com/menulink.asp?type=hosting&os=linux