Copyright 2015 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means nor modified,

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2 Copyright 2015 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means without the written consent of SolarWinds. All right, title, and interest in and to the software and documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its respective licensors. SOLARWINDS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION FURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS, ITS SUPPLIERS, NOR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF SOLARWINDS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. The SOLARWINDS, the SOLARWINDS & Design, DAMEWARE, ORION, and other SolarWinds marks, identified on the SolarWinds website, as updated from SolarWinds from time to time and incorporated herein, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks may be common law marks or registered or pending registration in the United States or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks contained and/or mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Microsoft, Windows, and SQL Server are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 07/06/2015 2

3 Contents Introduction 17 Key Features 18 Parent/Child Service Relationships 18 Automated Ticketing Processing 19 Asset Management 19 SolarWinds Product Integration 19 Ticket Processing 20 For Evaluation Users 21 Installation Requirements 22 Server Hardware and Software 22 Hardware 22 Web Server 23 Operating System 23 Web Browser 24 Server Sizing Requirements 24 SolarWinds Product Integration Requirements 25 Database Requirements 26 Database Datatypes 26 Embedded Database Migration Requirements 27 MySQL Requirements 28 SQL Server Requirements 28 Software 28 3

4 Web Help Desk Hardware 28 Discovery Connector Requirements 29 Virtual Appliance Requirements 30 LDAP Requirements 30 Mail Server Requirements 31 Software 31 Supported Protocols 31 Mobile Client Requirements 31 Hypervisor Requirements 32 Installing the Application 33 Installing Web Help Desk on a Microsoft Windows System 33 Uninstalling Web Help Desk 35 Upgrading from Windows 32-bit to Windows 64-bit 35 Installing Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX System 36 Uninstalling Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX System 39 Running Web Help Desk on Embedded and External Java 41 Installing Web Help Desk on a Linux System 41 Uninstalling Web Help Desk on a Linux System 44 Upgrading Web Help Desk 45 Database Migration Options 47 External Database Options 47 Migrating External or Unsupported Databases to PostgreSQL 49 Migrating from MySQL to SQL Server 50 Restoring and Backing Up the Embedded PostgreSQL Database 51 Getting Started 53 Setting Up the Database 53 Using an Embedded Database 53 Using an External Database 53 Using an Embedded PostgreSQL Database 54 Creating a Custom SQL Database and Account 54 4

5 Web Help Desk Creating an Integration Account 56 Creating the Default Admin Account 58 Accessing the Getting Started Wizard 60 Adding and Editing Custom Request Types 60 Adding Custom Request Types 61 Editing Custom Request Types 63 Setting Up the Application 65 Set Up Overview 66 Setup Menu Options 67 Defining Techs 69 Editing Your Administrator Account 69 Creating Techs 71 Defining Tech Groups 74 Creating a Tech Group 75 Assigning Tech Group Levels 76 Assign Supported Request Types 77 Setting Tech Permissions 77 Defining Ticket Routing Processes 79 Creating Action Rules for Ticket Processing 79 Adding Approver Roles 82 Creating Approver Roles for Locations 82 Adding Department Approver Roles 83 Assigning Clients to Location Approval Roles 83 Assigning Clients to Department Approval Roles 84 Creating a Change Advisory Board (CAB) 84 Adding CAB Status Types 85 Defining the Approval Processes 89 Adding Approval Steps 90 Adding Supported Request Types 91 Applying Approvals 92 5

6 Web Help Desk Ticket Approvals 92 Approver Action 92 Approvals 92 Client Web Approvals 93 Setting Up Tickets 94 Configuring Ticket Options 95 Defining Request Types 100 Defining Status Types 102 Setting Priority Types and Alert Triggers 104 Creating Custom Ticket Fields 105 Creating Tasks 108 Access the Task Screen 109 Create a New Task 109 Add New Task Elements 110 Creating New Tickets From Task Elements 112 Entering Locations 113 Defining Location Custom Fields 113 Defining Clients 116 Defining Client Options 116 Setting Up Client Admin Roles 116 Defining Client Custom Fields 117 Importing Active Directory/LDAP Directory Connections 119 About LDAP 119 Validating LDAP Certificates 120 Synchronizing Web Help Desk User Information 120 Importing Clients 124 Defining Assets 126 Configuring Asset Import and Permissions Options 127 Defining Asset Type, Status, Warranty, and Lease Information 127 Defining Asset Custom Fields 129 6

7 Web Help Desk Adding Manufacturers 132 Adding Vendors 132 Defining PO Custom Fields 133 Importing Asset Data 136 Setting Up Parts & Billing 137 Applying Parts & Billing Options 138 Performing Invoicing 138 Defining Rates & Terms 139 Defining Part Custom Fields 142 Configuring General Settings 145 Activating the License 145 Activating Your License Online 146 Activating Your License Offline 146 Migrating Your Installation to a Different Server 147 Deactivating Your License Offline 148 Reinstalling a License on the Same Server 148 Changing the Java Bit Version on Microsoft Windows Servers 148 Implementing Your New License in a Clustered Deployment 149 Configuring Options 150 Setting Up Authentication 152 Setting Time & Place 154 Configuring Look & Feel 157 Customizing the Database Connection 161 Setting and Forwarding Log Settings 163 Viewing System Information 163 Setting Up 164 Simplifying Management Options 165 Setting Up Outgoing Accounts 165 Setting Up Incoming Accounts 167 Applying Templates 168 7

8 Web Help Desk Built-in Templates 169 Outgoing Templates 169 Incoming Templates 172 Template Layout 173 Editing Built-in Templates 174 Creating New Templates 177 Applying Tags in Templates 182 Configuring and Managing Authentication 186 Deploying SSO with SAML Using AD FS 188 Before You Begin 189 Configuring Web Help Desk to use AD FS 189 Configuring SAML 2.0 on the AD FS Server 190 Adding AD FS Login URLs to your Trusted Sites 191 Deploying SSO with CAS Deploying on Tomcat 193 Enabling SSL on Web Help Desk 194 Deploying on the Web Help Desk Server 194 Configuring a GPO to Push Internet Explorer Settings 195 Enabling HTTPS 197 Configuring the HTTPS Listening Port 197 Configuring URL Ports 198 Enabling Listening for HTTPS Requests 199 Entering SSL Connection Port 200 Restarting the Help Desk 200 Working with Keys and Certificates 200 Using a Default Key Pair Alias and Password 202 Adding Certificate Chains 202 Replacing Self-signed Certificates with CA Certificates 203 Generating a New Certificate 203 Creating a New Keypair 203 8

9 Web Help Desk Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) 206 Importing CA Chain and Root Certificates 207 Importing a CA Reply Certificate 207 Creating a New Key Pair 208 Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) 212 Adding a Certificate Authority to an Embedded Java CA Cert Keystore 213 Importing Certificates on Windows or Mac OSX 213 Importing Certificates on Linux Virtual Appliance 214 Importing CA Root and Chain Certificates 214 Importing a CA Reply Certificate 215 Importing an Existing Certificate 216 Creating a PKCS#12 Keystore from a Private Key and a Certificate 216 Exporting a PKCS#12 Keystore from Microsoft Management Console 217 Importing a PKCS#12 File into the Keystore 218 Adding SSL Certificates to the Virtual Appliance 219 Adding a Self-signed SSL Certificate 219 Adding a Certificate from a Certificate Authority 221 Resolving Untrusted Site Errors After Adding Certificates 223 Certificate Troubleshooting Tips 225 Troubleshooting Scenarios 226 Managing Clients 229 Manually Adding a New Client 229 Configuring Client Notifications 229 Viewing Client Information 230 Enabling Client-initiated Account Setup 230 Assigning Assets 231 Managing Tickets 233 Ticket Flow 233 Manually Creating Tickets 237 Creating Quick Tickets 237 9

10 Web Help Desk Customizing Ticket Views 239 Searching Tickets 241 Refining Search Results 242 Displaying Print Views 242 Performing Ticket Bulk Actions 243 Merging Tickets 244 Creating Parent/Child Service Relationships 246 Linking a Parent Ticket to a Child Ticket 246 Removing Linked Parent Tickets from Child Tickets 247 Viewing a Parent Ticket in a Child Ticket 247 Linking a Sub-child Ticket to a Child Ticket 248 Navigating Between Linked Tickets 248 Adding Notes to Parent and Child Tickets 249 Automating Parent/Child Tickets 250 Configuring a Task With Elements 251 Linking a Child Ticket to the Parent 252 Configuring an Action Rule 254 Creating Parent/Child Tickets 255 Configuring Ticket Details 256 Selecting a Request Type 256 Improving Ticket Resolution with Ticket Types 257 Changing Ticket Relationships 258 Linking and Unlinking Incident and Problem Tickets 259 Adding Details to Tickets with Tech Notes 261 Tech Permissions and Tickets 262 Ticket Recipients 263 Managing Ticket Tasks 263 Escalating and De-escalating Tickets 263 Creating Tickets 265 Updating Tickets Using

11 Web Help Desk Using Client Ticket s 265 Using Tech Ticket s 267 Managing Assets 271 Discovering Assets 271 Configuring Asset Discovery Tools 272 Configuring Absolute Manage (LANrev) Settings 272 Configuring Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Settings 274 Configuring Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 Settings and Later 276 Configuring Casper 8 Settings and Earlier 277 Configuring Casper 9 Settings 279 Configuring Database Table or View Settings 280 Configuring Lansweeper Settings 281 Configuring Microsoft SMS/SCCM Settings 283 Configuring SolarWinds NCM, NPM, or SAM Settings 284 Configuring Web Help Desk Discovery Engine (WMI) Settings 286 Syncing and Discovering Assets 289 Manually Adding Assets 289 Removing Assets 291 Editing Asset Properties 292 Working with Asset Properties 292 Creating Parent and Child Associations 295 Adding Purchase Orders 297 Defining Vendors 298 Adding a Purchase Order 298 Adding Purchase Order Line Items 299 Importing Purchase Orders 300 Searching Assets 300 Refining Search Results 300 Saved Queries 300 Reserving Assets

12 Web Help Desk Making Assets Reservable 301 Reserving as a Tech 302 Reserving as a Client 302 Checking In and Out 303 Importing Asset Data 304 Managing FAQs 306 Creating New FAQs 306 Accessing FAQs 307 Searching FAQs 308 Working with Reports 309 Using Sample Reports 310 Creating and Editing Reports 311 Building Asset Reports 313 Report Types 313 Data Categories 314 Creating a Bar Chart Report 316 Creating a Pie Chart Report 320 Creating a Table-only Report 322 Create Ticket Reports 325 Designing Billing Reports 333 Creating Report Groups 336 Building Report Schedules 337 Managing Parts and Billing 338 Manually Adding Parts 340 Configuring Inventory Alerts 341 Overriding Default Inventory Alert Recipients 342 Enabling Service Time Blocks 342 Customizing the Billing Statement Template 343 Getting Client Feedback 344 Automatic Surveys

13 Web Help Desk Manual Surveys 344 Creating Surveys 345 Creating Messages 346 Reviewing Survey Results 347 View Ticket Details 347 Viewing Survey Results Reports 348 Sending Ticket Surveys 348 Importing Data 349 Using Templates to Import Data 350 Exporting Data 352 Exporting Tickets 352 Exporting Clients 352 Exporting Assets 353 Exporting Parts 353 Exporting FAQs 354 Customizing Tickets, Notes, Instructions, and s with BBCode 355 Applying Basic Formatting 357 Creating Your Own Tags 359 Adding Clickable Links 359 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 362 Configuring Orion-to-Web Help Desk Ticketing 362 Enabling SolarWinds Orion to Share Alerts with Web Help Desk 362 Configuring Orion Alerts for Orion Platform Configuring Orion Alerts Prior to Orion Platform Testing Orion Server Access to the Help Desk Integration Account 369 Entering a SolarWinds Orion Alert Source into Web Help Desk 370 Assigning Request Types 372 Entering SolarWinds Account and Credentials Data 372 Configuring Alert Filtering Rules 373 Understanding Rule Configuration

14 Web Help Desk Using the Rule Configuration Interface 374 Adding and Configuring Matching Rules 375 Adding and Configuring Complex Rules 378 Alert Filtering Configuration Example 378 Testing Alert Filtering Rules 380 Parsing Orion Alert-based Tickets Using Action Rules 382 Sample Orion Alert-based Web Help Desk Ticket 384 Embedding Web Help Desk into the Orion Web Console 386 Creating Web Help Desk Link in NPM Node Details 388 Putting Web Help Desk on the NPM Menu Bar 390 Integrating with DameWare MRC 392 Installing DameWare MRC 393 Using DameWare MRC 393 Configuring Integration 394 Configuring Tech Access to DameWare MRC 395 Launching and Closing DameWare MRC 395 Launching DameWare from a Client Ticket 396 Launching DameWare from an Asset 397 Closing a DameWare Session 397 Connecting an iphone 399 Connecting to a Standard Installation 399 Connecting to a Hosted Installation 399 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance 400 Using VMware vsphere 400 Using Microsoft Hyper-V 403 Upgrading the Virtual Appliance 406 Upgrading on vsphere 406 Upgrading on Hyper-V 407 Managing the Appliance 408 Logging in to the Appliance

15 Web Help Desk Setting the Time Zone 409 Configuring Network Settings 410 Configuring Proxy Settings 411 Rebooting the Appliance 412 Changing the Appliance Administrator Password 413 Deployment Considerations 414 Memory Sizing and JVM Options 414 Supporting Less Than 20 Techs 414 Supporting More Than 20 Techs 414 Clearing JVM Heap Memory 415 Automatically Restarting Mac OS X 415 Automatically Restarting Windows 416 Automatically Restarting Linux 416 High Availability Deployments 417 Monitoring Deployment on Mac OS X 417 Configuring Multiple Instance Tomcat Deployments 418 Installing Multiple Tomcat Instances 419 Configuring Multiple Instance Tomcat Daemons 421 Configuration Options 422 Memory Allocation 422 Upgrading Web Help Desk 423 For More Information 423 Setting the Tomcat Daemon 423 Setting Daemon Memory 424 Setting WebObjects Daemon Mode 424 Deploying Multiple Virtual Machines 425 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases 426 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server 426 Configuring MySQL 430 Integrating Apache

16 Web Help Desk Installing IIS 435 Customizing Server Settings 438 Help Desk Ports 438 Web Help Desk Interfaces 439 Databases 439 s 440 LDAP/AD 440 Asset Discovery 441 Configuring Firewalls for Data Traffic 441 Unsecured and Secured Ports for Login 442 Adding Third-party SSL Certificates 442 No Redirect to HTTPS 448 URL Ports (Optional) 448 Tomcat Server Port 448 Mail Notification Port 448 Java Home Location 449 IP Address 449 Privileged Networks 449 Keystore Settings (for SSL Connections) 450 Memory Allocation 450 Database Connections 451 Java Command Line Options 451 JVM Arguments

17 Introduction SolarWinds Web Help Desk software is a web-based automated ticketing solution that helps you manage your IT support requests for both internal and external clients. Web Help Desk includes a Web console with an integrated dashboard for performance reporting. Using customizable widgets that you add to the dashboard, you can track metrics such as ticket activity, ticket status, and ticket resolution in real time to help you decide how well your help desk is performing. The following illustration provides a high-level view of the Web Help Desk software architecture. All help desk processes are managed through the Web console. After you set up the application, you can configure Web Help Desk to perform specific tasks, such 17

18 Introduction as routing tickets to a specific help desk technician or work group, billing customers for parts and labor costs, and creating new tickets from requests or alert messages from a supported monitoring application. You can run Web Help Desk on the following operating systems and platforms: Microsoft Windows Server Apple OSX Red Hat Enterprise Linux Fedora CentOS VMware vsphere Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines Web Help Desk includes an extensive library of FAQs, integrated tool tips, and online help you can access from the Web console. See the Web Help Desk Documentation Website for additional information. Key Features Web Help Desk provides the following features for managing your enterprise or managed service provider (MSP) help desk operations: Parent/Child service relationships Automated ticket processing Asset Management Parent/Child Service Relationships You can link multiple service requests to one parent ticket to address a repeated issue or task (such as on-boarding a new employee or tracking your IT projects). You can also pass notes, attachments, and custom fields between parent and child tickets to share data to relevant tasks. See Creating Parent/Child Service Relationships for more information. 18

19 Automated Ticketing Processing Automated Ticketing Processing You can generate tickets manually in the user interface or automatically by s from any third-party monitoring tool. You can also create tasks to link a ticket automatically to an existing ticket that triggers an action rule. If you are running DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) (included with SolarWinds Help Desk Essentials), you can establish a remote connection and troubleshoot a client's system directly from a ticket or asset and save remote session details into a new or existing ticket. Additionally, you can create tasks to link a ticket automatically to an existing ticket that triggers an action rule. See Creating Tasks for information about creating tasks. See Creating Action Rules for Ticket Processing for information about creating action rules. See Automating Parent/Child Tickets for information about configuring tasks that initiate by action rules. Asset Management Using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) or supported third-party discovery tools, you can search a specific IP address range in your corporate network and create a list of client assets (such as computer systems, installed software, and attached peripherals). When asset discovery is completed, you can use DameWare MRC to connect remotely to a client system, troubleshoot the issue, and append remote session information to a new or existing ticket. See Managing Assets for more information. SolarWinds Product Integration You can automatically create new tickets from alerts received from the following SolarWinds monitoring products: SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) If the ticket is not resolved within a pre-configured span of time, Web Help Desk can escalate the ticket and send an SMS alert to the assigned help desk technician. Additionally, when you create new tickets, you can send notes to the end user to provide status or request additional information. 19

20 Introduction Ticket Processing SolarWinds Web Help Desk initiates and manages your help desk processes through the Web console, , SMS, and built-in procedures. After you configure Web Help Desk, it automatically routes tickets to the proper technician and updates your customer. If a repair requires spare parts, Web Help Desk orders the required parts and automatically bills the customer for parts and labor costs. Web Help Desk accepts ticket requests and opens a ticket based on the information in the . You can also update and close tickets using . Each customer can access a Web console dedicated to their help desk needs. Customers have access to all of their help desk features through a Web portal, and they cannot see any information about other customers help desks. The following illustrations describes the basic Web Help Desk processes at a high level. 20

21 For Evaluation Users For Evaluation Users For 30 days after you install your free version of Web Help Desk, you have unlimited Tech seats. If you have not entered a license after 30 days, Web Help Desk automatically switches to a 1-Tech license, allowing updates up to 1 year. All Tech accounts other than the initial admin account become inactive. Purchasing and entering a license reactivates the deactivated accounts. Once you have purchased a license, enter it into Web Help Desk at Setup > General > License. Note: Converting your unlicensed version of Web Help Desk to a licensed version keeps all your existing Web Help Desk settings or files, so there is no need for reinstallation or reconfiguration. 21

22 Installation Requirements SolarWinds recommends reviewing the following requirements before performing an installation, upgrade, or migration: Server Requirements SolarWinds Product Integration Requirements Database Requirements Discovery Connector Requirements Virtual Appliance Requirements LDAP Requirements Mail Server Requirements Mobile Client Requirements Hypervisor Requirements Server Hardware and Software The following tables list the minimum Web Help Desk requirements for: Hardware Web Server Operating System Web Browser Hardware Component CPU RAM Requirements Intel 64-bit Dual Core 2.0GHz or faster 3GB (up to 10 technicians) Add 1GB for every 10 additional technicians 22

23 Installation Requirements Component Hard Drive Space Application Ports Requirements 20GB 8081 (or alternate browser port) 1433 (Microsoft SQL Server) Web Server Product Version Apache Tomcat Operating System Platform Microsoft Windows (less than 20 technicians) Microsoft Windows (more than 20 technicians) Microsoft Windows (Trial evaluation only) Apple iphone (for Web Help Desk Mobile) Apple OSX Supported Versions Windows Server 2003 (32-bit) Windows Server 2008 (32- and 64-bit) Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2012 (64-bit) Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) Windows Server 2012 (64-bit) Windows 7 (64-bit) Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Apple ios 7 Apple ios (Mountain Lion) 10.9 (Mavericks) (Yosemite) 23

24 Web Browser Platform Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) CentOS Fedora Supported Versions RHEL 6.5 (64-bit) RHEL 7.0 (64-bit) CentOS 6.5 (64-bit) CentOS 7.0 (64-bit) Fedora 20 (64-bit) Fedora 21 (64-bit) Web Browser Note: Due to frequent updates of Google Chrome v32 and Mozilla Firefox v32, check the SolarWinds Support Website for the latest information about compatibility issues between these web browsers and the latest version of Web Help Desk. Type Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) Supported Versions Latest version Latest version IE9 IE10 IE11 Apple Safari Safari 7 Server Sizing Requirements Safari 8 SolarWinds Web Help Desk software manages help desk operations for networks of any size from small corporate LANs to large enterprise and service provider networks. Most Web Help Desk systems perform well on 3.0GHz systems with 3GB of RAM. However, when you create a large number of techs, consider the existing hardware and the system configuration. SolarWinds recommends adding 1GB of memory to your Web Help Desk server for every 10 technicians. 24

25 Installation Requirements If you plan to integrate Web Help Desk with existing SolarWinds products, ensure that your SolarWinds server is running SolarWinds Orion Platform or later. Web Help Desk requires this version to integrate SolarWinds alerts into trouble tickets. For information about SolarWinds upgrade paths and compatibility, see the SolarWinds Knowledge Base article Compatibility of SolarWinds Orion Products for Installation and Upgrade. For SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) software upgrade and licensing instructions, see Installing SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor, in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide. SolarWinds Product Integration Requirements The following table lists the SolarWinds products that integrate with Web Help Desk. Supported Product SolarWinds Orion Platform SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) SolarWinds Network Configuration Monitor (NCM) Version Version and later SolarWinds NPM 11.0 SolarWinds NPM SolarWinds NPM 11.5 SolarWinds SAM 5.5 SolarWinds SAM 6.0 SolarWinds SAM SolarWinds SAM SolarWinds SAM SolarWinds NCM 7.2 SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM 7.3 SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM

26 Database Requirements Supported Product Version SolarWinds NCM 7.4 DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) Version 11.1 Version 11.2 Note: SolarWinds SAM and SolarWinds NCM must be running with SolarWinds NPM to integrate with Web Help Desk. Database Requirements Web Help Desk uses an embedded PostgreSQL database as its standard database. See Embedded Database Requirements for specific requirements. The following table lists the supported databases. Database Supported Versions PostgreSQL PostgreSQL 9.2 PostgreSQL PostgreSQL 9.4 MySQL MySQL 5.6 Microsoft SQL Server SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 SQL Server 2012 SP1 SQL Server 2014 Note: For optimal external database performance, run Web Help Desk and a supported external database on separate servers. See MySQL Requirements and SQL Server Requirements for more information about software and hardware requirements. Database Datatypes The following table provides a reference for mapping data types from other databases to PostgreSQL (and to each other). 26

27 Installation Requirements WHD FrontBase Oracle Open Base Postgre SQL MySQL SQL Server PK INTEGER NUMBER int int4 INT int currency DECIMAL NUMBER money numeric DECIMAL money datetime TIMESTAMP DATE datetime timestamptz DATETIME datetime integer INTEGER NUMBER int int4 INT int pk BLOB BLOB object bytea BLOB varbinary (max) data BLOB BLOB object bytea LONGBLOB varbinary (max) text VARCHAR CLOB char4000 text TEXT nvarchar (max) varchar VARCHAR VARCHAR2 char varchar VARCHAR nvarchar Embedded Database Migration Requirements Web Help Desk no longer supports a FrontBase database. To automatically upgrade an embedded FrontBase database to an embedded PostgreSQL database, upgrade your software to Web Help Desk v and then upgrade to the latest version. Note: External FrontBase databases must be manually migrated to the embedded PostgreSQL database. To ensure that the Web Help Desk database upgrade starts automatically after the v upgrade, ensure that: Both FrontBase and PostgreSQL are running. The embedded FrontBase uses the whd and user whd schemas. The new server includes enough free space to support the database migration. Web Help Desk notifies you about the space required before migration begins. The migration process creates a $WEB_HELPDESK_HOME/temp folder with associated files. As a result, the system administrator performing the installation must have write privileges on both the FrontBase and PostgreSQL databases. 27

28 MySQL Requirements After you upgrade to version , you can upgrade to the latest version. The version upgrade converts your embedded FrontBase database to an embedded PostgreSQL database. No additional database conversions are required to upgrade to the latest version. MySQL Requirements The following table lists the minimum software and hardware requirements for a MySQL database server. Product Supported Versions MySQL Database MySQL 5.6 CPU Speed Hard Drive Space Memory Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or better 20GB 2GB plus 1GB for every additional 10 techs SQL Server Requirements The following tables list the minimum software and hardware requirements for a database server running Microsoft SQL Server. Software Software Microsoft SQL Server Requirement SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 SQL Server 2012 SP1 SQL Server 2014 Hardware Component CPU Hard Drive Space Requirements Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz or better 20GB 28

29 Installation Requirements Component RAM Requirements 2GB with 1GB additional RAM for every additional 10 techs Discovery Connector Requirements The following table lists the supported discovery connectors used for asset discovery. Note: SolarWinds SAM and SolarWinds NCM must be running with SolarWinds NPM in the Orion Web Console to integrate with SolarWinds Web Help Desk software. Discovery Connector SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) SolarWinds Network Performance Manager (NPM) SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) Supported Versions SolarWinds NCM 7.2 SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM 7.3 SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM SolarWinds NCM 7.4 SolarWinds NPM 11.0 SolarWinds NPM SolarWinds NPM 11.5 SolarWinds SAM 5.5 SolarWinds SAM 6.0 SolarWinds SAM SolarWinds SAM SolarWinds SAM Absolute Manager Absolute Manager

30 Virtual Appliance Requirements Discovery Connector Supported Versions Absolute Manager 6.6 Absolute Manager 6.7 Apple Remote Desktop Apple Remote Desktop Casper Casper 8.6 Casper 9.0 Casper 9.63 Lansweeper Lansweeper 4 Lansweeper 5 Lansweeper 5.1 Lansweeper Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager System Center Configuration Manager 2007 System Center Configuration Manager 2012 System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2 Cumulative Update 3 (CU3) Virtual Appliance Requirements Web Help Desk can be installed on a VMware or Microsoft virtual appliance when the hosting server meets the minimum server requirements. The virtual machine includes a supported version of the CentOS operating system and the latest version of Web Help Desk. LDAP Requirements The following table lists the supported Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) software products. 30

31 Installation Requirements Product Supported Versions Microsoft Active Directory Active Directory 2003 Active Directory 2008 Active Directory 2012 Active Directory 2012 R2 Open Directory Open Directory 4 OpenLDAP OpenLDAP 2.4 OpenLDAP Mail Server Requirements This section lists the required mail server software and supported protocols. Software Product Supported Versions Microsoft Exchange Server Exchange Server 2010 Supported Protocols IMAP POP3 SMTP Mobile Client Requirements Exchange Server 2013 CU7 The following table lists the supported client operating systems for the SolarWinds Mobile Admin software. Platform Supported Operating Systems Apple ios 7 ios 8 31

32 Hypervisor Requirements Hypervisor Requirements The following table lists the supported hypervisor requirements. Product Supported Versions VMware VMware 5.5 Microsoft Hyper-V Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Server 2012 Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Note: Microsoft Hyper-V Server is included with Windows Server 2008 and later. 32

33 Installing the Application The following procedures describe how to install Web Help Desk on Microsoft Windows, Apple, and Linux servers. Before you begin, ensure that the host system meets or exceeds the recommended requirements. See Server Requirements for more information. During the installation, you will create a unique account to receive and process alerts from SolarWinds Orion Platform systems. See Creating an Integration Account for more information. Installing Web Help Desk on a Microsoft Windows System To install Web Help Desk on a server running a supported version of the Microsoft Windows Server operating system: 1. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server that will host the application. Before you begin, ensure that you: Do not use a domain account. Verify the account is not subject to any local or group policy restrictions. Use the Run as administrator option when launching the installer on a system running Windows Server Quit all other programs before running the installer. 2. If you are installing SolarWinds Web Help Desk from a downloaded.zip file, navigate to the file, extract the evaluation package to an appropriate location, and launch the executable. If you are installing Web Help Desk from a CD, locate and launch the executable from the CD. 33

34 Installing the Application If you are installing Web Help Desk on a system running Windows Server 2008, right-click the installer and select Run as administrator. When you launch the executable, the Introduction window appears. 3. Review the Introduction text, and then click Next. The License Agreement window appears. 4. Review and accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next. The Choose Install Folder window appears. 5. Accept the default installation location or click Choose to select a new location. If you created a new installation folder but decide to accept the default location, click Restore Default Folder. 6. Click Next to continue. The Choose Shortcut Folder window appears. 7. Select a location for the product shortcut icons, then click Next. The installer creates icons in your selected location. If you select a location other than the Program group, the icons will not appear in Start > All Programs. Next, the Pre-Installation Summary window appears. 8. Review the information in the window, then click Install. The installation procedure begins, which requires several minutes to complete. When completed, the Install Complete window appears. 9. Click Done. The Install Complete window closes and the installation procedure is completed. 34

35 Uninstalling Web Help Desk Uninstalling Web Help Desk To uninstall the application on a Windows Server system: 1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server that will host the application. 3. Navigate to: C:\Program Files\Web Help Desk The WebHelpDesk directory appears. 4. In the directory, double-click UNINSTALL.bat. A command prompt window appears with a message prompting you to verify the uninstall. 5. Enter Y to continue. Web Help Desk and its associated data are uninstalled from the system. 6. Close the command prompt window. Upgrading from Windows 32-bit to Windows 64-bit If you are upgrading from Web Help Desk 32-bit to Web Help Desk 64-bit, uninstall the 32-bit version before you continue. See Uninstalling on Windows for more information. 35

36 Installing the Application When completed, install the 64-bit version. See Installing on Windows for more information. Installing Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX System To install Web Help Desk on a system running a supported version of the Apple OSX operating system: 1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the Apple server that will host the application. 3. If you downloaded the application from the SolarWinds or Web Help Desk website, navigate to your downloaded.dmg file and double-click the file. If you are installing the application from a CD, locate and double-click the.dmg executable to mount the installation program. The Web Help Desk splash screen appears. 5. Double-click WebHelpDesk.pkg. The Welcome screen appears. 36

37 Installing Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX System 6. Review the introduction text, and then click Continue. The Software License Agreement screen appears. 7. Review the terms of the license agreement, and then click Continue. A dialog screen appears, prompting you to accept the terms of the software license agreement. 37

38 Installing the Application 8. Click Agree to accept the license terms. The Standard Install screen appears. 9. Review the installation information, and then click Install. The Installation Complete screen appears. 38

39 Uninstalling Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX System 10. Click Close to complete the installation. The application is installed on your Apple OSX system. Uninstalling Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX System To uninstall Web Help Desk on an Apple OSX system: 1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server that is hosting Web Help Desk. 3. Open your Applications directory. The Applications folder appears. 39

40 Installing the Application 4. In the directory, double-click Uninstall Web Help Desk. A command prompt appears, prompting you to verify the uninstall. 5. Enter Y to delete the application and associated data. Web Help Desk is uninstalled from your Apple OSX system. 6. Close the command prompt window. 40

41 Running Web Help Desk on Embedded and External Java Running Web Help Desk on Embedded and External Java Beginning in v12.2.0, Web Help Desk for OS X includes an embedded Java Virtual Machine (JVM). If you are running an external Oracle JVM, Web Help Desk will preserve your Java settings during the installation procedure and continue using the external Oracle JVM. If you are migrating from an external JVM to the embedded JVM included with Web Help Desk and you are using a MySQL database, ensure that the new embedded Java directory on your Web Help Desk server includes an Oracle Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver. Installing Web Help Desk on a Linux System Note: Installing Web Help Desk on a Linux system does not require appliance deployment. To install Web Help Desk on a system running a supported version of the Linux operating system: 1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server that will host SolarWinds Web Help Desk. 3. Navigate to your downloaded executable or the CD containing the executable. 4. Run the appropriate command based on your system configuration. For 32-bit systems, run: gunzip webhelpdesk- webhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx-1.i386.rpm For 64-bit systems, run: gunzip webhelpdesk- webhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx-1.x86_ 64.rpm 5. Run the appropriate installer command based on your system configuration. For 32-bit systems, run: rpm -ivhwebhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx-1.i386.rpm For 64-bit systems, run: 41

42 Installing the Application sudo rpm - webhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx-1.x86_64.rpm During the installation, the following message appears: [root@loalhost ~]# rpm -ivh webhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx- 1.x86_64.rpm Preparing...webhelpdesk-12.3.X.XXX-1.x86_64.rpm ######################################### [100%] 1:webhelpdesk ######################################### [100%] Setting up the webhelpdesk-to start automatically at boot...done. To start the webhelpdesk, use 'usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd: start' Note: To upgrade an existing Web Help Desk Linux installation, apply the command -Uvh, rather than -ivh. 6. Run the following command to start the application: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd start During start-up, the following message appears: [root@localhost ~]# /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd start Web Help Desk 12.3.X.XXX Copyright (c) SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC Using XX:MaxPermSize=256Starting postgresql-9.2 service: [ OK ] Starting the Web Help Desk on port Using CATALINA_BASE: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat Using CATALINA_HOME: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat 42

43 Installing Web Help Desk on a Linux System Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat/temp Using JRE_HOME: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/jre Using CLASSPATH: /usr/local/webhelpdesk /bin/tomcat/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/local/webhelpdesk/ bin/tomcat/bin/tomcat-juli.jar Using CATALINA_PID: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/log/.whd.pid[root@localhost ~] # Note: You can stop the application by running the following command: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd stop When you stop Web Help Desk, the following message appears: [root@localhost ~]# /usr/local/webhelpdesk stop Web Help Desk 12.3.X.XXX Copyright (c) SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC Using XX:MaxPermSize=256Stopping the Web Help Desk... Stopping postgresql-9.2 service: [ OK ][root@localhost ~]# 7. Launch your browser and navigate to the following URL: The Introduction text appears. 8. Review the text, and then click Next. The License Agreement text appears. 9. Review the terms of the agreement, and then click Agree. The Installation Information screen appears. 10. Review the information, and then click Next. A prompt appears, stating that the installation is completed. 43

44 Installing the Application 11. Click Close. A dialog screen appears. To use the embedded PostgreSQL database, click Continue and go to step 12. To use a MySQL database, click Cancel and perform the following steps to connect Web Help Desk to MySQL: a. Clear the Use Embedded Database check box. b. On the right side of the Vendor list, click the drop-down menu and select: Microsoft SQL Server c. In the Host field, enter the SQL server IP address. d. In the Port field, enter: 1433 e. In the Database and Username fields, enter: WHD f. Enter the SQL whd user s password, and click Save. g. Close the Web Help Desk console. h. In the Applications folder, double click Stop Web Help Desk. i. In the Applications folder, double click Web Help Desk. j. Click Continue to initialize the SQL database and start WHD. 12. In the Web Help Desk Web console, enter admin for the user address and admin for the password, and then click Log In. You are logged in. Uninstalling Web Help Desk on a Linux System To uninstall Web Help Desk on a Linux system: 44

45 Upgrading Web Help Desk 1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server that is hosting Web Help Desk. 3. Run the uninstaller using one of the following commands: # rpm -e webhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx-1.i386.rpm or yum remove webhelpdesk-12.3.x.xxx-1.x86_64.rpm The uninstall is completed. Upgrading Web Help Desk You can upgrade to the latest SolarWinds Web Help Desk version from the following versions: The Web Help Desk installation program automatically detects your current installation and walks you through the upgrade procedure. When you perform the upgrade, use the following conventions: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and later. Log in as an administrator and click Start > Web Help Desk > Run. Apple OSX. Log in as an administrator. Linux. Log in with local administrative privileges. To upgrade to the latest version of Web Help Desk: 1. Back up your Web Help Desk server and any database server associated with Web Help Desk. See Backing Up and Restoring the PostgreSQL Database for more information. 45

46 Installing the Application If you are using a Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL database, see the backup and restore documentation included with your database software. Upgrading Web Help Desk will not impact your database and database table data. See Database Migration Options for more information. 2. If you are running multiple Apache Tomcat instances, back up your tomcat_web_template.xml file located at: <WebHelpDesk>/conf This file will be replaced during the upgrade procedure. Otherwise, go to the next step. 3. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 4. Stop Web Help Desk. 5. Launch the new Web Help Desk installer. 6. Follow the prompts on your screen to complete the upgrade. The Web Help Desk installer upgrades your current installation. 7. When the upgrade is completed, close all browsers and start Web Help Desk. 8. Log in as an administrator. 9. Ensure that Web Help Desk is operating properly. If you are not running multiple Apache Tomcat instances, the upgrade is completed. If you are running multiple Apache Tomcat instances, perform the following steps: a. Locate and open the following backup file in a text editor: tomcat_web_template.xml b. Navigate to the following directory: <WebHelpDesk>/conf c. In the /conf directory, open the following file in a text editor: tomcat_web_template.xml 46

47 Database Migration Options d. In the file, add your personal settings from your backup file. e. Save and close the file. f. Restart Web Help Desk. The upgrade is completed. See Configuring Multiple Instance Tomcat Daemons for more information about running multiple Tomcat instances. Database Migration Options SolarWinds does not provide support, tools, or assistance with database migration. For information about migrating your database using a third-party tool, contact the tool vendor for assistance. SolarWinds Web Help Desk uses an embedded PostgreSQL database as its standard database. If you are upgrading to Web Help Desk v and later with an embedded FrontBase database, the Web Help Desk installation wizard walks you through upgrading the existing database to an embedded PostgreSQL database. To avoid future update issues, SolarWinds strongly recommends migrating your data before you update Web Help Desk to the next version. See Running Web Help Desk on Embedded and External Java for information about migrating your database on a server running Apple OS X. External Database Options Web Help Desk supports Microsoft SQL Server versions 2008 and 2012 and MySQL version 5.5 as external databases. You can also use an external PostgreSQL 9.2 or 9.3 database with Web Help Desk v and later. See Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases for more information. Important: If you are using an Oracle or OpenBase database, use a migration tool that migrates your data to a supported database (such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, or SQL Server). Use caution when choosing target data types to use in one of the supported databases. If Web Help Desk does not support the data type, you may experience unexpected results when upgrading to the latest version. 47

48 Installing the Application See Database Datatypes for information about mapping information types across other databases types. 48

49 Migrating External or Unsupported Databases to PostgreSQL Migrating External or Unsupported Databases to PostgreSQL SolarWinds does not provide support, tools, or assistance with database migration. For information about migrating your external or unsupported databases using a third-party tool (such as PGAdmin3 or PostgreSQL Data Wizard), contact the tool vendor for assistance. SolarWinds Web Help Desk v and later does not support database migration to FrontBase, OpenBase, or Oracle databases. If you choose to migrate from an external or unsupported database to PostgreSQL on your own without SolarWinds support, stop Web Help Desk and convert the data types in your old database to the data types used in your new database. See Database Datatypes for database data types used in previously and currently supported Web Help Desk databases. Note: Convert the data types before you migrate your data. See Converting from other Databases to PostgreSQL on the PostgreSQL website for information about migrating from an external or unsupported database to PostgreSQL. This article covers database migration from many databases, including, but not limited, to: FileMaker Pro IBM DB2 Microsoft Access Microsoft SQL Server (SQL Server) MySQL Oracle 49

50 Installing the Application Migrating from MySQL to SQL Server SolarWinds does not provide support, tools, or assistance with database migration. For information about migrating your database using a third-party tool, contact the tool vendor for assistance. If you choose to migrate a MySQL database to Microsoft SQL Server using a thirdparty tool on your own without SolarWinds support, map the data types in your old MySQL database to the data types used in your new SQL Server database. For identical data types that span both databases (such as DATETIME), use the Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) 5.2 tool. You must manually convert inconsistent data types, such as DECIMAL (MySQL) and money (SQL Server), because the Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) conversion tool does not support these data types. The following steps provide an overview for migrating a MySQL database to SQL Server: 1. Stop Web Help Desk. 2. Perform the database migration using the SSMA tool to migrate datatypes (such as DATETIME), which are the same in both MySQL and SQL Server. 3. In the SSMA tool, manually map MySQL data types to SQL Server data types using the data type in Database Datatypes. 4. Start Web Help Desk. 5. Change the database settings to connect to a new SQL Server database. 6. Continue the upgrade to the latest version. For More Information See Automating Database Migration to SQL Server 2012 to download SSMA 5.2. This site also contains links for downloading SSMA versions for converting Oracle, Sybase, and Access databases to SQL Server. See MySQL to SQL Server Migration: How to Use SSMA for instructions about applying SSMA to convert a MySQL schema to a SQL Server format. See Database Datatypes, for a complete list of current and previous WHD database data types that include MySQL and SQL Server. SolarWinds recommends converting data types before beginning the migration process. 50

51 Restoring and Backing Up the Embedded PostgreSQL Database Restoring and Backing Up the Embedded PostgreSQL Database 1. Navigate to Setup > General > Database. 2. Select the Vendor PostgreSQL. 3. Click Backup Now to perform a backup immediately. 4. Click Save to save your settings. If you defined a backup schedule, clicking Save saves and applies the schedule set up for automatic backups. To back up the database outside the Web Help Desk graphical user interface: 1. Stop Web Help Desk. 2. Backup the database to another server using the downloadedpgadmin3 tool or apply the PostgreSQL commands described in the PostgreSQL 9.3 Manual Chapter 24: Backup and Restore. The pg_dump utility is located in the WHD_INSTALL_DIR/pgsql9/bin directory). To use pgadmin3 to connect to a server and restore database files on a Windows system: 1. Start pgadmin3. 2. Click the connector icon. 3. In the pgadmin3 New Server Registration window, enter only the following parameters in Properties, leaving the other fields empty or with default data: Name: whd Host: localhost Port: Username: whd Password: whd Note: whd is the default password. Change this password immediately. 4. Shut down Web Help Desk. 51

52 Installing the Application 5. Start the PostgreSQL service. 6. In the pgadmin3 Object Browser, expand Servers/whd/Databases/whd. 7. Right-click whdand select Delete/Drop. 8. Right-click Databases and select New Database. 9. Name the new database whdand click OK. 10. Right-click the new whd database and then click Restore. 11. Navigate to the desired database file or enter the filename. 12. Select the Rolename whd. 13. Click Restore. 14. Restart Web Help Desk. 52

53 Getting Started The first time you use SolarWinds Web Help Desk, the application walks you through the setup process using a Getting Started Wizard. This wizard walks you through the following processes: Setting Up the Database Creating an Integration Account Creating the Default Admin Account Adding and Editing Custom Request Types Setting Up the Database Before you install SolarWinds Web Help Desk, decide whether to use an embedded or external database. Web Help Desk v and later comes standard with an embedded PostgreSQL database. Using an Embedded Database The embedded database is easy to set up. It works well for small to medium installations, and is configured as part of the Web Help Desk application setup in the Web Help Desk Getting Started Wizard. See Using an Embedded PostgreSQL Database for more information. Using an External Database SolarWinds recommends using a Microsoft SQL Server database. Be sure to install and configure SQL Server before you install Web Help Desk. SQL Server and Web Help Desk can reside on the same server or on a separate server. Web Help Desk can also use a new SQL database instance on an existing SQL Server. See Creating a Custom SQL Database for information about setting up an external Web Help Desk database. 53

54 Getting Started If you have an existing database, consider using an external database with Web Help Desk. Enterprise or multiple client installations must use an external database. Using an Embedded PostgreSQL Database When the Web Help Desk Getting Started Wizard prompts you to select a database, select Use Embedded PostgreSQL database (recommended) and click Next. Creating a Custom SQL Database and Account To set up an external database in Web Help Desk: 1. During the installation procedure, select Use Custom SQL database (advanced). 54

55 Creating a Custom SQL Database and Account 2. Click the Database Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate database. 3. Enter the appropriate information in the remaining fields. 4. Click Test to test the database connection. If Web Help Desk connects with the external database, click Next. If Web Help Desk cannot connect with the external database, check your settings and rerun the test. If you do not have an account on the selected database: 1. Select Create database and user account if necessary. 2. Enter the database admin account user name. 3. Enter the database admin account password. 4. Click Create. See Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL Databases for information about setting up your external database to work with Web Help Desk. 55

56 Getting Started Creating an Integration Account An alert source is a system or device that generates alerts. The source sends directly to SolarWinds Web Help Desk or to the Web Help Desk integration account. This source can be an Orion Platform system (direct) or another -generating system. You can configure Web Help Desk to receive and process alerts from any alert source that transmits . The alert source transmits to the Web Help Desk integration account you create. The following illustration describes how Web Help Desk processes the alerts. The integration account provides external systems an integration point with Web Help Desk. This account includes both incoming and outgoing to and from the application. By default, Web Help Desk polls this account each minute for from users and alert-generating systems. Web Help Desk processes and transforms these s into Web Help Desk tickets and deletes all other s from the account. See Setting Up Incoming Accounts for information about configuring Web Help Desk to recognize and process s from the Integration account. To ensure the best possible system performance and results, set up a dedicated Web Help Desk integration account. 56

57 Creating an Integration Account Web Help Desk requires a dedicated business account for all integration . After you set up the dedicated account on a mail server, enter the configuration information in the Getting Started Wizard. Note: The incoming mail account requires an assigned request type by default. Web Help Desk uses your first configured request type as the default. When you complete the procedures in the Getting Started Wizard, you can update your account information by clicking Setup > and selecting either Outgoing Mail Accounts or Incoming Accounts. To configure your accounts in Web Help Desk in the Setup Wizard: 1. During the installation procedure In the Setup Wizard, navigate to Accounts. The Accounts window appears. 2. In the top field, enter the integration account address. 3. Complete the remaining fields as required. 57

58 Getting Started 4. Maximize Advanced. 5. In the Incoming Mail Port field, enter the port number for incoming mail. 6. Select the Require a Secure Connection check box (if required). 7. In the SMTP port field, enter the port number for outgoing mail. 8. In the Test Addresses field, enter your test addresses. Web Help Desk uses these addresses to test connectivity. 9. Click Test. If Web Help Desk contacts the account and is able to send the test , click Next. If Web Help Desk cannot contact the account and send the test , check your settings and rerun the test. 10. Click Next to continue. See Creating the Default Admin Account. Creating the Default Admin Account During setup, the Getting Started Wizard prompts you to create a single default admin account. This local super user account is used to: Log in to SolarWinds Web Help Desk for the first time and configure the application. Access all Web Help Desk settings and accounts. Administrators with a default admin account can create all user accounts, including additional admin accounts. The default admin account includes tech account privileges, allowing you to create and process tickets with tech privileges. Techs can have either Tech or Tech Admin account privileges. For information about adding tech accounts, see Defining Techs. Additionally, you can create client accounts and clients with privileges to create their own accounts. For information about creating client accounts, see Adding Clients. 58

59 Creating the Default Admin Account To create the default admin account: 1. In the Setup Wizard, navigate to the Admin Account section. The Create an Admin Account screen appears. 2. Enter your name, user name, password, and address in the appropriate fields. 3. Click Next to continue. The Request Types section appears. 59

60 Getting Started Accessing the Getting Started Wizard After you complete the Getting Started Wizard and create your Admin account, the Getting Started Wizard is no longer accessible. To access Web Help Desk, log in through the Web Help Desk login page. If you try to access the Getting Started Wizard, an error message appears with a link to the login page, as shown below. To change your settings after you initialize the application, use the Web Help Desk Setup area. The Default Admin account is the only Web Help Desk account that can view and use the blue Switch to Client account toolbar button. When you create the Default Admin account, the Getting Started Wizard automatically links the Client account. Additional Admin and Tech accounts must be specifically configured to link to a client account. Adding and Editing Custom Request Types When a client creates a ticket, they can select a request type in the Ticket Details tab to specify a category that categorizes their issue (for example, /Outlook, Facilities, or HR). During setup, you can configure request types that route tickets to specific techs for problem resolution, automating your help desk processes. SolarWinds Web Help Desk includes standard request types, such as Hardware, Network, and /Outlook. If your organization requires custom request types to address additional requests, the Web Help Desk administrator can add and 60

61 Adding Custom Request Types define these request types and edit the properties of existing request types to suit your needs. Note: For seamless integration with DameWare Remote Support, ensure that all Web Help Desk request types do not include required custom fields. Adding Custom Request Types 1. In the Getting Started Wizard, navigate to Account Types. The Add custom Request Types screen appears. 2. Maximize Add Request Type. The Create New Request Type window appears. 61

62 Getting Started 3. In the Request Type Name field, enter Security. 4. In the Default Priority field, click the drop-down menu and select Urgent. 5. Maximize Advanced. 6. Click Add New Group. 7. Enter the name of the group handling security. In this example, the group is called Web Security. 8. Click Add. 9. Select any of the following options to enable clients to provide as much detail as possible: Require clients to add details Allow clients to add attachments Allow clients to review these requests after they are created 10. Click Save. 62

63 Editing Custom Request Types Editing Custom Request Types To edit a request type: 1. Select a request type and click Edit. 2. Edit the request type as needed. For example, when editing the request type in the previous section, you can change the request name from Security to Web Security. 3. Click Save to save your edits. 4. Click Finish to complete the Web Help Desk setup. The Getting Started Wizard configures the embedded PostgreSQL database and the Web Help Desk application with your edits. 5. Click Login as Admin to continue setup. 6. Review and accept the End User License Agreement (EULA) and then click Continue. 63

64 Getting Started Web Help Desk starts and opens the My Tickets window. 64

65 Setting Up the Application You can assign tickets to technicians based on where service is required for example, by the type of location requiring service, by the department needing support, or by another option. Additional considerations include: Number of worldwide locations in our organization Types of support your techs provide Number of supported clients Types of support your clients require Number of help desk techs Number of techs with specific areas of expertise Number of multi-skilled techs who can troubleshoot and resolve multiple types of customer issues These considerations can help you determine how and in which order to configure your Web Help Desk settings. See General Configuration Approach Example for an example setup deployment. Plan and implement a configuration strategy that supports your help desk operations and corporate structure. The order you create your Web Help Desk settings and how you weight each setting (for ticket assignment) can impact your deployment. The following sections describe how to configure Web Help Desk for your help desk operations. Setup Overview Defining Techs Defining Ticket Routing Processes Setting Up Tickets 65

66 Setting Up the Application Entering Locations Defining Clients Defining Assets Setting Up Parts & Billing Configuring General Settings Setting Up Set Up Overview The following steps provide a basic overview of how to set up Web Help Desk in a typical help desk deployment. 1. Configure the techs in your help desk deployment. This procedure describes how to add each tech, define your tech groups, and set up their permissions. See Defining Techs. 2. Define the ticket routing processes for all requests. This procedure describes how to set up action rules for ticket processing, add approver roles, define your approval processes, and apply approvals to tickets. See Defining Ticket Routing Processes. 3. Configure your ticket functions. This procedure describes how to define request types, status types, priority types and alert triggers, custom ticket fields, and tasks. See Setting Up Tickets. 4. Configure your customer locations. This procedure describes how to define companies; locations and rooms; location groups and assigned locations, techs, and group managers; location custom fields; departments and department groups; and department custom fields. See Entering Locations. 5. Configure your clients. This procedure describes how to set up client administration roles, define client custom fields, import Active Directory / LDAP directory connections, and import clients. 66

67 Setup Menu Options See Adding Clients. 6. Define your assets. This procedure describes how to configure your asset import and permission options; define asset type, status, warranty, and lease information; define asset custom fields; add manufacturer and model information; add vendors; define purchase order custom fields; and import asset data. See Defining Assets. 7. Set up your parts and billing processes. This procedure describes how to apply parts and billing options, create invoicing options, define rates and terms, and define custom fields for your parts. See Set Up Parts and Billing. 8. Configure your general settings. This procedure describes how to activate your Web Help Desk license, configure general user interface options, setting up your authentication method in the web browser interface, setting up the time zone and local work hours for your employees, configuring the look and feel of the Web Help Desk console (such as adding your company logo), customize your database connection, and configure your log settings. See Configuring General Settings. 9. Set up your incoming and outgoing settings. This procedure includes setting up your inbound and outbound accounts, applying templates, and applying tags in templates. See Setting Up . Setup Menu Options When you click Setup, the Setup screen appears with a left column menu. The following table describes the left column menu options. Menu Option General Description Defines licensing information, authentication methods, interface look and feel, time and location, logging, and information about the Web Help Desk software installed. 67

68 Setting Up the Application Menu Option Companies & Locations Customers Tickets Clients Techs Assets SolarWinds Integration Description Defines options, incoming and outgoing accounts, templates, filter creation and application, templates, graphics handling, user interface, and incoming and outgoing accounts. Defines companies; locations and rooms; location groups and assigned locations, techs, and group managers; location custom fields; departments and department groups; and department custom fields. Defines options for defining customers, rooms, departments, and groups, as well as the fields used to describe these resources. Defines the Web Help Desk user interface and the fields and information they contain, request types (such as facilities and hardware), status types (such as Open and Pending), priority types and alerts (such as Urgent, High, and Low), custom ticket fields, and tasks. Defines the client options (such as ticket approval methods, display name template, and default client view), client administration roles, client custom fields, and Active Directory / LDAP connections. Defines your account information (My Account), all techs configured to use Web Help Desk and their assigned tech groups, and tech permissions. Defines asset types, manufacturers and models, vendors, asset and purchase order custom fields. From the Assets settings, you can run and pre-schedule asset discoveries to scan connected networks for the assets in your corporate network. Links Web Help Desk to SolarWinds NPM, SAM, and NCM systems to automatically create new tickets and dispatch techs from Orion Platform alerts. You must be 68

69 Defining Techs Menu Option Description connected to Orion Platform or later. Processes Surveys Parts and Billing Data Import Defines how Web Help Desk defines, stores, and applies action rules and the roles that approve action rules. Action rules apply custom actions triggered by events you define, such as ticket routing. Defines your survey options and associated text to set up surveys and gather feedback from your client users. Defines your parts and billing options; custom fields; inventory alerts; invoicing options; and billing rates, terms, and tax rates. Defines how Web Help Desk imports data for locations, clients, assets, purchase orders, tickets, and more. Defining Techs Use the Techs tab in Setup to assign your help desk technicians to specific support areas, such as Locations & Departments and Clients. When completed, Web Help Desk will automatically assign tickets to the appropriate technician based on your selections, such as Tech Group, Locations & Departments, and Assets. To access the Techs tab, click Settings in the toolbar and select Techs. Editing Your Administrator Account Use the My Account page to update your administrator account contact information, notifications, and other personal account settings. This account is the administrator account you use to log in to Web Help Desk. To add or edit your administrator account information: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > My Account. The My Account page appears. 69

70 Setting Up the Application 2. Click the Edit button to enter edit mode. The page is now in edit mode. 3. Add or update your admin account information as needed. Click the tool tips next to each selection for more information. 4. Click Save. Your admin account information is saved in the application. 70

71 Creating Techs Creating Techs Use the Techs page to define your help desk technician work schedules, locations, tech groups, and business zones. SolarWinds recommends creating your non-supervisory techs before you create your supervisors. This method allows you to assign techs to supervisors as you create the supervisors. To create a new tech: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > Techs. The Techs page appears. 2. Click New. The New Tech page appears. 3. Configure the Identity section. a. Enter the tech's First Name, Last Name, User Name, Passwords, and in the corresponding fields. All bolded fields are required. 71

72 Setting Up the Application b. Enter the tech's Secondary , Phone, Mobile phone, and Pager information in the corresponding fields c. In the Account Type drop-down menu, select one of the following: Administrator. Provides full access to all Web Help Desk features and settings Tech. Provides limited access to Web Help Desk features specified in the Tech Permissions drop-down menu (visible only when the account type is set to Tech). d. In the Supervisor drop-down menu, select the supervisor for this account. When Web Help Desk escalates a ticket for this tech, the tech's supervisor receives a notification (as do the new and previous techs). Supervisors can also be configured to receive notifications in Setup > Tickets > Priority Types & Alerts when tickets trigger an alert. If this tech account needs to view a particular client's account, you can link the client account to the tech account. After you specify a linked client, the Switch to Client Account button appears next to the Logout button in the menu bar, enabling the tech to switch to the client user interface as the client. Note: Only admins and techs with Edit Clients permissions can edit a linked client. Web Help Desk discards any unsaved changes when switching between client and tech accounts. e. In the Color field, select a color to use for the label background. For no label color, select White. f. In the Linked Client field, enter the last and first name of the client associated with this tech. When linked, a Switch to Client Account button appears, enabling the tech to switch to the client user interface as the given client. g. Select the Enable UI Enhancement check box to enable certain user interface enhancements that require the speed and standards support of modern browsers. Otherwise, leave this box unchecked. 72

73 Creating Techs 4. Configure Ticket Setup section. a. Click the Note Collapsing Threshold drop-down menu and select the number of recent notes to display in the Ticket Detail page before collapsing additional notes. b. Click the History Collapsing Threshold drop-down menu and select the number of recent history entries to display in the Ticket Detail page before collapsing additional entries. c. Select the Secure-delete Tickets check box to remove a ticket and associated attachments and data when the tech deletes a ticket. Otherwise, leave this box unchecked to save all attachments and data. 5. Configure the Setup section. a. Select the Use HTML check box to transmit in HTML format. If unchecked, all is sent in text format. b. In the Include Graphics in HTML row, select Yes to allow the tech to include images in client . Otherwise, select No. c. In the Signature box, enter an signature format for the tech's or accept the default format. d. In the Notifications row, select the events that generate an to the tech. e. Select the SMS Enabled check box to indicate if tech mails can be sent to a mobile device using the Short Message Service (SMS). 6. Configure the Scheduling Setup section. a. Click the Business Zone drop-down menu and select the appropriate business zone to use when formatting dates and times. b. Select the Specify Work Schedule check box if this tech works a schedule other than the schedule defined in the assigned business zone. c. Select the On Vacation check box when the tech is on vacation so new tickets are not automatically assigned during the ticket creation process. Deselect this box when the tech returns from vacation. 73

74 Setting Up the Application d. Click the Backup Tech drop-down menu and select a backup tech who receives escalated tickets when the tech is not scheduled to work or is on vacation. e. Select the Active Account check box to activate this tech account. When deselected, the tech cannot log in to Web Help Desk and does not impact your licensed seat count. 7. Click Save to save your selections. The tech account information is saved to the Web Help Desk database. Next, the Techs page appears with the new tech listed in the page. 8. Repeat step 2 through step 7 to configure additional techs in your help desk operation. Defining Tech Groups You can group techs together with similar skills, technical expertise, and the types of requests they can service. Typical tech groups could include General (such as Facilities and HR), Network, or Systems (such as /Outlook, Hardware, and Phone/Voic ). All current tech groups appear in the Tech Groups screen located at Setup > Techs > Tech Groups. 74

75 Creating a Tech Group In this screen, you can: Create a tech group Assign tech group levels Assign supported request types Creating a Tech Group To create a new tech group: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > Tech Groups. The Tech Groups page appears. 2. Click New. The Tech Group Info page appears. 3. In the Group Name field, enter a name for the tech group. 4. Click the Group Manager drop-down menu and select a manager for this tech group. 5. Select the When a Ticket's Location... check box to assign all tickets to the group manager for disposition. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 6. In the Color field, select a color for the tech group label background. Otherwise, select White. 7. Click Save. A message appears, stating that the tech group was saved successfully. 8. Click Back. 75

76 Setting Up the Application The Tech Groups page appears. 9. Repeat step 2 through step 8 to add additional tech groups. Assigning Tech Group Levels To assign a tech group level: 1. In the Tech Groups page, click a tech group name. A screen appears with three available tabs. 2. Click the Tech Group Levels tab. The Tech Group Levels tab window appears. 3. Click Add Level to add a level or click an existing level. The Level Options window appears. 4. In the Auto-Assign Tickets To row, select the type of tech you want to receive the ticket. This process provides an automatic ticket assignment to this tech level. 5. Leave the Ignore Location and Department check box unchecked. 6. In the Force Notification To row, select who receives an notification when: A client updates a ticket. A new ticket is created using the REST API. A ticket is updated using the REST API. A new ticket is created from a SolarWinds Orion Platform alert. A ticket is updated from a SolarWinds Orion Platform alert. 7. In the Default Selected Recipients row, select the appropriate users who will receive an when a tech clicks Save and in a customer ticket. 8. In the Level Techs row, select the appropriate techs assigned to this level. 9. Click Save. Your changes are saved to the Web Help Desk database. 76

77 Assign Supported Request Types Next, the Tech Group Level tab window appears. 10. Repeat step 3 through step 9 to add additional levels or update an existing level. Assign Supported Request Types To assign a supported request type: 1. Select the Request Types Supported page tab. The Request Types Supported tab window appears. 2. Click Edit. The edit window appears. 3. Select one or more Request Types for this group to receive. 4. Click Done. Note: Repeat the above two procedures to assign Tech Group Levels and Support Types to each Tech Group. To assign tech group levels and supported request to the remaining groups, repeat the steps in Assigning Tech Group Levels. Setting Tech Permissions Create tech detailed permissions defining what techs can do in Web Help Desk, based on how they interact with: Locations & Departments Tickets Clients Assets Other permissions such as working with FAQs and viewing and editing reports To set tech permissions: 1. Click Setup and select Techs > Tech Permissions. The Permissions tab appears. 77

78 Setting Up the Application 2. Click New. The Permissions tab window appears. 3. Define the permissions for each section. See the tool tip for each option for additional information. a. Location Permissions. Select the appropriate options to limit tech access by company, location group, or department group. b. Ticket Permissions. Define what techs can access and change with tickets, such as overriding new ticket assignments, view and create hidden notes, import tickets, and edit action rules. c. Client Permissions. Define what techs can edit, delete, import, and download. d. Asset Permissions. Select what techs can do with assets in Web Help Desk. You can enable techs to view, edit, and delete assets, as well as edit purchase orders. e. Other Permissions. Define the options that enable techs to edit locations, manage parts, edit and import FAQs, work with reports and surveys, and view hourly billing rates. 4. Click Save. The Tech Permissions screen appears with the permission name and assigned techs. After you define your tech permissions, use the Assigned Tech tab to link your techs to permissions. The tool tips provide more information about each permission. Additionally, a tech can only be linked to one permission at a time. 78

79 Defining Ticket Routing Processes Ticket routing processes define when and how to route tickets for certain types of requests, providing a controlled environment for managing time and costsensitive events. This feature enforces your defined settings, ensuring the right person or team receives the trouble ticket in a timely manner for problem troubleshooting and resolution. You can add client personnel responsible for approving or denying changes, as well as define the process workflow and requirements. When you create your SolarWinds Web Help Desk ticket routing processes, you define your action rules. approver roles, and approval processes. Web Help Desk supports approval processes to authorize work to proceed for certain request types. Approval processes consist of multiple approval steps that specify a set of clients, change advisory board, or a location/department approver who authorizes a ticket so a tech can work on it. Change Advisory Boards (CABs) comprise a set of clients who authorize approval steps assigned to them. Clients with approver roles approve ticket assignments based on the location or department associated with a given ticket. For example, each location could have a facilities representative and faculty representative location approver role who must approve requests to get a new printer. You can configure these roles for each location in the Location Approvers screen located at Setup > Processes > Location Approvers. If these roles are assigned to an approval process for a Procure Printer request type, Web Help Desk automatically sends approval requests for this request type to the clientsassigned approver roles for the ticket location. Creating Action Rules for Ticket Processing Defining Ticket Routing Processes Action rules create customized processes for unique situations. Create action rules that define when, what, who, and how issues are approved, tracked, assigned, and handled. Action rules create a customized process for unique use cases. By creating parent/child service relationships, you can configure your action rules to trigger tasks that automate your ticket processing. See Creating Parent/Child Service Relationships and Automating Parent/Child Tickets for more information. 79

80 Setting Up the Application To add a new action rule: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Processes > Action Rules. The Action Rules tab screen appears. 2. Click New. The Action Rule Info tab screen appears. 3. In the Priority drop-down menu, select a priority for this rule. Note: Only one action rule can be executed at a time. The action rule priority determines the trigger order of all action rules. 4. In the Rule Name field, assign a unique rule name. 5. In the Description field, add a description for this rule. 6. Select the Cascade check box to trigger all defined actions for a ticket. Do not select Cascade to trigger only the highest priority action. 80

81 Creating Action Rules for Ticket Processing 7. In the Rule Triggering field, select the rule triggering options to define when and how often Web Help Desk applies the action rule. 8. Click the Criteria tab. The Criteria tab window appears. 9. Configure the ALL conditions that tickets must match and/or ANY of the conditions tickets can match for the action rule to be applied. The following conventions apply: The conditions specified in the ALL grouping must have all condition true to trigger an action. Web Help Desk qualifies these conditions using the Boolean AND operator. The conditions specified in the ANY grouping must have at least one condition true to meet the triggering condition. WHD qualifies these conditions using the Boolean OR operator. The ANY condition group begins with and. As a result, Web Help Desk evaluates the ANY group, along with the conditions in the ALL condition group when the ALL group is used. If no conditions exist in the ALL group, the ANY group evaluates the conditions using only the Boolean OR operator. 10. Click the Actions tab. The Actions tab window appears. 81

82 Setting Up the Application 11. Specify the action to be taken when the criteria is met. 12. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Adding Approver Roles Approver roles provide dynamic approver assignments based on the location or department associated with a given ticket. For example, each location can have location approver roles titled Facilities Representative and Faculty Representative that approve all requests to procure a new printer. For each location, you can configure clients for these roles in the Location Approvers screen located at Setup > Processes > Location Approvers. If you assign these roles to an approval process for a request type such as Procure Printer, Web Help Desk automatically sends ticket approvals for this request type to the clients assigned to these roles at the appropriate ticket location. Approver roles specify the level of authority for a given approver. These roles include: Location Approver. Approves the assignment for specific locations. Department Approver. Approves specific departments. Change Advisory Board Member. Participates in a Change Advisory Board (CAB). Creating Approver Roles for Locations To add a position that will be responsible for approvals for one or more locations: 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Approver Roles. The Approver Role Name screen appears. 82

83 Adding Department Approver Roles 2. Click New. The Location Approver Roles tab window appears. 3. In the Approver Role Name field, enter a name that describes the role. For example: Austin Approver 4. Click Save. Your selected name is added as an approver role name. Adding Department Approver Roles To add a position responsible for approvals for one or more departments: 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Approver Roles. The Approver Role Name field screen appears. 2. Click the Department Approver Roles tab. 3. Click New. The Approval Role Name field appears in the screen. 4. In the Approval Role Name field, enter a name that describes the role. For example: Legal Dept Approver 5. Click Save. Your selected name is added as a department approver role. Assigning Clients to Location Approval Roles 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Location Approvers. The Location Approvers screen appears. 2. Click Add Role. The Add Role screen appears. 3. Click the Approver Role drop-down menu and select the appropriate role. 83

84 Setting Up the Application 4. In the Approver Name row, enter a client first and last name in the appropriate field and click Search to locate a client. 5. Click the name of the person you want to assign as a location approver. Note: Repeat steps 4 and 5 above to add additional approvers. 6. When you are finished assigning approvers, click Save. Your selections are saved. Assigning Clients to Department Approval Roles 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Department Approvers. The Department Approvers screen appears. 2. Select the department and corresponding approval role from the list. To search for a specific role, enter a department name in the Department field and click Search. 3. Click the name of the person you want to assign as a department approver. 4. Repeat step 1 through step 3 to add additional approvers. 5. When you are finished assigning approvers, click Save. Your selections are saved. Creating a Change Advisory Board (CAB) Change Advisory Boards (CABs) consist of a set of clients and the minimum number of these clients who must authorize any approval steps assigned to them. To create a new CAB: 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Change Advisory Boards. The Change Advisory Boards screen appears. 2. Click New. The Change Advisory Board Details screen appears. 2. In the CAB Name field, enter a CAB name. 84

85 Adding CAB Status Types To locate a CAB name, enter first and last name in the Client Lookup box and click Search. 4. Click additional names (if needed) to add additional members. 5. Select the minimum number of members required to approve a change ticket. The minimum can be any number between one and the number of CAB members. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Adding CAB Status Types The tech assigns a status type when they create a ticket. Before you configure the Processes section, check the ticket status types to ensure that the CAB status types are configured correctly. To add Approved, Approval Pending, and Denied status types: 1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. The Status Types screen appears. 2. Click New. The Status Types tab window appears. 85

86 Setting Up the Application 3. In the Name field, enter Denied. 4. In the Description field enter CAB Status Type. 5. Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order that the items will be listed. 6. In the Color row, select a color to use for the label background. Otherwise, leave this color set to White. 7. Select the Include in My/Group Ticket Filter check box if the status type is used in the default filter for the group tickets list. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 8. Select the Use for Load Balance check box if the status type is used when determining the load balance ticket total for a tech. 86

87 Adding CAB Status Types Use Load Balancing when auto-assigning tickets in a tech group level. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 9. Select the Alerts Enabled check box to enable alerts for this status type. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 10. Select the Count Time check box if the time during which a ticket includes this status type should be included in the ticket's total open time. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 11. Select the Client Reminders check box to indicate whether s are sent to clients for tickets currently set to this status type. Reminders are sent only if the ticket status type has reminders enabled and the ticket priority type includes a client reminder interval. 12. Select the Show in Calendar check box if tickets for this status type are displayed in calendar views. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 13. Click the Automatically Close Ticket After drop-down menus and select the amount of time until tickets for this status type should automatically change to Closed status. If no value is selected, the status type will not change automatically. 14. Select the Prompt Client to Confirm Ticket Resolution check box to enable a confirmation message and the Yes/No buttons to the client in e- mails and the Ticket Detail view in the user interface for tickets with this status type. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 15. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 16. Repeat steps 1 through 15 to add the Approved and Approval Pending status types. After adding the above status types, you can set the status types options to enable the CAB features. 87

88 Setting Up the Application To set the status type options for the CAB feature: 1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. The Status Types tab window appears. 2. Click the Options tab. The Options tab window appears. 3. Select the Clients Can Reopen Closed Tickets check box to allow clients to add notes to closed tickets. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 4. Click the Reopened Status Type drop-down menu and select a status type that should be reopened to a ticket when reopened by a client. Otherwise, accept the default selection. 5. Click the Needs Approval Status Type drop-down menu and select a status type for a request type that requires an approval. 6. Click the Approved Status Type drop-down menu and select the status type that enables when a ticket for the request type is approved. 7. Click the Client Update Sets Status To drop-down menu and select the status type assigned to a ticket when updated by the client. 8. Click the Tech Note Default Status drop-down menu and select the status type used in the Tech Note editor when you create a new note. 9. In the When Tickets Are Merged row, select the status type assigned to a ticket after it is merged into a parent ticket. 88

89 Defining the Approval Processes 10. In the Recipients After Auto Close row, select the option that describes how mail is sent when a ticket closes automatically. 11. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Defining the Approval Processes After you create the approver roles, define your approval process. These include: Defining the approval process Adding the approval steps Adding the supported request types To define the approval process: 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Approval Processes. The Approval Processes screen appears. 2. Click an approval process or click New. The Approval Basics window appears. 3. In the Process Name and Description fields, enter the appropriate information. 4. In the Client On row, specify when to send an to the client when a ticket is approved or denied. 89

90 Setting Up the Application 5. In the Tech On row, specify when to send an to a tech when a ticket is approved or denied. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Adding Approval Steps To add approval steps: 1. Select the Approval Steps tab. The Approval Steps and Request Types Supported tab windows appear. 2. Click the Step No. drop-down menu and select the step number of this approval step. 3. In the Step Name field, add a descriptive name. 4. In the Approver Type row, select which type of approver will handle the step. If you select Client, enter a first and last name in the Client Lookup box and click Search to locate a specific client to assign to this step. 90

91 Adding Supported Request Types If you select CAB, click the CAB Approver drop-down menu and select an approver. If you select Location Approver, click the Location Approver drop-down menu and select an approver. If you select Department Approver, click the Department Approver dropdown menu and select an approver. 5. In the Greeting box, enter a greeting that appears at the top of messages requesting approval for a ticket. This selection overrides the default greeting located at Setup > > Templates > Approval Request Greeting. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Adding Supported Request Types 1. Click the Request Types Supported tab. The Request Types Supported window appears. 2. Click Edit. The Request Types Supported tab window appears. 3. Select the appropriate request type. 4. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 91

92 Setting Up the Application Applying Approvals This section describes the following information about approvals: Ticket Approvals Approver Action Approvals Client Web Approvals Ticket Approvals When a client logs in, creates a new ticket, and selects a request type assigned to an approval process, a notification in a large blue field appears: This Request Type requires approval. To complete the approval process: 1. Web Help Desk sends an to the approver assigned to the first step of the approval process. 2. The first approver approves the change, and then an is sent to the next approver. 3. The process continues until the ticket is approved or declined as specified in the approval process criteria. Approver Action An approver views or responds to the approval request in or the Web interface. Approvals To complete the approval process: 1. Approvers receive an when a ticket is created with an approval process assigned to it. 2. The approver responds by clicking Yes or No. 3. Web Help Desk opens a Web page asking the approver to confirm their decision. 92

93 Client Web Approvals a. If the required number of required approvers choose Yes, the ticket status changes to Approved. b. If the required number of required approvers do not choose Yes, the ticket status changes to Denied. 4. If an approver clicks No, the approver is given an Explanation text box where they provide reasons for declining the request. The approver can also use a Visible to Requestor check box that allows the explanation to appear to the requestor. Client Web Approvals To view and approve through the Web interface: 1. Click Approvals to view New Approvals and vote on each new request and to view Old Approvals. 2. Add an explanation (if desired). 93

94 Setting Up the Application 3. Select Visible to Requester to share the denial explanation as a note in the ticket. 4. Click Save. Setting Up Tickets Clients and techs create tickets, either through the Web Help Desk user interface or through , and use tickets to correspond to each other. The Tickets tab defines ticketing functions, such as how tickets are generated, routed, updated, and closed. These functions include: Setting ticket options Defining request types Defining status types Setting priority types and alerts Creating custom fields for tickets Creating tasks When a client or tech creates a ticket, they select a request type that determines which custom fields appear on the ticket and which techs can be assigned to it. The request type also determines how the ticket is routed to a tech. Each ticket is assigned a status and a priority. The status indicates the ticket's stage of completion (for example, Open, Acknowledged, Resolved, or Closed) and determines whether time should be counted against the ticket while in that stage. 94

95 Configuring Ticket Options The priority determines the ticket due date. Each priority can be configured with three alert levels to warn techs when a ticket needs attention. Tasks facilitate how tickets are automatically created. A task contains one or more task elements, each of which provides settings for a new ticket. When the task runs, a ticket is created for each task element, either sequentially or all at once, depending on how the task has been configured. Tasks can be run manually or automatically at given intervals. You can group identical tickets together to troubleshoot and resolve all tickets as one service request. See Parent/Child Service Relationships for more information. Configuring Ticket Options You can configure your ticket contents, generation, and ticket access options on the Options page located at Setup > Tickets > Options. Web Help Desk categorizes all ticket options into three areas: General Options Client Options Tech Options To set up tickets starting from the Ticket Options page: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Options. The Ticket Options page appears. 2. Configure the General Options section, as shown below. 95

96 Setting Up the Application a. Select the Use Subject Field check box to indicate if clients and techs will see a Subject field above the Request Detail field. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. b. Click the Default Priority drop-down menu and select the default priority type for new tickets. c. In the Lookup Clients By row, select the attribute used for looking up clients when assigning them to tasks and parts. d. Select the Attachments Enabled check box to allow clients and techs to attach files to tickets using the user interface or by attaching files to an . Otherwise, leave this check box blank. e. Select the Room Required check box to prevent a ticket from being accepted until a client or tech selects a room to associate with the ticket. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. f. In the Room Field Style row, select how rooms are selected in the ticket. g. In the Enter Work Time As row, select whether work time is entered into a ticket as minutes or points. h. Select the Non-User CC Updates check box to allow ticket updates by from people who are not authorized Web Help Desk users but were CC or BCC recipients on the ticket update . Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 3. Configure the Client Options section, as shown below. 96

97 Configuring Ticket Options a. Select the Client Required check box if a ticket must have an assigned client. b. In the Clients Can Create Tickets Using row, select the method clients can use to create new tickets. c. In the Client Priority Option row, select the personnel who are permitted to set the priority level of their tickets. Otherwise, new tickets will be assigned the Default Priority setting. d. Select the Clients Can Cc: check box to allow clients to carbon copy tickets to additional addresses. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. e. Select the Show Scheduled Date to Clients check box if the time scheduled for ticket processing is provided to the client through or the web user interface. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. f. Select the Show Estimated Due Date to Clients check box if time scheduled for ticket processing is provided to the client through or the web user interface. 97

98 Setting Up the Application Otherwise, leave this check box blank. g. Select the Show Estimated Due Date to Clients check box if the estimated ticket processing due date and time are provided to the client through or the web user interface. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. h. Select the Lock Ticket to Client Location check box if tickets will be assigned to the location of the client who submitted the ticket. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. i. Select the Update Ticket Location/Room/Department when Client Changes check box to assign the location, room, and department based on the values assigned to the new client. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. j. Select the Include Room Assets in Client Asset List check box to present a list of all assets to clients in their assigned room. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. k. Select the Tickets Must Use Assigned Asset check box to allow clients to select only from their assigned assets when creating tickets. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. l. Select the Asset Number Lookup for Client check box to allow clients to search for an asset by asset number to associate with their ticket. m. Click the Note Collapsing Threshold For Clients drop-down menu and select the number of ticket notes displayed to the client before adding a More link. n. In the Auto-Reply to Client row, select which client action invokes an automatic confirmation. o. In the Enable Cancellation By Client row, select the condition when a Cancel option is available to the client in the web interface and e- mail ticket display. 4. Configure the Tech Options section, as shown below. 98

99 Configuring Ticket Options a. In the Default Tech Note Visibility row, indicate whether tech notes are visible by default to clients. b. In the Print View Note Visibility row, indicate which note types are displayed in the Print View and Tickets PDF sections of the Ticket Detail page. c. In the Note and History Visibility row, select the order that notes are displayed in the Ticket Details page. d. In the Default Setting for Recipients row, select the check box that determines which users associated with a ticket will receive an when a tech updates a ticket. e. In the Default Ticket Editor Button row, select the default button that appears in the Ticket Details page. f. Select the Delete Confirmation check box to send a confirmation to an assigned tech or tech group when a ticket is deleted. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. g. Select the Limit Assigned Tech to Current Level check box to only include techs in the current ticket tech group level to appear in the Assigned Tech drop-down menu on the Ticket Details page. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 99

100 Setting Up the Application h. In the When an attempt is made to edit a Ticket already being edited in another session row, select the appropriate response. i. Select the Enable Ticket Overrides check box to enable options for overriding settings elsewhere in the Web Help Desk application. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. j. Select the Automatically Delete Obsolete Custom Fields check box remove custom fields from a ticket regardless of whether they include a value. 5. Click Save. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. Your selections are saved. Defining Request Types Define the types of tickets your help desk services support in the Request Types screen. Request types define what type of issue the customer is experiencing and what action needs to be taken. When a user opens a ticket, they must choose a request type. Request types can be defined as parent and child types. For example, when a user requests a password reset, you can configure the parent type as IT Software Assistance and the child type as Password Reset. To begin, build your parent types first and then add your corresponding child types. If you build a child type before you build the parent type, you cannot set the child type as a child. To add a new request type: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Request Types. The Request Types window appears, displaying your current request types. 2. Click New. The New Request Type screen appears. 3. In the Request Type field, enter a name for your request type. 100

101 Defining Request Types 4. Click the Parent Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate parent request type. Leave this option blank to configure this request type as a parent-level request type. 5. In the Tech Group drop-down menu, select the tech group associated with this request type. 6. In the Default Priority drop-down menu, select a priority level to assign tickets for this request type. 7. Select the Hide Subject check box to hide the subject field for tickets that include this request type. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 8. Select the Hide Request Detail check box to hide the Request Detail field for this request type. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 9. Select the Request Detail Required check box indicate whether tickets with this request type require a detail entry. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 10. In the Detailed Instructions field, enter the appropriate text that displays as a blue Instructions sticky note about the Request Detail field. The description should explain the request type's purpose so the client can easily decide whether or not to choose the request type. Otherwise, leave this field blank. Note: You can apply BBCode formatting to make a request type's detailed instructions stand out by including links to supporting information. See Customizing Tickets, Notes, Instructions, and s with BBCode for information about using BBCode to format text in the Detailed Instructions field or any other Web Help Desk field using custom text. 11. Select the Visible to Clients check box if this request type will be included in the pop-up menu presented to clients. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 101

102 Setting Up the Application 12. Select the Use Models check box to indicate whether clients will be prompted to select an asset or model when creating tickets for this request type. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 13. In the Locations row, select the locations where the request type is visible to clients. 14. Click the Approval Process drop-down menu and select the approval process that is automatically created when a ticket is saved with this request type. 15. In the Custom Fields row, indicate if the request type supports custom fields. 16. Select the Attachments Enabled check box if the request type allows clients to attach files. 17. Select the Use as FAQ Category check box if the request type is available as a category for defining FAQs. 18. Click the Lead Technician drop-down menu and select the tech who receives the highest level escalation (after Group Manager). 19. Click the Survey drop-down menu and select the survey that is sent to clients when tickets of this request type are closed. 20. In the Color row, select a color to use for the label background. For no label color, select White. 21. Click Save to save your selections. Your selections are saved. Defining Status Types Each ticket is assigned a status from the available status types. The following status types are predefined: Open Closed Canceled Resolved 102

103 Defining Status Types To enable Change Access Board (CAB) features, add Pending Approval, Approved, and Denied status types. Note: Adding these status types is not necessary if you do not use a CAB Process. SolarWinds recommends adding these status types in case you need to enable the CAB feature at a later date. To add approved, approval pending, and denied status types: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. The Status Types tab window appears. 2. Click New. The Status Types tab appears with new options. 2. In the Name field enter: Denied 3. In the Description field enter: CAB Status Type 4. Click Alerts Enabled. 5. Click Client Reminders, and then click Save. 6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 above to add the Approved and Approval Pending Status types. After adding the above status types, set the Status Types Options to allow the CAB features. To set the status type options for the CAB feature: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. The Status Types tab window appears. 2. Click the Options tab. The Options tab window appears. 2. Click the Needs Approval Status Type drop-down menu and select Pending. 3. Click the Approved Status Type drop-down menu and select Approved. 103

104 Setting Up the Application 4. Click the Approval Denied Status Type drop-down menu and select Denied. 5. Review the remaining selections and verify they are correct. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Setting Priority Types and Alert Triggers Web Help Desk prioritizes tickets and sends automated alerts to techs based on how you configure your setup parameters. A ticket includes one of the following predefined priority types: Urgent High Medium Low Each priority type includes adjustable alert levels to escalate automatically. Web Help Desk includes three Alert levels, with level 3 as the highest severity. The Not Completed condition is considered more important than Not Updated, which is more important than Not Assigned. If alert levels include matching criteria, Web Help Desk uses the highest severity level. To set the alert triggers for a priority type: 1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Priority Types and Alerts. The Priority Types and Alerts screen appears. 2. Click the Priority Type name. The Priority Type Details screen appears. 3. Leave the Name and Display Order fields unchanged. 4. (Optional) In the Color row, select a color. 5. Click the Due Time drop-down menus and select the proper time to close a ticket with this priority. 104

105 Creating Custom Ticket Fields 6. Click the Client Reminder Interval drop-down menus and select the amount of time to elapse before sending (or resending) a reminder to clients. 7. In the Alert Level rows, set the proper conditions (such as time interval, criteria, and To:) for each Alert Level, beginning with Alert Level 1 and ending with Alert Level Click the Alert Repeat Interval drop-down menus and select the amount of time between reminders when an alert is triggered. 9. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 10. Repeat step 2 through step 9 for each priority type. Creating Custom Ticket Fields Use the Ticket Custom Fields screen to create custom tickets fields. Using this screen, you can define field features such as: Field name Display order Type of input, such as text or numbers Field size Client and Tech permissions Searchability Data-encrypted field text Below is an example of the Ticket Custom Fields screen. 105

106 Setting Up the Application To create ticket custom fields: 1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Ticket Custom Fields. The Ticket Custom Fields screen appears. 2. In the Label field, enter a name for the custom field. 3. Click the Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate text format type. 4. Click the Width drop-down menu and select the number of columns in the custom field text area. 5. Click the Height drop-down menu and select the number of rows in the custom field text area. 6. In the Info field, enter a description that appears in a tool tip for this field. After you create a tool tip, an Info icon appears next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the icon, the tool tip appears. 7. Select the appropriate options for this custom field. a. Select the Limit Input to Text Box Width check box ensure the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the number of characters selected in the Width drop-down menu. 106

107 Creating Custom Ticket Fields b. Select the Encrypt in database check box to DES-encrypt the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. If you select this option after entering your data, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated. c. Select the Searchable check box to enable the custom field to appear as a search option on the Advanced Search page. d. Select the Allow full-text search (slower) check box when the custom field value may exceed 255 characters. For performance reasons, only the first 255 characters are indexed. Selecting this option reduces the Web Help Desk search performance. e. Select the Exclude From check box to ensure the custom field does not appear in s to clients or techs. 8. Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order the custom field appears with the current custom fields. 9. In the Clients section, select the appropriate client permissions, defining whether the field is hidden, visible, editable, or required for the client. These fields are disabled when the custom field is not visible in the client interface. 10. In the Techs section, select the appropriate client permissions, defining whether the field is hidden, visible, editable, or required or the tech. Administrators have at least Editable access to all custom fields. Required fields are required for all administrators. 11. In the Request Types section, click Edit and select the request type(s) where this custom field appears. When completed, click Done. 12. Click Save. Your custom field changes are saved. 107

108 Setting Up the Application Creating Tasks Web Help Desk uses tasks to create tickets. A task contains one or more task elements, each of which provides settings for a new ticket. When the task runs, Web Help Desk creates a ticket for each task element, either sequentially or all at once, depending on the task s configuration. Tasks can run manually or automatically, at given intervals or based on specific criteria, depending on how you configure them. Tasks are especially useful for handling repetitive processes. For example, if your HR department has a set of routine on-boarding tasks to complete for a new employee, you can create a task called New Employee and define each task element required to help a new employee get started in their new position. Related tasks can include: Completing tax and insurance forms Accessing network resources Configuring a new computer system Installing and configuring corporate and department-specific software You can trigger a new task when required for example, when you on-board a new employee. When you run the task, Web Help Desk generates a ticket for each task element. These tickets can be assigned to techs, who ensure each task element is completed. You can create action rules that automatically trigger your tasks. See Automating Parent/Child Tickets for more information. To create a new task: 1. Access the Task screen. 2. Create a new task. 3. Add new task elements. 4. Create new tickets from task elements. 108

109 Access the Task Screen Access the Task Screen You can access the task screen by clicking Setup and selecting Tickets > Tasks. The following screen appears. When you create a new task, the task appears in this screen. Create a New Task To create a new task, click New. The Task Info screen appears. To create a new task: 1. In the Task Name field, enter a name for the task. For example: New Employee 2. (Optional) If this task pertains to a specific employee, search for the appropriate client in the Client Lookup box fields and assign a client to the task. 109

110 Setting Up the Application Otherwise, leave this box blank. 3. Select the Scheduled check box to schedule this task to run at a specific time interval. Otherwise, leave this check box unchecked. 4. Select the Shared check box to share this task with other users. Selecting this check box will also make the task available as an Action Rule so you can assign the task to other techs or personnel. 5. Click Save. A message appears stating that the task was created successfully. The Task Elements and History tabs appear in the screen. Add New Task Elements To add new task elements, click Task Elements. In the initial screen, click New. The Task Elements tab screen appears, as shown below. 110

111 Add New Task Elements To create new task elements: 1. Click the Element Order drop-down menu and select 1 so this task element runs first. 2. Select the appropriate selections for Location, Room, and Department. 3. Click the Request Type drop-down menus and select the appropriate request type. For example, for new hire tasks, select HR and New Hire. 4. In the Subject field, enter a name for this element. For example, to configure a new computer system for a new hire, you can enter Configure a new computer system. 5. In the Request Detail field, enter a description for the element. For example: Configure a new computer systems with Microsoft Office and all required corporate software. 6. In the Tech drop-down menu, select a specific tech for this element (if required). 111

112 Setting Up the Application 7. In the Priority drop-down menu, select the appropriate priority for this element. 8. In the Asset No. field, enter an asset number (if required). 9. In the Generate Next Element field, select On Creation to trigger the next element immediately after the ticket for this element is created. Otherwise, you can select When Status Equals and select the appropriate selection to trigger the next element. 10. Click Save. When completed the Task Elements tab lists a summary of your task. After you create your first task elements, add additional elements to create new task elements for your task. For example, for the New Employee task, you can create new elements to create an account, assign a specific desk in a building, and enroll the employee in on-site new hire classes. Creating New Tickets From Task Elements To create tickets from task elements, click the Task Info tab, select a task, and click the Green arrow next to the Task Name field. To select another task, click the left and right arrows at the top right to scroll through all available tasks. 112

113 Entering Locations After you execute a task, click Tickets and verify that the task created the appropriate tickets. For example, when you click the Green arrow in the example above, Web Help Desk creates a new ticket for the task, as shown below. Entering Locations Locations allows you to store information about customer locations and map those locations to techs in the same geographical area. Populating this section is another step towards automated ticket processing and technician dispatch. Note: When you first use Locations, only four Location pages (Options, Locations & Rooms, Location Groups, and Location Custom Fields) are listed, as seen above. Depending on the features you choose, the names and screens will change. Defining Location Custom Fields Use the Location Custom Fields screen to create location custom fields. Using this screen, you can define field features such as: 113

114 Setting Up the Application Field name Display order Type of input, such as text or numbers Field size Client and Tech permissions Searchability Data-encrypted field text Below is an example of the Location Custom Fields screen. To create location custom fields: 1. Click Setup and select Locations > Location Custom Fields. The Location Custom Fields screen appears. 2. In the Label field, enter a name for the custom field. 3. Click the Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate text format type. 4. Click the Width drop-down menu and select the number of columns in the custom field text area. 5. Click the Height drop-down menu and select the number of rows in the custom field text area. 6. In the Info field, enter a description that appears in a tool tip for this field. 114

115 Defining Location Custom Fields When you create a tool tip, an Info icon appears next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the icon, the tool tip appears. 7. Select the appropriate options for this custom field. a. Select the Limit Input to Text Box Width check box to ensure the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the number of characters selected in the Width drop-down menu. b. Select the Encrypt in database check box to DES-encrypt the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. If you select this option after your data is entered, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated. c. Select the Searchable check box to enable the custom field to appear as a search option on the Advanced Search page. d. Select the Allow full-text search (slower) check box when the custom field value may exceed 255 characters. For performance reasons, only the first 255 characters are indexed. Selecting this option reduces the search performance. 8. Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order the custom field appears with the current custom fields. 9. In the Techs section, select the appropriate client permissions, defining whether the field is hidden, visible, editable, or required or the tech. Administrators have at least Editable access to all custom fields. Required fields are required for all administrators. 10. In the Request Types section, click Edit and select the request type(s) where this custom field appears. When completed, click Done. 11. Click Save. Your custom field changes are saved. 115

116 Setting Up the Application Defining Clients The Clients tab pages define Web Help Desk Client users and how they enter information into the application. When a new client accesses Web Help Desk and is accepted by the system, they are automatically given the access and interaction you have defined for that client. Data import and synchronizing Active Directory (AD)/LDAP Directory copy and add client data from Microsoft Exchange and other mail servers and add the data to the application. Using this feature helps you avoid adding clients manually. For more information on adding clients and defining their permissions in the application, see the following: Define Client Options Identify Client Admin Roles Defining Client Custom Fields Discovering and Adding Active Directory/LDAP Directory Connections Defining Client Options Most of the Client Options settings can be accepted by default. SolarWinds recommends that clients only be able to create accounts if their s match Accepted Domains. Use the tool tip help to assist on other settings. Click Save when you have completed any changes on this page. Setting Up Client Admin Roles A client can be assigned limited administrative roles, usually for simple tasks such as resetting their password. 116

117 Defining Client Custom Fields To create a Client Admin role: 1. Click Setup and select Clients > Client Admin Roles. The Client Admin Role screen appears. 2. Click New. The Roles screen appears. 3. In the Role Name field, enter a name for this role. 4. In the Request Type Supported row, select the appropriate role check boxes. Note: These request types populate with the Request Types you defined in the Tickets > Request Types section. 5. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Defining Client Custom Fields Use the Defining Client Custom Fields screen to create custom client fields. Using this screen, you can define field features such as: Field name Display order Type of input, such as text or numbers Field size Client and Tech permissions Searchability Data-encrypted field text 117

118 Setting Up the Application To create client custom fields: 1. Click Setup and select Clients > Client Custom Fields. The Client Custom Fields screen appears. 2. In the Label field, enter a name for the custom field. 3. Click the Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate text format type. 4. Click the Width drop-down menu and select the number of columns in the custom field text area. 5. Click the Height drop-down menu and select the number of rows in the custom field text area. 6. In the Info field, enter a description that appears in a tool tip for this field. After you create a tool tip, an Info icon appears next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the icon, the tool tip appears. 7. Select the appropriate options for this custom field. a. Select the Limit Input to Text Box Width check box ensure the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the number of characters selected in the Width drop-down menu. b. Select the Encrypt in database check box to DES-encrypt the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. 118

119 Importing Active Directory/LDAP Directory Connections If you select this option after your data is entered, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated. c. Select the Searchable check box to enable the custom field to appear as a search option on the Advanced Search page. d. Select the Allow full-text search (slower) check box when the custom field value may exceed 255 characters. For performance reasons, only the first 255 characters are indexed. Selecting this option reduces the search performance e. Select the Exclude From check box to ensure the custom field does not appear in s to clients and techs. 8. Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order the custom field appears with the current custom fields. 9. In the Clients section, select the appropriate client permissions, defining whether the field is hidden, visible, editable, or required or the client. 10. In the Techs section, select the appropriate client permissions, defining whether the field is hidden, visible, editable, or required or the tech. Administrators have at least Editable access to all custom fields. Required fields are required for all administrators. 11. Click Save. Your custom field changes are saved. Importing Active Directory/LDAP Directory Connections Use the Active Directory / Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (AD / LDAP) Connections settings to discover and import client AD / LDAP information from the client s Microsoft Exchange or LDAP server. AD / LDAP Connections can perform bulk data imports of AD and LDAP directories that speeds up the client setup process and greatly reduces manual input errors. You can use the AD/LDAP Connections to synchronize Web Help Desk user information with the latest information on your Microsoft Exchange or LDAP server. About LDAP LDAP is a protocol that creates a central user database for single sign-on (SSO), allowing you to access resources and services in a network. LDAP 119

120 Setting Up the Application implementations use self-signed certificates by default. To use a trusted certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (CA), you can import the certificate into your Java key store. Validating LDAP Certificates You can establish a secure connection from Web Help Desk to an LDAP server by selecting the SSL check box. To accept certificates issued by a CA, select the Accept only trusted Certificates check box. When selected, Web Help Desk verifies the host LDAP certificate against the certificates in your Java key store. If Web Help Desk detects a certificate that is not signed by a trusted CA or uploaded to your Java key store, Web Help Desk generates a warning in the user interface and does not store the LDAP connection. The WHDGlogalConfig.properties file contains the name, password, and location of your Java key store. This file is located in the following directory: c:\\<webhelpdesk>\conf To update these parameters, edit the file with your new settings, save the file, and then restart Web Help Desk. See Keystore Settings (for SSL Connections) for more information. Synchronizing Web Help Desk User Information When you import your AD/LDAP connections, use the following conventions: Ensure that the person configuring and using this import is experienced with AD and LDAP administration. Work with a client representative familiar with AD/LDAP and the existing structure. The client representative must have administrative access to the customer AD/LDAP server. If your AD/LDAP directory contains mostly users not using Web Help Desk, SolarWinds does not recommend performing a bulk AD/LDAP import. To connect to a client LDAP server and import and/or synchronize users: 1. Click Setup and select Clients > AD/LDAP Connections. The Connection Basics tab window appears. 120

121 Synchronizing Web Help Desk User Information 2. In the window, click Enabled to enable the LDAP connection. 3. In the Host/Domain Controller and Port fields, enter the IP address and port number for the connection to the LDAP server. For a non-secure LDAP connection, use port 389 and leave the SSL check box blank. For a secure LDAP connection, use port 636 and select the SSL check box to use the SSL protocol. 4. Select the Accept only trusted Certificates check box to only accept trusted certificates. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 5. Click the Directory Type drop-down arrow and select the appropriate type. 6. In the Connection Account field, enter the LDAP account security principal to use when synchronizing with the LDAP server. 121

122 Setting Up the Application Active Directory connections typically require principals to be formatted using the following syntax: Distinguished Name, such as cn=joe Admin, cn=users, dc=mycompany, dc=com User Principal Name, such as Down-level Logon Name, such as DOMAIN\jadmin Default Domain, where the Connection Account name is admin LDAP connections typically require principles to be formatted as a Distinguished Name (DN) when using a Simple authentication method or a user name when using a CRAM-MD5 authentication method. For example: Distinguished name, such as uid=admin, ou=users, dc=mycompany, dc=com CRAM-MD5 name, such as jadmin. 7. In the Connection Password field, enter a password for the LDAP account to use when you synchronize with the LDAP server. 8. If you selected Active Directory in step 5, go to the next step. If you selected LDAP Directory, enter a distinguished name in the Users DN field of the search base for retrieving users. The LDAP connection will attempt to retrieve all records under this node of the LDAP directory. Select the Include Subtrees check box to include records in subcontainers. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 9. (Optional) In the Connection Name field, enter a friendly name for the LDAP connection. 10. Maximize the Advanced menu. The Advanced menu appears. 11. In the Connection Timeout field, enter the number of seconds to wait before WHD aborts connection attempts to the LDAP server. The default value is 20 seconds. 12. If you selected LDAP Directory in step 5, go to the next step. 122

123 Synchronizing Web Help Desk User Information If you selected Active Directory in step 5, enter the distinguished name of the search base for retrieving users in the Users DN field. The LDAP connection will attempt to retrieve all records under this node of the LDAP directory. Select the Include subtrees checkbox to include all records in subcontainers. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 13. In the Search Filter field, enter a filter to apply to the LDAP records. 14. If you selected Active Directory in step 5, go to the next step. If you selected LDAP Directory in step 5: a. In the Group DN field, enter a distinguished name of a posixgroup object to use to filter users found using the value you entered in the Users DN field. b. Click the Authentication Method drop-down menu and select an encryption protocol to use when passing authentication information to the LDAP server to synchronize with the Web Help Desk database. 15. In the AD Bulk Synchronization row, select the Enabled check box to synchronize all clients associated with an LDAP connection with the Web Help Desk database. You can synchronize all clients at once by clicking Sync Now in the LDAP Connections list or by specifying an Auto-Sync schedule. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. Note: In most Web Help Desk configurations, Bulk Synchronization is not required. 16. Select the Ignore Blank LDAP Values check box to ensure that blank LDAP values do not replace existing values in Client fields Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 17. Select the Sync With Existing WHD Clients Only check box to prevent the LDAP connection from creating any client accounts in Web Help Desk and synchronize with existing Client accounts. If this is a new sync and not an update, leave this check box blank. Note: Synchronization is based on the Sync Key attribute. 123

124 Setting Up the Application 18. In the When LDAP Records Are Removed row, select the appropriate action when Clients are removed from the LDAP directory. If you are not sure which option to choose, select No Action. 19. Click the Cache Time Period drop-down menu and select the length of time required for an LDAP resynchronization. 20. Click Save. Your settings are saved. 21. Click Test Settings to test your settings and make adjustments if needed. 22. Click the Attribute Mappings tab. The Attribute Mappings tab window appears. 23. Complete the options in the tab window as specified by the customer s LDAP representative. 24. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Importing Clients Use the Import Clients function to import client data into Web Help Desk. See Importing Data Using Templates for information on applying templates. To import client data: 1. In the toolbar click Setup and select Data Import > Import Clients. The Import Clients screen appears. 124

125 Importing Clients 2. Click the Sync Based On drop-down menu and select the column in the import file used to synchronize the import data with existing records. 3. Select the Ignore Blank Fields check box to ignore blank fields in the imported file. If not selected, the blank fields in the import file will clear the corresponding values in the existing records. 4. Select the Add New Entities check box to add new entities referred by the import records if they do not exist in the database. 5. Select the Abort Import on First Error check box to stop the import procedure when Web Help Desk encounters an error. If not selected, Web Help Desk will continue the import if errors appear. 6. In the File Type row, select the appropriate import file format. 7. Click the File Encoding drop-down menu and select the method used to encode the import file. If your import file contains any Unicode characters, select Microsoft Excel, as this file format encodes in UTF-16 format. 8. In the Import Data File row, click Choose File and select the file to use for the import procedure. 125

126 Setting Up the Application Note: The first line of the import file must match the import template. SolarWinds recommends copying and pasting the template into your data file to ensure that it is identical. The import procedure will generate an error if the first row of the import file does not match the template. 9. Click Import. The file contents is imported into the Web Help Desk database. Defining Assets Assets are the Client-owned software and hardware that Techs work with. WHD tracks Assets by properties such as: Location Type Status Owner Serial Number Model and Manufacturer Warranty Dates Lease Types Relationship to Other Assets Ticket History Purchase Orders Because Clients usually have large numbers of Assets, and Assets have a large number of properties associated with each one, assets are not typically entered manually. WHD has an extensive selection of asset import and discovery options. These options include interfaces to: LANrev Absolute Manager Apple Remote Desktop JAMF Casper Lansweeper 126

127 Configuring Asset Import and Permissions Options Microsoft Systems Management Server / Systems Center Configuration Manager Spreadsheet import CSV or TSV imports See Importing Data for details on how to import Asset Data. For information on configuring connections to import asset data, see Discovering Assets. Configuring Asset Import and Permissions Options Use the Asset Options screen to set the options for Asset and Asset permissions for Techs. Note: Click the information icon in each row to see the tooltip. Defining Asset Type, Status, Warranty, and Lease Information Asset type, status, warranty, and lease information are usually included data imports, but if you find undefined Asset types, you can manually define them on the Types page. Assets can be associated with clients so techs can easily identify the items for which support is requested. The Types page includes the following tabs: Asset Types. Use asset types to represent any type of classification you choose, such as Software, Hardware, Owned, and Leased. Sample types are located at Asset > Types. Asset Status Types. Add asset status types to define asset status. A status can be anything you create, such as Deployed (for equipment in use) or In Storage (for equipment in storage and not in use). Web Help Desk includes defined Deployed status types. Warrant Types. Create and apply warranty types from one year to five years to reflect the appropriate warranty length or type for a particular asset type. Lease Types. Create and apply lease types from one year to five years to reflect the appropriate warranty length or type for a particular asset type. To manually add asset types: 127

128 Setting Up the Application 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. The Types screen appears. 2. Click the Asset > Types tab. The tab window appears. 3. Click New. A selection menu appears. 4. In the Name field, enter a name for the custom type. 5. In the Custom Fields row, select which of your custom fields should be attributed to the type you are creating. 6. Click Save. Your custom type is saved. To manually add more asset status types: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. The Types screen appears. 2. Click the Asset Status Types tab. The tab window appears. 3. Click New. A selection menu appears. 4. In the Name field, enter a name for the custom type. 5. Select the Retired check box if your custom selection is retired. 6. Click Save. Your new selection is saved. To manually add one or more warranty types: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. The Types screen appears. 2. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. 128

129 Defining Asset Custom Fields The Types screen appears. 3. Click the Warranty Types tab. The tab window appears. 4. Click New. A selection menu appears. 5. In the Warranty Name field, enter the name used to identify the warranty. 6. In the Expiration row, enter the amount of time until expiration. If there is no expiration, leave the field blank. 7. Click Save. Your new selection is saved. To manually one or more lease types: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Lease Types. The Types screen appears. 2. Click the Lease Types tab. The Lease Types tab window appears 3. Click New. A selection menu appears. 4. In the Lease Name field, enter a name to identify the lease. 5. In the Expiration row, enter the amount of time until expiration. If there is no expiration, leave this field blank. 6. Click Save. Your new selection is saved. Defining Asset Custom Fields Use Custom Fields to extend the types properties associated with assets. Below is an example of the Asset Custom Fields screen. 129

130 Setting Up the Application Field / Check Box Label Type Description The name of your custom field. Select one of the following types using semicolons to delimit multiple choices in the Options setting: Text (up to 255 characters) Number (number of integers with up to four decimal places) Currency Date Dateline Time Period Multiple Choice (adds check boxes) Single Choice (adds radio buttons) Pop-up menu (adds a single-selection menu) Width Specifies the number of columns in the custom field text area. 130

131 Defining Asset Custom Fields Field / Check Box Info Display Order Height Clients Techs Limit Input to Text Box Width Encrypt in database Searchable Allow full-text search (slower) Description Creates a tool tip that helps users complete the custom field. When the tool tip is created, an Info icon appears next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the Info icon, the tool tip pops up. Click the drop-down menu and select the custom field order. Specifies the number of rows in the custom field text area Configures the Client permissions, defining whether the client can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. These fields are disabled when the custom field is not visible in the client interface. Configures the Tech permissions, defining whether the Tech can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. Administrative users have at least Editable access to all custom fields. The Required fields are required for Administrators. Ensures the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the number of characters chosen in the Width option. DES-encrypts the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. If you select this option after the data is entered, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated. Enables the custom field to appear as a search option in the Advanced Search page. Indexes only the first 255 characters in a custom field. Select this option when the custom field values may 131

132 Setting Up the Application Field / Check Box Description exceed 255 characters. Applying this option greatly reduces search performance. Exclude From E- Mail Ensures the custom field does not appear in s to Clients or Techs. Adding Manufacturers Use the Manufacturers Info page to add hardware and software and other asset manufacturers' contact information. Click the Edit button to enter information. Click Save when you finish entering the manufacturer information. Adding Vendors The Vendors page defines contacts for ordering parts or software. Fill in the pertinent information for each vendor contact and click Save when finished. 132

133 Defining PO Custom Fields Defining PO Custom Fields PO Custom Fields define custom fields and specify view/editing permissions for techs. Use this screen to extend the types properties associated with purchase orders. See Managing Assets for information about working with purchase orders. Note: No client permissions are available in PO custom field because clients never view purchase orders. Below is an example of the PO Custom Fields screen. 133

134 Setting Up the Application Field / Check Box Label Type Description The name of your custom field. Select one of the following types using semicolons to delimit multiple choices in the Options setting: Text (up to 255 characters) Number (number of integers with up to four decimal places) Currency Date Dateline Time Period Multiple Choice (adds check boxes) Single Choice (adds radio buttons) Pop-up menu (adds a single-selection menu) Width Info Specifies the number of columns in the custom field text area. Creates a tool tip that helps users complete the custom 134

135 Defining PO Custom Fields Field / Check Box Description field. When the tool tip is created, an Info icon appears next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the Info icon, the tool tip pops up. Display Order Height Clients Techs Limit Input to Text Box Width Encrypt in database Searchable Allow full-text search (slower) Click the drop-down menu and select the custom field order. Specifies the number of rows in the custom field text area Configures the Client permissions, defining whether the client can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. These fields are disabled when the custom field is not visible in the client interface. Configures the Tech permissions, defining whether the Tech can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. Administrative users have at least Editable access to all custom fields. The Required fields are required for Administrators. Ensures the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the number of characters chosen in the Width option. DES-encrypts the data entered in the custom field before ti is stored in the database. If you select this option after the data is entered, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated. Enables the custom field to appear as a search option in the Advanced Search page. Indexes only the first 255 characters in a custom field. Select this option when the custom field values may exceed 255 characters. Applying this option greatly 135

136 Setting Up the Application Field / Check Box Description reduces search performance. Exclude From E- Mail Ensures the custom field does not appear in s to Clients or Techs. Importing Asset Data Using the data import function from Settings > Data Import>Import Asset is the easiest way to get Asset data into Web Help Desk. To ensure a successful import, use the Assets Import template. See Importing Data Using Templates for information on applying templates. To import Assets into Web Help Desk: 1. Click Setup and select Data Import > Import Assets. The Import Assets screen appears. 2. Click the Sync Based On drop-down menu and select the column in the import file to use to synchronize the import data with your existing records. 136

137 Setting Up Parts & Billing If an import record contains an empty field for the Sync column, the record is added to the database instead of being used to replace an existing record. This field synchronizes the data import with any existing Asset data. 3. Click the Client Key drop-down menu and select the client attribute the import file should use in columns that refer to client records. This selection defines the key field for database column reference. 4. Select the Ignore Blank Fields check box if you expect some of the table fields not to populate. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 5. Select the Add New Entries check box to add fields that are not defined on the downloaded template. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 6. Select the Abort Import on First Error check box if you get poor results after importing your data. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 7. In the File Type and File Encoding fields, select the proper file type and file encoding, respectively. Select MS Excel for.xls imports. 8. In the Import Data File row, click Browse and select a saved template. 9. Click Import to import the file. The file is imported into Web Help Desk. Setting Up Parts & Billing Set up Parts & Billing for tracking resources such as parts, inventory, and billing on tickets. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing to configure this feature. See the following sections for more information: Applying Parts & Billing Options Creating Invoicing Options Defining Rates & Terms Defining Part Custom Fields Configuring Inventory Alerts Managing Parts 137

138 Setting Up the Application Applying Parts & Billing Options Parts & Billing Options enable or disable the Parts & Billing functionality, define the ticket PDF format, and enable or disable service time blocks by location. All of this functionality is enabled by default. Always make sure this functionality is active when you configure how WHD handles parts and billing. To access Parts & Billing Options, select Options from the Parts & Billing menu. To disable this feature, clear the Parts & Billing Enabled check box. Disabling Parts & Billing hides the main Parts icon, the ticket detail Parts & Billing tab, billing preferences and the billing reporting options. Performing Invoicing To specify a company contact for invoices: 1. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Invoicing Options. The Invoicing tab window appears. 2. In the window, add the appropriate contact information. 3. In the Preferred Client Contact Info row, select where the client contact information on invoices should be obtained from the client's Web Help Desk billing entity. 138

139 Defining Rates & Terms 4. (Optional) In the Footer Text box, enter a message that appears at the bottom of the PDF invoice. 5. (Optional) Click the Log tab and upload a.gif or.png file containing your company logo. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. To generate a PDF invoice or quote directly from a ticket: 1. In the toolbar, click Tickets and select Search Tickets. The Search Tickets screen appears. 2. In the Basic Search or Advanced Search tab windows, enter the appropriate search criteria for your ticket, and then click Search. Your search results appear in the bottom menu. 3. In the search results, click the appropriate ticket number. 4. Click the Parts and Billing tab. The Parts and Billing tab window appears. 5. Select the type of PDF you want to generate. 6. Click the PDF icon. Defining Rates & Terms The Billing Rates, Terms, and Taxes feature allows you to define billing rates to use in your tickets. You can configure specific billing rates to be consistent with the level of delivered service (Level tech) and the applicable local tax codes. To define the billing rates: 1. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Rates & Terms. The Rate and Terms screen appears. 2. Click New. The Billing Rates tab window appears. 139

140 Setting Up the Application 3. In the Rate Name field, enter the billing rate name. Billing rates appear in a pop-up menu when entering work time in a ticket tech note. 4. In the Hourly Rate field, enter the amount per hour to be billed. 5. Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order that the items will be listed. 6. Select the Subtracts From Time Blocks if you use time block billing. 7. Select the Travel Rate check box if this rate is for travel time only. 8. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 9. Click the Billing Terms tab. The Billing Terms tab window appears. 10. Click New. The Billing Term tab windows appears with new selections. 140

141 Defining Rates & Terms 11. In the Term Name field, enter a name that reflects the negotiated term. For example: Net Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order that the items will be listed. 13. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 14. Click the Tax Rates tab. The Tax Rates tab window appears 15. Click New. The Tax Rates tab window appears with editable fields. 141

142 Setting Up the Application 16. In the Tax Name field, enter a name for the custom tax rate. 17. In the Rate field, enter the tax rate to apply to invoices. 18. Select the Default Rate check box if this tax rate will be used in all tickets where location-specific tax rates do not override. 19. In the Apply to Labor row, select the option that describes how the tax is applied to labor. 20. Click the Display Order drop-down menu and select the order that the items will be listed. 21. Select the Apply to Parts check box to apply the tax to the parts. 22. Select the Apply to Shipping check box to apply the tax to shipping. 23. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Defining Part Custom Fields Use the Part Custom Fields screen to create custom part fields. To access this screen, click Setup and select Part & Billing > Part Custom Fields. Below is an example of the Part Custom Fields screen. 142

143 Defining Part Custom Fields Field / Check Box Label Type Description The name of your custom field. Select one of the following types using semicolons to delimit multiple choices in the Options setting: Text (up to 255 characters) Number (number of integers with up to four decimal places) Currency Date Dateline Time Period Multiple Choice (adds check boxes) Single Choice (adds radio buttons) Pop-up menu (adds a single-selection menu) Width Info Specifies the number of columns in the custom field text area. Creates a tool tip that helps users complete the custom 143

144 Setting Up the Application Field / Check Box Description field. When the tool tip is created, an Info icon appears next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the Info icon, the tool tip pops up. Display Order Height Clients Techs Limit Input to Text Box Width Encrypt in database Searchable Allow full-text search (slower) Click the drop-down menu and select the custom field order. Specifies the number of rows in the custom field text area Configures the Client permissions, defining whether the client can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. These fields are disabled when the custom field is not visible in the client interface. Configures the Tech permissions, defining whether the Tech can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. Administrative users have at least Editable access to all custom fields. The Required fields are required for Administrators. Ensures the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the number of characters chosen in the Width option. DES-encrypts the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. If you select this option after the data is entered, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated. Enables the custom field to appear as a search option in the Advanced Search page. Indexes only the first 255 characters in a custom field. Select this option when the custom field values may exceed 255 characters. Applying this option greatly 144

145 Configuring General Settings Field / Check Box Description reduces search performance. Exclude From E- Mail Ensures the custom field does not appear in s to Clients or Techs. Configuring General Settings The General settings enable you to set up how the application works. To access the left setup bar, click Setup and select General. This setting provides the following options: Activating the License Customizing Options Setting Up Authentication Setting Time & Place Configuring Look & Feel Customizing the Database Connection Editing Log Settings Viewing System Information Activating the License SolarWinds includes a fully functional, 30-day trial license. Version and later provides a single purchased license that remains with your software installation, even after you upgrade. You can activate your new license online or offline. If your SolarWinds Web Help Desk server has Internet access, you can activate your license online at the SolarWinds Customer Portal. Activate your software offline when your SolarWinds Web Help Desk server cannot access the Internet or is behind a proxy or firewall restricting access to the SolarWinds Customer Portal. If your license expired or you have remaining maintenance on your current license, you can purchase perpetual license keys from the Customer Portal as well. After you obtain a new license key, activate your license. 145

146 Setting Up the Application Activating Your License Online To activate your license online, simply enter your activation key when prompted on the Customer Portal. During the activation procedure, your customer contact information automatically synchronizes with your account. To activate a purchased license online: 1. Login to the SolarWinds Customer Portal. 2. Purchase your new activation key and record the key number. 3. Log in to SolarWinds Web Help Desk as an administrator. 4. Click Setup and select General > License. The License Settings screen appears. 5. Click the Lock icon. The License Settings screen displays the Activation Key information. 6. In the Activation Method row, select Online Activation. 7. In the Activation Key field, paste or enter the license activation key you obtained from the customer portal. 8. In the Customer Contact Details field, enter or update your contact information. 9. Click Activate. Your license is activated. Activating Your License Offline To activate your license offline, register your new license on the Customer Portal using the SolarWinds Web Help Desk-generated Machine ID. When completed, download the offline activation file and then upload the file to your SolarWinds Web Help Desk server. To activate a purchased license offline: 1. Log in to SolarWinds Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > License. The License Settings screen appears. 146

147 Migrating Your Installation to a Different Server 3. Click the Lock icon. The License Settings screen displays the Activation Key information. 4. In the Activation Method row, select Offline Activation. 5. In the Machine ID field, copy the text in the field. 6. Open a new Web browser window. 7. Navigate to the SolarWinds Customer Portal. 8. Log in to your customer account. 9. When prompted, paste or enter the Machine ID in the appropriate area to obtain your Offline Activation file. 10. Download the Offline Activation file to your hard drive. 11. Return to the SolarWinds Web Help Desk user interface. 12. In the Offline Activate File row, click Choose File and navigate to your Offline Activation file. 13. Click Activate. Your license is activated. Migrating Your Installation to a Different Server If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server. Your SolarWinds Web Help Desk license can only be active on one server. You can deactivate your license online or offline. If you are running SolarWinds Web Help Desk in a clustered deployment, activate your license only when the primary node is migrated to a new node. Note: If you do not deactivate the license on the original server, you cannot active the license on the new server.. To deactivate your license online: 1. Log in to SolarWinds Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. In the user interface, click Setup and select General > License. 147

148 Setting Up the Application The License Settings screen appears. 3. Click the Lock icon. The License Settings screen displays your activation information. 4. Click Deactivate. Your license is deactivated. Deactivating Your License Offline To deactivate your license offline, contact SolarWinds Support through the Customer Portal. If your server is not connected to the Internet, a support technician can manually deactivate your license. If you lost your previous license, contact SolarWinds Support for assistance. Reinstalling a License on the Same Server Servers running Microsoft Windows Server or Apple OS X will usually preserve your license when the application is uninstalled and reinstalled on the same server. However, when you uninstall the application on a system running Linux, your license is deleted. The safest method to uninstall and reinstall SolarWinds Web Help Desk is to deactivate your license before you uninstall the software. When completed, reactivate your license after you install the software on the new server. Changing the Java Bit Version on Microsoft Windows Servers If you are running SolarWinds Web Help Desk 32-bit and update your software to Web Help Desk 64-bit, the software may appear to run with a Demo license because your existing Java software is running a conflicting bit version and cannot locate your license. To update your Java software to the corresponding bit version, deactivate your license, install the new Web Help Desk software, and then reactive your license. If you lose your previous Web Help Desk license, contact Customer Support through the SolarWinds Customer Portal to deactivate your license offline. 148

149 Implementing Your New License in a Clustered Deployment Implementing Your New License in a Clustered Deployment A clustered (aka multi-instance) deployment is a group of independent servers working together as a single system, implementing multiple instances of SolarWinds Web Help Desk that access the same database. This configuration provides several advantages, including load balancing. Typically, a clustered deployment includes one daemon instance and one or more front-end instances. When you purchase and install a Web Help Desk license, your license is bound to your server. In a clustered deployment, your license is bound to the the primary node (physical or virtual) in the cluster. All other nodes (such as daemon instances or any additional front-end instances) run as secondary nodes. An instance becomes a secondary node if it runs with the following Java Virtual Machine runtime argument: -DClusterSecondaryNode=true If the JVM argument is not present, the instance runs as the primary node. As a result, ensure that the primary node is always available to activate or deactivate your license. For new installations, install the primary node and activate your license before you configure your load balancer or deploy your secondary nodes. To upgrade your software, take all secondary nodes offline and upgrade the primary node. should be installed and the new license activated before configuring the load balancer or deploying any secondary nodes. For upgrades, all secondary nodes should be taken offline, and the primary node upgraded first. Be aware that if the primary node is down for longer than a week, the secondary nodes are deactivated. If you cannot activate or deactivate your license, you may have an issue with your network connection between the primary and secondary nodes for example, network communications are blocked or the primary node port(s) are configured incorrectly. To resolve this issue, try to connect directly to your primary node through your Web browser (bypassing the load balancer) and manipulate the license in this location. For 30 days after you install the software, the product is fully functional using a Demo license. If you do not purchase a license after the 30-day trial period, the Demo license switches to a single-seat license, which allows unlimited updates. The single-seat license only allows a single Admin/Tech account and disables the advanced features, such as management. Applying a full commercial license 149

150 Setting Up the Application allows the administrator to manually reactivate deactivated Tech accounts and automatically reactivates all advanced features. Configuring Options The Options screen allows you to define how the application presents information to clients and techs. A basic Web Help Desk deployment does not require any changes to the default settings. However, you can customize the options for your environment for example, your deployment uses a secure HTTPS port or you want to include direct contact information in your client s.. In this screen, you can define how much information a client or tech can view, but you cannot filter dashboard data for administrators. Be aware that limiting the amount of data displayed in search results or the dashboard can significantly increase performance. To customize the general options for your environment: 1. Log in to SolarWinds Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Options. The General Options screen appears. 3. In the Server DNS Name field, delete the current name and enter the server name you want to appear in URLs generated for your help desk. 150

151 Configuring Options If Web Help Desk is running on a port other than port 80, specify the port number. The DNS name with a specified port will appear as: company.com:8081 This setting sets the port used by the URL and not the listening port. To change the listening port, modify the DEFAULT_PORT setting in the <WebHelpDesk>/conf/whd.conf file and restart the application. 4. In the Force HTTPS row, select the option that determines how HTTPS should be used with Web Help Desk. 5. In the Web Help Desk Name field, enter the appropriate name (if required). The default name is Web Help Desk. 6. In the Max Search Results field, enter the maximum number of rows a ticket, client, or asset search can return. A typical safe value is between , depending on your search requirements. Do not leave this field empty if the application contains more than 5000 records. If the field is left empty, the application enforces no search limit, which can affect your search performance. 7. Click the Max Items Per Page drop-down menu and select the maximum options available in the batch size pop-up for ticket, asset, and FAQ searches. 8. In the Max Attachment Size field, enter the maximum attachment size allowed in all file upload areas. 9. Click the Max Weeks of Data in Dashboard drop-down menu and enter the maximum number of weeks data is stored in dashboard widgets. 10. Select the Filter Dash 11. Select the Filter Dashboard Data to User check box to only include tickets visible to a tech based on the Locations, Departments, Companies, Request Types, and Tech Group Levels that the tech can access. 12. Select the Show Icons for Referenceable URLs check box to enable icons to appear in list and detail pages, providing referenceable URLs for accessing a given Ticket, FAQ, or other item. 13. (Optional) In the Web Help Desk Direct Contact Info box, enter your Web Help Desk contact information. 151

152 Setting Up the Application Clients can use this information to contact your techs directly for help. 14. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Setting Up Authentication The Authentication Settings screen describes the authentication methods used to access Web Help Desk user interface. To access this screen, click Setup and select General > Authentication. Below is an example of the Authentication Settings screen. 152

153 Setting Up Authentication The following table describes each authentication method. For more information about these procedures, see See "Configuring and Managing Authentication" on page 186. Authentication Method Web Help Desk SAML 2.0 (Security Assertion Markup Language) CAS 2.0 (Central Authentication Service) Servlet Authentication (for Apache Tomcat installations only) Description Authenticates the user with the user name and password. User names and passwords are pulled from the Web Help Desk database or imported from Active Directory or LDAP connections. An XML protocol for providing authentication from an Identity Provider (IdP) to a Service Provider (SP). See Deploying SSO with SAML Using AD FS for information about configuring SAML with AD FS for Web Help Desk. Note: AD FS must be configured separately to work with Web Help Desk. For details on configuring AD FS to work with Web Help Desk, see the AD FS 2.0 Step-by-Step and How To Guides at the Microsoft TechNet website. Uses a Single Sign On (SSO) service URL to authenticate the user provided by Web Help Desk. The CAS server sends the user back to Web Help Desk and attaches a "ticket" to the Web Help Desk URL. Web Help Desk submits the ticket to the CAS validate URL to obtain the user name of the authenticated user. See Deploying SSO with CAS 2.0 for information on how to set up CAS 2.0 on your Web Help Desk Tomcat server. Provides the authenticated user name to Web applications using the HttpServletRequest.getRemoteUser() method. At your own risk, you can use Windows 153

154 Setting Up the Application Authentication Method Description Authentication Framework Light Edition (WAFFLE) for Web Help Desk Servlet Authentication. Be aware that SolarWinds does not support this method of SSO. For information about configuring WAFFLE, see the article entitled "Servlet Single- Sign On Security Filter" at the GitHub Website. For additional information, see the SolarWinds Thwack website and the SolarWinds KB article entitled WAFFLE Servlet Authentication Configuration Steps. HTTP Header HTTP Form Value Uses Web servers (such as the Apache HTTP Server) to forward externally authenticated user information using HTTP headers. Forwards the authenticated user name through an HTTP name/value pair instead of an HTTP header. Setting Time & Place The Time & Place page shows the time zone and local work hours for the locations your help desk manages. In the Business Zones tab, you can add new location, time zones, countries, date and time formats, business hours, and work days. To add a new location and set the business hours: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Time and Place. The Business Zones tab window appears with a default time zone. 2. Click New. The Business Zones tab window appears. 154

155 Setting Time & Place 3. In the Name filed, enter a name for the location. 4. Click the Time Zone drop-down menu and select the time zone for the location. 5. Click the Country drop-down menu and select the country for the location. 6. Click the Currency Precision drop-down menu and select the number of digits to use in the fraction part of the currency. 7. In the Date Format field, select the proper time and date formats for viewing and entering dates the location. 8. Select the Business Hours and Work Days for the location. 9. Click Save. To add calendar events for up to a year in the future or past: 1. Select the Calendars tab. The Calendars tab window appears. 155

156 Setting Up the Application 2. In the Include Calendar Events For row, select the check box that indicates which types of tickets will be included in the calendar display. Select the Scheduled Tickets check box to include only those with a manually specified date and time range for work. Select the Due Tickets check box to include tickets with automatically calculated due dates and manually specified due dates. 3. In the Window of Time to Include in Calendars row, select the window of time to include when generating calendars. Ticket work times and due dates outside the inclusion window will not be included in the calendars. 4. Select the icalendar-integration Enabled check box to include an option to subscribe to the calendar using the standard icalendar format. If you leave the check box blank, only HTML calendar links will appear. 5. In the Format for Due-Date Calendar Events row, select the format for titles of due-date events that appear in the calendars. Click the tooltip for additional formatting information. 6. In the Format for Work-Time Calendar Events row, select the format for titles of scheduled work-time events that appear in the calendars. Click the tooltip for additional formatting information. 156

157 Configuring Look & Feel 7. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Configuring Look & Feel The Look & Feel screen allows you to place your company logo on the web console. To access this screen, click Setup and select General > Look & Feel. Below is an example of the Look & Feel screen. Selection Logo Client Style Sheet Description The logo that appears on your Login screen. Click Add File to select a PNG or GIF file for your logo image. The style sheet used to render your Login screen and the Client interface. Click Style Sheet Gallery > CSS Gallery to select a new cascading style sheet (CSS) in the SolarWinds Thwack Community Web page. 157

158 Setting Up the Application To install and apply a new style sheet template: 1. Download the desired template. 2. Copy the content of the zipped.css file into the clipboard. 3. In the Client Style Sheet row, select Custom and click Edit CSS to expose the CSS editor. 4. Remove any existing content in the editor. 158

159 Configuring Look & Feel 5. Paste the template from the clipboard. 6. Select Replace Default CSS and Compress. 7. Click Update to refresh the panel with parameters from the new template. 8. Review the new style sheet implementation at the bottom of the page. 9. If the implementation does not look the way you want, adjust the template Header, Help Desk Name, and Button Bar color, size, and spacing 159

160 Setting Up the Application parameters. For complete information on color code names and what the colors look like, refer to HTML tutorial websites such as w3schools.com's HTML Color Names. 10. Click Save to activate the new style sheet. 160

161 Customizing the Database Connection Customizing the Database Connection You can customize your database connection settings and backup schedule in the Database Connection screen located at Setup > General > Database. When you install and run Web Help Desk for the first time, the application will automatically select the embedded PostgreSQL database. If you decide to use an external database, you can update your database connection settings in this screen. When you are finished, click Save and restart Web Help Desk to enable your new settings. To customize your database connection: 1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Database. The Database Connection screen appears. 3. Click the Vendor drop-down menu and select the appropriate database for your Web Help Desk installation. If you select PostgreSQL as your primary database, select the Use Embedded Database check box to use the embedded PostgreSQL database included with Web Help Desk. When you select both of these options, the Database field disappears and the Backup Folder and Number of backups options appear. 161

162 Setting Up the Application 4. In the Host field, enter the IP address or DNS name of the server hosting the Web Help Desk database. 5. In the Port field, enter the port number for the database connection. The default ports include: 1521 (Oracle) 1433 (Microsoft SQL Server) 5432 (PostgreSQL) 6. In the Database field (if available), enter the name of your Web Help Desk database. 7. In the Username and Password fields, enter the user name and password for your Web Help Desk database connection. 8. In the Backup Schedule row, select the days of the week and time of day when Web Help Desk will automatically backup the database. Otherwise, leave this row blank to prevent Web Help Desk from scheduling a backup. 9. In the Backup Folder row (if available), select or enter the appropriate backup folder path to store your database backup files. 10. In the Number of backups drop-down menu (if available), select the total number of backups to store in your database backup file. Web Help Desk uses first-in, first-out database storage logic. For example, if 162

163 Setting and Forwarding Log Settings you choose to save five backup files and in time save a sixth backup file, the first backup in the series will be deleted. 11. Click Backup Now to backup your new Web Help Desk database file to your backup folder. 12. Click Save. Your database connection settings are saved. 13. Restart Web Help Desk to enable your new database connection settings. Setting and Forwarding Log Settings The Logs page allows you to set a critical level for logging. This is not necessary for your initial configuration and is typically used for troubleshooting. Click Save to save the changes. Viewing System Information The System Environment screen located at Setup > General > System Information contains information about troubleshooting and understanding your server s configuration. The following table describes the fields listed in the screen. Field Web Help Desk Version Java Version Java Home Classpath Description Displays the version of your SolarWinds Web Help Desk software version. See the SolarWinds Customer Portal website for updates. The current version of your Java Virtual Machine (JVM) running the SolarWinds Web Help Desk software. The location of the Java Library. The Java classpath parameter setting used by the SolarWinds Web Help Desk software. The default installation only includes 163

164 Setting Up the Application Field Description WOBoostrap.jar, which provides a class loader for other files needed by the software. The default setting can be extended by defining the CLASSPATH environment variable. Extension Dirs Temp Dir Operating System JVM Memory Preferred Browser Locale(s) Daemon Mode The extension directories included with the SolarWinds Web Help Desk software. The directory provided to the Java Virtual Machine for storing temporary files. The operating system and user account for your SolarWinds Web Help Desk software. The amount of memory currently used by the SolarWinds Web Help Desk software and the total amount of available memory reported by the Java Virtual Machine. The current preferred locale codes provided by your Web browser, in order of preference. The mode that the daemon services are running from within this instance of SolarWinds Web Help Desk. Setting Up You can set up your options, templates, and incoming and outgoing mail accounts at Setup > . Web Help Desk supports multiple accounts for receiving and sending . Each incoming mail account is associated with a specific request type and an optional tech group. Incoming mail accounts are checked each minute for new messages. Web Help Desk processes each message, turns the messages into tickets, and then deletes the messages from the incoming mail server. Additionally, each incoming mail account is associated with an outgoing mail account (SMTP server) used to deliver outgoing mail. 164

165 Simplifying Management Options You can define custom greetings in templates associated with a specific status type and an optional request type. You can personalize these templates using tags that provide placeholders for parameters, such as last name, first name, and ticket number. Simplifying Management Options You can simplify incoming mail processing by configuring the Options screen located at Setup > > Options. Web Help Desk can accept from unknown senders in your client domains. Otherwise, you must define and maintain lists of each recipient for each client. This screen contains advanced settings for restricting formats, senders, and contents. Most of the options can accepted at the default settings. To simplify your management options: 1. Click Setup and select > Options. The Options screen appears. 2. Locate the Incoming Mail section. 3. In the Create Accounts for Unrecognized Senders row, select Only if e- mail matches an Accepted Domain. 4. In the Accepted Domains field, enter the domain names for your clients, separating each domain name by a comma and then a space. 5. Click Save. Your changes are saved. The Incoming Mail section provides additional options to filter . The Ignored Senders fields allows you to deny from senders who may be sending SPAM or other unwanted . The Regular Expression Filters fields allow you to filter out , based on specific criteria for the subject, body, content, or attachments. Click the tool tips next to each option for more information about using these filters. Review the remaining options settings and make any changes required for your environment. Setting Up Outgoing Accounts You can define your SMTP server(s) and help desk address in the Outgoing Mail Options section of the Options screen. 165

166 Setting Up the Application Note: Be sure to delete the sample outgoing server that was installed by default. The sample server may interfere with your actual SMTP server. To configure your outgoing Web Help Desk 1. Click Setup and select Outgoing Mail Accounts. The Outgoing Mail Accounts screen appears, listing all existing outgoing mail accounts. 2. Click New. The Outgoing Mail Accounts screen appears. 3. In the SMTP Server field, enter the IP address of your SMTP server. Use port 25 unless your server uses something other than the default port. A green indicator indicates a connection exists to your SMTP server. A red indicator indicates a failure to connect to the SMTP server. The error message at the top of the page indicates the nature of the failure. 4. Click Make Default to enable this account as your default outgoing mail account. If you have a default outgoing mail account, leave this row blank. 5. Click the SMTP Authentication drop-down menu and select the method used to authenticate to the SMTP server. 6. In the Friendly Name for Web Help Desk Address field, enter a friendly name to use for the From address of all sent by this SMTP server. 7. In the Web Help Desk Address field, enter the address for submitting tickets. 8. In the Accepted Domains field, enter one or more domains that will accept s from this account. 9. In the Advanced Properties field, enter the additional properties that are sent to the engine to change the behavior for mail servers with special needs. 10. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 166

167 Setting Up Incoming Accounts Setting Up Incoming Accounts You can define the requirements for accepting and initiating some of the automated processes in the Incoming Accounts screen. To setup an incoming account: 1. Click Setup and select > Incoming Mail Accounts. The Incoming Mail Accounts screen appears with a list of existing incoming accounts. A green indicator next to an account indicates a connection exists to your incoming mail server. 2. Click New. A screen appears for your new account. 3. Select the Enable Tickets check box open tickets automatically from incoming Click Make Default to enable this account as your default incoming mail account. If you have a default outgoing mail account, leave this row blank. 5. In the Address field, enter the account address that Web Help Desk will use for new tickets. 6. In the Account Type row, select the protocol used to access incoming mail. 7. Select the Compatibility Mode check box to download the full from the mail server. SolarWinds recommends leaving this check box blank. 8. In the Incoming Mail Server row, enter the IP address (or host name) and port of the mail server. The default port for IMAP accounts is 143 (993 for SSL). The default port for POP accounts is 110 (995 for SSL). Select the SSL check box when appropriate. Note: When you save the account, a green indicator Desk can successfully connect to the account. appears if Web Help 167

168 Setting Up the Application 9. In the User Name and Password fields, enter the user name and password for the incoming mail account. 10. In the Inbox Folder field, enter the folder name that Web Help Desk should check when retrieving new messages. SolarWinds recommends leaving this field set to INBOX unless you need to perform any message pre-filtering or processing before passing the messages to the inbox monitored by Web Help Desk 11. Click the Tech Group drop-down menu and select the tech group used to filter the available request types you select in the next step. 12. Click the Request Type drop-down menu and select the request type assigned to tickets created from this account. 13. Click the Allow Auto-Submitted check box to ignore the Auto Submitted mail header and allow messages using the header to create or update tickets. Note: Special settings may be required for your server to properly process incoming mail. Leave this field blank at this point. If your server fails incoming tests, you may have to troubleshoot this area. Hover your mouse over Advanced Properties for more information. 14. In the Advanced Properties field, enter the properties sent to the engine to change the behavior for mail servers with special needs. Note: Special settings may be required for your server to properly process incoming mail. Leave this field blank at this point. If your server fails incoming tests, you may have to troubleshoot this area. Click the tool tip for more information. 15. Click Save. Your changes are saved. For information about using mail templates to create professional-looking messages from Web Help Desk to clients, see Applying Templates. Applying Templates templates create reusable text for outgoing and incoming from data in Web Help Desk tickets. These templates implement tags (such as first name, last name, and ticket number) to pull information from tickets into s. 168

169 Built-in Templates See Applying Tags in Templates for a complete list of tags. You can apply templates and tags that automate your processes, such as: Ticket update s Ticket approval and disapproval s Action rule s Other general s that require information from tickets You can use the built-in templates included with Web Help Desk or you can create your own custom templates. Built-in Templates Web Help Desk includes ready-to-use, built-in templates for ticket-related outgoing and incoming s. You can use these templates or customize them to fulfill your needs. For information about using built-in templates, see Editing Built-in Templates. Outgoing Templates The following table lists the outgoing templates included with Web Help Desk. Template SMS Message New Account Message Validate Message - New Account Validate Message - Description Creates the body portion of all SMS messages. Creates the message sent to a client when you create their Web Help Desk account. Creates the message sent to clients when they creates a new account. To enable this template, the Require Validation check box must be selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options. Creates the message sent to clients when they 169

170 Setting Up the Application Template Existing Account Reset/Forgot Password Message Unrecognized Reply Unauthorized Update E- mail Reply Unauthorized Status Change Reply Description change their address on an existing account. The Require Validation check box must be selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options to enable this template. Creates the message sent to clients when they click Forgot Password on the login screen or a tech clicks Reset Password in the Client Info panel for a specific client. To enable this template, the Require Validation check box must be selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options. Creates the plain-text reply to Web Help Desk that does not match a Client or Tech account. To enable this template, the Client Can Create Account setting must be set to No or Only if Client's matches an Accepted Domain in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options. Creates the plain-text reply to from a Tech who is not authorized to change the status of a ticket. Techs are not authorized if they are not an admin or their assigned tech permission located at Setup > Tech > Tech Permissions is not configured appropriately. Creates the plain-text reply to from a Tech or Client not authorized to change the status of a 170

171 Outgoing Templates Template Description ticket. Techs are not authorized if they are not an admin or their assigned tech permission configured at Setup > Tech > Tech Permissions is not configured appropriately. Reply for Status Change Request on Tickets Pending Approval Disabled Account Reply Approved Ticket Greeting Denied Ticket Greeting Creates the plain-text reply to an from a Tech for a ticket that is pending Approval. The ticket must be approved before a status change is allowed. Creates the plain-text reply to an from a client whose Location is disabled. Web Help Desk also uses this template if the Require Validation check box is selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options but the client has not authenticated their address. Creates the message greeting in response to tickets that completed the final Approval step (if approvals are required for the ticket request type). To enable this template, the Client On:Approval check box must be selected for the appropriate approval process at Setup > Processes > Approval Processes. Creates the message greeting in response to tickets that were denied (if approvals are required for the ticket request type). during one step of the approval process. To enable this template, the Client On:Denial check box must be selected for the appropriate approval process at Setup 171

172 Setting Up the Application Template Description > Processes > Approval Processes. Default Ticket Greeting Overdue Assets Message Approval Request Greeting Closed Ticket Greeting Open Ticket Greeting Resolved Ticket Greeting Creates the message greeting in response to tickets where the Status Type and Request Type do not match a configured template. Creates the message greeting in response to clients with one or more checked-out assets that are overdue. Creates the message greeting for ticket approval requests. You can override this greeting by configuring the appropriate approval process located at Setup > Process > Approval Processes. Creates the message greeting when tickets are closed. Creates the message greeting when tickets are opened. Creates the message greeting when tickets are resolved. Incoming Templates The following table lists the incoming templates included with Web Help Desk. Template Message Body When Adding a Client Note Message Body When Description Creates the default message for opened by clicking the Add Note action link in an from Web Help Desk. Note: This setting only addresses client . Creates the default message for opened 172

173 Template Layout Template Canceling a Ticket Message Body When Confirming a Resolved Ticket Message Body When Rejecting a Resolved Ticket Message Body When Voting to Approve a Ticket Message Body When Voting Not to Approve a Ticket Description by clicking the Add Note action link in an from Web Help Desk. Note: This setting only addresses client . Creates the default message for opened by clicking the Yes action link in a Web Help Desk sent when a Ticket status is changed to Resolved. Note: This setting only addresses client . Creates the default message for opened by clicking the No action link in a Web Help Desk sent when a Ticket status is changed to Resolved. Note: This setting only addresses client . Creates the default message for opened by clicking the Yes action link in an from Web Help Desk. Note: This setting only addresses client . Creates the default message for opened by clicking the Add Note action link in an from Web Help Desk. Note: This setting only addresses client . Note: Built-in templates can be edited but cannot be deleted. You can also define custom templates associated with a specific status type and a request type. Template Layout Each built-in template includes a detailed description of its purpose and the text and tags included with the template. Below is an example of a typical template configuration page for SMS messages. 173

174 Setting Up the Application Editing Built-in Templates Built-in templates are pre-configured and ready to use for your Web Help Desk deployment. If required, you can modify the tags and text in the templates so your Web Help Desk installation is able to send custom s. If you need to modify a built-in template, you can: Modify the information that appears in the resulting by moving, adding, or removing the text and tags available for that template. See Applying Tags for a complete list of tags available for all templates. Add a language other than standard English. Apply an footer you have already defined in Setup > > Options. The following procedure describes how to customize an outgoing built-in template called Unrecognized Reply. Web Help Desk uses this template to send replies received from clients who submitted a request using an unrecognized address. The goal for this example is to have the resulting s reflect the actual name of the help desk. 174

175 Editing Built-in Templates To edit this built-in message template: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select > Templates. The Templates screen appears. 2. Select the Outgoing Mail tab. 3. In the Template column select Unrecognized Reply. The Unrecognized Reply template properties appears. 175

176 Setting Up the Application 4. In the Subject field, change: ERROR: Your support request could not be processed to <helpdesk_name> cannot process your request. The helpdesk name now appears in the Subject field for s using this template. 5. In the Template field, change the existing default message: We're sorry. Your address was not recognized by the help desk, so your request for support could not be submitted. to We're sorry. <helpdesk_name> does not recognize your address and cannot process your request. The helpdesk name now appears in the body text of any s using this template, as shown below. 176

177 Creating New Templates 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved to the template. Creating New Templates The following procedure describes how to create a new outgoing template for s that Web Help Desk sends to clients who opened accepted trouble tickets. To create this new template: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select > Templates. The Templates screen appears. 177

178 Setting Up the Application 2. Select the Outgoing Tab. The Outgoing Tab window appears. 3. Click New. A blank template design appears. 178

179 Creating New Templates 4. In the Name field, enter a name for the template. In this example, name the template: Open Ticket Acknowledgment 5. In the optional Description field, enter a description that indicates when your help desk personnel should apply this template. Explain the purpose and reason for using this template. For example, Use this template for s sent to clients who opened tickets requiring IT support only - no HR or Facilities requests. 6. In the Template field, enter the customer correspondence to include in the . Since the purpose of this template is to acknowledge that the client's new ticket is being addressed in your help desk system, include information such as: Client name or login ID Ticket number Help Desk name 179

180 Setting Up the Application Help Desk contact person (such as a Tech or Admin) How the client can obtain their ticket status You can automate most of this information using tags, which act as placeholders for information available in your tickets. The blue box at the bottom of the Template field labeled Tags offers a partial list of tags you can use. See Applying Tags in Templates for a complete list of available tags. 7. In the Template field, enter the text for your template and the tags needed to represent the ticket information to include in the . For example, you can include the following information in your Client first name Client last name ID number of the ticket the Client submitted URL where Client can login to find out about the Ticket's status Name of the help desk system Help desk contact person name Using the examples above, create the text for the template and enter these tags (listed in Applying Tags in Templates) where appropriate: <first_name> <last_name> <ticket_id> <helpdesk_name> <login_url> <helpdesk_contact_info> Below is an example of your completed template. 180

181 Creating New Templates 5. In the Status Type field, select Open Note: Selecting Open addresses an that is sent when a ticket is opened. 6. In the Request Types field, select Specific. 7. Select the appropriate request types. Web Help Desk includes the following request types: /Outlook Facilities Hardware HR IT General/Other Network Phone/Voic Printer/Toner/User Administration Note: To enable the template to apply to all open ticket greeting s, select All. The template is applied to all default and custom-created request types. For more information on request types, see Adding and Editing Custom Request Types. 8. Skip the Other Languages field if you are creating a template in United States English. 181

182 Setting Up the Application If your client requires s in another language, click All to select the client's language and then design your template. When completed, click Save. Note: The option lists more than 100 languages, including variants of English and other languages. 9. (Optional) Select the Use Footer check box to include the footer as defined in Setup > > Options > Footer, with this template. When completed, your template is configured with your new selections, as shown below. 10. Click Save. The template is saved. Applying Tags in Templates Tags are placeholders in templates that auto-populate s with ticket information for general, approval and disapproval, and action rule s. Web Help Desk replaces these placeholders with their proper values (based on values 182

183 Applying Tags in Templates in client tickets) once the is generated. The tickets contain information types defined in the Setup pages for areas such as tickets, clients, techs, and processes. The following table provides a list of tags for any type of Web Help Desk template. Note: When you add tags to an template, use the tag syntax as it appears in the table below. The content (such as tech, , and client) must appear between right and left facing angle brackets (such as <client>). Tag <ticket_url> <login_url> <ticket_id> <request_type> <status_type> <priority_type> <client> <client_short> <client_phone> <client_ > <assigned _to> <assigned_to_short> Information Pulled From Ticket The URL where the ticket resides. The URL for logging in to access a ticket. The Web Help Desk ticket ID number. The ticket request type. A request type defines the trouble area for example, /Outlook, Network, Printer/Toner, or User Administration. The ticket status indicating the ticket's state of completion. The ticket status can be Open, Closed, Pending, Canceled, or Resolved. The ticket priority type, which determines the ticket due date. Default priorities include Urgent, High, Medium, and Low. The client's first and last name. The abbreviated version of the client name. Use this tag to minimize space, such as in lists. The phone number of the client who submitted the ticket. The address of the client who submitted the ticket. The name of the tech assigned to the ticket. The abbreviated version of the tech name assigned to the ticket. 183

184 Setting Up the Application <tech> Tag <tech_short> <tech_phone> <tech_ > <room> <company> <location> <subject> <report> <due_datetime> <scheduled_worktime> <worktime> <first_initial> <last_name> <last_initial> < > <last_name> <helpdesk_contact_ info> <helpdesk_name> <custom_x> Information Pulled From Ticket The tech's first and last name. The abbreviated version of the tech's name. Use this tag to minimize space, such as in lists. The tech's phone number. The tech's address. The room where an asset is located. The company associated with the ticket. The Location of an asset in a ticket. The subject of the ticket. The request detail information. The estimated ticket completion date and time. The scheduled date and time to complete work on the ticket. The time spent working on the ticket. The first letter of the client's first name. The client's last name. The first letter of the client's last name. The client's address. The client's last name. The Web Help Desk contact information. The name of the help desk installation. The ticket custom field, where x represents a custom field ID. For more information about ticket custom fields, see Creating Custom Fields for Tickets. 184

185 Applying Tags in Templates Because these tags are hard coded into Web Help Desk, they cannot be edited. However, you can edit the templates where they appear. For information about using tags in templates, see Applying Templates. 185

186 Configuring and Managing Authentication After choosing an authentication method in the Web Help Desk browser interface's Setup > General > Authentication page, configure and maintain Single Sign On (SSO) and security authentication outside the Web Help Desk browser interface. The following table provide a list of authentication methods. Method Single Sign On (SSO) Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) Secure Socket Layer Description A single point of access linking applications to one signon point. Using SSO, you can log in once to gain access to all linked systems without having to log in individually to each system. For example, when you log in to your Microsoft Windows system, your user login provides SSO functionality to your corporate network and . Web Help Desk supports SAML 2.0, CAS 2.0, and Application Servlet SSO authentication. See Deploying SSO with SAML Using AD FS and Deploying SSO with CAS 2.0.for information about apply SSO in Web Help Desk. A secure, encrypted communication channel between Web browsers and servers. Also known as HTTP Secure and HTTP over SSL, HTTPS is not an actual protocol. See Enabling HTTPS for information about setting up HTTPS. A cryptographic protocol that secures communications over a computer network. 186

187 Configuring and Managing Authentication Method (SSL) Description SSL encrypts segments of network connections using a system requiring two separate keys: Symmetric encryption (for privacy) Message authentication codes (for message integrity) The HTTPS channel results from layering SSL security on top of HTTP. When a browser submits an HTTPS request to Web Help Desk, the SSL protocol requires Web Help Desk to respond with a certificate to prove the authenticity of the server. The certificate contains a public key used for encryption and a digital signature from a Certification Authority (CA). The digital signature indicates which CA verified the authenticity of the server. SSL Certificates Public and Private Keys A data file containing a cryptographic key that verifies the owner. SSL certificates contain information about the owner, such as their name, Website address, address, length of time the certificate is valid, and the digital signature of the person or entity owning the certificate. For more information on using certificates in Web Help Desk, see Working with Keys and Certificates. Cryptographic keys that provide a secure method to transmit data over computer networks. SSL certificates contain a public and private key pair. The private key contains the code and the public key decodes the private key. The private key is installed on your server and kept secret. The public key is incorporated into the SSL certificate and shared with web browsers. The certificates included with your browser and application contain the keys that can 187

188 Deploying SSO with SAML Using AD FS Method Description decrypt those applications' root certificates. For more information about using keys in Web Help Desk, see Working with Keys and Certificates. Note: Web Help Desk does not support Windows Authentication for connections to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). For information about configuring and managing single sign on and security authentication for Web Help Desk, see the following sections: Deploying SSO with SAML Using AD FS Deploying SSO with CAS 2.0 Enabling HTTPS Working with Keys and Certificates Deploying SSO with SAML Using AD FS Web Help Desk and later supports Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0 (SAML 2.0), which allows single sign-on (SSO) authentication. In Web Help Desk, SSO uses SAML with Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to authenticate a user over multiple Web applications over the life of a single online session. When you configure SSO in Web Help Desk using AD FS, you can enable users who log in to the Microsoft Exchange Server to be automatically logged in to Web Help Desk as well. Note: If you are using Windows Server 2008 R2, you must upgrade to AD FS 2.0. AD FS 1.0 is the default on Windows Server 2008 R2 and does not support SAML 2.0. Web Help Desk and AD FS settings must be configured separately from each other. The following instructions describe how to configure SSO in Web Help Desk. For information about configuring SSO with SAML using AD FS, see the AD FS 2.0 Step-by-Step and How To Guides at Microsoft TechNet. 188

189 Configuring and Managing Authentication Before You Begin Before you begin, perform the following procedures: 1. Enable automatic Active Directory (AD) logon through Microsoft Windows by adding the AD FS logon URL to the Local Intranet sites in Internet Explorer through Tools > Internet options or through your organization's group policy. 2. Set up your SAML server with an identity repository such as AD FS or Light Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) in the remote login URL for your SAML server. 3. Enable SSL in your Web Help Desk installation using a trusted certificate (like GoDaddy or Verisign) or create your own certificate For more information, see Working with Keys and Certificates. Configuring Web Help Desk to use AD FS In the following settings, replace mydomain.com with your actual domain name. To configure Web Help Desk to use SAML AD FS for authentication: 1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > Authentication. The Authentication Settings screen appears. 3. Click the Authentication drop-down menu and select SAML 2.0. The Authentication Settings window changes to accept SAML configuration input. 4. In the Sign-in page URL field, enter: To bypass external authentication, add the following to your login URL:?username=<username>&password=<password> 5. Click Upload to apply a Verification certificate and enable SSL. Apply the same certificate used to sign the assertion in the of AD FS 2.0 Relying Party (RP) setting. 189

190 Configuring SAML 2.0 on the AD FS Server 6. In the Logout URL field, enter the following URL or leave this field blank to use the Web Help Desk default logout page: Web Help Desk redirects the users to this page for logout. Configuring SAML 2.0 on the AD FS Server To configure SAML 2.0 on the AD FS Server to work with Web Help Desk: 1. Enter the following AD FS 2.0 RP settings: Identifier: <mydomain.com>/helpdesk/webobjects/helpdesk.woa Signature: Enter the name of the certificate you uploaded to Web Help Desk in step 5 of the Web Help Desk SAML configuration instructions. Endpoint: Binding: POST, URL: <server IP address>/helpdesk/webobjects/helpdesk.woa Detail: Secure hash algorithm SHA-1 2. Enter the following AD FS 2.0 Log Out settings: Identifier: us>/helpdesk/webobjects/helpdesk.woa Signature: Use the same certificate as above. Endpoint: SAML Logout, Binding: POST, URL: Server_fqdn>/<domain name>/adfs/ls/?wa=wsignout1.0 Detail: Secure hash algorithm SHA-1 3. Enter the following AD FS 2.0 Claim Mapping settings: Attribute store: Active Directory LDAP attribute: Usually an address. If your Web Help Desk client login attribute is a user name rather than an address, use the user ID or account name instead of the address. Outgoing claim type: NameID 190

191 Configuring and Managing Authentication Adding AD FS Login URLs to your Trusted Sites Adding the AD FS login URL to Internet Explorer's Trusted Sites eliminates the Web Help Desk login script pop-up and automatically authenticates your login and logs you in to the application. To add a Trusted Site to Internet Explorer: 1. Open Internet Explorer. 2. Click Tools and select Internet options. The Internet Options window appears. 3. Click the Security tab. The Security tab window appears. 4. Click Sites. The Trusted sites window appears. 5. In the Add this website to the zone field, enter the ADF FS login URL to this zone. Make sure to include the prefix with the URL. 6. Click Add. The URL is added to the Websites box. 7. Select the Require server verification ( for all sites in this zone check box. 8. Click Close. The Internet Options window appears. 9. Click OK to close the Internet Options window. To add a trusted site to Internet Explorer and enable automatic WHD logon: 1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools and select Internet Options. The Internet Options window appears. 2. Click the Security tab and click Local Internet. The Security tab window appears. 191

192 Adding AD FS Login URLs to your Trusted Sites 3. Click Local intranet, and then click Sites. The Local intranet window appears. 4. Click Advanced. The Local intranet Advanced window appears. 5. In the Add this website to the zone field, enter the appropriate AD FS URL and click Add. The AD FS URL moves to the Websites box. 6. Click Close and then OK. The Internet Option window appears. 7. In the Security tab window, click Trusted sites, and then click Sites. The Trusted sites window appears. 8. In the Add this website to the zone field, enter the Web Help Desk URL and then click Add. The Web Help Desk URL moves to the Websites box. 9. Click Close. The Internet Options window appears. 10. In the Security tab window, click Custom level. The Security Settings window appears. 11. In the Internet Options dialog with Trusted Sites still selected, click Custom level Scroll down to User Authentication and select Automatic logon with current user name and password. 13. Click OK. The Security tab window appears. 14. Click OK to close the Security tab and exit the Internet Options dialog. 15. Start Web Help Desk. 192

193 Configuring and Managing Authentication Deploying SSO with CAS 2.0 Central Authentication Service 2.0 (CAS 2.0) is a web-based SSO protocol. CAS server is deployed into Apache Tomcat and endpoints to this service are set in Web Help Desk, which uses these endpoints to authenticate the client according to the user s Windows login credentials. You can deploy your CAS server into Web Help Desk's Tomcat or your own Web Help Desk server. Deploying on Tomcat To deploy CAS 2.0 Server on the Web Help Desk Tomcat Server 1. Download the CAS Server Release. 2. Extract the files. 3. Turn off your Web Help Desk server. 4. In the cas-server directory, open the modules directory. 5. Copy the cas-server-webapp war file to the /bin/webapps directory on your Apache Tomcat deployment. 6. Rename cas-server-webapp war to cas.war 7. Start your Web Help Desk server. CAS 2.0 is now accessible from the following URL: 8. Verify that the HTTPS port is enabled on Apache Tomcat. If the HTTPS port is not enabled, go to Enabling SSL on Web Help Desk. If the HTTPS port is enabled, go to Deploying on the Web Help Desk Server. 193

194 Enabling SSL on Web Help Desk Enabling SSL on Web Help Desk To enable SSL on Web Help Desk: 1. On your Web Help Desk system, open an Explore window and navigate to: WebHelpDesk/conf 2. In the conf directory, open the whd.conf file using a text editor. 3. In the file, comment out the following entry: HTTPS_PORT= Save and close the file. 5. Using Porteclé, create a new certificate (as described in Generating a New Certificate in Porteclé). 6. Insert the certificate to the following location: /conf/keystore.jks 7. Restart Web Help Desk. Deploying on the Web Help Desk Server To deploy CAS 2.0 on your own Web Help Desk server: 1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > Authentication. The Authentication Settings screen appears. 3. Click the Authentication Method drop-down menu and select CAS In the CAS login URL field, enter: 5. In the CAS validate URL field, enter: 6. Under Verification certificate, click Upload and select a certificate that uses CAS for signing the responses. The Web Help Desk Tomcat certificate is from keystore.jks. 194

195 Configuring and Managing Authentication 7. In the Logout URL field, enter: 8. Click Save. Your changes are saved. You can now log in using CAS 2.0. Configuring a GPO to Push Internet Explorer Settings Group Policy Objects (GPOs) define settings for Windows server configurations. Group Policies apply these settings. To set up a GPO to push Internet Explorer settings for WHD: 1. Log on to the WHD domain using the Domain Administrator account. 2. Click Start and select Run. The Run window appears. 3. In the Run field, enter the following command and then click OK: mmc The Microsoft Management Console appears. 4. In the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-In > Add. The Add or Remove Snap-Ins dialog box appears. 5. In Available snap-ins, double-click Group Policy Management Editor and then click OK. The Group Policy Wizard appears. 6. In Select Group Policy Object, click Browse. The Browse for a Group Policy Object dialog box appears. 7. In Domains, OUs, and linked Group Policy Objects, click Default Domain Policy, and then click OK. 8. Click Finish, and then click OK. 9. In the Default Domain [yourdomain.com] Policy console tree, expand the following path: 195

196 Configuring a GPO to Push Internet Explorer Settings User Configuration, Policies, Windows Settings, Internet Explorer Maintenance, Connection. 10. Double-click Automatic Browser Configuration, clear the Automatically Detect Configuration Settings check box, and then click OK. 11. In the Default Domain [yourdomain.com] Policy console tree, expand the following path: User Configuration, Policies, Windows Settings, Internet Explorer Maintenance, Security. 12. Double-click Security Zones and Content Ratings. 13. Click Import the current security zones and privacy settings. 14. Click Continue when prompted, and then click Modify Settings. 15. In the Internet Properties dialog box, click the Security tab. The Security Tab window appears. 16. Click Local Intranet, and then click Sites. The Local Internet window appears. 17. In the Add this website to the zone field, enter: *.yourdomain.com 18. Click Add. Your entry moves to the Websites box. 19. Select the Require server verification (https) for all sites in this zone check box. 20. Click Close. The Internet Properties dialog box appears. 21. Click OK. Your changes are saved. 196

197 Configuring and Managing Authentication Enabling HTTPS When a browser submits an HTTPS request to Web Help Desk, the SSL protocol requires Web Help Desk to respond with a certificate to prove the authenticity of the server. Begin your security configuration by enabling HTTPS. To activate HTTPS in Web Help Desk: 1. Configure the port Web Help Desk uses to listen for HTTPS requests. 2. Configure the port Web Help Desk uses to listen for the URLs it generates that point back to itself, if needed. 3. Configure Web Help Desk to listen for HTTPS requests. 4. Enter an SSL connection port, if needed. 5. Restart Web Help Desk. For best practice, SolarWinds recommends reviewing the following procedures before you begin the configuration. Configuring the HTTPS Listening Port To configure the HTTPS listening port: 1. Open an Explore window. 2. Navigate to WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf. 2. In the whd.conf file, locate the Ports section and enter the port number Web Help Desk monitors for HTTPS requests, which appears after the following entry: HTTPS_PORTS= For example: 197

198 Configuring URL Ports 3. Save your changes. 4. If you have no other configuration changes, exit the whd.conf file. Configuring URL Ports In rare cases, you may require Web Help Desk to use a different port in URLs it generates to itself than the port the app server itself is actually running on. For example, you can configure a Web server to route requests for the default port (80) to go to the default Web Help Desk port (8081). In this example, you can have Web Help Desk URLs use port 80 instead of port Port 8081 could be kept behind a firewall and be unreachable from other systens. If you do not configure the URL ports, Web Help Desk uses the default ports. Additionally, you can configure the port Web Help Desk uses for the URLs it generates that point back to itself. 198

199 Configuring and Managing Authentication To configure an URL port: 1. In the whd.conf file, locate the URL Ports (optional) section. 2. At the bottom of this section, enter the desired URL port number after the following entry: URL_HTTPS_PORT= For example: 3. Save and close the file. Enabling Listening for HTTPS Requests To enable Web Help Desk to listen to HTTPS requests, uncomment the HTTPS_ PORT setting in Web Help Desk/conf/whd.conffile: 1. In the whd.conf file, remove the pound sign # at the beginning of the line. For example: 199

200 Entering SSL Connection Port 2. Save and close the file. Entering SSL Connection Port By default, Web browsers use port 443 for SSL connections. If you use a different port, include the port number in URLs that refer to Web Help Desk. For example, if your whd.conf file contains HTTPS_PORT=8443, connect to Web Help Desk using the following URL: Restarting the Help Desk After you configure the HTTPS_PORT setting, restart Web Help Desk. The application creates a new Java keystore at the following location: WebHelpDesk/conf/keystore.jks The new keystore contains a self-signed certificate. Working with Keys and Certificates When a browser submits an HTTPS request to Web Help Desk, the SSL protocol requires the application to respond with a certificate to verify the authenticity of the server. The certificate contains a public key used for encryption and a digital signature from a Certification Authority (CA). The digital signature indicates which CA verified the authenticity of the server. 200

201 Configuring and Managing Authentication Current Web browsers trust most certificates signed by large CAs such as Verisign. You can also use certificates signed by smaller CAs. When a Web browser does not recognize the certificate s CA, the Web browser prompts you to confirm your trust in the certificate. After you confirm trust, the Web browser uses the certificate's public key to encrypt information it sends to Web Help Desk. In turn, Web Help Desk decrypts the information using its private key. Similarly, Web Help Desk uses its private key to encrypt information sent to the Web browser, and the Web browser uses the public key received in the certificate to decrypt it. Web Help Desk stores its keys and certificates in a Java keystore located at WebHelpDesk/conf/keystore.jks. The open-source utility Porteclé ( POR-tuh-CLAY, which is French for key chain) bundled with Web Help Desk provides a graphical user interface for administering the keystore on the Windows or Mac OSX platform. If you do not have a certificate for your server and are using the Windows or Mac OSX platform, use Porteclé to generate both a keypair and a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to send to the CA. When completed, import the CA Reply certificate. If you currently have a certificate, import both the certificate and the primary key into the keystore. Porteclé does not allow you to import a primary key by itself, so you must combine it with its certificate in a PKCS#12 file (*.p12 or *.pfx). In each case, the keypair must be aliased as tomcat, and both the keypair and the keystore must be protected by the password specified in the KEYSTORE_ PASSWORD setting in the whd.conf file. For more information about working with keys and certificates, see the following sections: Using Default Keypair Aliases and Passwords Adding Certificate Chains Replacing Self-signed Certificates with CA Certificates Generating a New Certificate Adding a Certificate Authority to an Embedded Java CA Certificate Keystore Importing an Existing Certificate Adding SSL Certificates to the Virtual Appliance Certificate Troubleshooting Tips 201

202 Using a Default Key Pair Alias and Password If you are working in the Web Help Desk Virtual Appliance, use the command line interface to generate new certificates and an FTP interface tool (such as WinSCP or FileZilla) to transfer any new or existing certificates. Using a Default Key Pair Alias and Password Web Help Desk uses the Apache Tomcat Web server. This server requires its key pair to have a tomcat alias. The default password to both the keypair and keystore is changeit, as shown below. Tomcat requires identical keystore and keypair passwords. To use your own password, change the KEYSTORE_PASSWORD setting in the whd.conf file located in the WebHelpDesk\conf directory. Adding Certificate Chains A trusted CA can delegate to another CA. In this example, the certificate returned by the delegated CA will be signed by the trusted CA, resulting in a certificate chain. Certificate chains can vary in length. The highest certificate in the chain known as the root certificate should be a self-signed certificate that is signed by the trusted CA. Each certificate in the chain must be imported into the keystore so the complete chain can be sent to the Web browser. If the CA Reply does not include the chain certificates, they must be added to the keystore manually before the CA reply. The certificates must be imported in order of dependency. This means that the root certificate must be added first, then the next chained certificate that was signed by the root certificate (and so on) down to the CA reply. 202

203 Configuring and Managing Authentication Replacing Self-signed Certificates with CA Certificates A keypair created using Porteclé includes a self-signed certificate. To replace the self-signed certificate with a certificate signed by a CA, generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for the keypair and submit it to the CA. The CSR contains the public key and the name of the server in a format defined by the PKCS10 standard (typically given the filename extension.p10 or.csr). After verifying the applicant s identity, the CA sends you a certificate you can use to replace the self-signed certificate in the keypair, as shown below. This CA Reply (or CSR Reply) is typically an X.509 Certificate file (.cer,.crt,.pem, or.der) or an PKCS7 file (.p7b). Generating a New Certificate Generating a new certificate using Porteclé comprises the following processes: Creating a new keypair Generating a certificate signing request (CSR) Importing the CA reply certificate If you already have a certificate, see Importing an Existing Certificate. Creating a New Keypair 1. Open an Explore window. 2. Navigate to the \Program Files\WebHelpDesk folder and launch the Porteclé batch file. 203

204 Creating a New Keypair 3. Select the JKS file type. The Password window appears. 4. In the Enter Password field, enter the appropriate password, and then click OK. The keystore appears. You should see a keypair entry with the alias tomcat. Web Help Desk automatically created this keypair. Replace the keypair with a new keypair configured for your domain. 5. Delete the existing tomcat keypair by right-clicking the alias and then clicking Delete. 6. Click Tools > Generate Key Pair. 7. Choose an algorithm and key size. Enter either 1024 or 2048, and select RSA. 204

205 Configuring and Managing Authentication 8. Click OK. Porteclé prompts you to provide the x509 attributes for your certificate. 9. Select a Validity that matches the number of days you CA certificate will be valid. Typical validation periods are 6, 12, or 24 months. Note: The Validity period is the period you specified when you purchased you certificate from the CA. 10. Enter a CN that matches the site used in the certificate For example, if WHD is hosted at support.example.com, your CN must be support.examole.com. 11. Enter an Organization Unit (OU) that helps distinguish this certificate from others for your organization. 12. Enter an Organization Name (O), typically name for your organization. 13. Enter a Locality Name (L). This is typically a city name. 14. Enter a State Name (ST). This should be the unabbreviated city and state/province/region/territory of your organization. 15. Enter a Country (C) This should be the two letter ISO 3166 country code for your country. 16. If desired, enter an . This is an optional setting that your CA may use as the address to which the certificate will be mailed. 205

206 Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) 17. Click OK. In the Generate Certificate panel, Porteclé asks you to provide an alias for the new keypair. 18. Enter the alias tomcat, and then click OK. 19. Enter changeit in both fields, and then click Enter After successfully providing the keypair password, you should see the new keypair aliased by Tomcat. Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) 1. Right-click the tomcat keypair and then click Generate CSR. 2. Enter a name for the CSR to help you remember the domain it validates. For example, you might use support.example.com.csr, as shown 206

207 Configuring and Managing Authentication below. This is the file you send to your CA to request your certificate. The CA should return an x.509 certificate in DER (*.cer, *.crt), PEM (*.pem, *.cer, *.crt) or PKCS#7 (*.p7b, *.p7c) encoding. Importing CA Chain and Root Certificates Before importing your certificate into the keystore, check whether the certificate vendor requires you to include any other certificates to complete the certificate chain. To import a certificate, complete the following steps: 1. Click Tools > Import Trusted Certificate. 2. Locate each of the certificates provided by your CA and import them into the keystore. Importing a CA Reply Certificate After installing any required root certificates, you need to import the response from the CA. To import the CA reply, right-click the tomcat keypair and then click Import CA Reply. 207

208 Creating a New Key Pair Note: If your certificate is in Base64-encoded format (*.pem and sometimes *.cer), you may get an error when importing the certificate if it contains anything besides the certificate itself. If this is the case, make a copy of the certificate that includes only the lines starting with -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and ending with END CERTIFICATE After importing your certificate reply, Porteclé reports that the certificate has been imported successfully. If you import the CA Reply and Porteclé generates an error that the certificate cannot be trusted, you may be missing a root certificate. To determine which certificate you need, temporarily import your CA Reply as a Trusted Certificate, rather than a CA Reply certificate, and examine the Certificate Details. Locate the Issuer property. You need to obtain a certificate from your CA that matches this property and then import the certificate into Porteclé as a Trusted Certificate. Once you have imported this certificate into Porteclé, as well as any other certificates needed by its issuer, you can delete your own trusted certificate and re-import it as a CA Reply to your keypair. Creating a New Key Pair To create a new keypair: 1. Launch the Porteclé batch file from the \Program Files\WebHelpDesk folder. 2. Select the.jks file type. 208

209 Configuring and Managing Authentication 3. Enter changeit in the Enter Password field. After opening the keystore, you should see a keypair entry with the alias tomcat. Web Help Desk automatically created this key pair. Replace the key pair with a new key pair configured for your domain. 4. Delete the existing tomcat keypair by right-clicking the alias and then clicking Delete. 5. Click Tools > Generate Key Pair. 209

210 Creating a New Key Pair 6. Choose an algorithm and key size. Enter either 1024 or 2048, and select RSA. 7. Click OK. Porteclé prompts you to provide the x509 attributes for your certificate. 8. Select a Validity that matches the number of days you CA certificate will be valid. Typical validation periods are 6, 12, or 24 months. Note: The Validity period is the period you specified when you purchased you certificate from the CA. 9. Enter a CN that matches the site used in the certificate For example, if Web Help Desk is hosted at support.example.com, your CN must be support.example.com. 10. Enter an Organization Unit (OU) that helps distinguish this certificate from others for your organization. 11. Enter an Organization Name (O), typically name for your organization. 12. Enter a Locality Name (L). This is typically a city name. 13. Enter a State Name (ST). This should be the unabbreviated city and state/province/region/territory of your organization. 14. Enter a Country (C). This should be the two letter ISO 3166 country code for your country. 15. If desired, enter an . This is an optional setting that your CA may use as the address to which the certificate will be mailed. 210

211 Configuring and Managing Authentication 16. Click OK. In the Generate Certificate panel, Porteclé asks you to provide an alias for the new key pair. 17. Enter the alias tomcat, and then click OK. 18. Enter changeit in both fields, and then click Enter. After successfully providing the key pair password, you should see the new key pair aliased by tomcat. 211

212 Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) 1. Right-click the tomcat keypair and then click Generate CSR. 2. Enter a name for the CSR to help you remember the domain it validates. For example, you might use support.example.com.csr. 212

213 Configuring and Managing Authentication This is the file you send to your CA to request your certificate. The CA should return an x.509 certificate in DER (*.cer, *.crt), PEM (*.pem, *.cer, *.crt) or PKCS#7 (*.p7b, *.p7c) encoding. Adding a Certificate Authority to an Embedded Java CA Cert Keystore Web Help Desk does not accept certificates signed by a Certificate Authority (CA) its Java does not trust. To import the certificate into the trust store, you must export the certificate to the.crt file and import the CA. Run Porteclé as an administrator to import the CA. Importing Certificates on Windows or Mac OSX 1. Start Porteclé : a. Windows: Run <WHD>/portecle.bat b. Mac OSX: Navigate to Applications > WebHelpDesk > Porteclé and double click the Porteclé icon. 2. Navigate to File > Open Keystore File. 3. Open the cacerts keystore file: a. Windows: Find the keystore at <WHD>/bin/jre/lib/security/cacerts. b. Mac OSX: Open a terminal window and enter the following command: /usr/libexec/java_home; e.g. System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0jdk/ Contents/Home/lib/security/cacerts 4. When prompted, enter the default password: changeit. 5. Navigate to Tools > Import Trusted Certificates and locate the.crt file 6. Choose the file and alias/name FileSaveKeystore. 7. Restart Web Help Desk. 213

214 Importing Certificates on Linux Virtual Appliance Importing Certificates on Linux Virtual Appliance To import the CA in the Linux Virtual Appliance: 1. Open a terminal window and enter following command: echo -n openssl s_client -connect <exchange_ address>:<port> sed -ne '/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/,/- END CERTIFICATE-/p' > /tmp/<cert_name>.crt 2. Enter the following command: sudo /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/jre/bin/keytool - import -trustcacerts -keystore /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/jre/lib/security/cacerts - storepass <password> -noprompt -alias <cert_alias_ name> -file <filename.crt> -f Note: The default keystore password is: changeit 3. Restart Web Help Desk. Importing CA Root and Chain Certificates Before importing your certificate into the keystore, check whether the certificate vendor requires you to include any other certificates to complete the certificate chain. To import a certificate, complete the following steps: 1. In the toolbar, click Tools and select Import Trusted Certificate. 2. Locate each of the certificates provided by your CA and import them into the 214

215 Configuring and Managing Authentication keystore. Importing a CA Reply Certificate After installing any required root certificates, you need to import the response from the CA. To import the CA reply, right-click the tomcat keypair and then click Import CA Reply. Note: If your certificate is in Base64-encoded format (*.pem and sometimes *.cer), you may get an error when importing the certificate if it contains anything besides the certificate itself. If this is the case, make a copy of the certificate that includes only the lines starting with -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and ending with END CERTIFICATE After importing your certificate reply, Porteclé reports that the certificate has been imported successfully. 215

216 Importing an Existing Certificate If, when attempting to import the CA Reply, Porteclé gives you an error that the certificate cannot be trusted, you may be missing a root certificate. To determine which certificate you need, temporarily import your CA Reply as a Trusted Certificate, rather than a CA Reply certificate, and examine the Certificate Details. Locate the Issuer property. You need to obtain a certificate from your CA that matches this property and then import the certificate into Porteclé as a Trusted Certificate. Once you have imported this certificate into Porteclé, as well as any other certificates needed by its issuer, you can delete your own trusted certificate and re-import it as a CA Reply to your keypair. Importing an Existing Certificate If you have an existing certificate that you would like to use with Web Help Desk, you need to import your private key as well as your certificate chain. Important: Do not import the certificate using Porteclé s Tools > Import Trusted Certificate option, as it will not include the private key. The PKCS#12 standard specifies a keystore format that is used for transferring private keys and certificates. PKCS#12 files typically use the extension.p12 or.pfx. If you already have your private key and certificate bundled in this format, you can import it directly into Porteclé. If you do not have a PKCS#12 (.p12 or.pfx) file, you can use the OpenSSL pkcs12 command to generate one from a private key and a certificate; or, if your certificate is on a Windows server, you can export a PKCS#12 file from the Microsoft Management Console. Creating a PKCS#12 Keystore from a Private Key and a Certificate OpenSSL provides the pkcs12 command for generating PKCS#12 files from a private key and a certificate. OpenSSL is open source and can be downloaded from The private key and certificate must be in PEM format (i.e., base64-encoded, with ----BEGIN CERTIFICATE---- and ----END CERTIFICATE-- -- headers and footers). Use this command in OpenSSL to create a PKCS#12 file from your private key and certificate: openssl pkcs12 -export \ -in <signed_cert_filename> \ -inkey <private_key_filename> \ -name tomcat \ 216

217 Configuring and Managing Authentication -out keystore.p12 If you have a chain of certificates, you should first combine the certificates into a single file and use it for the input file, as shown below. The order of certificates must be from server certificate to the CA root certificate. See RFC 2246 section 7.4.2) for details on this order. cat <signed_cert_filename> \ <intermediate.cert> [<intermediate2.cert>]... \ > cert-chain.txt openssl pkcs12 -export \ -in cert-chain.txt \ -inkey <private_key_filename> \ -name tomcat \ -out keystore.p12 You are prompted to provide a password for the new keystore, which you will need to provide when importing the keystore into the Web Help Desk Java keystore. Exporting a PKCS#12 Keystore from Microsoft Management Console To use an existing certificate located on a Windows server, complete the following steps: 1. Click Start > Run and enter the command mmc. A Microsoft Management Console window opens. 2. Select File > Add/Remove Snap-In. 3. Select Add > Certificates > Add > Computer Account > Local Computer > Finish. 4. Expand Console Root > Certificates > Personal. Your certificate is listed. 217

218 Importing a PKCS#12 File into the Keystore 5. Right-click your certificate and select More Actions > Export List... Follow the Certificate Export Wizard prompts to export a Personal Information Exchange PKCS #12 (.pfx) file. Note the location where you saved the.pfx file. 6. Select the option to Include all certificates in the certification path if possible, leaving the two other options unselected. 7. Import the certificate into Porteclé using the instructions in Importing PKCS#12 File Into the Keystore. Importing a PKCS#12 File into the Keystore Porteclé provides two ways to import contents of a PKCS#12 file into the Web Help Desk Java keystore. The first method is to open the PKCS#12 keystore in File > Open Keystore File, convert it to a Java keystore in Tools > Change Keystore Type > JKS, and overwrite the existing keystore by saving it as WebHelpDesk/conf/keystore.jks. The second method is to open the Web Help Desk keystore file and then import the keypair containing your certificate, using Tools > Import Keypair.. Porteclé prompts you to select which keypair in your PKCS#12 keystore to import. If your keystore already contains a default, unsigned Tomcat certificate, delete this certificate before importing your PKCS#12 file. Be sure that your certificate chain is intact in the Web Help Desk keystore. You can inspect the certificate chain by double-clicking the certificate to view the certificate details. Use the left and right arrows at the top of the details panel to navigate through each certificate in the chain. If you do not see the full certificate chain, try importing the CA certificates first in Tools > Import Trusted Certificate, and then import your keypair again. Porteclé does not establish trust when a certificate is imported before the certificate that was used to sign it. Sequence is important. Import the root certificate first, then the next certificate in the chain, and so on, until you get to your own certificate. Your certificate must be aliased as tomcat. The password for your certificate and for the keystore itself must be the same, and must match the KEYSTORE_ PASSWORD setting in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file (changeit by default). 218

219 Configuring and Managing Authentication Adding SSL Certificates to the Virtual Appliance You can replace the SSL certificate included with the Web Help Desk Virtual Appliance with one of your own. Web Help Desk can manipulate the original keystore.jks file when the certificate's Common Name (CN) does not match the hostname. The following instructions explain how to add the following to the Virtual Appliance: Adding a Self-signed SSL Certificate Adding a Certificate from a Certificate Authority Resolving Untrusted Site Errors After Adding Certificates These instructions, including those for sudo commands, assume you have root access to the Virtual Appliance. Use the Virtual Appliance login credentials wherever a password is required in the steps that follow. Adding a Self-signed SSL Certificate To add a self-signed SSL certificate to your Virtual Appliance: 1. Log on to the Virtual Appliance using the console or an SSH connection. 2. Navigate to the WebHelpDesk folder on the virtual appliance located at: /usr/local/webhelpdesk 3. Enter the following command where daysvalid is the number of days the certificate is valid: sudo./bin/jre/bin/keytool -genkey -alias tomcat - keyalg RSA -keysize keystore./conf/keystore_ new.jks -validity daysvalid 4. When prompted, enter a new keystore password. You need this information for a later step. 5. Enter the information needed for the new certificate, providing the following information: Your domain name, instead of a first and last name Note: If you do not use the domain name for the name, you receive certificate errors. 219

220 Adding a Self-signed SSL Certificate The name of your organizational unit The name of your organization The name of your city or locality The name of your state or province Your two letter country code Note: This information displays to users accessing the Virtual Appliance through a secure connection. 6. Enter yes when prompted to confirm your new key information. 7. When prompted for the key password, enter the keystore password you entered before. 8. Modify the owner of the keystore by entering the following command: sudo chown root.root./conf/keystore_new.jks 9. Change the permissions on the keystore by entering the following command: sudo chmod 755./conf/keystore_new.jks 10. Make a backup and copy the keystore_new.jks file using the following command: sudo cp conf/whd_keystore.jks conf/keystore_ new.jks.backup 11. Edit the./conf/whd.conf configuration file. Change the password used in step 4 by entering: sudo vi conf/whd.conf (i to edit, <esc> to quit edit mode,:w to save edits, :q to quit the editor) KEYSTORE_PASSWORD=<password> KEYSTORE_FILE=/usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/keystore_ new.jks 12. Stop Web Help Desk by entering the following command:./whd stop 220

221 Configuring and Managing Authentication 13. Start Web Help Desk by entering the following command:./whd start Adding a Certificate from a Certificate Authority To add a certificate from a Certificate Authority (CA) to your Virtual Appliance: 1. Log on to the virtual appliance using the console or an SSH connection. 2. Navigate to the webhelpdesk folder on the virtual appliance located at: /usr/local/webhelpdesk 3. Enter the following command: sudo./bin/jre/bin/keytool -genkey -alias tomcat - keyalg RSA -keysize keystore./conf/keystore_ new.jks 4. When prompted, enter a new keystore password. You will need this information for a later step. 5. Enter the information needed for the new certificate, providing the following information: Your domain name, instead of a first and last name Note: If you do not use the domain name for the name, you receive certificate errors. The name of your organizational unit The name of your organization The name of your city or locality The name of your state or province Your two letter country code Note: This information displays to users accessing the Virtual Appliance through a secure connection. 6. Enter yes when prompted to confirm your new key information. 7. When prompted for the key password, press <Enter>. 221

222 Adding a Certificate from a Certificate Authority 8. Enter the following command: sudo./bin/jre/bin/keytool -certreq -keyalg RSA - alias tomcat -keystore./conf/keystore_new.jks -file mycertreq.csr 9. When prompted for the key password, enter the keystore password you entered in step 4 of this procedure. 10. Submit the CSR to your CA. 11. Once you have downloaded the certificate, transfer it to the WebDelpDesk folder on the VA, using a utility like WinSCP, and import as follows: a. Import the Root and/or the intermediate CA. Their certificates need to be loaded in order: root first and then the intermediate. sudo bin/jre/bin/keytool -import -trustcacerts - alias root -file /usr/local/webhelpdesk/root.crt -keystore /usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/keystore_ new.jks sudo bin/jre/bin/keytool -import -trustcacerts - alias intermed -file /usr/local/webhelpdesk/root.crt -keystore /usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/keystore_new.jks b. Import the CA Reply, the signed primary CA for Web Help Desk (tomcat): sudo bin/jre/bin/keytool -import -trustcacerts - alias tomcat -file /usr/local/webhelpdesk/helpdesk.sample.com.crt - keystore /usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/keystore_ new.jks 12. Make a backup and copy the keystore_new.jks file using the following command: sudo cp conf/whd_keystore.jks conf/keystore_ new.jks.backup 13. Edit the whd.conf file to specify not to use the default key store: sudo vi conf/whd.conf 222

223 Configuring and Managing Authentication (i to edit. <esc> to exit edit mode, :w to save edits, :q to quit the editor) 14. In the keystore settings section of the file, add a value for the KEYSTORE_ FILE= setting: KEYSTORE_FILE=/usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/keystore_ new.jks 15. Stop Web Help Desk by entering:./whd stop 16. Start Web Help Desk by entering:./whd start Note: If you need additional clarification on adding a certificate from a certificate authority to your Virtual Appliance, see Installing a Certificate from a Certificate Authority on the Tomcat website or your CA s help page. SolarWinds Technical Support can only assist with adding a self-signed certificate to your Virtual Appliance. Resolving Untrusted Site Errors After Adding Certificates If you receive an Untrusted Site error after adding a certificate, you may need to either create a permanent exception or install the certificate as a trusted certificate. Each browser handles security differently. In Firefox, you can create a permanent exception. In Chrome or Internet Explorer you must install the certificate in your trusted certificates store. Both Chrome and Internet Explorer use the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store when verifying certificates. If you have performed the steps to install the certificate for either Internet Explorer or Chrome, you do not have to perform the same steps again to use either browser. Note: You must close all instances of your Internet Explorer or Chrome and completely clear your cache. To create a permanent exception for Firefox: 1. Open a browser to your Virtual Appliance using https. 2. When the error occurs, expand I Understand the Risks. 3. Click Add Exception. 4. When prompted, click Confirm Security Exception. 223

224 Resolving Untrusted Site Errors After Adding Certificates To install the certificate as a trusted certificate with Internet Explorer: 1. Open a browser to your Virtual Appliance using https. 2. When the error occurs, click Continue to the website (not recommended). 3. In the address bar, click Certificate Error. 4. Click View Certificates 5. In the General tab, click Install Certificate 6. Click Next. 7. Select Place all certificates in the following store, and then click Browse. 8. Select Trusted Root Certification Authorities, and then click OK. 9. Click Next. 10. Click Finish. 11. When prompted to confirm installation, select Yes. 12. Close the tab, and restart Internet Explorer. To install the certificate as a trusted certificate with Chrome: 1. Open a browser to your Virtual Appliance using https. 2. When the error occurs, click Proceed Anyway. Note: In Chrome version 37, click Advanced Options and then click Proceed Anyway. 3. In the address bar, click the lock icon to view the site information. 4. On the Connections tab, click Certificate Information. 5. On the Details tab, click Copy to File 6. Click Next. 7. Select DER encoded binary X.509 (.CER), and click Next. 8. Enter a file name. By default Chrome saves the certificate in a hidden file at: \Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Applicati ons\

225 Configuring and Managing Authentication 9. If you do not want to make hidden files visible, browse to a different location to save the certificate. 10. Click Next. 11. Check the location of the certificate, and then click Finish. 12. In Chrome, open Settings > Advanced Settings, and then click Manage certificates 13. Navigate to the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab. 14. Click Import. 15. Click Next. 16. Browse to the certificate you exported, and then click Next. 17. Select Place all certificates in the following store, and then select Trusted Root Certification Authorities. 18. Click Next, and then click Finish. 19. When prompted, select Yes. 20. Close the tab and restart Chrome. Certificate Troubleshooting Tips If you are having difficulties importing certificates, check for improper settings or mistakes in your procedures: In Porteclé, navigate to Tools > Options... and check Use CA Certs Keystore. Porteclé checks the built-in Java certificates when attempting to establish trust. This action is fine, because this same set of certificates is available to Web Help Desk at runtime. Porteclé requires that certificates be imported in order of most-trusted certificate first (i.e., root certificate, then the intermediate certificate that is issued by the root, then the certificate issued by that certificate, etc.). If you attempt to import a certificate out of order, Porteclé allows it, but complains that it cannot establish trust. You should never need to confirm trust for any certificate other than the root certificate. Do NOT import your own certificate using the Tools > Import Trusted Certificates... menu option. This option is only for importing root and chain certificates. Instead, right-click your tomcat keypair and select Import CA Reply. 225

226 Troubleshooting Scenarios Make sure the password set for the keypair and the keystore are the same, and match the KEYSTORE_PASSWORD setting in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file. (The default password is changeit.) To set the keypair password, right-click the tomcat keypair and select Set password. To set the keystore password, select Tools > Set Keystore Password... Make sure that your keystore is saved to: WebHelpDesk/conf/keystore.jks. Restart Web Help Desk to ensure changes in Porteclé or the whd.conf file are enabled. On a Windows system, be sure to use the Web Help Desk Start/Stop utilities in the Start menu, not the Windows Services panel (rightclick Run As Administrator on Server 2008+). You get a certificate warning when the hostname in the address you are using to browse to Web Help Desk is different from the Common Name (CN) field in your certificate. You can get a certificate warning, for example, if your certificate is for help.my company.com and you use localhost as the hostname in your URL. It is no longer necessary to edit the web.xml file to enable Web Help Desk to switch automatically from HTTP requests to HTTPS requests. Requests automatically switch from HTTP to HTTPS when both DEFAULT_PORT and HTTPS_PORT settings are enabled in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file. When using HTTPS, ensure that your Setup settings are set correctly. To verify, click Setup and select Options. In the General Options screen, ensure that the Force HTTPS setting is set to Always. This setting ensures that links pointing to Web Help Desk use HTTPS. Troubleshooting Scenarios The following table includes typical troubleshooting solutions. Issue Porteclé says my CA Reply certificate cannot be trusted. Resolution An issuer Porteclé does not trust has signed your certificate. You must obtain a root certificate (or chain of 226

227 Configuring and Managing Authentication Issue Resolution certificates) from your CA that matches the Issuer identity of your certificate and import them into Porteclé before importing your own certificate as a CA Reply. You can determine the Issuer of your CA Reply by temporarily importing your certificate into Porteclé as a Trusted Certificate rather than a CA Reply, and then examining its Certificate Details. Look at the Certificate Details of other certificates in your keystore to see if any of them match your certificate s Issuer attribute. If not, you will need to obtain from your CA a certificate that does match. Once you have imported a certificate that matches your own certificate s issuer, as well as any other certificates needed to trust those certificates, delete your temporarily trusted certificate and re-import it as a CA Reply to your keypair. After importing my certificate, Web Help Desk does not start. Check your whd.conf file to be sure you have uncommented the SSL_ PORT setting, and that your DEFAULT_ PORT and HTTPS_PORT settings are not conflicting with any other processes on the server. Ensure that your KEYSTORE_ PASSWORD setting in the whd.conf file matches BOTH the password of your keystore AND the password of your keypair. The default password is 227

228 Troubleshooting Scenarios Issue Resolution changeit. After importing my certificate, Web Help Desk is OK, but my browser shows a self-signed certificate. Check whether your private key was generated using the DSA algorithm. DSA keys can fail with many browsers, including Internet Explorer. Try using RSA instead. 228

229 Managing Clients Clients typically interact with Web Help Desk using the Web interface, but they can also be set up to work with Web Help Desk using . Manually Adding a New Client When you create a new client, the information is saved in the Web Help Desk database. SolarWinds recommends that clients only be able to create accounts if their s match accepted domains. To manually add a new client: 1. In the toolbar, click Clients. The Basic Search and Advanced Search tabs appear. 2. Click New Client. The Client Info tab window appears. 3. Complete all required fields and then click Save. Web Help Desk sends a confirmation to the new customer. Configuring Client Notifications When you configure a new client, you can enable Web Help Desk to send a confirmation to the client regarding their new account. To enable this option: 1. Click Setup and select Client > Options. The Client Options page appears. 2. Select the Client When Account is Created check box. 3. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 229

230 Managing Clients Viewing Client Information To view information about a customer: 1. In the toolbar, click Clients. The Clients screen appears. 2. In the Client Name column, click a client name. The Client Info tab appears with the client's information. To edit the client's information, click the Edit icon, update the fields and check boxes as appropriate, and click Save. The Assigned Assets tab displays the customer's assigned assets. The Ticket History tab displays the client's ticket history. Enabling Client-initiated Account Setup To allow clients to create their accounts upon first login: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Client > Options. The Client Options screen appears. 2. In the Client Can Create Account row, select Yes. 3. Click Save. Your changes are saved. When completed, new clients see the following screen. To create a new account, they click the New Account button. 230

231 Assigning Assets Clients must be qualified to set up their own account. To verify, click Setup and select Clients > Options. In the Client Options screen, ensure that the options are configured correctly. SolarWinds recommends requiring domain matching for new clients, as shown below. Assigning Assets To assign an existing asset to a client 1. In the toolbar, click Assets. 2. Below the toolbar, click Select Assets. The Select Assets screen appears with the Basic Search and Advanced Search tabs. 3. Select the Basic Search tab. The Basic Search tab window appears with an additional window that displays your results. 231

232 Managing Clients 4. In the tab window, select and/or enter the appropriate criteria to locate the asset. To locate the asset using a specific set of conditions, click the Advanced Search tab and enter your search criteria. 5. Click Save. Your results appear in the bottom window. The bottom window includes buttons that allow you to add a new asset or generate an asset report in PDF, tab-separated value (TSV), and Microsoft Excel format. The No. column includes a link to the asset basics, details, history, and ticket history. This column also includes links that provide access to the asset using DameWare remote support software, which integrates with Web Help Desk to access assets remotely from a system running DameWare products. 232

233 Managing Tickets Web Help Desk uses tickets to manage service requests. These tickets can be initiated through , created in the application, and imported from another application. Techs, admins, and clients can also manage tickets through or through the application in a web browser. Using Web Help Desk, you can: Customize ticket views. Create custom ticket views and searches by creating custom filters. Create Quick Tickets. Create quick tickets for frequent issues, such as a forgotten password. Add detailed information to tickets. Create tech notes to provide details about a particular issue. Escalate and de-escalate tickets. Escalate and de-escalate tickets to ensure they are assigned to the appropriate Tech. Create tickets. Set up help desk tickets by sending an to a WHD address. For information about using commands (instead of the Web Help Desk interface) to manage tickets, see the Tickets section in the Web Help Desk REST API Guide. Ticket Flow The following diagram details the Web Help Desk ticket assignment logic. 233

234 Managing Tickets 234

235 Ticket Flow The illustration includes numbered references for some processes. Listed below are the corresponding paths in the Web Help Desk user interface to make any needed changes for each numbered process. Number Related Path in Web Help Desk 1 Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Request Types Supported See Defining Tech Groups for more information. In the Request Types Supported tab, view the supported request types. 2 Setup > Tickets > Request Types > [Request Type] > Lead Technician See Defining Request Types for more information. 3 Setup > Techs >Tech Groups > [Group] Tech Group Levels > Level 1 > Auto Assign Tickets To See Defining Tech Groups for more information. 4 Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Level 1 > Assigned Techs See Defining Tech Groups for more information. To select new recipients for new tickets, go to: Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Tech Group Levels > Level 1 > Recipients of Client Updates See Defining Tech Groups for more information. 5 Setup > Tickets > Request Types > [Request Type] > Lead Technician If the Tech is marked On Vacation, the ticket is assigned to the Backup Tech in the Tech's profile. See Defining Request Types for more information. 6 Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Tech Group Info > Group Manager 235

236 Managing Tickets Number Related Path in Web Help Desk You can use Location Group Manager instead of the specified Tech at: Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Tech Group Info If this Tech is marked On Vacation, the ticket is assigned to the Backup Tech in the Tech's profile. See Defining Tech Groups for more information. 7 Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Techs Assigned See Defining Tech Groups for more information. 8 Setup > Techs > Techs > [Technician] > On Vacation Setup > Techs > Techs > [Technician] > Work Schedule See Defining Techs for more information. 9 Setup > Locations > Location Groups > [Group] > Assigned Locations tab See Entering Locations for more information. 10 Setup > Locations > Location Groups > [Groups] > Assigned Techs tab See Entering Locations for more information. 11 Setup > Locations > Department Groups > [Groups] > Assigned Departments To enable departments: Setup > Locations > Options > Use Departments check box See Entering Locations for more information. 12 Specify which status types are used in calculating ticket load balance at: Setup > Tickets > Status Types > [Status Type] > Use for Load Balance check box See Defining Status Types for more information. 236

237 Manually Creating Tickets Manually Creating Tickets To create a new ticket: 1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. The Tickets screen appears. 2. Click New Ticket. The New Ticket screen appears with three tabs. 3. In the Client Lookup box, assign the ticket to a client (if desired). If the ticket requires an asset, click the Asset tab and add the proper asset. 4. Click the Ticket Details tab. The Ticket Details tab window appears. 5. In the tab window, assign a location, room, department, tech, schedule, and any text instructions. 6. Click Save or Save and Send . Clicking Save saves the ticket. Clicking Save and triggers the ticket process. The ticket is sent to the individuals specified in the ticket and in the Tech, Client, Location, and Ticket Setup options. You can launch DameWare MRC from a customer ticket or from the Web Help Desk Toolbar. Creating Quick Tickets Use quick tickets to create identical tickets for repetitive issues, such as a forgotten password. You can create a quick ticket templates to define the fields in quick tickets. 237

238 Managing Tickets Techs and admins complete the Client and Location information based on the request type in a quick ticket before the ticket is assigned to help desk personnel. To create a quick ticket: 1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. The Tickets screen appears. 2. Click New Ticket. The New Ticket screen appears. 3. In the Quick Ticket section, click the plus icon to create a new ticket. The Quick Ticket Details screen appears. 4. Complete the fields and drop-down menus for your quick ticket. The Subject and Request Type fields are required fields. 5. At the bottom of the ticket, locate the Save Quick Ticket as field. 6. In the field, enter a name for this quick ticket type. 7. Click Shared to allow others to use this quick ticket template. 8. Click Save 9. Click Apply. To launch a previously saved quick ticket: 1. Select the saved quick ticket from the pull down list. 2. Click OK to launch the ticket. To edit a quick ticket before launching: 1. Select the saved quick ticket from the pull down list. 2. Click the Edit icon. 3. Make the required edits. 4. Click Save, and then click Apply. 238

239 Customizing Ticket Views Customizing Ticket Views Web Help Desk offers several options for viewing tickets. Begin by clicking Tickets in the toolbar. The My Tickets and Group Tickets views are pre-filtered tickets lists that display tickets assigned to you or your group. In the first column, you can select tickets for bulk actions, such as merging tickets. The second column provides color-coded ticket information: Blue. New ticket with no Tech response Purple. Ticket reassigned to a new Tech Yellow. Ticket with a new Client update A ticket without a colored field falls outside the categories listed above. Most tickets can display without colored fields. 239

240 Managing Tickets The following table describes the columns in the Group Tickets view. Column Name No. Date Updated Request Type Request Detail Latest Notes Client Status Priority Alert Level Tech Location Description The Web Help Desk-assigned ticket number. The date the ticket was created. The date the ticket was updated. The category of the help request, such as for hardware support, support, network connectivity, and facilities requests. Details about the client's request type. For example, if a client requested hardware support, the request detail might show that they are requesting additional memory for their notebook computer. The latest notes from the Tech handling the ticket. The Web Help Desk clients receiving support from Techs. The ticket level of completion. The initial status is Open. Determines the ticket due date, with priority names such as Urgent, High, Medium, and Low. The message warning techs when a ticket needs attention. Alerts are notifications about ticket priorities, with three configurable levels for automatic escalation. The name of the tech handling the ticket. The location where the ticket issue occurs. For information about configuring what appears in the My Tickets and Group Ticket views, see Setting Up Tickets. Techs only see tickets that are assigned directly to them in the My Tickets view. Techs only see tickets that have been assigned directly to a tech group they 240

241 Searching Tickets belong to in Group Tickets. These two restrictions apply to all accounts, including admin accounts. Searching Tickets Locate tickets quickly using the Search Tickets tab. To initiate a basic search: 1. Click the Basic Search tab. 2. Use the text boxes and lists to narrow the search for the desired ticket. 3. Click Search. 4. To view or edit a ticket, click the Ticket Number (No.) To create an Advanced Search: 1. Click the Advanced Search tab. 2. Select the qualifying conditions starting from the left to the right. To add a new qualifying condition to Tickets matching ALL of these conditions, click the + button to the right of the top condition. 3. Select the qualifying conditions as in step 2. Note: The conditions specified in the ALL grouping must all be true to result in a found ticket. These conditions are qualified using the Boolean AND. 4. To add qualifying condition to Tickets matching ANY of these conditions, click + at the right of the ellipsis and ANY of these conditions: section. Notes: The conditions specified in the ALL grouping must have all condition true to result in a found ticket. These conditions are qualified using the Boolean AND. The conditions specified in the ANY grouping must have at least one condition true to result in a found ticket. These conditions are qualified using the Boolean OR. The ANY condition group begins with and. Therefore the ANY group is evaluated along with the conditions in the ALL condition group, if the ALL group is used. 241

242 Managing Tickets If no condition exists in the ALL group, Web Help Desk evaluates the ANY condition is using only the Boolean OR. 5. When you have completed entering search conditions, click Search. The following illustrates a query that returns tickets that meet these criteria: Priority = Urgent Status = Open -- And either Escalation is 2 or above -- Or Company = ABC Co To save the search enter a query name and then click Save. The Shared check box allows other techs to access the query. Refining Search Results The search results list may display a large amount of ticket data. Filter the results using the Column Set widget. The widget is located at the upper right corner of the search results list. 1. To modify the column headers, click + to add a new set or Edit to edit the selected set. 2. Drag and drop column headers between The Available Columns and Selected Columns areas. 3. Click Save. Note: Saved column sets are not shared across techs. Each column set can specify a different PDF download option (Invoice or Ticket format) and full text option. Displaying Print Views To display the ticket information in a printer-friendly view, use the printer at the top of the ticket. Clicking the button opens the ticket in a window for printing. 242

243 Performing Ticket Bulk Actions Ticket bulk actions apply actions to multiple tickets, based on the criteria you define. Suppose, for example, you want to escalate all open, unassigned, urgent priority IT requests for laptop repairs. Web Help Desk allows you to select all these requests and escalate them at one time. To create the bulk action to escalate these tickets: 1. Expand the Bulk Action field. 2. On the Bulk Action Details page, select the details you want to the bulk action to look for when it is applied: a. In the Ticket Details tab, select the following Request Type options: IT Request Hardware Support Laptop Repair Request b. In the Status & Schedule tab, select Open. 3. When completed, enter the name Escalate Unassigned Urgent Open Tickets for the action in Save Bulk Action as field, and then click Save. 4. Click the Back button at the top of the Bulk Action Details page. 5. Select the tickets you want to escalate. Performing Ticket Bulk Actions 243

244 Managing Tickets 6. Select the Bulk Action Escalate Unassigned Urgent Open Tickets and click the Start arrow. 7. Click OK. Web Help Desk informs you that it is processing the tickets. When the operation is completed, a confirmation message appears. Merging Tickets Perhaps a Client has submitted three separate tickets ticket numbers 19, 20, and 21 for items related to obtaining and setting up their new laptop. Since these three tickets are all for the same client, relate to the same Asset, and are assigned to the same tech, you can merge the three tickets into a single ticket. To merge tickets into a single ticket: 244

245 Merging Tickets 1. From a Tickets window, select tickets 19, 20, and From the bottom left corner of the page, click Merge Selected Tickets. 3. Select the ticket number into which to merge all the tickets. In this example, you can merge all the tickets into the Client's initial ticket, so you can select Ticket 19. Note: If any of the tickets to be merged contain attachments, select Include Attachments so those attachments link to the new merged ticket. 4. Click Merge Tickets. Web Help Desk combines Tickets 19, 20, and 21 into Ticket 19. Ticket 19 now contains the attachments, Client request information, and notes from the three original tickets. 245

246 Managing Tickets Creating Parent/Child Service Relationships When you receive multiple tickets that address a service request, you can identify one ticket as the primary request (or parent) and the remaining tickets as supporting requests (or children). This process known as parent-child service relationships allows you to group identical tickets together so you can troubleshoot and resolve all tickets as one service request. When the service requests are resolved, you can close all tickets simultaneously by closing the parent ticket. For example, when you create multiple service requests to on-board a new employee (such as setting up , configuring a new system, and setting up a telephone line), you can create another service request (for example, Onboarding Joe Admin ) and link the associated service requests to this ticket. When you complete the new employee task and close the ticket, all tickets are resolved as a group. Using this functionality, you can: Link a parent ticket to a child ticket Remove a parent link from a child ticket View a parent ticket in a child ticket Link a sub-child ticket to a child ticket Navigate between linked ticket requests Add notes to parent and child tickets Automate parent and child tickets Linking a Parent Ticket to a Child Ticket If you have multiple service request tickets that address the same issue, you can: Assign one of the tickets as the parent ticket Assign a new ticket as the parent ticket For example, if multiple tickets are not related to a service request (for example, new employees need to be assigned a user name and password), select an existing ticket as the parent ticket. 246

247 Removing Linked Parent Tickets from Child Tickets If multiple tickets are related to a root problem (for example, a failed Microsoft Exchange server is preventing multiple users from accessing their ), create a new parent ticket and add this ticket to the service requests as the linked parent. To link a parent ticket to a child ticket: 1. Open one of the service request tickets. 2. In the top right section, click the Problems tab. 3. In the tab window under Request Search, select the appropriate field parameters that link to the parent ticket and click Search. A list of related tickets appear, based on your search parameters. 4. In the Search Result window, locate your assigned parent ticket. 5. In the Action column, click Link. A dialog box appears at the top of the screen, verifying your selection. 6. Click OK. 7. Click Save. The parent ticket appears in the Linked Parent box. 8. Repeat step 1 through step 7 for reach remaining child ticket. Removing Linked Parent Tickets from Child Tickets You can remove a linked parent in a child ticket by clicking the trash icon in the Linked Parent window pane. When you click the icon, a warning message appears at the top of your screen, stating that you must save the ticket for the ticket relationship changes to take effect. Be sure to click Save to remove the linked parent from the ticket. Otherwise, the parent/child relationship remains and any notes you add in the child ticket will propagate to the linked parent. Viewing a Parent Ticket in a Child Ticket To view the linked parent in a child ticket, open the child ticket and locate the Linked Parent box. 247

248 Managing Tickets Linking a Sub-child Ticket to a Child Ticket In some cases, you may have a service request that is the sub-child of an existing child ticket. For example, if a user cannot access her , a service technician may suggest re-installing Microsoft Outlook before diagnosing a connection issue with the Microsoft Exchange server. In this scenario, open the sub-child ticket (for example, reinstalling Microsoft Outlook) and add the child ticket as the parent ticket. The child ticket appears in the Linked Parent box. When completed, open the child ticket and add the parent ticket as the linked parent. The parent ticket appears in the Linked Parent box. If you add a sub-child ticket to an existing parent-linked child ticket, an error message appears stating that the child and sub-child tickets are both related to each other at the same level. To correct this issue: 1. Open the child ticket and delete the link in the Linked Parent box. 2. Open the sub-child ticket. 3. In the top right section, click the Problems tab. 4. In the tab window under Request Search, select the appropriate field parameters to locate the targeted child ticket. A list of related tickets appear, based on your search parameters. 5. In the Search Result window, locate the targeted child ticket. 6. In the Action column, click Link. A dialog box appears at the top of the screen verifying your selection. 7. Click OK. 8. Click Save. The parent ticket appears in the Linked Parent box and the sub-child ticket appears in the Linked Children box. Navigating Between Linked Tickets All linked parent and children tickets appear as hyperlinks within a linked ticket. To navigate between linked parent and child tickets, click the appropriate link in the Linked Parent or Linked Children boxes, respectively. 248

249 Adding Notes to Parent and Child Tickets Adding Notes to Parent and Child Tickets When you create a service request, you can add notes and attachments that provide additional information to address the request. This process allows your help desk and service technicians to work together and solve a customer issue. For example, if you hire a new employee and create a parent ticket to address linked child service requests (such as purchasing a new computer system and installing software applications), you can add notes and attachments in the parent ticket about specific hardware and software requirements that propagate to the first-level service requests and assigned service technicians. If a service technician experiences a problem with configuring the new employee's computer system, he can add notes and attachments to the service request that appear in the parent ticket (if desired) and associated sub-child tickets. When you add notes and attachments to parent and child tickets, the following rules apply: Parent ticket notes propagate to first-level child tickets. Parent ticket notes do not appear in sub-child tickets. Child ticket notes propagate to the linked parent ticket (if desired) and/or first-level sub-child tickets. Propagated notes can be edited in the ticket where the technician created the note. To create a parent or child ticket note: 1. Locate and open a parent, child, or sub-child ticket. The ticket interface appears. 2. In the Notes tab, click New. A text editor appears with formatting buttons and check boxes that provide additional options. 3. In the text editor, enter the text for your note. 4. Select the appropriate check box to process your note. a. Select the Visible to Client check box to make this note visible to clients of this ticket. b. Select the Solution check box to assign this note as the solution. 249

250 Managing Tickets c. Select the Date Override check box to set a custom time stamp to the note. d. (Child and sub-child tickets only) Select the Show in Linked Parent check box to display the note in the linked parent ticket. 5. Select additional note options. a. In the Work Time pane, enter the appropriate hours and minutes associated with this note (if applicable). b. In the Billing Rate pane, click the down-arrow and select the appropriate billing rate (if applicable). c. In the Attachments pane, click Add File and follow the prompts on your screen to add an attachment (if applicable). 6. Click Save. If you added a note to a parent ticket, the note appears in the parent ticket and the first-level child tickets. If you added a note to a child ticket, the note appears in the child ticket, parent ticket (if you selected Show Linked Parent in step 4), and linked sub-child ticket(s). To view the attachment, click the hyperlink in the note. 7. Click Save to save the ticket changes. Automating Parent/Child Tickets You can automate the creation of related tickets by configuring tasks that initiate by action rules. To automate your parent/child ticket process: 1. Configure a task with elements. Create a task with one or more related task elements with the Link to Parent check box selected in each task element. 2. Configure an action rule that executes the task. Create an action rule that runs these tasks and elements when a new ticket is created or modified. 3. Create parent/child tickets. Create child tickets automatically when a ticket matches the criteria in an action rule. 250

251 Configuring a Task With Elements When a tech creates a new ticket or edits an existing ticket, a child ticket represented by the task element is created and linked to the new ticket. Configuring a Task With Elements For example, if you are working with your HR department to on-board a new employee, you can create a task called New Employee and attach the following task elements to the task. Task Elements Configure a new computer system Set up an employee phone and phone number Configure a new employee workspace Request Type IT/General Phone/Voic Facilities When you create each task element, ensure that the Link to Parent check box is selected. When completed, the task elements appear in the Task Elements tab for the task, as shown below. If you select Link to Parent in the Task Elements tab window, your selected task elements are inherited from the parent ticket (for example, location, room, or tech) and Inherit appears in the Request Type and Request Detail columns. If the inherited elements include a location, room, or tech, Inherit appears in the Location, Room, and Tech columns, depending on the elements you choose to inherit from the parent ticket. The Generate Next column displays when each task element is triggered. When you arrange your task elements in a specific order, you can control when the next element is triggered. The On Creation status is selected by default in the Task Elements tab window, which immediately triggers the next element after the previous element is triggered. If you select another status in the Generate Next 251

252 Managing Tickets Element row of the Task Elements tab window (such as Open, Pending, Closed, Canceled, or Resolved), your selected status appears in the Generate Next column for your task element. The following illustration shows a list of task elements that inherit all tasks from the parent ticket. Each task triggers at a separate stage, depending on the options you select in the Task Elements tab window. When you configure your task elements, the following rules apply: Each task you configure at Setup > Tickets > Tasks can include multiple task elements. The Link to Parent check box must be selected in a task element that triggers the execution of the next task element. A linked child ticket with a task element set to Generate Next Element:When Status Equals must match the status setting (such as Closed or Resolved) to trigger the next task element. The parent ticket cannot be changed until the linked task elements are completed. Linking a Child Ticket to the Parent When you click a request type link in the Request Detail column, the Task Elements tab window appears. Selecting the Link To Parent check box displays the Inherited column in the tab window. Using this column, you can select the field data you want to inherit from the parent ticket. Note: Web Help Desk only creates one level of child tickets. Below is an example of a child ticket displaying the Inherited column. 252

253 Linking a Child Ticket to the Parent The Inherited column allows you to select the field data you want to inherit from the parent ticket. If you deselect Link to Parent, all previous selections are removed, and you can edit the child ticket fields as needed. If you select Link to Parent again, the Inherited check boxes are cleared, and you must select the appropriate check boxes. The Subject and Request Detail fields are combined with the parent ticket and appended with a space between both field values. After you select the appropriate Inherited column check boxes, perform the following steps: 1. In the Generate Next Element row, select when your task element will be triggered. 2. Click the Element Order drop-down menu and select when this task will be triggered in comparison with your existing task elements. 253

254 Managing Tickets 3. Click Save to save your changes. 4. Navigate to the Task Elements tab window and ensure all tasks are listed in the proper order and generate the next element when each task equals a specific status. Some fields include specific logic used to inherit selected field data from the parent ticket. The following table describes the inherited field logic for specific fields in the child ticket. Field Subject Request Detail Custom Text Tech Request Type Asset No. All non-text custom fields Attachments Inherited Field Logic When you select one of these field check boxes, the field is appended to the value of the parent ticket. If any of these fields are empty, the child ticket inherits the corresponding field value of the parent ticket. When you select this field check box, the child ticket inherits the value of the parent ticket, and the Tech drop-down menu is disabled. When you clear this check box, the drop-down menu returns to its preselected value. When you select this field check box, the child ticket inherits all attachments from the parent ticket. Configuring an Action Rule After you create your New Employee task and the associated task elements, create a new action rule that executes the task when a tech creates a ticket that matches the action rule criteria in a ticket. For example, to execute the New Employee task, you can create a new rule with the following elements: Action Rule Info. Create a rule named On-board New Employee and select the Enabled check box. Criteria tab. Under Tickets matching ALL of these conditions, you can select Subject Contains New Hire. 254

255 Creating Parent/Child Tickets In the Actions tab drop-down menus, select Run Task New Employee. Note: Only shared tasks appear in the drop-down menu. After you click Save, the new On-board New Employee rule appears in the Action Rules tab. Creating Parent/Child Tickets When a ticket matches the criteria in an action rule, the action rule executes the task you selected to run. For example, the On-board New Employee action rule executes the New Employee task and associated elements when the Subject field in the ticket contains New Hire. When a tech creates and saves a ticket that matches the action rule criteria, Web Help Desk executes the On-board New Employee action rule, triggering the New Employee task and associated task elements. When completed, all four tickets are created, as shown below. See Action Rules and Create Tasks for more information. 255

256 Managing Tickets Configuring Ticket Details When you click Tickets in Web Help Desk, you can view tickets under My Tickets and Group Tickets if: You belong to a group that has assigned tickets. The tickets are directly assigned to you. To view the ticket detail page, you can: Click Tickets in the Web Help Desk toolbar. Click My Tickets, and then click a ticket number. Click Group Tickets, and then click a ticket number. Use the search options to locate the ticket of interest. To assign a technician to the ticket use the Assigned Tech list or click Add Tech. To escalate the ticket, click the up triangle on the Tech Group. In the Details page, you can edit all ticket fields, which include: Location Department Ticket Type Request Type Action Rules File Attachments Status Schedules Recipients Selecting a Request Type When a Tech or Client opens a new ticket, they must choose a Request Type. Request types define the issue type and the action that needs to be taken. The Request Type selected determines which custom fields appear on the Ticket and which Techs can be assigned to it. The Request Type also determines how the Ticket is routed to a Tech. 256

257 Improving Ticket Resolution with Ticket Types Web Help Desk comes standard with the following Request Types: Hardware Network /Outlook Phone/Voic Printer/Toner IT General/Other Facilities HR Admins can also add Request Types, as described in Defining Request Types. Note: To ensure seamless integration with DameWare, ensure that all Web Help Desk request types used for DameWare integration do not include required custom fields. Improving Ticket Resolution with Ticket Types The Web Help Desk Ticket Types groups together multiple tickets on the same issue as Child tickets of a Parent ticket. This capability allows Child tickets to be handled when you edit the Parent ticket. Web Help Desk uses three types of tickets to facilitate this type of ticket resolution: Service Request. A request submitted by a client to Web Help Desk for assistance, such as information, advice, or access to an IT service. Examples include resetting a password, access to a shared network resource, or repairs to their computer system. Problem ticket. A ticket that provides the root cause for attached Incident and Child tickets. An example of a Problem ticket would be a network resource is offline, with Incident and Child tickets describing users who cannot access the resource. Problem tickets are based on an initial Service Request or an automatic trouble ticket from a system integrated with Web Help Desk. Incident ticket. A ticket that describes a new occurrence of an issue currently documented in an existing Problem ticket. The Incident ticket can be attached to a Problem ticket. Once attached, the Incident ticket becomes 257

258 Managing Tickets a Child ticket. Incident tickets are created from a Service Request or an automatic trouble ticket from a system integrated with Web Help Desk. When a ticket type is set to Problem in the Ticket Details tab, the ticket becomes available in the Problems drawer, as shown below. This capability provides a parent root cause for related tickets. When a ticket is linked to a Problem ticket, it becomes an Incident ticket. Changing the ticket back to a Service Request removes the link to the Problem ticket. When a Parent ticket is closed, all of its Child tickets close as well. When you view a Parent ticket, you can view notes from Child tickets. When you view an Incident ticket, you can also view the notes from the Problem ticket. See Creating Parent/Child Service Relationships for more information. Changing Ticket Relationships When you create or modify parent and child tickets, the following rules apply: In the Ticket Details > Details pane, changing the existing ticket type to another selection removes all existing ticket relationships, whether they are Parent/Child or Problem/Incident relations. 258

259 Linking and Unlinking Incident and Problem Tickets Only Service Requests can have Parent or Child tickets. A ticket cannot be linked until it is saved. Linking and Unlinking Incident and Problem Tickets Use the Problem tickets Parent-Child feature to manually link multiple reports of a single issue. The Problem ticket is considered a Parent and each linked Incident ticket is considered a Child ticket. To link an Incident ticket to a Problem ticket: 1. From the Tickets page, double click the desired ticket. The Ticket Details tab appears, displaying the ticket's relevant dates, content, Tech notes, history, and other details. 2. In the Ticket Details tab, ensure that Incident is the active Ticket Type. 3. Click the Problems tab on the upper right side of the page. The Problem Search tab appears. 259

260 Managing Tickets 4. Enter and/or select a ticket number, request type, ticket status, and/or search term that you think may be in any existing Problem tickets. For example, if the connection to building 17 is down, many users in building 17 may open tickets. Searching for building 17 and perhaps Bldg 17 should list existing Problem tickets that you can make into a Parent ticket. 5. Click Search to find Problem tickets relating to your Incident ticket. 6. In the search results, click View to preview possible Parent tickets. 7. Click Link to assign the Problem ticket as a Child ticket. 260

261 Adding Details to Tickets with Tech Notes To unlink a Problem ticket from an Incident ticket: 1. From the Tickets page, double click the desired Problem ticket. 2. Make sure Problem is the active Ticket Type in the Ticket Details tab. 3. Scroll down to the Linked Incidents tab. 4. Click the Unlink Problem button. The Parent Problem ticket is no longer linked to the Incident ticket. Adding Details to Tickets with Tech Notes Technicians add information to tickets using Tech Notes. A ticket can have any number of notes and notes can be added by any technician. Tech notes can contain basic HTML tag or Bulletin Board Code (BBCode) tag formatting. Note: When the Parts and Billing Enabled check box is selected in the Parts & Billing Options screen (at Parts & Billing > Options), the technician can specify a billing rate for the work. You can use a tech note to create a new FAQ using the request detail as the question and the tech note as the answer. Web Help Desk sets new FAQs 261

262 Managing Tickets created from tech notes to an Unapproved status by default and use the ticket s request type as the FAQ category. See Managing FAQs for more information about FAQs. To add an FAQ to a tech note: 1. Open the ticket details page for the ticket of interest. 2. In the Notes section, click New. 3. Click Link FAQ. The FAQ Search dialog box appears. 4. Search for the proper FAQ, and then click the FAQ Number to insert it into the ticket notes. 5. Click Save & . Tech Permissions and Tickets Administrators can re-assign technicians, change ticket status, and delete tickets. Technicians have various levels of access depending on the permission set they are granted. You can set the permissions in the Permissions screen. To create a new Permission: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > Tech Permissions. The Tech Permissions screen appears. 2. Click New. The Permissions screen appears. 3. In the Permission Name field, enter a name for the new permission. 4. Select the permissions for your targeted user. Click the tech note icon for more information about each option. 5. Click Save. Your permissions are saved. 262

263 Ticket Recipients Ticket Recipients When you save a ticket, you can the ticket to a client, assigned technician, level techs, group manager, or other addresses in the cc: and bcc: fields. Select the recipient check boxes and add cc: or bcc: addresses if necessary, and then click Save & . Clicking Save does not generate an unless the ticket is re-assigned. In this case, the newly-assigned tech receives an . Clicking the lock (as shown below) toggles the ticket privacy setting. When tickets are private, non-tech users cannot see the tickets. Managing Ticket Tasks A Task is a series of one or more separate steps, called Elements and can be scheduled to repeat at daily, weekly, or monthly intervals. Tasks run automatically on their scheduled date or they can be triggered manually using the green Play triangle next to the task name. To create a new task, see Creating Tasks. Escalating and De-escalating Tickets Escalating or de-escalating a ticket moves an assigned ticket to a higher or lower tech group level. If a higher tech group level is available, the ticket can be escalated to that level. If a ticket still requires escalation and a higher level tech group is not available, the ticket escalates to the group manager. If further escalation is required, the ticket can be escalated to the lead tech for the request type. When a ticket is escalated or de-escalated, a tool tip provides more information about the escalation or de-escalation, as shown below. 263

264 Managing Tickets Note: When a ticket is escalated, it inherits the settings from the tech group level settings and ticket assignment strategy. When the assigned tech changes, Web Help Desk sends escalation or deescalation s to the current and former techs assigned to the ticket. To escalate a ticket: 1. From the Tickets page, double-click the desired ticket. The ticket opens in the Ticket Details tab. 2. Scroll to Details in the Tech Tab and click Escalate. 3. Click De-escalate to send the ticket to a lower level Tech group. Note When you have escalated or de-escalated the ticket as far as you can, the dscalate/de-escalate icon deactivates. 4. Click the History tab. The History tab window appears. 264

265 Creating Tickets 5. Review the ticket assignment history for accuracy. This information includes Creating Tickets Clients and techs can create tickets by sending an message to the dedicated help desk address. Web Help Desk creates a ticket for each new message its dedicated address receives. See Setting Up for information about setting up the incoming Web Help Desk address that receives and responds to support requests. See Applying Templates for information about setting up outgoing and incoming s using information included in Web Help Desk tickets. See Updating Tickets Using for information about ticket updates. Updating Tickets Using Clients and Techs can update tickets by responding to the WHD messages about the tickets. Exactly what the Client or Tech sees in their depends on how the recipient's template is set up and which options have been configured for the recipient in Setup. For more information on setting up what a Client or Tech sees in the s they receive from WHD, see Applying Templates. Using Client Ticket s When a Client submits a help request, WHD sends the Client a copy of the ticket. The a Client receives can look like the following example. 265

266 Managing Tickets To add more information to the ticket, the Client clicks Add Note or the ticket number under Ticket Info. Doing this creates a new addressed to the help desk. When the Client sends , it updates the ticket. Web Help Desk then sends the Client a new showing the updated ticket. To cancel the ticket, the Client clicks Cancel Ticket. When the Tech resolves and closes the ticket, Web Help Desk forwards the closed ticket to the Client. The Client can edit the subject line in the to perform the following tasks: ConfirmSolution. This option confirms ticket resolution. RejectSolution. This option reopens the ticket. For approval processes, use following in the subject line: ApproveTicket. Adding this option to the subject line approves the approval step. DenyTicket. Adding this option to the subject line denies the approval step. 266

267 Using Tech Ticket s VisibleToRequester. The body of the contains the explanation of the approval decision. Define what a Client can do with their ticket through in Setup > Clients > Options. For more information on configuring Client permissions, see Adding Clients. Using Tech Ticket s When a ticket is assigned to a Tech, Web Help Desk sends the Tech an that looks like the following. 267

268 Managing Tickets Techs can easily update a ticket by pressing Control and clicking any of the active links in the . Links in the are: Ticket:. In this example, the ticket number is The number specifies which ticket to update. Ticket numbers can be different, based on how you define them in Web Help Desk. Action:. Because you selected the Add Note option, the TechUpdate action displays. Hidden:[NO YES true false 1 0] (case insensitive). Because you selected the Add Note option (rather than the Add Hidden Note option), this characteristic is set to NO. Client:[NO YES true false 1 0] (case insensitive). The default for this example is YES. In our example, the following characteristics are not defined: Reassigned:< @ADDRESS.COM>. Enter the address of the Tech to whom the ticket is reassigned. MinutesWorked:<INTEGER>. Enter how much time the Tech has spent working on the ticket. This option works only when the Tech is adding a note, so that the body is not empty BillingRate:<BILLING RATE NAME>. Add billing rate information here. Pressing Control and clicking an active link in the from Web Help Desk creates a new specific to the link clicked. In the example above, the Tech can add a note that the Client can see, add a hidden note, or delete the ticket. The Tech can also change the ticket's status. Let's say the Tech selects the Add Note option. Selecting this option creates an that looks like the following. 268

269 Using Tech Ticket s Notice the 's subject. The subject reflects the ticket's defined options: Ticket: In this example, the ticket number is The number specifies which ticket to update. Ticket numbers can be different, based on how they have been defined in Web Help Desk. Action:[Update Cancel...?] Because you selected the Add Note option, the TechUpdate action displays. When a Tech selects this option, they can perform any of the actions described here, including deleting the ticket. Techs can also add a note to the body of the ticket, a billing rate, time spent on the ticket, and more. When a Client selects this option, they can cancel the ticket or add a note to the body of the ticket. Hidden:[NO YES true false 1 0] Because you selected Add Note, rather than Add Hidden Note, this option is set to NO. This option is not case sensitive. Client:[NO YES true false 1 0] The default for this example is YES. This option is not case sensitive. In our example, the following characteristics have not been defined or selected to be defined: Reassigned:< @ADDRESS.COM> Here, you would enter the address of the Tech to whom the ticket is reassigned. An example of how a Tech might complete this field is Reassigned:sean.green@thecompany.com. 269

270 Managing Tickets MinutesWorked:<INTEGER> This is where you enter how much time the Tech has spent working on the ticket. This option works only when the Tech is adding a note, so that the body is not empty. An example of how a Tech might complete this field is MinutesWorked:45. BillingRate:<BILLING RATE NAME> This option defines which billing rate to us and is active only when the Tech is adding note and the body is not empty. Use whole billing rate name, including spaces and special characters. This option is not case sensitive. An example of how a Tech might complete this field is BillingRate:Standard. Notes: Ticket updates can be sent to the any address as long as it passes the Web Help Desk incoming -specific filter. Apply the following construct for editing and of the options described above: FieldName:Value. Web Help Desk ignores any spaces before Value. Subject edits must be in the order noted above. Web Help Desk validates users' sender address. 270

271 Managing Assets Web Help Desk provides a number of options to work with assets: Discovering Assets Manually Adding Assets Removing Assets Editing Asset Properties Adding Purchase Orders Searching Assets Reserving Assets Importing Asset Data Discovering Assets Web Help Desk supports several methods of automated asset discovery. Using one or more of these tools, you synchronize WHD with the tool and import the assets into the WHD database. Web Help Desk discovers assets using its native WMI discovery engine and can pull assets from the following asset discovery tool databases: Apple Remote Desktop 3.x and later Casper Recon Suite LANrev Client Manager Systems Management Server (SMS) / Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) Database Table or View SolarWinds NPM asset synchronization SolarWinds SAM asset synchronization SolarWinds NCM asset synchronization 271

272 Managing Assets LANsweeper 5.x Use the Attribute Mapping tab to map asset custom fields to the discovery tool attributes. The available asset attributes you can map depend on your selected discovery tool. These values come directly from the discovery tool s database. Configuring Asset Discovery Tools Select from the links below for instructions on how to configure Web Help Desk to use the following asset discovery tools: Absolute Manage (LANrev) Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 and Later Casper Asset Discovery 8 and Earlier Casper Asset Discovery 9 Database Table or View Lansweeper Configuring Microsoft SMS/SCCM Configuring NCM, NPM, or SAM WHD Discovery Engine (WMI) Configuring Absolute Manage (LANrev) Settings Web Help Desk features asset discovery integration with Absolute Manage. This integration consists of two components: An Absolute Manage MySQL Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection to Web Help Desk. Remote control of the Absolute Manage system using a link in Web Help Desk. To implement this integration: 272

273 Configuring Absolute Manage (LANrev) Settings 1. Configure the Absolute Manage MySQL ODBC export, as described in the Absolute Manage User Guide. 2. Configure the Absolute Manage admin console to respond to HTML requests from Web Help Desk, as described in the Absolute Manage User Guide. 3. Configure Web Help Desk to import client inventory data from the Absolute Manage MySQL database and enable the Absolute Manage inventory and remote control links. To create and configure an Absolute Manage connection in Web Help Desk: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. The Asset Discovery Connections screen appears. 2. Click New. The Connection Basics tab appears. 3. In the Connection Name field, enter a descriptive name for this connection. 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Absolute Manage (LANrev). The tab window expands to include additional fields. 5. In the Database Name field, enter the name of the database containing the Asset data table or view. 6. In the Username and Password fields, enter the username and password for the database account used to access the Asset information table(s). 7. Select the Include Virtual Machines check box to include virtual machines in the synchronization. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 8. In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select the day(s) and times when Web Help Desk collects properties from the discovered endpoints. To disable auto synchronization, select Every Day but do not select any actual days. 9. Select the Ignore Blank Discovered Values check box to indicate whether blank values encountered in mapped fields of the discovery tool should be 273

274 Managing Assets ignored or used to overwrite existing values in the Web Help Desk database. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 10. Select the Sync with Existing Assets Only check box to indicate whether Assets found in the discovery connection will be synchronized only with Assets currently in the Web Help Desk database. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 11. In the Client Relationships row, select the action to take if the discovery tool discovers new client associations for an Asset that differ with the Web Help Desk database. 12. In the When Assets Are Removed row, select the action to take if an Asset currently in the Web Help Desk database is no longer found by the discovery tool. 13. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 14. Select the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit 15. Map the desired custom asset fields. The Asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 16. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 17. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Configuring Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Settings To use Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) 3.2, enable and configure the ARD PostgreSQL database to allow network connections. Web Help Desk provides a setup script to make the configurations for you. Next, you will scan all the assets that must be included in Web Help Desk and then run a System Overview report in ARD (The System Overview Report option exports the asset data to the ARD PostgreSQL database. For more information about the Apple database, see: Providing Application Access to SQL Data in Apple Remote Desktop 3.2. This Apple document explains in detail what the Web Help Desk script does, and gives instructions on how to manually access the database from the Apple terminal. 274

275 Configuring Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 Settings To set up an ARD 3.2 connection in Web Help Desk: 1. Download WHDRemoteDesktopBridge.dmg. 2. Run the bridge installer on the Web Help Desk server. 3. Install Apple Remote Desktop on the discovery database server. 4. Start Apple Remote Desktop and ensure it is scanning for computers. 5. Follow the steps in Providing Application Access to SQL Data in Apple Remote Desktop 2 to configure ARD for TCP/IP access. 6. Ensure that: The Remote Desktop is started before you configure the database for TCP/IP access. You note the Apple script connection settings. The Apple script configures the ARD database to enable TCP/IP access, and then displays your database connection information. Record these connection settings, as you will need to enter them into Web Help Desk. 7. Open Remote Desktop and select the computers to import. 8. Navigate to Report > System Overview, and then click Run to run a System Overview Report. 275

276 Managing Assets Note: ARD does not remove computers from the database when they are no longer included in a System Overview report. Remove any retired assets from ARD before synchronizing with Web Help Desk. 9. In Web Help Desk, go to Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections and click New. 10. Select Apple Remote Desktop as the discovery type, click 3.2 or earlier for the version and enter the database connection parameters provided by the database setup script in step Enter the Remote Desktop PostgreSQL Database Host IP address and port. 12. Click Save. 13. Select the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit 14. Map the desired custom asset fields to ARD s attributes. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 15. Click Save. 16. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Configuring Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 Settings and Later As of version 3.3, Apple Remote Desktop uses a local SQLite database to store report data. This means that Apple Remote Desktop must be installed on the same machine as Web Help Desk to sync inventory data. Using ARD 3.3 requires no additional configuration on the SQLite database to make the connection. To set up an ARD 3.3 connection in Web Help Desk: 1. Install Apple Remote Desktop on the Web Help Desk server. 2. Start Apple Remote Desktop and ensure it is scanning for computers. 3. Open Remote Desktop and select the computers to import. 4. Navigate to Report > System Overview, and then click Run to run a System Overview Report. 276

277 Configuring Casper 8 Settings and Earlier Note: ARD does not remove computers from the database when they are no longer included in a System Overview report. Remove any retired assets from ARD before synchronizing with Web Help Desk. 5. In Web Help Desk, go to Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections and click New. 6. Select Apple Remote Desktop as the discovery type, click 3.3 or later for the version. 7. Enter the Remote Desktop SQLite Database Filename. 8. Optionally, select an Auto-sync Schedule. Select the day or days to autosync and define a time and how often to run auto-sync. 9. Set the Advanced Options on the lower section of this screen. See the tool tips for detailed explanations of each option. 10. Click Save. 11. Select the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit. 12. Map the desired custom asset fields to ARD s attributes. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 13. Click Save. 14. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Configuring Casper 8 Settings and Earlier To set up a discovery connection for Casper in WHD: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup, select Assets > Discovery Connections, and then click New. The Connection Basics tab window appears. 277

278 Managing Assets 2. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Casper as the discovery type. 3. In the Casper MySQL Database Host and Port fields, enter your Casper IP address and port number, respectively. 4. In the Database Name field, enter the name of your database. 5. In the Username, and Password fields, enter the database user name and password, respectively. 6. (Optional) In the Auto- Sync Schedule row, select the day or days to autosync and define a time and how often to run the auto-sync. 7. In the Advanced Options section, complete the check boxes and selections as needed. See the tool tips for detailed explanations of each option. 8. Click Save. Your information is saved. 9. Click the Attribute Mapping tab. The Attribute Mapping tab window appears. 278

279 Configuring Casper 9 Settings 10. Click Edit. 11. Map the desired custom asset fields to Casper s attributes. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 12. Click Save. 13. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. See Integrating Web Help Desk with the JSS for information about importing assets directly from the JAMF software database, which stores information about assets in the JAMF Software Server (JSS), Configuring Casper 9 Settings To set up a discovery connection for Casper 9 in Web Help Desk: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup, select Assets > Discovery Connections, and then click New. The Discovery Connections window appears. 2. Click New. The Connection Basics tab window appears. 279

280 Managing Assets 3. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Casper 9 as the discovery type. 4. In the JSS Server URL, enter the appropriate URL. The URL must contain the JSS server hostname or IP address. Additionally, you can supply the protocol and port number, but they are not mandatory. When no protocol is supplied, HTTPS becomes the default. 5. In the Database Name field, enter the name of the database. 6. In the Username, and Password fields, enter the database user name and password, respectively. 7. (Optional) In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select the day or days to autosync and define a time and how often to run the auto-sync. 8. In the Advanced Options section, select the appropriate options. See the tool tip help for detailed explanations of each option. 9. Click Save. 10. Click the Attribute Mapping tab. The Attribute Mapping tab window appears. 11. Click Edit. Map the desired custom asset fields to Casper s attributes. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 12. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 13. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Configuring Database Table or View Settings To create a discovery connection for a Database table or view: 1. In the Web Help Desk interface, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. The Asset Discovery Connections window appears. 280

281 Configuring Lansweeper Settings 2. Click New. The Connection Basics window appears. 3. (Optional) In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the connection. 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select the tool used to discover asset information. 5. In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select how often WHD collects properties from the discovered endpoints. To disable automatic synchronization, select Every <day> but do not select any actual days. 6. In the Advanced Options section, select the appropriate options. See the tool tip help for detailed explanations of each option. 7. Click Save. Your changes are saved. Configuring Lansweeper Settings To create a discovery connection for Lansweeper: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. The Asset Discovery Connections screen appears. 2. Click New. 281

282 Managing Assets The Connection Basics tab window appears. 3. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Lansweeper as the discovery type. The tab window expands with additional fields. 4. In the Connection Name field, enter a friendly name for this discovery connection. 5. In the Lansweeper SQL Server Database Host and Port fields, enter the name or IP address and port on which the database is running. 6. In the Username and Password fields, enter the username and password for the database account used to access the Asset information table(s). 7. In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select the day(s) and times when Web Help Desk collects properties from the discovered endpoints. To disable auto synchronization, select Every Day but do not select any actual days. 8. Select the Ignore Blank Discovered Values check box to indicate whether blank values encountered in mapped fields of the discovery tool should be ignored or used to overwrite existing values in the Web Help Desk database. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 9. Select the Sync with Existing Assets Only check box to indicate whether Assets found in the discovery connection will be synchronized only with Assets currently in the Web Help Desk database. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 10. In the Client Relationships row, select the action to take if the discovery tool discovers new client associations for an Asset that differ with the Web Help Desk database. 11. In the When Assets Are Removed row, select the action to take if an Asset currently in the Web Help Desk database is no longer found by the discovery tool. 12. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 13. Select the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit 282

283 Configuring Microsoft SMS/SCCM Settings 14. Map the desired custom asset fields to Lansweeper s attributes. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 15. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 16. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Configuring Microsoft SMS/SCCM Settings To create a discovery connection for Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) / Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM): 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. The Discovery connections screen appears. 2. Click New. The Connection Basics tab window appears. 3. (Optional) In the Connection Name field, enter the appropriate name for this connection. 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down men and select Microsoft SMS/SCCM as the discovery type. The screen expands to include new field options. 5. In the SCCM SQL Server Database Host and Port fields, enter the host name or IP address and port on which the database is running. 6. In the Database Name field enter the name of the database containing the Asset data table for view. 7. In the Username and Password fields, enter the database user name and password. 8. In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select the day(s) to auto-sync and define a time and how often to run auto-sync. 9. Select the Ignore Blank Discovered Options check box to indicate whether blank values encountered in mapped fields of the discovery tool should be ignored or used to overwrite existing values in Web Help Desk. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 283

284 Managing Assets 10. Select the Sync with Existing Assets Only check box to indicate whether Assets found in the discovery connection will be synchronized only with Assets that currently exist in the Web Help Desk database. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 11. In the Client Relationships row, select the action to take if new client associations for an Asset found by the discovery tool differ from similar information in the Web Help Desk database. 12. In the When Assets Are Removed row, select the action to take if an Asset currently in the Web Help Desk database is no longer found by the discovery tool. 13. Select the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit 14. Map the desired custom asset fields to ARD s attributes. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 15. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 16. To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Configuring SolarWinds NCM, NPM, or SAM Settings Before you configure Web Help Desk to integrate with SolarWindsNCM, SolarWinds NPM, or SolarWinds SAM, ensure you have the following: SolarWinds Orion Platform system IP address and port number SolarWinds Orion Platform login and password System database s logon and password To create a discovery connection using SolarWinds NCM, NPM, or SAM as a discovery tools: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections The Asset Discovery Connections window appears. 2. Click New. The Connection Basics window appears. 284

285 Configuring SolarWinds NCM, NPM, or SAM Settings 3. In the Connection field, enter a name for the new connection. 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select NCM, NPM, or SAM (depending on which connection you wish to discover your assets). Note: If you want to discover assets for NCM, NPM, and SAM, you will need to set up three separate discovery connections. 5. In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select how often Web Help Desk collects properties from the discovered endpoints. 6. Select the Ignore Blank Discovered Values check box to indicate whether blank values encountered in mapped fields of the discovery tool should be ignored or used to overwrite existing values in Web Help Desk. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 7. Select the Sync with Existing Assets Only check box if assets found in the discovery connection will be synchronized with assets that currently exist in the Web Help Desk database or if assets not in the Web Help Desk will be added to current assets. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 8. In the When Assets Are Removed row, select the appropriate action if an asset currently in the Web Help Desk database is no longer found by the discovery tool. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 9. Click Save. 285

286 Managing Assets Your changes are saved. Configuring Web Help Desk Discovery Engine (WMI) Settings The Web Help Desk Discovery Engine (WMI) uses an IP address range to scan at least one set of administrator credentials to create a new discovery connection. Web Help Desk stores and encrypts all administrator credentials in the database with the connection parameters (such as IP ranges and schedule). Using the WHD Discovery Engine, you can create separate Discovery and Auto- Sync job schedules. A Discovery job scans a selected IP address range and discovers endpoints that accepts at least one of the saved credentials. The first time you run the discovery job, it forces an auto-sync (collection). An Auto-Sync job collects configuration data from endpoints discovered by the discovery job. To create a discovery connection using the Web Help Desk Discovery Engine: 1. Navigate to Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections. The Asset Discovery Connections screen appears. 2. Click New. The Connection Basics tab window appears. 3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the new connection. 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select WHD Discovery Engine (WMI). 286

287 Configuring Web Help Desk Discovery Engine (WMI) Settings The Connection Basics window options change, and the Attribute Mapping tab appears. 5. In the IP Ranges row, enter a starting and ending IP address to scan for assets. Click Add IP Range to add additional IP ranges. 6. In the Credentials row, enter the credentials to use when you attempt to authenticate against discovered assets. Web Help Desk will attempt to authenticate the discovered assets based on your applied credentials. 7. In the Discovery Schedule row, select the appropriate days and times to scan for assets within your selected IP range(s). All discovered assets are synchronized with Web Help Desk based on your selections in the Auto-Sync Schedule row. 287

288 Managing Assets 8. In the Auto-Sync Schedule row, select the appropriate days and times when Web Help Desk collects properties from discovered endpoints. To disable auto synchronization, select Every <day> but do not select a specific day. 9. Select the Ignore Blank Discovered Values check box to accelerate the discovery process. When selected, Web Help Desk does not sync blank values. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 10. Select the Sync With Existing Assets Only check box to sync discovered resources with existing resources currently in the Web Help Desk database. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 11. In the When Assets are Removed row, select the appropriate action in an asset currently in the Web Help Desk database is no longer found by the discovery tool. Select Delete Asset to delete the asset from the Web Help Desk database. Select No Action to leave the asset in the Web Help Desk database. Select Set Status to and select a status for the appropriate action. 12. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 13. Select the Attribute Mapping tab. The Attribute Mapping tab window appears. 14. Click the Edit icon. The tab window changes to Edit mode. 15. Map the asset fields as appropriate. All bold selections are required. The asset attributes are different for each discovery tool, mapping directly to the values in the discovery tool s database. 16. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 288

289 Syncing and Discovering Assets To view the imported assets, navigate to Assets > Search Assets. Syncing and Discovering Assets To sync and run an asset discovery session after configuring connections and mapping assets: 1. Click the Sync Now button for the desired connection. 2. Click OK when Web Help Desk prompts you to sync assets with your connection. WHD returns you to the Connection Basics tab, where, under Discovery Status, you can monitor discovery and collection progress and results. 3. Click Done when the discovery and sync process is completed. Manually Adding Assets For information about import options and discovery tools, see Discovering Assets. To manually add assets: 1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. The Search Assets tab windows appear. 2. In the lower window, click New Asset. The Asset Basics tab windows appear. 3. Click the Asset Basics tab. The Asset Basics tab window appears. 289

290 Managing Assets 4. In the Asset No. field, enter a unique number for the asset. To automatically increment asset numbers, adjust this setting in the Options screen located at Setup > Assets > Options. 5. Click the Asset Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate asset type. 6. Click the Model drop-down menu and select the asset model (if required). 7. Click the Location drop-down menu and select the location where the asset is assigned (if required). 8. Click the Room drop-down menu and select the room where the asset is assigned. 9. Click the Department drop-down menu and select the department assigned to the asset. 10. In the Clients Lookup box, enter a last and first name to look up and assign assets to a client. When completed, click Search to display and select a client. 290

291 Removing Assets 11. Click the Status drop-down menu and select the current status of the asset. 12. Select the Synchronization Disabled check box if the asset is disabled. 13. Select the Service Contract check box if the asset is under a service contract. 14. Select the Reservable check box if the asset can be reserved or checked out. 15. Click Save. The asset information is saved. Removing Assets In Web Help Desk, the default aging interval for all assets is 90 days. If a node is not rediscovered or provided data within the last 90 days, its life cycle status changes from ACTIVE (0) to DECOMISSIONED (2). To update the default aging interval: 1. Locate and open the appropriate configuration file in a text editor. For Microsoft Windows systems, open the wrapper_template.conf file located at: webhelpdesk\bin\wrapper\conf\wrapper_template.conf For Linux and Apple OSX systems, open the whd.conf file located at: webhelpdesk\conf\whd.conf 2. In the file, update the value in the following JAVA_OPTS parameter: -Dasset.agingInterval=30d In this example, all Web Help Desk assets are decommissioned if not rediscovered within 30 days. 3. Save and close the file. Note: If Web Help Desk discovers the asset after the decommission, the asset will become active in Web Help Desk again. See Configuring WHD Discovery Engine (WMI) Settings for information about removing or changing the status of an undiscovered, decommissioned asset listed in the Web Help Desk database. 291

292 Managing Assets Editing Asset Properties Web Help Desk imports several asset properties when you perform an asset discovery or an import operation. The Web Help Desk user interface provides a method of adding and editing asset properties. Working with Asset Properties You can access the asset properties by clicking Setup and selecting Search Assets. The Search Assets screen includes four tab windows that provide information about your asset. Below is a description of each tab window. Tab Name Asset Basics Description Provides general asset information you can edit, including: Asset number (entered manually or generated automatically by Web Help Desk) Type (such as a desktop PC, notebook computer, or printer Location (such as a city, room, and department) Clients assigned to the asset Status (such as deployed or in storage) Availability (if the asset can be reserved or checked out) Associated service contracts Asset Details Provides detailed asset information you can edit, including: Serial number Version IP address Network name 292

293 Working with Asset Properties Tab Name Description MAC Address Purchase Date Warranty Type Asset History Ticket History Provides dates and actions when an asset was removed, modified, or changed status, as well as the associated tech. This information cannot be edited. Provides the ticket number, date, status, and problem report associated with the asset, as well as the associated tech in each instance. This information cannot be edited. To edit basic and detailed asset properties: 1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. The Search Assets screen appears. 2. Click the Basic Search tab. The Basic Search tab window appears. 3. Select and/or complete the appropriate field to locate the asset. For additional search options, click Advanced Search and complete the fields in the window. 4. Click Search. Your search results appear in the bottom window. For example: 293

294 Managing Assets 5. In the No. field, click the asset number icon. The Asset tab windows appear. For example: 6. In the window, click the Edit icon. The tab window changes to Edit mode. 7. Make any changes as required. 8. Click the Asset Details tab. The Asset Details tab window appears. 9. Make any changes as required. 10. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 294

295 Creating Parent and Child Associations Creating Parent and Child Associations In the Asset Basics tab, you can link assets as a parent or as a child of another asset. When you assign parent/child associations to your assets, the following conventions apply: A parent asset can have any number of child assets. A child asset cannot be a parent to another asset. Removing the parent status orphans all the child assets for that parent. Child assets can be removed from individually from a parent. A child asset can have any number of parent assets. Child assets inherit priorities from the parent objects including location, status, and other properties. Parent/child status is set by adding child assets to a parent asset. You cannot add a parent to a child. To add assets as children of a parent asset: 1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. The Search Assets screen appears. 2. Click the Basic Search tab. The Basic Search tab window appears. 3. Select and/or complete the appropriate field to locate the asset. For additional search options, click Advanced Search and complete the fields in the window. 4. Click Search. Your search results appear in the bottom window. 5. In the No. field, click the appropriate asset number icon. The Asset Basics tab windows appears, displaying information about your selected asset. The Child Assets box appears at the bottom of the window. 295

296 Managing Assets 6. Click the Edit icon at the top of the window. The window changes to Edit mode, allowing you to change the asset details. 7. In the Child Assets tabbed box, click Edit. The Asset Lookup box appears. 8. Select and/or enter the search criteria to locate the appropriate asset, and then click Search. The Search Results box appears with a list of assets. 9. Click Link to select one of the listed assets as a child asset. 10. In the Asset Lookup box, click Done. The asset is added as a child asset. 11. Click Save. 296

297 Adding Purchase Orders The asset is saved as a child asset. To remove assets as children of a parent asset: 1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. The Search Assets screen appears. 2. Click the Basic Search tab. The Basic Search tab window appears. 3. Select and/or complete the appropriate field to locate the asset. For additional search options, click Advanced Search and complete the fields in the window. 4. Click Search. Your search results appear in the bottom window. 5. In the No. field, click the appropriate asset number icon. The Asset Basics tab windows appears, displaying information about your selected asset. The Child Assets box appears at the bottom of the window. 6. Click the Edit icon at the top of the window. The window changes to Edit mode, allowing you to change the asset details. 7. Click the trash can next to the child asset you want to remove. 8. Click Save. The child asset is removed. Adding Purchase Orders The Web Help Desk purchase orders feature simplifies tracking your asset purchases and leases. This feature, however, is not meant to replace your company s current accounting or ordering systems. Web Help Desk does not create purchase orders but rather stores information about purchase orders. 297

298 Managing Assets Defining Vendors Before adding a new PO, one or more vendors must be entered into the database. To add a new Vendor: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Vendors. The Vendors screen appears. 2. Click New. The Vendor information screen appears. 3. Fill in the vendor information, and then click Save. Adding a Purchase Order Fields in a purchase order include: PO Number Must be unique in the database Order Date The date the purchase order was entered Invoice Date The date the vendor shipped the product (used to help calculate warranty / lease expiration date) Vendor - Vendor type Order Type Lease or Purchase Originator Last Name Last name lookup of the client who made the PO request. Deliver To Last Name Last name lookup of the client to whom the purchased items should be delivered Attachments Any supporting documentation Notes Any additional information about the purchase order To add Purchase Order information: 1. Click Assets > Purchase Orders. 2. Click New Purchase Order at the bottom of the search display list. 298

299 Adding Purchase Order Line Items 3. Fill in the Purchase Order information, and then click Save. Adding Purchase Order Line Items After saving a purchase order, you add line items to the purchase order using the line item editor. You add individual parts and their costs to purchase orders in Line Items. You associate specific assets by providing a valid asset number. If you attempt to link a line item to an asset number that does not exist, or is already linked to another PO, you receive an error message. To access the line item editor: 1. Select a purchase order by navigation to Assets > Purchase Orders, search for a PO, and click the PO Number link. 2. Click the Pencil to edit the PO. 3. Complete the Line Item box to the right. 4. If you want to add more line items, click New Line Item. 5. When you have completed the line items, click Save. 299

300 Managing Assets Line items must define a model and may contain part number and price information. Assets can also be associated to a PO from within the Asset detail view. You must have a free line item defined in the PO in order to link the asset. If you were to add a new imac G5 asset, you could associate it with the PO in the example above, because the imac G5 line item is free (not linked) to any asset number. Importing Purchase Orders See Importing Data, for details on importing purchase orders. Searching Assets You search for assets in either the either Basic or Advanced tabs. Basic searching provides a simplified sub-set of the search criteria available in the advanced search mode. To sort your search results, click on a column header. To download the search results in PDF format, click the button for the format type you want. Refining Search Results The search results list can display a large amount of asset data. To control what information is displayed, use the Column Set widget on the upper right of the search results list to enable or disable specific columns. Click + to add a new column set, or edit the selected column set by clicking Edit. Saved Queries You save searches for future use in the Advanced Search Tab. 300

301 Reserving Assets To save a query: 1. Define your search criteria using the same method explained in Searching Tickets. 2. Provide a name in the Save Query as: field. 3. Select the Shared box if you want others to be able to use this search. Note: Depending on your access level, you may not have access to the share box. To run a query, select the query name from the Query menu at the top of the search results display. The query runs automatically upon selection. Reserving Assets You ensure assets are available when you need them using the Asset reservation feature. Before reserving it, the asset must first be set to reservable in the Asset Basics editor. Making Assets Reservable To set Assets as reservable: 1. Navigate to Assets > Search Assets 2. Search for and select the Asset you want to make reservable. 3. Select the Reservable check box. 301

302 Managing Assets 4. Click Save. Reserving as a Tech To set up Asset reservations as a tech: 1. Navigate to Assets > Reservations and click New Reservation. 2. Use the Client Lookup to select the client who will be checking the Asset out, and set the Scheduled Out and Scheduled In dates and times. 3. Find the asset to be reserved using the Asset Lookup box 4. Click the asset to be reserved, and then click Save. Reserving as a Client An administrator must give clients permission to reserve asset before clients can use the reserve asset feature. 302

303 Checking In and Out To allow clients to reserve an asset: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Options. 2. Click Clients can Search assets. 3. Click Limit to Assigned and Reservable, and then click Save. To reserve an asset as a client: 1. Click Assets at the top of the client interface. 2. Click Search. 3. Once the desired asset has been located, select the Reserve check box and then click Reserve Checked. A calendar window appears, allowing reservation date or range of dates selection. To select a reservation date range, click the first day of the reservation, drag the cursor to the last day of the reservation, and then click Save. To remove a reservation, click the trash can on the reservations page. Checking In and Out Only Techs can check reserved assets in or out. Navigate to Assets > Reservations and click Search to find reserved assets To check assets in or out, click Check In or Check Out. 303

304 Managing Assets Importing Asset Data Using the data import function from Settings > Data Import>Import Asset is the easiest way to get Asset data into Web Help Desk. To ensure a successful import, use the Assets Import template. See Importing Data Using Templates for information on applying templates. To import Assets into Web Help Desk: 1. Click Setup and select Data Import > Import Assets. The Import Assets screen appears. 2. Click the Sync Based On drop-down menu and select the column in the import file to use to synchronize the import data with your existing records. If an import record contains an empty field for the Sync column, the record is added to the database instead of being used to replace an existing record. This field synchronizes the data import with any existing Asset data. 3. Click the Client Key drop-down menu and select the client attribute the import file should use in columns that refer to client records. This selection defines the key field for database column reference. 304

305 Importing Asset Data 4. Select the Ignore Blank Fields check box if you expect some of the table fields not to populate. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 5. Select the Add New Entries check box to add fields that are not defined on the downloaded template. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 6. Select the Abort Import on First Error check box if you get poor results after importing your data. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 7. In the File Type and File Encoding fields, select the proper file type and file encoding, respectively. Select MS Excel for.xls imports. 8. In the Import Data File row, click Browse and select a saved template. 9. Click Import to import the file. The file is imported into Web Help Desk. 305

306 Managing FAQs Web Help Desk allows you to import, create, access, and search FAQs and knowledge base articles and make these available to Clients, so you can reduce the number of inbound support requests. Web Help Desk promotes self resolution by displaying relevant knowledge base articles and FAQs to clients as they enter their service requests into the web portal. Creating New FAQs To create a new FAQ: 1. In the toolbar, click FAQs. The FAQs screen appears. 2. In the FAQ toolbar, click New FAQ. The Create FAQ screen appears. 306

307 Managing FAQs 3. Click the Category field and select a category. Note: This field is populated from the ticket request types. You can add additional request types in the Request Types screen. See Defining Request Types for more information. 4. In the Question box, enter the question text for this FAQ. Questions can include HTML links and formatting, as well as Bulletin Board Code (BBC) tags. 5. In the Answer box, enter an answer for this FAQ. Answers can include HTML hyperlinks and formatting, as well as BBC tags. 6. In the Audience row, select the appropriate restriction for this FAQ. 7. In the Models row, select the models that apply to this FAQ. 8. In the Companies row, select the companies that can access this FAQ. 9. In the Locations row, select the locations that can access this FAQ. 10. In the Departments row, select the locations that can access this FAQ. 11. In the Attachments row, click Add File to add an attachment to this FAQ. 12. Select the Approved check box to publish this FAQ. Note: Only administrators can approve FAQs. 13. In the Expiration Date row, select an expiration date and time if you want this FAQ to expire. Otherwise, leave these selections blank. 14. (Optional) In the Rating row, select the appropriate rating. 15. Click Save. Your FAQ is saved. Accessing FAQs To access FAQs, click FAQs in the Web Help Desk toolbar. From here, you can search for existing FAQs or create new FAQs. All FAQs you create are accessible from within your Web Help Desk installation. You can link your FAQs to specific locations so they are available only through Web Help Desk with the appropriate user permissions. 307

308 Searching FAQs For information about creating FAQs, see Creating New FAQs. Searching FAQs To search FAQs, click FAQs in the toolbar. You can filter FAQs by FAQ number, category, location, model, approval, expiration, and question/answer text. To edit an FAQ, click the FAQ hyperlink number. To sort the results list, click a column header. 308

309 Working with Reports Web Help Desk provides robust, customizable graphic reporting features to monitor technician performance, customer support needs by location, real-time billing data, and incidence frequency. You can configure the type of information displayed and the format in which it appears, for Asset, Billing, Ticket, and, for direct comparisons, Composite reports. Pull in data from surveys to locate the service bottlenecks. Web Help Desk comes standard with sample reports that you can customize or use as-is. Begin the report creation process by thinking about the types of things you'll need to report on, and how you want to categorize those items. You can create reports on any information Web Help Desk contains. Perhaps you need to know, on a monthly basis, how much money your company is spending on leased equipment. Or maybe you want to find out which of your organization's Locations have submitted the most service requests over the past quarter. Or you need to find out how long Techs are taking to resolve service requests. If you are planning to use more than 10 or 15 reports, or need to control access to certain reports, consider whether you need to categorize those reports into groups. The Report Groups feature in Web Help Desk makes reports easier to find. You can also configure a report group so that Techs or Clients can work only with those reports they need. The Report Schedules feature in Web Help Desk schedules and automates to report creation and distribution. To access reporting, click the Reports icon in the toolbar. A list of existing reports displays. 309

310 Working with Reports For details on how to use the reporting capabilities in Web Help Desk, see: Using Sample Reports Creating Reports Creating Report Groups Creating Report Schedules Using Sample Reports Web Help Desk includes a set of sample reports you can customize or use immediately: Average open time this month Average work time this month Billing report by location Billing report by technician Closed tickets this month Location status this month 310

311 Creating and Editing Reports Open tickets by request type Technician status this month To access, run, and view a sample report onscreen, click Reports and then click the Play icon on the right side of the report row. To generate a printable web view in a new window, click the Print View icon in the report row. To create a PDF for downloading or printing, click the PDF icon in right side of the report row. Creating and Editing Reports You can create custom reports or edit existing reports that focus on a wide variety of issues, including asset, billing, and ticket information. You can also create composite reports that link together a mixture of reports. Each report includes charts and/or tables that display the number of items in possible categories. Web Help Desk provides four options to define reports: Category. Determines values represented in Ticket, Billing, and Asset reports. For example, if you set the bar, pie, slice, or row category in an Asset report to Model, the report contains your selected components for each asset model. The Repetition category determines the categories used to create multiple charts for comparison. Chart Metric. Calculates the length and size of bar charts and pie slices in Ticket and Asset reports, as well as attributes included in a table. Time Range. Filters the report information in Ticket and Billing reports to include only what occurs within a given time period. You can limit the report with a time range to increase reporting performance. Report Filters. Defines the included data in Ticket, Billing, and Asset reports by specifying category items to include and/or exclude. For example, if an Asset report filter is set to Model, a Model filter restricts the report to include only selected models. Filter categories are not limited to those used for the report categories. Report button functionality includes: Run Report. Generates a sample report using the current unsaved settings. Delete. Removes the current report from the report list. 311

312 Working with Reports Cancel. Returns to the report list without saving any changes. Save. Saves your report settings. Done. Saves your report changes and returns to the main reports window. To create a new report: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports. The Report window appears with a list of existing reports. 2. Click New to create a new report. 3. Enter a name for the new report. 4. Select a Report Group to organize and control access to reports. For more information about this configuration, see Creating Report Groups. 5. Select a Report Type: Asset Report Billing Report 312

313 Building Asset Reports Composite Report Ticket Report 6. Click Save. See the following sections for more information about creating and editing each report type: Building Asset Reports Designing Billing Reports Creating Ticket Reports Viewing Survey Results Reports Building Asset Reports Using Reports in Web Help Desk, you can build real-time reports on multiple Assets based on the features you choose. Asset reporting can help you better manage organizational Assets by providing the statistics you need to make informed decisions. You can use Asset Reporting to gather information on various topics in your organization, such as: Number and types of Assets in your corporate enterprise Assets approaching end of warranty or purchased within a specific data range Asset attributes such as Class, Location, and Warranty Type Number of tickets generated by asset issues Overdue, reserved, and reservable assets Report Types Before you create a report, think about the type of information you need to display in the report. Do you want to show asset data by location over a defined period of time? Do you want to see which asset is currently deployed and which are in storage, or do you want to know which assets are near the end of their leases? Assetreports can display a bar chart, pie chart, or a table. Consider the following types of reports you need for your business processes: Bar charts. Compares relationships between groups of Assets and to show trends over time. 313

314 Working with Reports Pie charts. Compares the number of assets to each other and displays percentages that make up your inventory. Tables. Displays Asset data in rows and columns. You can use tables to present simple report information or to help clarify reports containing bar or pie charts. Once you answer these questions and consider the types of reports you need, you can create filters that display the information you need in your reports for your selected categories. Data Categories You can filter the information that appears in a report by applying the following data categories to the report: Manufacturer Client Model Asset Type Location Asset No. Room Asset Status Discovery Connection Warranty Type Billing Rate Location Group Company Department Department Group Request Type Audit Date Invoice Date Lease Exp. 314

315 Data Categories Purchase Date Service Contract Exp. Date Warranty Exp. Date To create a new Asset report: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports. The report window opens to a list of existing reports. 2. Click New. The Report Basics tab window appears. 3. In the Report Name field, enter a name that identifies the report. This name will appear in the report title. 4. (Optional). Click the Report Group drop-down menu and select a report group. Applying a Report Group can make reports easier to find when you have many reports. Note: If no Report Groups are available, the only available report group is Sample Reports. To create a new report group, save the information currently in the Report Basics tab and see Creating Report Groups to learn how to build report groups. To apply the newly-created Report Group to a report, select the report from the list of Web Help Desk reports, click Edit, and select the Report Group. 5. Click the Report Type drop-down menu and select Asset Report. The Report Details and Report Filters tabs appear. These tabs define what the report looks like and the data it contains. 315

316 Working with Reports 6. Select the type of report you need: Bar Chart Report Pie Chart Report Table-only Report Creating a Bar Chart Report Bar chart reports compare asset data, illustrate asset data trends over time, and show the relationships between groups of data. The following procedure describes how to create an asset bar chart report showing asset models listed by type and location. 1. Click the Report Details tab. The Report Details tab window appears. 2. In the Chart Type row, select Bar Chart. 3. Click the Bar Category drop-down menu and select Model. 316

317 Creating a Bar Chart Report 4. Click the Bar Stack Category drop-down menu and select Asset Type to specify the data stacked on each bar. 5. Click the Repetition Category drop-down menu and select Location to create a single chart for each Location. Web Help Desk generates a separate chart (along with a table, if specified) for each Location. Each chart generates according to Major Category, Minor Category, and Grouping Category configuration, but includes only those assets associated with the chart's particular Location 6. For each category, select how many items to display in the chart. Bar charts default to show the top 10 items, unless you specify another number. For best on-screen performance, keep the number of items shown in the chart to 100 items or less. For reports requiring more than 100 items, create a PDF report. 7. To include a table in the report, select the number of items to include in the table. The default number of items in tables is In the Chart Metric row, select which ticket attribute to use to determine the bar lengths. 9. (Optional). Select the Show Table check box to provide the report data in a table as well as a chart. When selected, Web Help Desk creates a report that includes the data from each chart in a table as well. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 10. (Optional). In the Values row, define an operator value to show in the report. For example, if you wanted to report on all asset values of 25 or less, select < = and enter the numeral 25 in the Values field. 11. Select the Show Filters check box to indicate whether a list of the filters configured for the port will be included in the report. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 12. Select the Show Non-Zero Items Only check box to indicate if the data should include only data with the number of assets equaling more than zero. 317

318 Working with Reports 13. (Optional) Add a report filter. a. Select the Report Filters tab. The Report Filters screen appears. b. Click New. The Report Filters tab window appears. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down window and select Model. 14. In the Report Details window, click Save. Your changes are saved. 15. Click Run Report to generate the report. The report appears, as shown in the following illustration. 318

319 319 Creating a Bar Chart Report

320 Working with Reports Creating a Pie Chart Report Create a pie chart asset report to directly compare the number of assets to each other or to see asset percentages that make up your inventory. The following instructions describe how to run a pie chart asset report showing selected Asset Models by their Locations. To create the pie chart asset report: 1. Click the Report Details tab. The Report Details tab window appears. 2. In the Chart Type row, select Pie Chart. 3. Click the Pie Slice Category drop-down menu and select Model to indicate which data the slices represent. 4. For each category, select how many asset types and locations to show in the chart. Pie charts default to show the top 10 items, unless you specify another number. 320

321 Creating a Pie Chart Report For the best image, keep the number of items shown in the pie chart to 15 items or less. If you need to add more than 15 items to a pie chart, consider using a bar chart instead. 5. To include a table in the report. select the number of items to include in the table. The default amount of items shown in tables is Click the Repetition Category drop-down menu and select Location. 7. (Optional). Select the Show Table check box to provide the report data in a table as well as a chart. When selected, Web Help Desk creates a report that includes the data from each chart in a table. 8. (Optional). In the Values row, define an operator value to show in the report. For example, if you wanted to report on all asset values of 25 or less, select < = and enter the numeral 25 in the Values field. 9. (Optional) Add a report filter. a. Select the Report Filters tab. The Report Filters screen appears. b. Click New. The Report Filters tab window appears. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down window and select Model. 10. In the Report Details window, click Save. Your changes are saved. 11. Click Run Report to generate the report. The report appears, as shown below. 321

322 Working with Reports Creating a Table-only Report Create a table-only Asset report to display asset data in rows and columns. The following instructions describe how to run a table-only asset report showing selected Asset Models by their Locations. To create a table-only asset report: 1. Click the Reports Details tab. The Reports Details tab window appears. 322

323 Creating a Table-only Report 2. In the Chart Type row, select Table Only. 3. Click the Row Category drop-down menu and select Model to indicate which data appear in the table rows. 4. Click the Column Category drop-down menu and select Asset Type. 5. Click the Repetition Category drop-down menu and select Location. 6. In the Table Data field, select which attributes to include in the table displayed below the chart. If no attributes are not specified, the table will not appear in the generated report. 7. (Optional). In the Values row, define an operator value to show in the report. For example, if you wanted to report on all asset values of 25 or less, select < = and enter the numeral 25 in the Values field. 8. Select the Show Filters check box to specify whether a list of the filters configured for the report will be included in the report. 9. Select the Show Non-Zero Items Only check box to include data with the number of assets greater than zero. 323

324 Working with Reports 10. (Optional) Add a report filter. a. Select the Report Filters tab. The Report Filters screen appears. b. Click New. The Report Filters tab window appears. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down window and select Model. d. Click the Report Details tab. 11. In the Report Details window, click Save. Your changes are saved. 12. Click Run Report to generate the report. The report table is organized by the categories selected for the report and resembles the following illustration. 324

325 Create Ticket Reports Create Ticket Reports Metrics determine which ticket attribute is used to calculate the length of bars or size of pie slices, and to determine which attributes are included in the table. To create a new Bar Chart ticket report: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports. The Reports screen appears. 325

326 Working with Reports 2. Click New. The Report Basic tab window appears. 3. In the Report Name field, enter a name used to identify the report. This name will appear as the report title. 4. (Optional) Click the Report Group drop-down menu and select a report group. 5. Click the Report Type drop-down menu and select Ticket Report. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. The Report Details tab window appears. 326

327 Create Ticket Reports 7. In the Chart Type row, select Bar chart. 8. Click the Bar Category drop-down menu and select the appropriate category for your report. 9. Click the Bar Stack Category drop-down menu and select how data to be stacked on the bar. 10. Click the Repetition Category drop-down menu and select an option to determine the category used to create multiple charts. For example, if you select Location Group, a separate chart (along with a table, if selected) is generated for each location group. Each chart is generated according to the settings provided for Major Category, Minor Category, and Grouping Category, but will include only those tickets associated with the Location Group for the chart. 11. In the Chart Metric row, select which ticket attribute will be used to determine the bar lengths or pie-slice sizes. 327

328 Working with Reports For example, if you select Tickets, each bar or pie slice will reflect the number of tickets for its particular category. If you select Avg. Open Time, each bar or pie slice will reflect the average open time of the tickets in its category. If you include a time metric, the time values will be labeled in hours:minutes format. 12. Select the Show Table check box to include a table of values in the report. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 13. Select the Show Filters check box to specify whether a list of the filters configured for this report will be included in the report. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 14. In the Time Range row, select the amount of time to include in the report. The time range applies to the date attribute specified by the Date Attribute for Time Range setting. See the tooltip for more information. 15. In the Date Attribute for Time Range row, select the ticket attribute to use when applying your Time Range selection. 16. Click Save. 17. (Optional) Click the Report Filters tab to add a report filter. a. Click New. b. The Report Filters Options appear. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down menu and specify the ticket attribute that will apply to the filter. d. In the Filter Type row, select how the values chosen for the filter will be included or excluded from the report. e. Select Inclusive to include tickets with one of the selected values. f. Select Exclusive to exclude tickets with one of the selected values. 18. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 328

329 Create Ticket Reports 19. In the Report Details window, click Run Report. Your generated report appears on the screen. The example bar chart below uses the following criteria: Bar Category: Day of Week Opened Bar Stack Category: Ticket Type 20. (Optional) Click Results to TSV to save the report in TSV format. To create a new Pie Chart ticket report: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports. The Reports screen appears. 2. Click New. The Report Basic tab window appears. 329

330 Working with Reports 3. In the Report Name field, enter a name used to identify the report. This name will appear as the report title. 4. (Optional) Click the Report Group drop-down menu and select a report group. 5. Click the Report Type drop-down menu and select Ticket Report. 6. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 7. Click the Report Details tab. The Report Details tab window appears. 330

331 Create Ticket Reports 8. In the Chart Type row, select Pie Chart. The Report Details window changes to only include options for pie charts. 9. In the Pie Slice Category row: a. Click the drop-down menu and select the appropriate category. b. Click the Show drop-down menu and select the appropriate number of items to appear in the pie chart. c. Select the Show non-zero items only check box to only display items containing one or more values. 10. (Optional). In the Repetition Category row: a. Click the drop-down menu and select the category used to create multiple charts. For example, if you select Location Group, a separate chart (along with a table, if selected) is generated for each location group. Each chart is generated according to the settings provided for Major 331

332 Working with Reports Category, Minor Category, and Grouping Category, but will include only those tickets associated with the Location Group for the chart. b. Click the Show drop-down menu and select the appropriate number of items to appear in the pie chart. c. Select the Show non-zero items only check box to only display items containing one or more values. 11. In the Chart Metric row, select which ticket attribute to use to determine the pie-slice sizes. For example, if you select Tickets, each pie slice will reflect the number of tickets for its particular category. If you select Avg. Open Time, each pie slice will reflect the average open time of the tickets in its category. If you use a time metric, the time will appear in hours:minutes format. 12. Select the Show Table check box to include a table of values in the report. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 13. Select the Show Filters check box to specify whether a list of the filters configured for this report will be included in the report. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 14. In the Time Range row, select the amount of time to include in the report. The time range applies to the date attribute specified by the Date Attribute for Time Range setting. See the tooltip for more information. 15. In the Date Attribute for Time Range row, select the ticket attribute to use when applying your Time Range selection. 16. Click Save. 17. (Optional) Click the Report Filters tab to add a report filter. a. Click New. The Report Filters Options appear. 332

333 Designing Billing Reports b. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down menu and specify the ticket attribute that will apply to the filter. c. In the Filter Type row, select how the values chosen for the filter will be included or excluded from the report. 18. Click Save. Select Inclusive to include tickets with one of the selected values. Select Exclusive to exclude tickets with one of the selected values. Your changes are saved. 19. In the Report Details tab window, click Run Report. Your report appears on the screen. The example bar chart below uses Day of Week Opened for the Pie Slice Category. 20. (Optional) Click Results to TSV to save your report in TSV format. Designing Billing Reports Billing Reports generate a table showing the total work time, parts cost, and labor cost accrued for a set of tickets. 333

334 Working with Reports To create a new billing report: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports. The Reports screen appears. 2. Click New. The Report Basic tab window appears. 3. In the Report Name field, enter a name used to identify the report. This name will appear as the report title. 4. (Optional) Click the Report Group drop-down menu and select a report group. 5. Click the Report Type drop-down menu and select Billing Report. 6. Click Save. The Report Details tab window appears. 7. Click the Category drop-down menu and select the category used to generate the rows in the report. 334

335 Designing Billing Reports 8. Select the Show Filters check box to indicate whether a list of the filters configured for the report will be included in the report. Otherwise, leave this check box blank. 9. In the Time Range row, determine the amount of time to include in the report. The time range applies to the date you select in the Date Attribute for Time Range drop-down menu. See the tooltip for more information. 10. Click the Date Attribute for Time Range drop-down menu and select a ticket date attribute to use when applying the values you select for the Time Range. 11. (Optional). Click the Report Filters tab to add a report filter. a. Click New. The Report Filters Options appear. b. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down menu and specify the ticket attribute that will apply to the filter. c. In the Filter Type row, select how the values chosen for the filter will be included or excluded from the report. 12. Click Save. Select Inclusive to include tickets with one of the selected values. Select Exclusive to exclude tickets with one of the selected values. Your changes are saved. 13. In the Report Details tab, click Run Reports. Your report appears in the window. The example below shows a generated billing report with Tech Group as the selected category in the Report Details tab window. 335

336 Working with Reports 14. (Optional) Click Results to TSV to save the report in TSV format. Creating Report Groups The Report Groups function helps organize reports and control access to report data. Report Groups control access to created reports sorted by Tech and Location Group. This ensures that each Tech is only presented with reports within their scope of work. To create a new Report Group: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports and select Report Groups. The Report Groups screen appears. 2. Click New. The New Reports screen appears with the Group Options tab open. 3. In the Report Group Name field, enter the appropriate group name. 4. In the Tech Groups and Location Groups rows, select the Tech Groups, Location Groups, and Department Groups that will have access to the reports. 5. Click the Included Reports tab. 6. Select the applicable Reports, and then click Save. 336

337 Building Report Schedules Building Report Schedules To further facilitate the distribution of reports, WHD includes the Report Schedules function. This function schedules and automates to report creation and distribution. To create New Report Schedules: 1. Navigate to Reports > Report Schedules, and then click New. 2. Enter a Schedule Name. 3. Specify the Interval values. 4. Use the Client Lookup widget to search for clients. 5. Click a client Name to add a client. 6. Optionally, add non-client and non-tech recipients in the Other Recipients s field. 7. Click the Tech Recipients tab, and the click Edit. 8. Select the applicable tech check boxes. 9. Click the Included Reports tab, and then click Edit. 10. Select the reports you want to include. 11. Click Save. 337

338 Managing Parts and Billing Web Help Desk tracks part inventory levels for locations set to store parts. To add parts to Web Help Desk, see Manually Adding Parts. To designate locations for parts storage, see Entering Locations and Departments. You configure tax rates in Tax Rates tab located at Setup > Parts & Billing > Rates & Terms. If you update your rates, tickets created prior to the update retain their original rate. To update an old ticket with the new rates, click Refresh Tax Rate. To add parts to a location: 1. In the toolbar, click Parts and select the Inventory tab. The Inventory Tab window appears. 2. In the search box, select the appropriate search criteria (such as part number and description) and then click Search. To list all parts leave the search fields empty and click Search. Your results appear in the tab window. 3. Click the appropriate Storage Location drop-down menu and select storage location. 338

339 Managing Parts and Billing 4. In the Add Count field, add the number of available parts. Note: To reduce the number of parts available, use a negative number. For example, to change the number of available parts from 6 to 4, enter Click Save. Note: When a part inventory reaches zero, the inventory status changes from Available to Back Ordered. To use parts in a ticket: 1. Click Tickets and then click the ticket number. The client ticket appears. 2. Click the Parts and Billing tab. The Parts and Billing tab window appears. 3. In the Part Search box, enter and select the appropriate information to locate the part. 4. Click Search. The Search Results box appears, displaying the location and number of available parts. 5. Click the inventory name or the number available to add the part. The part now appears in the Assigned Parts box. 339

340 Manually Adding Parts To remove defective parts from inventory, enter the number of parts in the DOA field. Web Help Desk will remove the cost of the DOA parts from the ticket and list DOA parts in a separate area in your billing reports. To remove an entire parts line item and return the parts back to inventory, click the trash can icon. 6. Click Save to save your changes. Using additional tools in Web Help Desk you can manage your parts and billing procedures by: Manually adding parts Configuring inventory alerts Enabling service time blocks Customizing your billing templates Manually Adding Parts To manually add parts: 1. Click Parts. The Parts List and Inventory tabs appear. 2. Click New Part. The New Part window appears. 3. In the Part No. field, enter a part number. 4. Click the Manufacturer drop-down menu and select a manufacturer. 340

341 Managing Parts and Billing Manufacturers and models are added at Setup > Asset >Manufacturers & Models. For more information about adding manufacturers and models, see Defining Asset Types. 5. Click the Model drop-down menu and select a model. 6. In the Description field, enter a description of the item. 7. In the Our Cost and Customer Cost fields, enter the appropriate amounts. 8. Select the Tax Free check box if this item is not applicable to state or local taxes. 9. Select the Inventory Alerts Enabled check box to receive an alert when inventory falls below a certain level. 10. In the Notes field, enter any applicable notes. 11. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Inventory Alerts The Inventory Alerts screen appears. 12. Click the Inventory Alert Interval drop-down menus and select the time and frequency when the alert will be generated. 13. Click Save to save your settings. See Importing Data for more information about importing parts. Configuring Inventory Alerts Use the Inventory Alerts screen to configure the frequency and recipients for all alerts for example, when your inventory threshold falls below your specified level for parts a client regularly requests. To configure inventory alerts: 1. Click the first Inventory Alert Interval drop-down menu and select a number from 0 to Click the second Inventory Alert Interval drop-down menu and select the appropriate alert frequency. 3. In the Default Inventory Alert Recipients field, enter the addresses of the default recipients who will receive inventory alerts. 341

342 Overriding Default Inventory Alert Recipients You can override these values for each location that stores parts by 4. Click Save to save your changes. Overriding Default Inventory Alert Recipients You can override the Default Inventory Alert Recipients values for each location that stores parts. To override the Default Inventory Alert Recipients values: 1. Click Setup and select Companies and Locations > Locations and Rooms. The Location and Rooms screen appears. 2. In the Location Name column, click the appropriate location. A new screen appears with the Location Info and Room Editor tab windows. 3. Edit the information in the tab windows as required. 4. Click Done to save your changes. Enabling Service Time Blocks This option allows you to offer support to your client locations based on predefined service time blocks. To enable Time Block Billing: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Options. The Parts and Billing Options screen appears. 2. Select the Enable Location Service Time Blocks check box and then click Save. 3. Navigate to Setup > Locations And Rooms. 4. Click Enable Location. The Enter Work Time As option appears. 5. Select the appropriate option to enable time blocks. 342

343 Managing Parts and Billing 6. Click Save. Notes: A message appears, stating that your preferences were saved. For an expired block, the usable value may be lower than the block value depending on how much time was used before the block expired. The amount of service time available for a location displays within the Ticket Details of a ticket under the location popup. If the value is negative, it displays in red. Customizing the Billing Statement Template You can customize billing statements to suit your needs by editing the invoice.html file located in the following directory: WebHelpDesk\bin\webapps\helpdesk\WEB-INF\lib\whdweb.jar\Resources\Invoice.wo\Invoice.html For example, if you wanted to remove the signature line, you could remove lines : <fo:table-row> <fo:table-cell number-columns-spanned="<webobject name=lineitemcolumncount></webobject>" padding-topp="10mm"> <fo:block font-family="freesans, ArialUnicodeMS, sans-serif" font-size="10pt" text-align="right"><webobject name = "SignatureLbl"></webobject>: <fo:leader leader-length="4.0in" leader-pattern="rule" rule-style="solid" color="black"></fo:leader> </fo:block> </fo:table-cell> </fo:table-row> After you delete these lines or make any other changes, restart Web to enable your changes. 343

344 Getting Client Feedback Surveys provide feedback from your client users. After you close a ticket, you can give your clients the option of completing a survey. The survey is at the top of the ticket and in the Help History page of the client interface. Automatic Surveys You can select a survey by clicking a request type in the Request Types screen located at Setup > Tickets > Request Types. When you double-click a request type, a screen appears where you can define the request type. To select a survey, click the Survey drop-down menu in the screen, select a survey, and then click Save to save your changes. For example, if you double-click Hardware in the Request Types screen and select Default Survey in the Survey drop-down menu, the client automatically receives the Default Survey for a Hardware request type. See Defining Request Types for information about defining a request type. Manual Surveys You can manually send out surveys to a group of clients by clicking Send Survey in the client search results header. After you submit a survey, you can view but not edit the survey. To view the survey results, click Reports and select Survey Results or go to the ticket detail panel and click View Survey in the ticket header. View Survey appears in the Survey Results screen after the client completes the survey. You can link surveys to a specific ticket for a single client, or send surveys as general questionnaires to a number of clients. 344

345 Getting Client Feedback Creating Surveys To create a new survey: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Surveys > Surveys. The Surveys screen appears. 2. Click New. The New Survey screen appears. 3. In the Survey Name and Description fields, enter the appropriate information for your survey. 4. In the Greeting and Thank You Message fields, enter the appropriate information. 5. In the Invitation Message field, enter the message text that will appear in survey invitations ed to clients. This information includes the client name and survey and ticket URL information. Use the following tags in the invitation message: Client name: <first_name>, <last_name> Survey link: <survey_linktext="click here."> Ticket URL: <ticket_url> 6. Click the Frequency drop-down menu and select a frequency for this survey. Frequency defines the rate at which the survey is sent. A frequency of 1 sends the survey for each ticket. A frequency of 2 sends the ticket on every second ticket. 7. Click the Max Invitations drop-down menu and specify how many times the survey is sent when the client does not respond. 8. Click the Reminder Interval drop-down menus and select the frequency that Web Help Desk sends reminders to the client. 9. In the -Reminder Subject, and -Reminder Message fields, enter the appropriate subject and message text to include in your reminder. 345

346 Creating Messages 10. (Optional). In the Competition Notification Address. field, enter a list of addresses that will be sent a notification each time this survey is completed. 11. Click Save to save your changes. To set the survey options: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Surveys > Options. The Survey Options screen appears. 2. Click the Default Survey drop-down menu and select a default survey for ticket request types that are marked for a default survey. If the Default Survey is set to None, no survey will be provided for tickets with a request type using the Default Survey selection. 3. Click the Default Max Survey Invitations drop-down menu and select the maximum number of survey invitations that a client receives by Click the Default Survey Reminder Interval drop-down menus and select the number of reminders sent to clients when they do not respond to a survey. 5. In the Reminder and Reminder Message fields, enter the appropriate text that appears in the customer reminder s. 6. Click Save. Creating Messages To create a new message: 1. In the toolbar, click Messages. The Messages screen appears. 2. Click Create Messages. A list of messages appears. 3. Click New Message. The New Message screen appears. 346

347 Getting Client Feedback 4. In the Message box, enter your message text. Messages can contain plain text, HTML tags, and inserted FAQ links. To include a link to an FAQ, click Link FAQ. 5. In the Audience row, select the types of users that can view the message. If you select Clients or both Techs and Clients, the message will appear as a public message on the login page. 6. Select the Specify Tech Groups check box to enable the message to appear to techs in certain tech groups. Leave the check box unchecked to enable the message to be visible to all techs. 7. Select the Locked check box to lock the message so all recipients cannot delete the message. Otherwise, leave the check box blank. 8. In the Start Date row, select the appropriate start date. 9. In the Expiration Date row, select the appropriate expiration date. 10. Click Search and then click Link. 11. Click Save to save and send the message. The message is sent to your selected recipients. Reviewing Survey Results Web Help Desk offers two ways to examine survey results: the Ticket Detail View and Survey Reports. Ticket Detail View shows the result for a single ticket. Survey Reports show ticket and general survey data and provide the ability to combine and sort results. View Ticket Details To view the results of an individual ticket: 1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. The Tickets screen appears. 347

348 Viewing Survey Results Reports 2. In the No. column, click the ticket number you want to view. The client ticket appears. 3. In the top left corner of the ticket, click the Survey View icon. The survey results appear on your screen. Viewing Survey Results Reports To view summary data on both ticket and general surveys: 1. In the toolbar, click Reports and select Survey Results. The Survey Results screen appears. 2. Select the survey you want to view. Optionally, select any of the other fields to narrow the scope of the results. 3. When you complete your selections, click Run Report. Survey reports are the only way to view the results of a general (nonticket) survey. Sending Ticket Surveys Web Help Desk sends ticket surveys for each closed ticket with a survey selected in Setup > Tickets > Request Types. Clients can access surveys by replying to the or by selecting History from the top menu. To send a general survey to one or more clients: 1. In the toolbar, click Clients. The Clients screen appears. 2. In the bottom box, click Send Survey. A list of options appears. 3. Select the check boxes for the clients you want to send surveys. 4. Select the Survey to send, and then click Save &

349 Importing Data To import data, configure Web Help Desk to connect to your network using one or more of the following tools: Absolute Manage Apple Remote Desktop Casper LANsweeper Microsoft SMS/SCCM Web Help Desk (using WMI) See Discovering Assets for information on how to set up connections with these discovery tools. The data import options let you import data in bulk, rather than manually adding individual items. You can import data using either predefined templates, or by using an asset discovery tool. Web Help Desk provides templates in three formats: Excel spread sheets, tab-separated variable (TSV) files, and commaseparated variable (CSV) files. Use template data imports for the following Web Help Desk items: Locations Clients Assets Purchase Orders Tickets FAQs Parts Inventory 349

350 Importing Data See Using Templates to Import Data for details on how to set up and apply Web Help Desk templates to import this data. Using Templates to Import Data After you set up your connections using the discovery tools described in Discovering Assets, you can import data from files in tab-separate-values (TSV), comma-separated-values (CSV), or Excel formats. Web Help Desk uses templates to ensure data files are formatted correctly. The first row of data in the file must match the template, which can be downloaded from each importer panel. SolarWinds recommends downloading this template and copying and pasting it into the data file. For all but the ticket import format, the import file format matches the TSV downloads formats available for each entity. A typical TSV template contains column headings similar to the following Client TSV template. The file downloaded when you click the Download Template button in, for example, the Import Clients page, can be reimported directly into the Clients importer template. Because ticket TSV downloads are typically used for reporting, rather than for making bulk changes, the columns in the ticket TSV download match the columns in the selected column set rather than the columns in the ticket importer template. If you are using an Excel spreadsheet to format the data and your data file contains Unicode characters, be select the MS Excel Unicode (UTF-16) file encoding option both in Excel and in Web Help Desk. To import data using TSV, CSV, and Excel template files: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Data Import. 2. In the drop-down menu, select an import type. 350

351 Using Templates to Import Data 3. Select a data format for the template. 4. Download the template. 5. Populate the template. 6. Import the populated template to Web Help Desk. The table below specifies the type of import and the fields required for the import. Type of Import Location Companies Clients Assets Purchase Orders Tickets FAQs Parts Inventory Required Fields Location Name Company Name, Manager Tech Username Last Name, User Name, Asset Type, Manufacturer, Model PO Number, Vendor Open Date, Request Type Category, Question, Answer Part Number, Manufacturer, Our Cost, Customer Cost Part Number, Location, Count When you populate the template, use the following conventions: To prevent failed imports, do not change the data order or delete columns in any import. Define all inventory import parts in Web Help Desk before you import your inventory. If the tickets implement request sub-types, enter the type and sub-type in the Type column and separate the type and sub-type with a semicolon. Do not use commas or currency symbols in your template. 351

352 Importing Data Exporting Data The following table lists the data types and corresponding export formats to use when you export your Web Help Desk data. Note: TSV file cells are limited to 32KB. Data Type Tickets Clients Assets Parts FAQs Export Formats PDF, TSV, and Excel TSV and Excel PDF, TSV, and Excel TSV and Excel TSV and Excel Exporting Tickets Export ticket data to a TSV format for export to other locations or applications. To export Tickets information: 1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. The Tickets window appears. 2. Click the gear icon and select Tickets PDF or Download TSV. 3. View and save the Tickets Report.pdf file to your hard drive or other location. 4. Save the WHD_Tickets.tsv file to your hard drive or other location. Exporting Clients Export Client information to a TSV or Excel format for export to other locations or applications. To export client data: 1. In the toolbar, click Clients. The Clients screen appears. 352

353 Exporting Assets 2. Click TSV or Excel to download a TSV for Excel file, respectively, containing a list of clients. 3. Save the client_export.txt or client_export.xls file to your hard drive or other location. Exporting Assets You can export asset information to a PDF, TSV, or Excel format and send the file to other locations or applications. To export Assets information: 1. In the toolbar, click Assets. The Assets screen appears. 2. Perform one of the following procedures: Click PDF to save your asset information to a PDF file. Click TSV to download a TSV file containing a list of assets. Click Excel to download an Excel file containing a list of assets. 3. Save the PDF, Asset_export.txt or Asset_export.xls file to your hard drive or other location. Exporting Parts You can export parts information to a TSV or Excel file to export to another location or application. To export your parts information: 1. In the toolbar, click Parts. The Parts screen appears. 2. Click TSV or Excel button to download a TSV or Excel file, respectively, containing a list of parts. 3. Save the part_export.txt or part_export.xls file to your hard drive or other location. 353

354 Importing Data Exporting FAQs You can export FAQs information to a TSV or Excel format for review or export the file to another location or application.. To export FAQs information: 1. In the toolbar, click FAQs. 2. The FAQs screen appears. 2. Click TSV or Excel to download a TSV or Excel file, respectively, containing a list of FAQs. 3. Save the faq_export.txt or faq_export.xls file to your hard drive or other location. 354

355 Customizing Tickets, Notes, Instructions, and s with BBCode When you customize your Web Help Desk user interface and related components, you may decide to highlight certain information in an , send a clickable link, or format an FAQ or request type's detailed instructions so it's easy to follow. Perhaps you need to highlight crucial information in an asset note so your coworkers won't forget to notify you when your system is updated. Some forms, such as ticket notes, provide formatting options in a small menu on the top of the screen, but these menus may not be available everywhere. To solve these issues, Web Help Desk supports Bulletin Board Code (BBCode) a lightweight markup code for formatting text. Originally introduced in pre- Internet bulletin boards, BBCode is widely used in many other types of software. BBCode tags use keywords encapsulated with square brackets ( [ ] ). The code has no formal standard, and you can find different implementations and variations in supported tags. Web Help Desk uses its own customizable implementation of BBCode. Below is an example of BBCode you can use in a Web page: [size=20]title[/size] [img] <p> Lorem ipsum [b]dolor sit[/b] amet, [urll= adipiscing[/url] elit. *** sociis natoque [i] penatibus et magnis[/i] dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. </p> 355

356 Customizing Tickets, Notes, Instructions, and s with BBCode And here's a list: [list] [*]Fusce tellus. Proin in tellus sit amet nibh dignissim sagittis. [/list] [list=a] [*][color=blue]faq link:[/color] [faq id=1] [*][u]faq link:[/u] <faq id=2> [/list] This text a mixture of BBCode and HTML appears in the following format: Web Help Desk stores transformation rules for tags in the following location: [*]Sed convallis magna eu sem. Maecenas sollicitudin. WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB- INF/Helpdesk.woa/Contents/Resources/bb_config.xml. The following sections provide addition information about working with BBCode to format custom information in Web Help Desk: 356

357 Applying Basic Formatting Applying Basic Formatting Creating Your Own Tags Adding Clickable Links Applying Basic Formatting Basic markup follows a simple structure: Simple tags: [tag]something[/tag] Simple parameterized tags: [tag=value]something[/tag] Complex parameterized tags: [tag value1="xxx" value2="yyy"] something[/tag] The following table lists the tags supported by Web Help Desk: Tag [code]your code here [/code] [quote]text[/quote] [quote=author]text [/quote] [b]bold[/b] [i]italics[/i] [u]underscored[/u] [list][*]first item [*] Second item[/list] [img]url[/img] [ ]address[/ ] [ =address]text [/ ] Description Embeds your code. Adds a quote to your text. Adds a quote from a specific author. Formats the text in bold. Formats the text in italics. Underlines the text. Creates a list using your defined symbols. Adds a hypertext link to an image. Adds a link to an address. Adds a pre-defined address. 357

358 Customizing Tickets, Notes, Instructions, and s with BBCode Tag [color=name]text [/color] [size=number of pixels] Text[/size]: [google]key words [/google] [google=key words]text [/google] [faq id=number] Description Adds HTML color names. Defines the text size by specific number of pixels. Adds Google keywords. Adds pre-defined Google keywords. Provides a link to an existing FAQ. You can also use the following HTML tags with BBCode tags: <li> <ul> <ol> <font> <br /> <p> <pre> <center> <faq> <hr> <strong> You can use the BBCode in many places in Web Help Desk such as ticket subjects, request details, notes, and custom field descriptions. Note: Most ticket fields support BBCode, but some fields (such as secondary fields in your account details) do not support these fields. Be sure to test the code before you implement it in your help desk operations. 358

359 Creating Your Own Tags Creating Your Own Tags You can easily create your own tags in the bb_config.xml file. For example, to use strikethrough text, simply add the following custom tag definition to bb_config.xml: <!-- S --> <match name="s"> <regex>(?s)(?i)\[s\](.*?)\[/s\]</regex> <replace> <![CDATA[ <strike>$1</strike> ]] > </match> </replace> To apply the formatting, save your changes and restart Web Help Desk. Adding Clickable Links BBCode can detect HTTP and FTP links, s, and universal naming control (UNC) paths, transforming them into clickable links. If you add a clickable link to a YouTube or Vimeo video, Web Help Desk can embed and display the video instead of the link. You can also disable this behavior. In the bb_config.xml file, you can disable embedding video instead of displaying a link by locating all rules with a name starting with auto-youtube (or auto-vimeo) and commenting them out with the following comment tag: <!-- and --> When completed, save your changes and restart Web Help Desk to see the link instead of the video. Below is an example. 359

360 Customizing Tickets, Notes, Instructions, and s with BBCode When you are working on an incident or writing an FAQ, you can refer to other tickets, referencing ticket 544 or terms like request, case, or problem. To make these references into clickable links that open the referenced tickets, write a simple rule. To write a rule linking to other tickets, add the following to the bb_config.xml file: <match name="ticketlink" alwaysprocess="true"> <regex>(?s)(?i)((?:ticket incident case problem request)\s*)([0-9]+) </regex> <replace> <![CDATA[ <a href=" helpdesk/webobjects/helpdesk.woa/wa/ticketactionsview?ticket=$2">$1$2</a> ]]> </match> </replace> Note: Remember to replace the URL with the link to your system. Entering case 22, automatically creates a link to case 22, as shown below. 360

361 361 Adding Clickable Links

362 Integrating with SolarWinds Products Web Help Desk v and later can integrate with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), Server and Application Monitor (SAM), and Network Configuration Manager (NCM) to create tickets from SolarWinds Orion Platform alerts. When configured and enabled, the Orion Platform sends Web Help Desk an HTTP request for a network change for example, a SolarWinds-monitored network node that fails for any reason. Web Help Deskcan be configured to receive and assimilate the alert and generate a corresponding WHD ticket to address the issue described in the alert. Configuring Orion-to-Web Help Desk Ticketing You can configure your SolarWinds Orion Platform to share alerts with Web Help Desk by completing the following procedures: 1. Enable SolarWinds Orion to share alerts with Web Help Desk. 2. Enter the SolarWinds Orion server link in Web Help Desk. 3. Configure alert filtering rules in Web Help Desk to recognize and process Orion Platform variables. 4. Test alert filtering rules in Web Help Desk. Enabling SolarWinds Orion to Share Alerts with Web Help Desk To create Web Help Desk tickets from alerts triggered in SolarWinds NPM, SolarWinds NCM, and SolarWinds SAM, you can configure any alert on any network change (for example, when a node goes down) in the SolarWinds Orion Web Console (for SolarWinds Orion Platform ) or the Orion Advanced Alert Manager or Basic Alert Manager (prior to Orion Platform ) to initiate a Web Help Desk trouble ticket. See the appropriate section depending on your Orion Platform version. 362

363 Integrating with SolarWinds Products Configuring Orion Alerts for Orion Platform Configuring Orion Alerts prior to Orion Platform Configuring Orion Alerts for Orion Platform If you upgraded to Orion Platform , the Advanced Alert Manager and Basic Alert Manager are deprecated from the Orion release. Alerts are now created and managed in the SolarWinds Orion Web Console. Additionally, Web Help Desk does not support the following new condition introduced in Orion Platform : To create, modify, enable, or disable alerts, use the Alert Manager integrated in the Orion Web Console. To create a new alert to share with Web Help Desk: 1. Log in to the SolarWinds Orion Web Console. 2. Click Settings. The Main Settings & Administration screen appears. 3. Under Alerts and Reports, click Manage Alerts. The Manage Alerts screen appears. 4. In the Alert Manager tab toolbar, click Add New Alert. The Add New Alert screen appears. 5. Follow the instructions on your screen to create a new alert. To share an alert with Web Help Desk: a. Navigate to the Alert Summary > Alert Integration page. b. Select the following check box: Integrate alert with other SolarWinds products and subscribers (Recommended). c. Save your changes. 363

364 Configuring Orion Alerts Prior to Orion Platform See Creating and Managing Alerts in the Orion Platform Admin Guide for more information. Configuring Orion Alerts Prior to Orion Platform If you are running Orion with a core version prior to Orion Platform , you can configure Web Help Desk alerts by opening the Advanced Alert Manager and clicking Configure Alerts. For more information about Orion alert properties, see NPM Variables and Examples in the SolarWinds Orion NPM Administrator Guide. To configure Orion to share a Node Down alert with Web Help Desk: 1. On the Orion server, click Start and select SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager. 2. Click Configure Alerts. The Manage Alerts window appears. 3. Select the alert you want sent to Web Help Desk and click Edit. 364

365 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 4. In the Edit Alert dialog's General tab, ensure the Enable this Alert option is selected. The Orion server sends the alert only when this option is active. 5. Select the Trigger Condition tab. 6. Click Add and then click Simple Condition. 7. Click the first asterisk * in the condition, and then select Network Nodes > Node Details > Node Name. 365

366 Configuring Orion Alerts Prior to Orion Platform Click the second asterisk * in the condition and select the node from which you want Web Help Desk to receive alerts. 9. Click Add, and then click Simple Condition. 10. Click the first asterisk * in the condition, and then select Network Nodes > Node Status > Node Status. 11. Click the second asterisk * in the condition and select Down. 12. Select the Alert Suppression tab. Make sure this tab is not configured. Otherwise, your system will not generate an alert to the Web Help Desk system. 13. Select the Trigger Actions tab. 14. Click Add New Action, select Send an /Page, and then click OK. The Edit /Page Action... window appears. 366

367 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 15. In the /Page Addresses tab, locate the /Pager Recipients box and enter the WHD integration address in the To field. Note: Ensure your network environment is configured to allow the Orion server to send alerts to the Web Help Desk integration account. Check with your Orion system administrator to find out which networks accept Orion server s. Additionally, you can test whether Orion can access the WHD integration server yourself. See Testing Orion Server Access to the Help Desk Integration Account for more information. 16. Select the Message tab. 17. Review the message and note any variables in the message. Consider adding these variables to the Web Help Desk alert filtering rules. See Testing Alert Filtering Rules for more information. 18. Click OK. 19. Click the Alert Sharing tab. 20. Select the Automatically share alert data with other SolarWinds products and subscribers check box. 21. Set the Severity level. 367

368 Configuring Orion Alerts Prior to Orion Platform The alert s Severity level passes along to WHD. In this example, the Severity level is Warning. 22. In the Properties to Include box, review the property names in the Name column. Properties in this example include: IP Address Object Sub Type Status Description Node Name Vendor Note: Web Help Desk uses the actual names of the properties as alert fields in rules it uses to filter alerts from Orion. 23. Click OK to apply edits and new properties. 24. Click Done to complete the editing process. 368

369 Integrating with SolarWinds Products Testing Orion Server Access to the Help Desk Integration Account After you assign an Orion alert to the Web Help Desk integration account, ensure that your Orion server can access your Web Help Desk integration account. If the alert is for an intermittent event (such as a failed node), the following test procedures may not be applicable unless you change the Trigger Condition to a reoccurring event. For example, if a node isn't down, the Orion server cannot trigger an alert. To test your Orion server access, create or edit a test alert for a fairly constant condition (for example, when a node is up and operating efficiently). Configure this test alert to forward to the Web Help Desk integration address. See Enable SolarWinds Orion to Share Alerts for more information. To test integration account access from your Orion server: 1. In the Alert Manager - Quick Start window toolbar, click Active Alerts. The Orion server processes and displays the alert state. When completed, the server sends the alert to the Web Help Desk integration account. Next, the Active Alerts tab displays the time when the alert was triggered. If the alert does not appear in the Active Alerts tab, a. Click Configure Alerts. b. Select the alert, and then click Edit. c. Check your alert settings and verify if the alert is configured correctly and the alert can be tested. For example, if the alert is configured for a down node and no nodes are down, you cannot test your Web Help Desk integration account using this alert. For more information about networks that transmit Orion server integration s, contact your Orion system administrator. 369

370 Entering a SolarWinds Orion Alert Source into Web Help Desk Entering a SolarWinds Orion Alert Source into Web Help Desk To retrieve and process alerts from a SolarWinds alert source, add the server link to Web Help Desk. Before you create a connection with a SolarWinds Orion alert source, ensure that the source is running SolarWinds Orion Platform or higher. If you need to edit connection details for a SolarWinds source, delete the existing source and create a new source. To create a SolarWinds alert source: 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select SolarWinds Integration > SolarWinds Connection. The SolarWinds Connection screen appears. 2. Click Add New SolarWinds Source. The Add New SolarWinds Source screen appears. 370

371 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 3. In the Source Name field, enter the new SolarWinds source name. 4. In the WHD Request Type.field enter the request type. Note: For more information about selecting and defining Web Help Desk Request Types, see Defining Request Types. 5. In the Server IP Address or FQDN field, enter the SolarWinds Server IP Address or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). 6. In the Administrator username field, enter the SolarWinds administrator user name. 7. In the Administrator user password field, enter the SolarWinds administrator user password. Note: To ensure WHD can access the required SolarWinds alerts, enter administrator-level SolarWinds account and credentials data into Web Help Desk. 371

372 Assigning Request Types 8. Click Test. The Server Settings Test dialog box appears. When Web Help Desk creates a connection with a SolarWinds Orion alert source, the checked areas in the window contain green check marks. 9. Click Next to continue. The alert source is configured. Assigning Request Types Web Help Desk creates new tickets from alerts it receives from the SolarWinds Orion platform. Each new ticket must have an assigned request type to define the ticket issue (such as /Outlook, Facilities, or Hardware) and assign the ticket to the appropriate department or tech. You can select a pre-defined request type from the pull-down menu or you can define a new request type. To learn how to define new request types, see Defining Request Types. Entering SolarWinds Account and Credentials Data To ensure Web Help Desk can access the required SolarWinds alerts, enter the appropriate administrator-level SolarWinds account and credentials data into Web Help Desk. 372

373 Integrating with SolarWinds Products Configuring Alert Filtering Rules Web Help Desk creates tickets from Orion alerts by matching the Orion alert contents and/or features to filters you set up in the application. To create alert filtering rules, apply the property names that exist in your system s Orion alerts. Orion alerts use any properties a SolarWinds administrator chooses or creates. Alert properties can have default names or other types of name configurations assigned by the SolarWinds Orion administrator. For a list of Orion alert variables used to build alert properties, see the SolarWinds Orion NPM Administrator Guide and the SolarWinds paper entitled Understanding Orion Advanced Alerts. The white paper explains how to customize Orion alert properties and provides additional information about Orion alert contents. After you set up the SolarWinds server in Web Help Desk (as described in Entering a SolarWinds Orion Alert Source into Web Help Desk) and gather information about your system's Orion alerts and associated properties, configure Web Help Desk to transform Orion alerts into client tickets. Understanding Rule Configuration Web Help Desk defaults to ignoring Orion alerts. To transform alerts into Web Help Desk tickets, select and define the appropriate rules so the application can recognize the alerts. The following table describes filtering rule types. Filtering Rule Type Matching Rule Rule Description Defines the characteristics alerts must contain for Web Help Desk to recognize and transform the alerts into tickets or ignore them. These characteristics include: Severity level, such as Notice, Information, Warning, Critical, and Serious Exact field name, such as Date, Alert Type, Operating System, and so on Operator (whether the alert field name or severity 373

374 Using the Rule Configuration Interface Filtering Rule Type Rule Description level contains, equals, starts with, end with, matches regular expression, does not contain, is not equal to, does not start with, does not end with, or does not match regular expression) Value, which can be any type of alphanumeric data AND/OR block Child Rule Complex Rule Specifies whether Web Help Desk accepts or rejects alerts based on whether they meet ANY or ALL Child rules in a Complex rule. Provides additional filtering on existing rules. For example, when an initial filtering rule transforms all alerts with a Critical severity into tickets, you can create child rules to transform only Critical severity alerts from Windows 2008 and Windows 2011 systems into Web Help Desk alerts. A set of rules that contain at least one parent rule (which can be a Matching rule or an AND/OR block), plus one or more child rules. Using the Rule Configuration Interface Web Help Desk provides the following interface for rule configuration. 374

375 Integrating with SolarWinds Products Begin filtering rule configuration by clicking either Add a new matching rule or Add new AND/OR block. Adding and Configuring Matching Rules Adding a new matching rule notifies Web Help Desk to match certain variables in alert text fields or a defined severity level. For example, if you click Add new matching rule, Web Help Desk displays the following screen. The Filters pane contains a new, unconfigured rule. Use the Configure Rule pane to configure the new rule to recognize or ignore alerts based on criteria you define. Web Help Desk provides the following filtering options: 375

376 Adding and Configuring Matching Rules Accept alert: Choose this option for Web Help Desk to recognize the alert. Or Reject alert : Choose this option for Web Help Desk to ignore the alert. if Severity: Select this option to match alerts by severity level. If you select this option, choose one of the following: o is equal to: Select this option to match alerts by one of the following Orion alert levels: Notice Information Warning Critical Serious Or o is not equal to: Select this option to match all severity levels except the one selected. If you select this option, choose one of the following alert levels to ignore: Notice Information Warning Critical Serious Or if Alert Field: Enter an Orion alert field variable. To further define matching rules, select from one of the following: o o o o o contains is equal to contains is equal to starts with 376

377 Integrating with SolarWinds Products o o o o o o o ends with matches the regex does not contain is not equal to does not start with does not end with does not match the regex In the Configure Rule pane, enter the alpha-numeric information required for matching. The following example displays a sample configuration for selecting and entering the data in the Configure Rule pane. In this example, Web Help Desk is configured to create tickets from all Orion alerts containing Windows 8 in the Operating System field. Note: For both the Accept Alert and Reject Alert options, Ignore case and Ignore whitespace are active by default. To ensure the best results, leave these options selected. 377

378 Adding and Configuring Complex Rules Adding and Configuring Complex Rules When you click Add new AND/OR block, the Configure Complex Rule pane appears, as shown below. Selecting Match any matches if any Child rule in the Complex rule matches. Selecting Match all requires all Child rules match for Web Help Desk to accept the alert and create a ticket. Alert Filtering Configuration Example In the following example, our goal is to enable Web Help Desk to create tickets for improperly-functioning network nodes. We want to configure Web Help Desk to recognize and create tickets from the Orion alert selected in Enabling SolarWinds Orion to Share Alerts, so the severity-level and condition properties used in the next example include Warning, IP Address, and Node Name. To define and configure filtering rules, using the severity Warning and the alert fields IP Address and Status Description: 1. In the Filters pane, click Add new matching rule. 2. Select Accept Alert or Reject Alert in the Configure Rule pane. For this example, we are selecting Accept Alert. 3. Select if Severity. Note: As explained above, you can find Orion property names by becoming familiar with the properties defined in your SolarWinds Orion system. Warning may or may not be a property your particular SolarWinds Orion system uses; it is only an example in this set of instructions. 378

379 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 4. Select one of the ten options from the pull-down field. For this example, select the word contains, because we want to filter alerts that contain a certain severity level. 5. Enter the Orion property severity level. In this example, enter the severity level Warning. 6. Select Ignore case and Ignore whitespace (treat multiple spaces as one space). Selecting these options helps ensure Web Help Desk accepts any Orion alerts in which the properties occur. 7. In the Filters pane, click Add new matching rule. 8. In the Configure Rule pane, select Accept alert. 9. Select If Alert field. 10. Select contains. 11. Enter Select Ignore case and Ignore whitespace (treat multiple spaces as one space). 13. In the Filters pane, click Add new matching rule. 14. In the Configure Rule pane, select Accept alert. 15. Select If Alert field. 16. Select contains. 17. Enter node Up. 18. Select Ignore case and Ignore whitespace (treat multiple spaces as one space). 379

380 Testing Alert Filtering Rules 19. Click Next. Notes: To change the order in which Web Help Desk applies the rules you define, highlight the rule you want to move and click Up or Down at the top of the Configure Rule pane. To delete a filter, highlight the filter and click Remove at the top of the Configure Rule pane. Testing Alert Filtering Rules Test your new rules to ensure they are filtering properties correctly. You can access the test function by clicking the Test button under the main page title. Properties come from the field names you defined when you configured rules filters, and these properties contain values. For example, you can configure a rule that accepts an alert if the severity of the alert was severe and you configure another rule that accepts an alert if the text in the Alert field condition contains the words node down. To ensure Web Help Desk accept alerts using these rules, be sure to test your rules configuration. 380

381 Integrating with SolarWinds Products To test your alert filtering rules: 1. In the Severity field, enter the following (from the previous page): Warning 2. Under Alert Properties, click Add new property. A field appears under Value. 3. In the new field, enter the following (from the previous page): Status Description 4. Click the right side of the Property row to invoke a new field. A new field appears. 5. In the new field, enter the following (from the previous page): Node Down 6. Click Add new property to invoke a field under Value. A new field appears. 7. In the new field, enter the following (from the previous page): IP Address 8. Click the right side of the Property row to invoke a new Value field. A new field appears. 9. In the field, enter the following IP address (from the previous page): When completed, the Test Alert Properties window appears. 381

382 Parsing Orion Alert-based Tickets Using Action Rules 10. Click Test. If you configured the rules correctly, a message appears stating that the filter rules match and the alert is accepted in the Test Results pane. Click Done. If you did not correctly configured the rules correctly, a message appears stating that the filter rules did not match and the alert is rejected in the Test Results pane. Click Back to resolve your configuration errors. Parsing Orion Alert-based Tickets Using Action Rules The following information offers an example of how to set up an action rule to parse SolarWinds Orion alert-based tickets. To set up an action rule on a ticket created from an Orion alert: 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Action Rules. The Action Rules screen appears. 382

383 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 2. Click New. The Action Rule Info tab window appears. 3. Select the Enabled check box to activate the action rule. 4. Click the Priority drop-down menu and select 2 for the Priority level. 5. In the Rule Name field, enter: Orion Network Issues 6. Select the Criteria tab. The Criteria tab window appears. 383

384 Sample Orion Alert-based Web Help Desk Ticket 7. Under Tickets matching ALL of these conditions, select and enter: Request 8. Select the Actions tab. The Actions tab appears. 9. Click the drop-down menus and select: Change Priority Low 10. Click Save. Your changes are saved. 11. Repeat step 2 through step 10 for Urgent / High / Medium priorities. Sample Orion Alert-based Web Help Desk Ticket Below is an example of a Web Help Desk ticket generated from a SolarWinds Orion alert. The fields included in the ticket are not an all-inclusive list. Web Help Desk ticket fields can vary, depending on the data included in the Orion alert. The field names shown below are examples of what you can use in the filtering rules. 384

385 Integrating with SolarWinds Products Note: Some of these fields are default fields that do not display in the Alert Sharing tab in the Orion Advanced Alert Manager. Below are some notes that appear in the Web Help Desk ticket from the Orion alert. 385

386 Embedding Web Help Desk into the Orion Web Console Embedding Web Help Desk into the Orion Web Console Once they log in to Web Help Desk, users can perform all Web Help Desk functions from within the Orion Web Console. To add the Web Help Desk interface to the Orion web console: 1. In the SolarWinds Orion Web console, click Settings. 2. Click Views and select Manage Views. 3. Scroll through the views, select the Orion Summary Home view, and then click Edit. 4. Next to Column Width, click Edit. 5. Change Column 2 width to: Click Submit. 7. In Column 2, maximize Resources. 8. Maximize Miscellaneous. 9. Select the Custom HTML option. 386

387 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 10. Click Submit. 11. In Resources in Column 2, click Custom HTML and then click <put in a picture or copy and paste the character>. 12. Move the Custom HTML to the top of the list. 13. Click Done. 14. Select the Home tab, and then click Summary. Your Home Summary view should appear as shown below. 15. In the Custom HTML resource, click Edit. 16. Change the title to: Web Help Desk 17. In the third box, enter the following HTML: <style type="text/css"> iframe { overflow:hidden; } </style> <iframe src=" Help Desk IP:port or DNS name:port" width="100%" height="1100px"> </iframe> Users familiar with HTML can alter the above as desired. 16. Replace the Web Help Desk DNS name:port field with the IP address and port number or the DNS name used to access the Web Help Desk console. You can find this information by opening a browser and navigating to the Web Help Desk console. Once you have navigated to the Web Help Desk 387

388 Creating Web Help Desk Link in NPM Node Details console, copy the URL from that browser window and paste it into the HTML replacing Web Help Desk IP:port or DNS name:port After you have launched the SolarWinds NPM Web console and authenticated to Web Help Desk, your Home Summary view appears. Creating Web Help Desk Link in NPM Node Details You can add Web Help Desk as a new resource to any NPM Node Details view. To add Web Help Desk link resource in NPM Node Details views: 1. In the toolbar, click Settings. 2. In the Views resource, click Manage Views. 3. Scroll through the views, select the Node Details view, and then click Edit. 4. Expand the upper right edge of Resources in Column Expand Miscellaneous. 6. Select User Links. 7. Click Submit. 8. In Resources in column 2, click User Links, and then click the double up arrow button to move the HTML to the top of the list. 9. Click Done. 10. Select the Home tab. 388

389 Integrating with SolarWinds Products The Home tab window appears. 11. Click Summary. 12. Expand the All Nodes resource until the individual nodes are visible. 13. Click any node to access its Node Details view. A blank User Links resource appears at the top of the right resource column. 14. In the User Links resource, click Edit. 15. In the Name #1 field, enter: Web Help Desk Console 16. In the URL #1 field, type the URL you use to access the Web Help Desk console. 17. Check Open in new window. 18. Click Submit. The Node Details page appears. NPM Node Details now contains a link to Web Help Desk. 389

390 Putting Web Help Desk on the NPM Menu Bar To add a Web Help Desk link to the Orion menu bar: 1. Click Settings in the upper right corner of the Orion window. The Orion Website Administration page appears. 2. Click External Websites in the Customize area. The External Websites page appears. Putting Web Help Desk on the NPM Menu Bar 3. Click Add. A New External Website dialog appears. 390

391 Integrating with SolarWinds Products 4. In the Main Title field, enter the name of the link to appear in the Orion menu bar. 5. In the Page Title field, enter a page title. 6. In the URL field, enter the WHD server s IP address in the following format: 7. Click the Menu Bar drop-down menu and select the Orion menu bar to access the Web Help Desk link. 8. Click OK. The External Website page appears, stating that the Web Help Desk link is added to the external website. 9. Click Preview to see your results and logon to Web Help Desk. Note: If the Web Help Desk Logon dialog does not appear and you receive an error, navigate back to Settings > Customize > External Websites and delete your previous configuration. Create a new menu bar configuration for Web Help Desk, following steps listed above. 391

392 Integrating with DameWare MRC DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) is a remote administration and troubleshooting solution that enhances your Web Help Desk solution. With builtin integration between both applications, you can: Connect to remote computers directly from help desk trouble tickets and asset inventory Troubleshoot and resolve remote systems directly from your system Save a history of troubleshooting steps to the client ticket Establish and save chat sessions with remote users to client tickets DameWare MRC can access and troubleshoot computers running a variety of supported operating systems, including: Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Server Linux with Virtual Network Computing (VNC) enabled Apple OSX with VNC enabled To Integrate DameWare MRC with Web Help Desk 1. Install DameWare MRC on all tech systems running Web Help Desk. See SolarWinds Product Integration Requirements for the supported versions. See the DameWare Mini Remote Control (Standalone) Evaluation Guide for more information. 2. Configure Web Help Desk to integrate with DameWare MRC. 3. Enable your techs to access and use DameWare MRC through Web Help Desk. When completed, your techs can initiate MRC sessions from within a Web Help Desk Asset Details page, connects the tech to the Asset. If the Asset is not 392

393 Integrating with DameWare MRC connected to the local network included on a Saved Host list, the Remote Connect dialog appears. From here, the tech can create an internet session or add the Asset to their Saved Host list. To maintain customer security, Web Help Desk will not allow you to access remotely any server in your Web Help Desk system without the appropriate permissions on the DameWare Central Server. Installing DameWare MRC When you DameWare MRC in your help desk deployment, ensure that the application is installed on the same systems techs use to access Web Help Desk. Web Help Desk provides seamless integration and direct integration with DameWare MRC with no requirement for third-party software. See your DameWare Remote Support and MRC documentation for more information. To ensure seamless integration with DameWare, ensure that all Web Help Desk request types do not include required custom fields. Using DameWare MRC When you start DameWare MRC, it opens in Web Help Desk Integration mode, allowing you to save information you collect from a remote support session in MRC to a Web Help Desk ticket. A banner appears during the session when MRC runs in Web Help Desk Integration mode When you close the session, you can save the following session details to the client ticket: Tech IP address Client IP address Session start and end time Session duration Session termination reason Tech notes 393

394 Configuring Integration Chat transcripts Screen shots Configuring Integration Techs must have DameWare MRC installed on the same computer on which they are using Web Help Desk. So begin the DameWare-Web Help Desk integration process by installing DameWare MRC on Web Help Desk Techs' PCs. For DameWare MRC installation instructions, see the DameWare Mini Remote Control (Standalone) Evaluation Guide. After installing and deploying DameWare MRC on the Tech PCs, configure Web Help Desk to integrate DameWare MRC. Note: You must be a Web Help Desk Administrator to integrate DameWare MRC into Web Help Desk. Follow these steps to integrate DameWare MRC into Web Help Desk: 1. Open Web Help Desk. 2. Navigate to Setup >Assets > Options. 3. Click DameWare Integration Links Enabled. Once you enable DameWare here, it is automatically enabled for all Techs in Web Help Desk. You can configure more granular access settings for individual techs in their profiles. 4. Select the Default Request Type. When you creates a ticket, you must specify the kind of help needed by selecting a Request Type. The Request Type determines which custom fields appear on the Ticket and which Techs is assigned to it. The Request Type also determines how the Ticket is routed to a Tech. The Request Type you select should be the type most likely to result from a DameWare troubleshooting session. For example, if you know you will be using DameWare to troubleshoot mostly hardware issues, select Hardware as the request type. For more information on Request Types, see Selecting a Request Type. 5. Click Save. 394

395 Integrating with DameWare MRC Configuring Tech Access to DameWare MRC After you install and configure DameWare MRC to integrate with Web Help Desk, you can configure DameWare access for each tech in the applicatoin To configure tech access to DameWare MRC: 1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select Techs > Techs. The Techs screen appears. 3. In the Tech Name column, click the tech that requires DameWare MRC access. The Tech Setup screen appears with four tabs: Account Info Tech Groups Location Groups Department Groups 4. In the Account Info tab, click the Edit icon. The tab window changes to Edit mode. 5. Scroll down to Asset Setup and select the Enable DameWare Links check box. 6. Click Save. The selected tech now has DameWare access. Launching and Closing DameWare MRC After you configure DameWare integration for tech access, launching and closing DameWare MRC in Web Help Desk is a seamless process. Help desk techs can launch an MRC session in Web Help Desk from a client ticket or an asset. Note: Each Asset must have a valid IP address in Web Help Desk. If an asset does not have a valid IP address, the Remote Connect dialog appears, prompting 395

396 Launching DameWare from a Client Ticket you for the Web Help Desk IP address and your Web Help Desk login and password. Launching DameWare from a Client Ticket To launch DameWare MRC from a client ticket: 1. Click My Tickets to open an existing Web Help Desk ticket assigned to you. 2. Click the Asset Info tab. 3. In the Ticket Assets tab in the No. column, locate the DameWare icon attached to the asset. For example, it could be linked to a Dell Latitude system. 4. Click the DameWare icon. The DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) console appears, stating that you are running in Web Help Desk Integration mode 5. Complete your session with the client. See the DameWare Mini Remote Control Reference Manual for more information. 6. Click Save Details to the Ticket. The Session Detail Upload window appears. Your session details are uploaded to the client ticket. 7. Click OK to close the window. The customer ticket appears. 8. Click the Ticket Details tab. The Ticket Details tab window appears. 9. Scroll down to the Notes section. 10. Locate your remote session details. These details include: Chat sessions saved in.rtf format Screen shots stored in.png format 396

397 Integrating with DameWare MRC Session details incorporated into the note. 11. Complete the customer ticket as needed. Launching DameWare from an Asset To launch DameWare from an asset. 1. Search for the Asset, as described in Searching Assets. 2. Locate the Asset in the search results and click the DameWare integration button next to the Asset number. 3. Troubleshoot the Asset as needed. See the DameWare Mini Remote Control Reference Manual for details on how to use the MRC for troubleshooting. 4. When completed, close the session. Closing a DameWare Session When you close the session, you are prompted for your WHD credentials. Next, you are prompted to select a ticket or to create a ticket to upload the DameWare troubleshooting information to. To close your DameWare session and save the session information to a Web Help Desk ticket: 1. Click Disconnect. 2. Save the session details, chat logs, or screenshots to the ticket. 3. Log in to Web Help Desk to save the DameWare troubleshooting information. Note: You must either have a ticket number or create a new ticket so that the information can be saved to Web Help Desk. 4. Select the ticket and click Use selected ticket to save the session details to the Web Help Desk ticket listed on the screen. Note: To save the session to a new ticket, click Create new ticket and follow the instructions in Manually Creating a New Ticket. 397

398 Closing a DameWare Session 5. Enter any information you or the client may want to refer to later about the troubleshooting session. To make this information available to Clients, select Make the session details and attachments visible to clients. 6. Click Save details to Ticket. The ticket updates (or new ticket) displays in your list of tickets. 398

399 Connecting an iphone Web Help Desk supports connecting an iphone to both standard, local installations and hosted installations. Connecting to a Standard Installation To connect an iphone to a standard Web Help Desk installation: 1. Navigate to Settings > Server and make sure the Configuration option is set to "Default" 2. Input the DNS name of the server on which Web Help Desk is installed. 3. Set the appropriate port is the default port number, unless it has been changed in the whd.conf file. 4. Turn on SSL only if it has been enabled in the whd.conf file. If SSL has been enabled in the whd.conf file, make sure the port option matches the SSL port. Connecting to a Hosted Installation To connect an iphone to a hosted Web Help Desk installation: 1. Navigate to Settings > Server. Make sure the Configuration option is set to Hosted. 2. Specify your Subscriber ID in the Account # field. You can find your ID in the Hosted Web Help Desk application at Setup > General > Options > Custom Login URL. Your ID is the number at the end of the login URL. 3. Set the Host to webhelpdesk.com. 4. Set the SSL option to On. 5. Return to Settings and add the Tech Username and Password to connect with and set up Notifications. 6. Click Done to authenticate the iphone configured in the Web Help Desk server. 399

400 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance If you run a VMware vsphere or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual environment, you can install Web Help Desk as a virtual appliance. The appliance contains the Linux version of Web Help Desk pre-installed on a CentOS Linux distribution. Extract the appliance files from the.zip or.dmg file to your desktop, and then follow the appropriate deployment instructions: Deploying Using VMware vsphere Deploying Using Microsoft Hyper-V Using VMware vsphere VmWare vsphere is a cloud computing virtulization operating system. You can deploy Web Help Desk on an appliance using VMware vsphere version 4 or higher. To deploy Web Help Desk on a vsphere client: 1. Start vsphere client and log on. 2. Click File and select Deploy OVF Template. 400

401 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance 3. To select the Web Help Desk vsphere-12.0.x.xxx.ova file on your desktop, click Browse, then click Next. 4. Complete the setup wizard. 5. Select Thin provision or Thick provision disk format, then click Next. Note: Thin provisioning is a space-saving feature. You can allocate as much space as required based on the value entered for the disk size. Thick provisioning allocates virtual space when you first create the virtual disk. 6. After the WHD-vSphere-12.0.x.xxx.ova deploys, and the wizard completes, click Close. 7. On the VM Summary tab, click the Power On link or right-click the VM name in the vsphere Client inventory pane and choose Power > Power On from the context menu. You can also press Ctrl-B to start the appliance. 8. Click the Console tab. This screen is similar to a virtual monitor. 401

402 Using VMware vsphere 9. To manage the appliance, launch a Web browser and navigate to the vsphere Client Console tab at the following IP address: The Virtual Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) login opens. 10. To login to the appliance for the first time, use the default login, admin. The default password is also admin. 402

403 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance Note: SolarWinds recommend changing the default password after your first login. See Changing the Administrator Password for more information. Using Microsoft Hyper-V This section describes how to install Web Help Desk using Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 R2 and later. To install Web Help Desk using Hyper-V: 1. Extract the contents of the Hyper-V.zip file to a permanent location. 2. Launch the Hyper-V Manager. 3. Connect to the appropriate Hyper-V server. 4. Click Action > Import Virtual Machine 5. Click Browse to select the extracted.zip file s folder. 6. In the Import Virtual Machine window, click Settings and select Copy the virtual machine and Duplicate all files. 7. Click Import. 8. Right-click the newly copied appliance and select Settings. 403

404 Using Microsoft Hyper-V 9. Confirm the network is set to Not Connected by default after deployment. 10. Specify the network settings the appliance should use and then click OK. 11. Right-click the appliance in the inventory, and then click Action > Connect. 404

405 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance 12. If you use DHCP for network setup and your deployment ends with deployment ends with "warnings/errors - No networking detected," see Configuring Network Settings to set up the virtual appliance with a static IP configuration. 13. You will need some or all of the following information: Virtual appliance IP address Network mask Default Gateway IP address Preferred DNS Server IP address 14. In the virtual console window, click Action > Start and wait for the appliance to start. 405

406 Upgrading the Virtual Appliance Note:SolarWinds recommends changing the default password after your first login. See Changing the Administrator Password. for information about changing your password. 15. To start Web Help Desk, launch a web browser and navigate to the URL shown in the Hyper-V Console tab. Upgrading the Virtual Appliance The Web Help Desk appliance upgrade is available for download as a compressed file called WHD-Appliance-Upgrade-ISO-12.X.X.XXX.zip. Use the following instructions to upgrade Web Help Desk on the vsphere or Hyper-V virtual appliance. Upgrading on vsphere To upgrade on vsphere 4.0 or later: 1. Save the.iso file to the computer you use to access the vsphere client. 2. Run the vsphere Client and then log on as an administrator. 3. Select the appliance currently running Web Help Desk. 4. Click the CD/DVD utility icon and then click CD/DVD Drive 1 > Connect to ISO image on local disk. 5. Select the.iso file and then click Open. 406

407 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance 6. Open a browser to the following URL: 7. Log on to the website using the following credentials: admin/admin 8. Click the Update tab. 9. Click Check Updates. 10. Click Install Updates and then click OK. Note: If Web Help Desk displays odd behavior after an upgrade, clear your browser cache. Upgrading on Hyper-V To upgrade on Hyper-V: 1. Save the.iso file to a datastore that you can access from the appliance running Web Help Desk. 2. Run the Hyper-V Manager. 3. Select the appliance currently running Web Help Desk. 4. Click Settings. 5. Click DVD Drive. 6. Select the Image file, and then click Browse. 7. Select the.iso file and then click Open. 8. Click OK. 9. Open a web browser window. 10. Log in to the Web Help Desk Management Console interface at: where ip_address is the IP address or name of the Web Help Desk server and 5480 is the port number for theweb Help Desk Management Console interface. 407

408 Managing the Appliance 11. Log on to the website using the credentials admin/admin. Note: admin/admin are the default login credentials. Ensure that the login credentials are correct. 12. Click the Update tab. 13. Click Check Updates. 14. Click Install Updates and then click OK. Note: If Web Help Desk displays odd behavior after an upgrade, you may need to clear your browser cache. Managing the Appliance The appliance is configured to use default settings, including time zone, IP configuration, and hostname. You must change these settings for the appliance to work in your network environment. The configuration process takes approximately 10 minutes. Perform each procedure in the following order to ensure correct appliance configuration: Setting the Time Zone Configuring Network Settings Rebooting the Virtual Appliance Changing the Appliance Administrator Password Note: Both vsphere and Hyper-V virtual appliances use the ssame interface once you reach the appliance log in, so the instructions for both machines are the same after log in. Logging in to the Appliance To log into the appliance: 1. Open a Web browser window. 2. Navigate to the following Website: 408

409 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance where the ip_address is the appliance URL shown in the URL shown in the Console tab. The Login screen appears. 3. Enter you User Name and Password in the appropriate fields. 4. If you are logging in for the first time, use the following credentials: User Name: admin Password: admin Note: SolarWinds recommends changing the default password after your first login. For instructions on changing your password, see Changing the Administrator Password. 5. Click Login. You are logged in to the appliance. Setting the Time Zone To set the time zone for the appliance: 1. Click the System tab. The System tab screen appears. 409

410 Configuring Network Settings 2. Click the System Time Zone drop-down menu and select the correct time zone. 3. Click Save Settings. Your time zone settings are saved and the new time zone settings appears. Configuring Network Settings When you configuring your appliance network settings, SolarWinds recommends using a static IP address. During the initial configuration, Web Help Desk expects an IP address that never changes and VMware network settings apply DHCP as the default setting. When DHCP is the default setting, Web Help Desk may lose connection with other products if the IP address changes for any reason. Additionally, ensure that the DNS forwarding entries are configured correctly for Orion Platform products and Web Help Desk so all connected software products can resolve the host name correctly (if you choose to use a hostname). An incorrect setup would be in the SQL tables for Orion Alert subscribers. If the entry for the Web Help Desk URL says localhost.localdom, the DNS is set up incorrectly and needs to be reconfigured. To configure network settings for the appliance: 1. Select the Network tab. The Network tab appears with the network status. 410

411 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance You can view current network settings or set the network address or proxy settings. See Configuring Proxy Settings for more information. 2. Click Address to set network address settings. 3. Click the IPv4 Address Type drop-down menu and select the appropriate type. DHCP. If you select this option, make sure the DHCP server or manual network settings sets a DNS server that can resolve host names for Orion and servers configured by host name instead of a static IP address. Static. If you select this option, enter the following information: Hostname. Host name labels may contain only the ASCII letters a through z (case-insensitive), 0 through 9, and the hyphen (-). Host names cannot begin with a digit or a hyphen and must not end with a hyphen. No other symbols, punctuation characters, or white spaces are permitted. IPv4 Default Gateway IPv6 Default Gateway Preferred DNS Server None 4. In the IPv6 Address Type row, select the appropriate IPv6 address type. If you select Static, enter the IPv6 address and prefix. 5. Click Save Settings. Your settings are saved. Configuring Proxy Settings To configure the proxy settings: 1. Click the Network tab. The Network tab screen appears. 2. Click Proxy. The Proxy screen appears. 411

412 Rebooting the Appliance 3. Select the Use a proxy server check box. 4. In the HTTP Proxy Server field, enter the proxy server IP address. 5. In the Proxy Port field, enter the proxy port number. 6. (Optional) In the Proxy Username and Password fields, enter the appropriate information. 7. Click Save Settings. Your settings are saved. Rebooting the Appliance To reboot the appliance and re-initialize all services with the new settings: 1. Select the System tab. The System tab screen appears. 2. Click Reboot. 3. In the reboot confirmation dialog, click Reboot. The appliance reboots. After the reboot, the Management tab appears. In this tab screen, you can: View appliance status Change your password 412

413 Deploying as a Virtual Appliance Refresh your view View appliance and application status, version, and time zone Restart the application service Restart the system s time synchronization network time protocol daemon (ntpd) Bundle logs to send to SolarWinds Support Changing the Appliance Administrator Password To change the administrator password: 1. In the SolarWinds Management tab, click Change Password. The Change Password window appears. 2. Enter the current password. The default password is: admin 3. Enter the new password. 4. Enter the new password again to confirm. 5. Click Change. Your password is updated. 413

414 Deployment Considerations One of the main deployment factors to consider is the number of concurrent users you expect your application to support. Another item to be aware of is filling up the JVM Heap Memory, which can degrade performance. See Memory Sizing and JVM Options and Clearing JVM Heap Memory for more information on these important deployment considerations. Memory Sizing and JVM Options Use an estimated number of concurrent Tech sessions to determine which type of deployment best meets your needs. Use Tech sessions rather than Client sessions, because Tech sessions use much more memory than Client sessions. Supporting Less Than 20 Techs For a 32-bit operating system, Web Help Desk uses a 32-bit Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The maximum memory that a 32-bit JVM can address varies slightly by operating system. However, 1600MB is a common maximum value. This value supports concurrent techs with no memory issues. Ensure you have enough physical memory in your Web Help Desk system to support both the 1600MB requirements for the JVM, as well as the server operating system and any additional services you run on the system. To adjust the maximum memory setting, edit the MAXIMUM_MEMORY option in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file. Supporting More Than 20 Techs To support more than 20 simultaneous Tech sessions, SolarWinds recommends installing Web Help Desk on a system running a 64-bit operating system and a 64-bit JVM. On a 64-bit JVM, you can increase the max heap memory to multiple gigabytes in size by editing the MAXIMUM _MEMORY option in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file. A 64-bit JVM is included with Apple OSX 10.5 (Leopard) and later. To enable the 64-bit JVM, add the following argument to the JAVA_OPTS option in the /Library/WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file: 414

415 Deployment Considerations JAVA_OPTS= -d64 For other operating systems, install your own 64-bit JVM (Java 5 or Java 6), then update the JAVA_HOME option in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file to point to your Java installation. Clearing JVM Heap Memory Web Help Desk deployments can fill up the JVM Heap Memory, which can degrade performance. To avoid this issue, periodically restart Web Help Desk to clear the heap memory. See the appropriate procedure to automatically restart the operating system on your system hosting Web Help Desk. Apple OSX Microsoft Windows Linux Automatically Restarting Mac OS X To schedule the Web Help Desk application for a nightly restart: 1. Login to your OS as root or admin. 2. Copy the following file to your /Library/LaunchDaemons folder: /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/ com.macsdesign.restartwebhelpdesk.plist 3. Execute the following command: launchctl load com.macsdesign.restartwebhelpdesk.plist 4. Verify that the plist was loaded successfully by executing the following command: launchctl list 5. To unload the LaunchDaemon, execute the following command: launchctl unload com.macsdesign.restartwebhelpdesk.plist 415

416 Automatically Restarting Windows The provided plist file is configured to restart Web Help Desk each night at 1 AM. You can change the schedule by editing the StartCalendarInterval property in the plist. See your Apple OS X documentation for details. The following conventions apply: This launch daemon works only with the standard Web Help Desk Tomcat deployment. WebObjects Monitor deployments use the Monitor tool to configure automatic restarts. When scheduling with the Monitor, make sure to clear Is Graceful, to force the instances to restart. Automatically Restarting Windows To schedule Web Help Desk for a nightly restart: Note: Depending on your Microsoft Windows operating system version, these steps may vary. 1. Click Start and select Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks > Add Scheduled Task The Scheduled Task Wizard appears. 2. Select any application to run. 3. Select a daily time to run the task. 4. Select Open Advanced. 5. Change the Run command to: net stop webhelpdesk. 6. Save your changes. To create a second scheduled task to restart Web Help Desk, follow the steps above, but use the Run command net start webhelpdesk as the final step. Note: Schedule the start at least one minute later than the stop command to ensure that the service has completely stopped before attempting to restart. Automatically Restarting Linux For Linux installations, create a nightly cron job that calls the stop/start scripts as root or use sudo. 416

417 Deployment Considerations Create the cron job using the following command: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd stop /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd start High Availability Deployments Create a high availability Web Help Desk deployment using one of these methods: Configure a multi-instance Tomcat deployment on Linux or Windows. Deploy on multiple virtual machines Monitoring Deployment on Mac OS X Use Mac OS X Server 10.6 and earlier included WebObjects. For later versions, use the instructions provided in Deploying on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). After installing WebObjects: 1. Run the Web Help Desk installer to extract the application to /Library/WebHelpDesk. 2. Run the following script to configure Web Help Desk to work with WebObjects: sudo /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/UpdateWebObjectsConfiguratio n 3. In WebObjects Monitor, add a new application named Helpdesk with the following path: /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB- INF/Helpdesk.woa/Helpdesk 4. Also in Monitor, add a new application named HelpdeskDaemon with the same path as above: /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB- INF/Helpdesk.woa/Helpdesk 5. In the instance configuration page for HelpdeskDaemon, add the following to the Additional Arguments setting: -DWHDDaemonMode=dedicated 417

418 Configuring Multiple Instance Tomcat Deployments Note: Only one Web Help Desk instance should ever be running as a daemon. After starting the applications in Monitor, you can connect to WHDusing the following URL: Configuring Multiple Instance Tomcat Deployments Apache Tomcat is an open source software product that creates both a Web and application server for your enterprise. The software provides a Web container that enables Java servlets and Run pages that support Java code running along with a Web server. You can run multiple-instance Tomcat deployments on Linux installations. Before you install Tomcat, perform the following procedures on your Linux server: 1. Download Apache Tomcat from the Apache Tomcat Core 7 website. 2. Unzip the files to a directory you create on your Tomcat server running Linux. For example: /cluster/apache-tomcat This location will be referred to as template_tomcat_home_ directory in this procedure. 3. In your <template_tomcat_home_directory>/bin directory, add the execution privilege to all scripts using the following command: chmod 744 template_tomcat_home_directory/bin/*.sh Note: This command does not apply for Apache Tomcat Core Download the Apache httpd server version for your operating system from the Apache HTTP Server Project site. See Compiling and Installing at the Apache HTTP Server Project Website for information about installing HTTP Server. 5. Install Apache httpd server using yum search/install commands. 418

419 Deployment Considerations 6. Install the latest version of SolarWinds Web Help Desk for Linux from the rpm package. See the Web Help Desk Admin Guide for installation instructions. The default installation directory is: /user/local/webhelpdesk This location will be known as <whd_home> in this procedure. 7. Start Web Help Desk. 8. Connect to the appropriate database. 9. Ensure that Web Help Desk is operating efficiently. 10. Stop Web Help Desk. Installing Multiple Tomcat Instances The following procedure describes how to create several Tomcat instances that point to the <tomcat_home>/webapps directory. These Tomcat instances will run as separate processes with their own long files, port numbers, and resources. 1. Copy the template_tomcat_home_directory instance to /cluster as a Tomcat1 directory. This directory will be referred to as TOMCAT_1_HOME in this procedure. 2. Add execute privileges to all scripts in the TOMCAT_1_HOME directory. Execute: chmod 744 tomcat_1_home/bin/*sh 3. Remove the <TOMCAT_1_HOME>webapps directory. Execute: rm -rf TOMCAT_1_HOME/webapps directory 4. Create a webapps soft link in the <TOMCAT_1_HOME> directory pointing to <template_tomcat_home_directory>/webapps. Execute: In -s template_tomcate_home_directory/webapps/ webapps 419

420 Installing Multiple Tomcat Instances 5. Update the TOMCAT_1_HOME/conf/server.xml file to avoid port conflicts. Update the default values listed below: <Server port="8005" shutdown="shutdown"> <Connector port="8080" protocol="http/1.1" connectiontimeout="20000" redirectport="8443" /> <Connector port="8009" protocol="ajp/1.3" redirectport="8443"/> <Engine name="catalina" defaulthost="localhost" jvmroute="worker1"> to the following values: <Server port="8100" shutdown="shutdown"> <Connector port="8200" protocol="http/1.1" connectiontimeout="20000" redirectport="8443" /> <Connector port="8300" protocol="ajp/1.3" redirectport="8443"/> <Engine name="catalina" defaulthost="localhost" jvmroute="worker2"> If these ports are reserved, use another set of ports. SolarWinds recommends having a consistent port numbering convention to avoid conflicts. 6. Update the TOMCAT_1_HOME logback-config.xml file so it points to a correct log directory. Execute: <File>TOMCAT_1_HOME/logs/whd-spring.log</File> <filenamepattern>tomcat_1_home/logs/whd-spring.%d {yyyy-mm-dd}.log</filenamepattern> 7. Update the catalina.sh script in the TOMCAT_1_HOME/bin directory to accommodate TOMCAT_1_HOME port changes in the server.xml file and modify activemq.broker.port to avoid conflicts. Update the script as follows: 420

421 Deployment Considerations -Djava.endorsed.dirs=TOMCAT_1_HOME/webapps/endorsed -DWHDconfig=TOMCAT_1_HOME/webapps/.whd.properties -Dlogback.configurationFile=TOMCAT_1_HOME/logbackconfig.xml -DWHDPort=8200 -DWHDPrivateBaseUrl= -Dactivemq.broker.port= Edit the Apache httpd.conf, adding a new worker. Update the default values listed below: <Proxy balancer://cluster> BalancerMember loadfactor=1 route=worker1 ProxySet lbmethod=byrequests stickysession=jsessionid jsessionid wosid </Proxy> to the following values: <Proxy balancer://cluster> BalancerMember loadfactor=1 route=worker1 BalancerMember loadfactor=1 route=worker2 ProxySet lbmethod=byrequests stickysession=jsessionid jsessionid wosid </Proxy> 9. Restart the Apache httpd service and both Tomcat instances. 10. Start Web Help Desk. Configuring Multiple Instance Tomcat Daemons You can configure multiple instance Tomcat daemons by editing the tomcat_ web_template.xml file located at: <WebHelpDesk>/conf 421

422 Configuration Options For multiple-instance Web Help Desk installations, use the following guidelines: Configure one instance to provide either dedicated or background daemon services. Having more than one instance provide daemon services can result in duplicate tickets and unnecessary use of system resources. Set the single daemon instance to either dedicated or background. Set the remaining instance to none. Ensure that all but one instance is running without daemon services. For example: WHDDaemonMode=none Configuration Options When you configure your daemon settings, use the following options: Dedicated. The Web Help Desk installation instance functions only as a daemon, and the login page is disabled. Background. The Web Help Desk instance functions as a daemon, but users can also log in to it. None (default). The Web Help Desk instance does not execute daemon tasks. To configure a multiple instance installation, set the memory, the Tomcat deployment descriptor, and the WebObjects daemon mode. You can configure only one Web Help Desk instance to run as the daemon either in dedicated or background mode. SolarWinds recommends running the instance in background mode so that it can be restarted when required on a more frequent basis than the front-end instances without interfering with the front-end application. For information on configuring the daemon, see the SolarWinds knowledge base article entitled How to Implement Large Deployments with Web Help Desk. Memory Allocation Allocate at least 256MB RAM to your daemon processes. If the Web Help Desk DaemonMode parameter is set to background, allocate an additional 256MB RAM beyond the amount allocated to other instances. This RAM configuration will support the daemon services memory resources in addition to supporting the application user interface. 422

423 Deployment Considerations For more information about setting the daemons required for multiple Tomcat instances, see the following sections: Set the Tomcat Daemon Set the Tomcat Daemon Memory Set Web Objects Daemon Memory Upgrading Web Help Desk Beginning in v12.3.0, Web Help Desk upgraded to Apache Tomcat v for improved security. When you upgrade your Web Help Desk software, the upgrade procedure replaces the tomcat_web_template.xml file with an updated file that includes the Tomcat v settings. Before you upgrade your Web Help Desk software, back up your current tomcat_web_template.xml file to an external directory. When the upgrade is completed, add your personal settings to the updated file from your backup file, and then restart Web Help Desk. For More Information See the following sections for more information about setting the daemons required for multiple Tomcat instances: Set the Tomcat Daemon Set the Tomcat Daemon Memory Set Web Objects Daemon Memory Setting the Tomcat Daemon To set the Tomcat deployment daemon: 1. Stop Web Help Desk 2. Open \webhelpdesk\conf\tomcat_web_tempate.xml. 3. Set the WHDDaemonMode (near the end of the xml file) for the instance type described above. 4. Save the file. 5. Restart Web Help Desk. 423

424 Setting Daemon Memory Setting Daemon Memory To set the daemon memory: 1. Stop Web Help Desk 2. Open the \webhelpdesk\conf\whd.conf file. 3. Change the MAXIMUM_MEMORY setting to MAXIMUM_MEMORY= Save the whd.conf file. 5. Restart Web Help Desk. Setting WebObjects Daemon Mode To set the daemon mode for WebObjects Monitor deployments: 1. Stop Web Help Desk. 2. Open the wrapper_template.conf file located at: \webhelpdesk\bin\wrapper\conf\wrapper_template.conf 3. Add the following parameter to the end of the # Java Additional Wrappers section: wrapper.java.additional.14=-dwhddaemonmode=background 4. Save the file. 5. Restart Web Help Desk. We recommend creating a separate WebObjects Monitor application for the daemon instance, naming it HelpdeskDaemon. Using this naming convention ensures the WebObjects adaptor does not attempt direct login requests intended for the Helpdesk instance to the daemon instance. Like the other application instances, the daemon instance should have its application path set to: /Library/webhelpdesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB- INF/Helpdesk.woa/Helpdesk Since the default daemon mode is none, it is not necessary to set the WHDDaemonMode argument for non-daemon instances. 424

425 Deployment Considerations Deploying Multiple Virtual Machines Multi-instance Web Help Desk Windows deployments can be problematic because the Web Help Desk service name and the embedded database are hard coded. This means that you cannot simply install a second instance to a different location. You can, however, install another Web Help Desk instance on another machine and connect it to the same database. When multiple instances are required on the same physical machine, they can be installed on separate virtual machines. 425

426 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases If you plan to use Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL as your database, install the database engine and management tools according to the product instructions. Once SQL server is installed, follow the instructions to configure SQL to work with Web Help Desk. Make sure the Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL database resides on its own drive. A Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL database does not need to reside on the same machine as the Web Help Desk application. The database drive must be large enough (at least 20 GB) to accommodate not only the database engine, management tools, and help desk tickets, but ticket file attachments as well. SQL databases store ticket file attachments as binary objects, which can take up a lot of space. Configuring Microsoft SQL Server Depending on your Microsoft SQL Server version, you may need to enable TCP/IP. To enable TCP/IP on your SQL Server: 1. On your SQL Server system, open SQL Server Configuration Manager. 2. Expand the SQL Server Network Configuration section. 426

427 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases 3. Click Protocols for SQLxxx where xxx is your version of SQL Server. 4. Right-click TCP/IP, and then select Properties. 5. Click Enable. 6. Click Save. 7. Right-click TCP/IP again. 427

428 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server 8. Click the IP Addresses tab. 9. Click the IP Addresses tab and ensure that IP is enabled for the server s network IP address and the loopback address. 10. Ensure that TCP Dynamic Ports is blank and that TCP Port is set to 1433 and the server s IP address is set to if it will reside on the Web Help Desk server. 11. Click Apply, and then click OK. Next, create and configure SQL Server to the Web Help Desk database instance. To create and configure your SQL database: 1. Open SQL Server Management Studio on your SQL Server. 2. Right-click the server name in the Object Explorer pane and select Properties. 428

429 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases 3. Click Security and ensure that SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode is selected, and then click OK. 4. Expand the Security folder and then right-click the Logins folder, and then select New Login. 5. In the Login name field, enter: whd 6. Click SQL Server authentication. 7. Enter a password in the Password: field, and then enter the same password in the Confirm password: field. 8. Ensure that Enforce password policy, Enforce password expiration, and User must change password at next login check boxes are all not selected. 9. Click OK. 10. Right-click the Database folder and select New database In the Database name field, enter: whd 429

430 Configuring MySQL 12. Assign that user as the owner. 13. Click OK. Configuring MySQL 1. Connect to the MySQL database server using the SQL Development pane of the MySQL Workbench application. 2. Select Actions > Add Schema. The New Schema window appears. 3. In the Schema Name field, enter: whd 4. Select utf8 - utf8_general_ci for the collation type. 5. Click Apply. 6. Click the Home tab and click on MySQL server. 7. Select Configuration > Options File. The Options File window appears. 430

431 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases 8. Click the General tab. The General window appears. 9. In the Networking section: a. Select the Port check box. b. In the Port field, enter: In the General section: a. Select the default-storage-engine check box. b. In the default-storage-engine field, enter: InnoDB 11. Click Apply. Your changes are saved. 12. Click the Misc tab. 431

432 Configuring MySQL The Misc window appears. 13. Select the init_connect check box. 14. In the init_connect field, enter: SET NAMES utf8 15. Click Apply. Your changes are saved. 16. Click Startup/Shutdown, then click Stop Server. The server is stopped. 17. Click Startup/Shutdown, then click Start Server. The server is started. 18. Click Security and select Users and Privileges > Add Account. The Server Access Management tab is highlighted, displaying the Login window. 432

433 Configuring Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL External Databases 19. In the Login name field, enter: whd 20. In the Password fields, enter and confirm a password. 21. In the Limit Connectivity to Hosts matching field, enter the host name for the Web Help Desk server. If MySQL is running on the Web Help Desk server, enter: localhost 22. Click Apply. Your changes are saved. 23. Click the Schema Privileges tab. The Schema Privileges tab window appears. 433

434 Integrating Apache 24. In the left column, select the whd user, and then click OK. 25. Click Add Entry In the Host box, select your host. 27. In the Schema box, select Selected Schema and whd. 28. Click OK. 29. Click Select All, and then click Save Changes. Your changes are saved. Integrating Apache By default, Web Help Desk runs on port If Apache is not required and prefer to run the application on port 80: 1. Stop Apache. 2. Set the DEFAULT_PORT variable in webhelpdesk/conf/whd.conf to Restart Web Help Desk using /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd start. To enable Apache to run on port 80, allow it to proxy requests to the Web Help Desk on port The application will appear as if it is running on port