Table of Contents 1 Components: Web Server Components: SQL Server 3 Components: File System 4 Components: Other Components 5 Server Configuration: Pre-Requisites 6 Server Configuration: Running the Installer 7 Server Configuration: Licensing 8 Server Configuration: Upgrading 9 Security: Security Models 10 Backup and Restore Process 11 System Admin Tools 1 Emails in config Settings.xml 13 Other Tools Key Glossary Webliography
1 Each image in this handout is numbered. Each number relates to the item indicated in the left column. Components: Web Server Each installation of Intranet DASHBOARD contains two 1 separate websites. There is one website for your id installation and another website for id Search. id installation contains two separate websites in IIS. 1 Running search in a separate website helps make management of both systems easier and separate from each other allowing you to assign only specific people to manage search if you wish. Components: SQL Server Intranet DASHBOARD will create three databases on your SQL Server. The first database (in this example it s called id) is the main id database and contains a lot of the settings and information related to the core functionality and operation of id. Three databases are created in id. The second database (id-filestore) is the Filestore database. It contains any documents and all other files uploaded to Intranet DASHBOARD. This database will only be used if you have selected Database Filestore at the time of installation. The third database (id-search) is the Search Database. This database contains all the configuration settings, indexes and timers required for search to operate. 3 Components: File System A typical Intranet DASHBOARD installation comprises of four main directories inside the root level directory. These are: API Where the folders and files for your API applications are stored. Search All the files relating to Search are located in this directory. The Search Indexer Service also operates from this directory. Data The location which binary data is installed in the case where id is installed using a Local Filestore rather than the Database Filestore. If a Local Filestore is selected, it can be migrated to a Database Filestore at a later stage. The Data folder will remain empty if the Database Filestore is selected. wwwroot The directory which Intranet DASHBOARD s website files are all located (with the exception of Search). Note: Below the wwwroot folder are where the folders that store your themes, license file, log files and web.config are stored, which you may need to access from time to time. 1
4 Components: Other Components IIS and SQL are the two core components that are required to run Intranet DASHBOARD. Along with these, there are several other components that can be used in conjunction with id to enhance the user s experience of their Intranet. Active Directory Active Directory can be integrated into Intranet DASHBOARD to allow credentials from your Domain(s) to be passed into id to allow your users to login. Active Directory mode is set either during installation of Intranet DASHBOARD or through the Administration under Config Settings. SMTP Mail Server To send mail and notifications from Intranet DASHBOARD, an SMTP Mail Server is required to be configured. The mail server can be configured locally, on your exchange mail server or any other mail server software that uses the SMTP protocol. Proxy Server Some networks are configured so all internet access is routed through a proxy server which could potentially cause problems when using iframes, external images or other features that require access to the internet in Intranet DASHBOARD. Load Balancing When an Intranet is being accessed by many users at once it may require to be setup in a load balanced environment to increase performance of the Intranet. id can be configured to have multiple Front Ends pointing to a database server to separate the workload. We have more information on load balancing available on the support site. Firewall Most networks and servers are configured to sit behind some sort of Firewall. This may cause some issues if the Firewall has not been configured correctly. Virtual Environments With Virtual Environments and Cloud Computing becoming more and more popular, this is a question that often gets asked. Intranet DASHBOARD will quite comfortably run in a virtual environment as long as enough resources are assigned to that virtual machine. Another issue that can occasionally occur when using a cloud/virtual environment is if the hardware or MAC address of the virtual machine changes from time to time as this can invalidate the id license file. Commonly use ports that should be unblocked for an Intranet DASHBOARD server should be: HTTP: 80 HTTPs: 443 SMTP: 5 id allows you to configure the network proxy server in Config Settings to overcome most proxy server related issues.
5 Server Configuration: Pre-Requisites Intranet DASHBOARD requires Windows Server 01, Windows Server 008 R, 008 or 003, MS SQL 005+ and.net. A full guide to Intranet DASHBOARD pre-requisites and requirements is available on the id Help Site. http://help.intranetdashboard.com 6 Server Configuration: Running the Installer The process of running the Intranet DASHBOARD installer will take you through several steps. The installer will: Checking and configuring pre-requisites. Configure the id instance and install location. Configure the databases and SQL server. Configure the Filestore type. id and Search websites. Security Mode. Site Details. If during the installation process it fails, you will be notified of the error and given the option to send the error log through to our support team as to why it failed. Along with this a copy of the id install log is copied to the directory %temp%/id/. Some common problems that can occur during the installation process that may cause it to fail are: Missing one or more required pre-requisites. SQL Administrator details do not have the required privileges to complete the installation. Selected SQL User password does not meet the required password security policy. Generally these problems can be resolved by re-running the installer with the required changes, for the installation to complete successfully. In the case there is a more serious issue (the install log displays a programming error or exception) and won t complete, you will need to contact us to gain assistance from our support team to resolve the issue. After the installer has completed successfully you ll be presented with a summary of information which will allow you to access* the Intranet. *Please Note: DNS details or host headers may need to be configured first before you can access the Intranet. Technical Specifications: Technical guidelines provided to enable your organization to accommodate id: http://help.intranetdashboard.com/guides/tech_specs/technicalspecifications.html 3
7 Server Configuration: Licensing Once Intranet DASHBOARD has been installed it will need to be licensed. The licensing process is an easy to follow process. To license Intranet DASHBOARD, follow the steps below: Navigate to your id installation s wwwroot\bin directory. Check that no existing core.lic files exist. If they do, delete it completely. Download your new license file from the id Client Portal into the bin directory. Load up your web browser and navigate to your Intranet DASHBOARD installation, which will then allow you to activate your license by clicking on a link. id should now be successfully activated. If you receive an error message stating you have an invalid or missing license, the reason may be one of the following: The license has been previously activated on another computer. You will need to contact support and request for the license to be re-issued. The license file has become corrupted or is missing data. This usually occurs when the license hasn t been saved correctly or the existing license file has been overwritten. This can be fixed by downloading the license again. Try copying the text out of the new license file and into the old one, replacing the existing text in the license file. Intranet DASHBOARD does not have the correct permissions to access the license file. Ensure that the license file is inheriting the file and folder permissions from the parent folder. In the case where the server you are trying to activate Intranet DASHBOARD on does not have an internet connection, you can activate manually by following the manual activation instructions provided in your id installation. 8 Server Configuration: Upgrading To upgrade Intranet DASHBOARD, clients will need to have 4 their subscription up to date. Updates for Intranet DASHBOARD can be downloaded via id Client Portal under Software Upgrades. When upgrading, although the Upgrade takes a backup of your web files and databases, it is also a good idea to ensure you have separate backups to these as well. There may be unique instructions for each Upgrade which need to be followed; these are generally available on the support website with each Upgrade. 4 Client Portal: Software Upgrades 4
99 Security: Security Modes There are four different security modes in Intranet DASHBOARD. They can be used separately or can be combined through the use of IP Based Security: Login When changing to Login security mode, this will prompt users to enter a username and password to log into id. This is most commonly used in an environment where a company does not have Active Directory or wants to use Intranet DASHBOARD in an Extranet Configuration (combined with the use of IP Based Security) and requires all users to be manually created in the admin system. 5 Configure your AD. Login On Demand Similar to Login mode users are created by the administrators although by default all users are given access to all parts of the intranet. At any time a user can Login with their details and then access secure areas restricted to their login account. Active Directory Active Directory security will verify on the first request to the server that a client is part of your Active Directory domain and save a record of their AD login credentials (e.g. DOMAIN\username) for limiting access to certain parts of the site. Please note that you must have an AD domain, your web server must be a member of the domain and clients must also belong to the domain for Active Directory security to work. Configuring Active Directory 5 There are three main things that need to be configured when setting up Active Directory. These details will be: AD Servers. Global Catalog Server (option). Primary Server Connection Details Applying Restrictions The restrictions tab allows you to configure restrictions for Active Directory s integration in Intranet DASHBOARD. This is particularly useful for hiding certain things from queries that id makes to Active Directory. Trust Domains In some situations a company may have multiple domains in their Active Directory Forest which have been joined together through a trust. To ensure that users from all these domains can successfully authenticate into Intranet DASHBOARD, you will need to configure these domains in id. Configuring the trusted domains in id simply requires you to provide the domain details and AD server that controls this domain. 5
10 Backup and Restore Process When backing up Intranet DASHBOARD, there are a few difference components of the software that need to be backed up to ensure that id can be restored successfully in the case of disaster recovery or to complete a migration to another server successfully. The different components that need to be backed up are: Intranet DASHBOARD application and Search files. All id databases. In the case of disaster recovery where the Intranet DASHBOARD files or database may become corrupted, after diagnosing the situation and determining what needs to be restored, you can simply restore your databases and/or web application files. Where you are required to perform a full server migration, the instructions available on our help site should be followed to ensure a successful migration. Where a server migration is carried out, the client s Intranet DASHBOARD licenses will need to be re-issued after completing the migration as they will not work on any other servers once activated. Backup and Restore Guide Provides instructions to backup, restore and migrate your id installation. http://help.intranetdashboard.com/guides/technicalguides/backuprestoreguide.html 6
11 System Admin Tools Event Log Event log allows you to keep track of any changes that have occurred in the system. It also keeps record of failed login attempts to your Intranet s administration. Error Manager Error Manager shows and keeps record of any errors that have occurred in the Intranet installation. By monitoring this log is will enable you to see where any majors have occurred and also assist in troubleshooting and resolving issues that any of the intranet users may be experiencing. Audit Log The Audit Log keeps track of any changes that occur within Intranet DASHBOARD and who made those changes. The audit log is a so useful to assist in troubleshooting where you may need to find who performed certain actions within id. Config Settings Config Settings contain the settings that control the Core of Intranet DASHBOARD. Most of these settings work as set and forget, once they are set you will rarely need to change them again. IP Based Security IP Based Security can be used to apply different security modes to your Intranet depending on where it is being accessed from. You can use IP Based Security to for scenario such as below: All users that are working in the office need to log into your Intranet using their Active Directory Details. Any user accessing your Intranet externally to your office need to access the Intranet, but are required to login. All requests to the extranet are go directly to the web server within the DMZ on your network, but still has access to active directory. In this case, you would setup Intranet DASHBOARD to have a primary security mode of login, and then configure IP Based Security for the IP Subnet of their Office. Another scenario that may occur, similar to above is: All users that are working in the office need to log into your Intranet using their Active Directory Details Any user accessing your Intranet externally to your office need to access the Intranet, but are required to login. All requests to the extranet are forwarded to id server via a firewall with forwarding. The difference between this scenario and the first one is the way the requests to the extranet are handled. In this case we would set id to use Active Directory as the primary security mode and configure IP Based Security to use Login mode of the IP address that the firewall sends in its request to the web server. Single Sign On Single Sign-on can be used to integrate Intranet DASHBOARD into your other web applications. This enables id to be the gateway to all other web applications and systems that may be running in the organisation (such as a webmail interface). We have guides available on the Support Site and Partner Portal that provide more information on implementing Single Sign-on into your intranet and other web based applications. Config Settings Define the way id is set up. http://help.intranetdashboard.com/systemadmin/utilities/config_settings/configsettings.html IP Based Security Set a different front end security mode depending on the IP address of the users accessing the site http://help.intranetdashboard.com/systemadmin/utilities/ipbased_security_settings/ IPBasedSecuritySettings.html 7
1 Emails in config Settings.xml Intranet DASHBOARD sends emails out to users which can be from notifications to welcome emails. These email messages can be configured to how you want them to be. To customize an email message, navigate to the wwwroot\cfr\ folder of your Intranet DASHBOARD installation. With the folder is a file called configsettings.xml which you can open and edit in a text editor 13 Other Tools Webframes and Developing Custom Apps Webframes can be used to integrate other web applications and develop your own applications for use with Intranet DASHBOARD. Details from Single Sign-on can also be used when integrating web based applications through a Webframe. Webframes can be configured in id CMS as a Webpage Frame or be integrated into part of the layout of Intranet DASHBOARD through Layout Manager. Custom applications can be developed in the id API and integrated either as a component in id CMS, by being placed into an iframe on accessed as an application in the software. Our API documentation explains further how to develop and integrate your own custom applications or other systems into id. 8