Installation Guide Help Desk Manager Version v12.1.0 Documentation published: March 12, 2014
Contents Introduction to Help Desk Manager 3 Help Desk Manager Key Features 3 Do-It-Yourself Installation and Setup 3 Tool Tips and Help 3 Multiple Client Management 3 Automated Asset Discovery 3 Automated Email Notifications 3 Email Ticket Origination and Updating 3 Automated Help Desk Procedures 4 Change Control Processes 4 Before You Begin 5 Server Requirements 5 Server Sizing 7 Database Requirements 7 MySQL Requirements 7 SQL Server Requirements 8 Appliance Requirements 8 Installing the Application 9 Installing Help Desk Manager on Windows 9 Uninstalling Help Desk Manager on Windows 11 Installing Help Desk Manager on Linux 12 Uninstalling Help Desk Manager on Linux 14 Customer Support 15 pg 2
Introduction to Help Desk Manager N-able Help Desk Manager (HDM) creates a structured, consistent system for help desk processes and communications. HDM v12.1.x offers Enterprise and Managed Service Provider help desks a number of useful features, which are described below. Help Desk Manager Key Features Do-It-Yourself Installation and Setup Deploy HDM in less than an hour, using the easy-to-follow HDM Getting Started Wizard. No consultants or special equipment is required. Tool Tips and Help HDM has an extensive library of pop-up tool tips and context-sensitive and general help. To activate a tool tip, click the information icon to the right of the field in question. To activate context-sensitive help, click the help icon in the upper right corner of the active page. For general help, click the help icon at the upper right corner of the window. Multiple Client Management HDM manages help desk and ticketing processes for multiple Clients, allowing you to separate customer inventories, tickets, and processes. You can assign technicians, managers, and processes to one or more customers. Automated Asset Discovery Save countless hours of manual input. HDM discovers and synchronizes client asset information when triggered, or automatically, when scheduled. Plus, the ability to integrate HDM into N- able s N-central enables you to easily discover and import data on assets attached to that system. Automated Email Notifications HDM sends trouble ticket emails when a ticket is opened, escalated, updated, or closed. You control who gets email ticket notifications and the text of the message to each party. Email Ticket Origination and Updating You, your technicians, and your customers can open and update tickets by sending an email to the HDM system. HDM then takes predefined actions based on the email content. pg 3
Automated Help Desk Procedures You can set the procedures for each step of the ticket process from origination, dispatch, parts ordering, billing, and escalation through to closure, ensuring consistent service. Change Control Processes HDM contains per-customer change approval process change control capabilities, including roles for submitters and multiple levels of approvers. pg 4
Before You Begin N-able recommends reviewing the following requirements before performing an installation, upgrade, or migration: Server Hardware and Software Requirements Server Sizing Supported Web Browsers Virtual Appliance Requirements Database Requirements Server Requirements The following tables list minimum HDM server software and Installation Guidehardware requirements: pg 5
Software Operating System Requirements Windows Server 2003 32/64-bit, Windows Server 2008 32/64-bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, Windows Server 2012 32/64-bit, Windows Server 2012 R2 32/64-bit Recommended for installations with more than 20 technicians, Windows Server 2003, 2008 or 2008 R2, and 2012 64-bit OS. For trial purposes only, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 CentOS 6.4, 32-bit or 64-bit Red Hat Linux (RHEL) 6.4, 32-bit or 64-bit Fedora 19, 32-bit or 64-bit Note: N-able allows evaluations, but does not support production installations of HDM on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 environments. Web Console Browser Chrome 30, 31, and 32 Firefox 24, 25, and 26 Internet Explorer (IE) 8, 9, and 10 Safari 5 and 6 Note: Chrome v32 and Mozilla v26 are the latest versions of those browsers tested with HDM 12.1.0. Because Google and Mozilla release new versions of their browsers so often, testing WHD on the very latest browser is not always possible. It is likely, however, that HDMv12.1.0 will work with Chrome and Firefox releases newer than those it has been tested on. Hardware CPU Speed Hard Drive Space Mac Architecture Memory Requirements Dual Core, 2.0 GHz or faster 20 GB 64-bit Intel 3 GB (Add 1 GB for every 10 additional technicians) pg 6
Hardware Application Ports Requirements 8081 (or alternate browser port), 1433 (SQL) 20293 (embedded PGSQL DB) Server Sizing HDM manages help desk operations for networks of any size, from small corporate LANs to large enterprise and service provider networks. Most HDM systems perform well on 3.0 GHz systems with 3 GB of RAM. However, when you create a large number of techs, consider the hardware used and the system configuration. N-able recommends you add 1 GB of memory to the HDM server for every 10 technicians. Database Requirements HDM v12.1.x uses an embedded PostgreSQL database as its standard database. See Embedded Database Requirements for specific requirements information. You can use an external PostgreSQL 9.2 or 9.3 database with HDM v12.1.x as well. HDM also supports MySQL version 5.5 and Microsoft SQL Server versions 2008 and 2012 as external databases. See MySQL Requirements and SQL Server Requirements for more information on their software and hardware requirements. Note: For optimal performance, run the HDM application and the external database on separate servers. If you want to run a database HDM v12.1.x does not support, you cannot run HDM v12.1.x. MySQL Requirements The following table lists the minimum software and hardware requirements for the MySQL WHD database server. Software and Hardware Requirement MySQL Database MySQL 5.5 or newer, Community, Cluster, or Enterprise MySQL Workbench Tools CPU Speed Hard Drive Space Memory Dual core 2.0 GHz or better 20 GB 2 GB (+1GB for every 10 techs) pg 7
SQL Server Requirements The following table lists the minimum software and hardware requirements for the SQL HDM database server. Software and Hardware Microsoft SQL Server Database Requirement Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express, Standard, or Enterprise Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express, Standard, or Enterprise SQL authentication must be supported. SQL Server Management Studio Component. TCP/IP must be enabled. SQL Server Database Engine SQL Server Management Tools CPU Speed Hard Drive Space Memory Dual core 2.0 GHz or better 20 GB 2 GB (+1GB for every 10 Techs) Appliance Requirements HDM fully supports installations on VMware and Microsoft virtual appliances when the servers meet the minimum configuration requirements. Virtual server requirements are the same as HDM s Software and Hardware Requirements. pg 8
Installing the Application The HDM application installation instructions for Windows and Linux guide you through the processes for both installing and uninstalling the HDMapplication. For information on installing the appliance, see the Help Desk Manager Administrator Guide. Ensure that the computer on which you install HDM meets or exceeds the stated requirements. For more information about the kinds of hardware and software needed for installation, see Software and Hardware Requirements. Installing Help Desk Manager on Windows To install HDM on Windows: 1. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server where you want to install HDM. Notes: To avoid permissions issues, this account should not be a domain account, and it should not be subject to any local or group policy restrictions. If you are installing HDMon a Windows 2008 server, you must use the Run as administrator option when launching the installer. Quit all other programs before running the installer. 2. If you downloaded the product from the N-able or the Help Desk Manager website, navigate to your downloaded.zip file, extract the evaluation package to an appropriate location, and then launch the Help Desk Managerexecutable. For a Windows 2008 server, right-click the installer, and then choose Run as administrator. 3. If you received physical media, browse to the Help Desk Manager executable and then launch it. pg 9
4. Review the Introduction text, and then click Next. 5. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next. 6. Accept the default installation location or click Choose to provide a new installation location. If you have created a new folder for installation but decide to install in the default location instead, click Restore Default Folder to return to the default installation location for HDM. 7. Click Next to install HDM in the default or selected location. pg 10
Note: The installer creates icons only in the location you select. If you select a location other than in a new Program Group, the icons will not be available in Start > All Programs. 8. Choose where to place product shortcut icons. 9. Review the Pre-Installation Summary information and then click Install. 10. Click Done to complete the installation. Uninstalling Help Desk Manager on Windows Quit all other programs before running the HDM installer. pg 11
To uninstall HDM on Windows: 1. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server from which you want to uninstall N-ableHDM. 2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk and double click UNINSTALL.bat. 3. Enter y to deletehdm and its data. When application and data removal are completed, the uninstaller lets you know the process is completed. Installing Help Desk Manager on Linux The Linux HDM installation does not require appliance deployment. To install HDM on Linux: 1. Quit all other programs before running the Linux HDM installer. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server where you want to install HDM. 3. Navigate to your downloaded executable or to the physical media containing the executable, and run gunzip helpdeskmanager- helpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx- 1.i386.rpm or gunzip helpdeskmanager- helpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx- 1.x86_64.rpm. 4. Run the installer using the command rpm -ivhhelpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx- 1.i386.rpm or sudo rpm - helpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx-1.x86_64.rpm The installation looks like this on your screen: [root@localhost ~]# rpm -ivh helpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx-1.x86_ 64.rpm Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:helpdeskmanager ########################################### [100%]Setting up the Help Desk Manager to start automatically at boot...done.to start the Help Desk Manager, use '/usr/local/helpdeskmanager/whd start' Note: To upgrade an existing HDM Linux installation, apply the command -Uvh, rather than -ivh. 5. Enter /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/whd start to start the WHD application. Application startup looks like this on your screen: pg 12
[root@localhost ~]# /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/whd start Help Desk Manager 12.1.X.XXX Copyright (c) N-able Technologies, Inc. Using XX:MaxPermSize=256Starting postgresql-9.2 service: [ OK ]Starting the Help Desk Manager on port 8081... Using CATALINA_BASE: /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/bin/tomcatusing CATALINA_HOME: /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/bin/tomcatusing CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/bin/tomcat/tempusing JRE_HOME: /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/bin/jreusing CLASSPATH: /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/bin/tomcat/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/local/h elpdeskmanager/bin/tomcat/bin/tomcat-juli.jarusing CATALINA_PID: /usr/local/helpdeskmanager/log/.whd.pid[root@localhost ~]# Note: You can halt the application in a similar way, by entering: /usr/local/n-abletechnologies/helpdeskmanager/whd stop Stopping HDM looks like this: [root@localhost ~]# /usr/local/n-abletechnologies/helpdeskmanager/whd stop Help Desk Manager12.1.X.XXX Copyright (c) N-able Technologies, Inc. Using XX:MaxPermSize=256Stopping the Help Desk Manager... Stopping postgresql-9.2 service: [ OK ][root@localhost ~] # 6. Launch your browser and navigate to 127.0.0.1:8081. 7. Review the Introduction text, and then click Next. 8. Review the terms of the license agreement, and then click Agree. 9. Review the installation information, and then click Next. 10. When the installation completes, click Close. 11. If you will be using the embedded PostgreSQL database, click Continue. 12. If you will be using MySQL as your HDMdatabase, click Cancel and follow these steps to connect HDM to SQL. a. Clear the Use Embedded Database check box. b. Click the down arrow on the right of the Vendor list, and then select Microsoft SQL Server 2008+. pg 13
c. Enter the IP Address of the SQL server in the left Host field and 1433 in the Port field. d. Enter hdm in the Database and Username fields. e. Enter the SQL whd user s password, and click Save. f. Close the HDM web console. g. In the Applications folder, double click Stop Help Desk Manager. h. In the Applications folder, double click Help Desk Manager. i. Click Continue to initialize the SQL database and start HDM. 13. In the HDM web console, enter admin for the user email address and admin for the password, and then click Log In. Uninstalling Help Desk Manager on Linux To uninstall HDM on Linux: 1. Quit all other programs before running the Linux HDM uninstaller. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server where you want to uninstall HDM. 3. Run the uninstaller using the command # rpm -e helpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx- 1.i386.rpm or yum remove helpdeskmanager-12.1.x.xxx-1.x86_64.rpm pg 14
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