Installation

This chapter describes the workflow to install the system for the first time. If you want to upgrade the system from a legacy version, please follow the procedure described in the chapter Upgrade.

Admin

For information on how to install ALVAO Admin, please refer to the ALVAO Asset Management book, chapter Initial Installation – Admin.

Portal

The Portal is a web-based interface that users use to log and to monitor the status of their requests.

Installation Instructions

1. Make sure that the IIS Intranet Server is installed on the machine where you want to install the Portal.
2. If you want to install the Portal on a machine running IIS version 7, it is necessary to make sure that the IIS 6 Compatibility Pack is installed before you continue with the Portal installation.
3. We recommend that you install the "ALVAO AppPool" application pool on ISS. Please click here for more information. This step is not required to run the application, but when installed, the application pool will speed up the process of loading the web portal. If you don't want to create the "ALVAO AppPool", please skip to Step 4.
4. Log in as an administrator and run the AlvaoServiceDeskPortal.msi installation service.
5. Select ALVAO AppPool application pool during the installation process. If you didn't create the AppPool in Step 3, select Classic .NET AppPool.
6. The installation program creates a local folder (<InetPub>\wwwroot\ServiceDesk), as well as a virtual directory in IIS (ServiceDesk).

Setting Up the Portal

For the Portal to work correctly, it is necessary to set up the authentication of user credentials. The Portal supports Windows and Forms authentication. Select the required authentication method in IIS. We recommend using Windows authentication.

As the next step, it will be necessary to set up correct connection to the ServiceDesk SQL database. Open the IIS Administrator and select the ServiceDesk application. Go to the settings, click on the Connection Strings icon, click on the "Db" string and set up the path to the correct SQL Server where you created a database with ALVAO Admin (the default path is localhost and the default database name is Alvao). You can use e.g. localhost\SQLEXPRESS for the SQL Server and Alvao for the database.

The Portal configuration is stored in the Web.config file in the Portal installation folder. You can edit this file manually in any text editor.

Enabling IIS Access to Database

As the next step, it will be necessary to allow the IIS server the database access. Open SQL Server Management Studio (Express), which is a part of the SQL Server installation, go to the Security – Logins folder and enable the access for the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account (if you didn't create the AppPool in Step 3, enable the access for IIS APPPOOL\Classic .NET AppPool) to the Alvao database with the permissions public, db_datareader, and db_datawriter. If, while connecting to the database, a database opening error message is displayed, enable access in the Security – Logins folder on the SQL Server for the account displayed in the error message.

WebService

The WebService is a part of the system for sending notifications.

Installation Instructions

1. You can start the installation by running the AlvaoServiceDeskWebService.msi installation service.
2. The installation steps are identical to those in the Portal installation: see above.
3. Once the WebService has been installed, configure the "web.config" file. Open the file in Windows Notepad.
4. Go to the line
   <connectionStrings>
      <add name="Db" connectionString="Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=Alvao;Integrated Security=True;Current Language=Czech"  providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
   </connectionStrings>
   and set up the database connection. The connection string has the same format as in the "web.config" file in the Portal settings.
5. Open the Internet Information Service Administrator tool
6. Select the web site in the tree where the WebService is installed; the name of this item is usually "Default Web Site"
7. Select the Configuration Editor tool. This tool is located in the Administration section.
8. Select the section system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication.
9. Click on "Unlock section" in the column on the right
10. Select the section system.webServer/security/authentication/anonymousAuthentication
11. Click on "Unlock section" in the column on the right
12. Run the Admin program.
13. Go to the menu and select Manage – ServiceDesk – Settings. Enter the path for ServiceDeskWebService (URL) to the "ServiceDeskwebservice.asmx" file. Example:
    http://server/ServiceDeskwebservice/ServiceDeskwebservice.asmx

Disabling Authentication

1. Open the file web.config located in the WebService installation folder.
2. Find the <authentication> section
3. Delete any content between the <authentication> and </authentication> tags.

MailboxReader

The purpose of the MailboxReader component is to load new requests from mailboxes on the MS Exchange Server and to save them to the ServiceDesk database automatically.

Installation Instructions

1. Launch the AlvaoServiceDeskMailboxReader.msi installation service.
2. The installation service will install the MailboxReader to the %Program Files%\ALVAO\ServiceDesk MailboxReader folder.
3. Once the installation has been completed, go to this folder and open the "MailboxReader.exe.config" file in Windows Notepad.
4. Go to the line
   <connectionStrings>
      <add name="Alvao.Hd.MailboxReader.Properties.Settings.Db" connectionString="Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=Alvao;Integrated Security=True;Current Language=Czech"  providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
   </connectionStrings>
   and set up the database connection. The connection string has the same format as in the "web.config" file in the Portal settings.
5. Run the Admin program and go to the Services view.
6. Double-click the service to which you want to download new requests from the mailbox.
7. Go to the Loading messages tab and enter the connection details to the IMAP, EWS or WebDAV server.
   The connection over the EWS (Exchange Web Service) interface is intended only for MS Exchange Server 2007. The URI uses the following format: "http://server/ews/exchange.asmx".
   The connection over the WebDAV interface is intended only for MS Exchange Server 2003. The URI uses the following format: "http://server/exchange/support/Inbox" for the mailbox of the user "support".
8. Go to the Basic tab and enter the mailbox e-mail address in the E-mail field. The e-mail address can be entered including a name, e.g. "ServiceDesk" <support@company.local>".
9. You can use this process to set up message retrieval for multiple services. Each service has to use a different mailbox.
10. Go to the SQL Server and set up the permissions for the user account which will be used to run the MailboxReader. The permissions need to be set up to access the MS Exchange mailbox too.
11. Run the "MailboxReader.exe" program. The program has to be run from a local drive. (Only the MailboxReader.exe and MailboxReader.exe.config files are required to run the program.)
12. Once you have verified that the MailboxReader is running correctly, you can run it as a service. Go to My Computer – Services, right-click on the ALVAO MailboxReader service and select Start from the context menu. This will start the MailboxReader service.

Console

Installation Instructions

1. Launch the AlvaoServiceDeskConsole.msi installation service and follow the instructions in the Installation Wizard.

ALVAO WebParts

ALVAO WebParts are web parts of the ALVAO system for the SharePoint services.

Computer Requirements

SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Services 3.0

Installation Process

1. Unzip the AlvaoWebParts.zip file on the server where SharePoint is installed.
2. If not already running, launch the "Windows SharePoint Services Administration" (SPAdmin) system service.
3. Run the deploywithstsadm.bat batch file as administrator.
4. Open the SharePoint page in a browser. On the home page, go to Web Actions – Web Settings and then select Gallery – Web Parts.
5. Select New. Select "WSPBuilder.UI.WebControls.WebParts.SentRequestsWebPart" from the list and click on Populate Gallery.

Adding Web Parts to Page

1. Use Site Actions – Edit Page on the page.
2. Click on Add a Web Part to add a web part to the page.
3. Select SentRequestsWebPart from the menu and click on Add.
4. Go to the web part, select Edit and set up the following items:
   
   • Connection String: The database connection string. Enter the string in the following form:
     Data Source=<sql server>;Initial Catalog=<database name>;Integrated Security=True
   • Service: Service name in Service Desk. If you leave this parameter empty, the web part will display requests from all services.
   • Page Size: Number of list items on the page.
   • Name: The web part title. Enter e.g. "My requests" or similar.

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