File Release Notes and Changelog
Release Name: 0.92b
Notes:
LIBERUM HELP DESK
-----------------
Version: 0.92b (beta)
Date: 09/02/00
Please view CHANGELOG.TXT for changes in this version.
Liberum Help Desk, Copyright (C) 2000 Doug Luxem
Liberum Help Desk comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please veiw the license.txt file for the full GNU
General Public License
WEB: http://www.liberum.org
SUPPORT: http://www.liberum.org/support
support@liberum.org
I. ABOUT
Liberum Help Desk is the first "free", web-based help desk
solution. By "free", not only does the software cost $0 to
use, but it is also open software. You are free to change
and redistribute Liberum Help Desk as put forth in the
license.
Features:
* Web-based, no proprietary clients
* Works with most web browsers
* Relies on Windows NT security, there's no seperate
databse of users and passwords to keep track of
* Easily customized to fit your needs
* Users can submit and update problems
* Email support for user and rep notification
* Problems classified by CATEGORY, DEPARTMENT,
PRIORITY, and STATUS
* Problems can automatically be assigned to reps
based on category
* View reports on problem categories, work done by
support reps, and departments submitting problems
II. INSTALLATION
1. Before installing, be sure your systems meet the
following requirements:
* Windows NT 4.0 or greater
* IIS 4.0 or greater with ASP support
* MS SQL Server (not required, but provides better performance)
* IIS SMTP or Exchange server (to enable email support)
* CPU and MEMORY to run IIS and SQL
* 1 MB of hard drive space for web pages
* 5+ MB for SQL database
* Web browser
2. Extract web pages to a location on your web server
For example, "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\helpdesk"
3. Set NT permissions on web pages. Make sure that
"Domain Users" or whatever accounts access the site
have READ and EXECUTE permissions.
4. Configure the IIS SMTP server or your Exchange
server for sending mail. See the IIS or
Exchange documentation for instructions on doing
this.
Either SMTP or Exchange must be running on your IIS
web server to enable email support.
5. Configure IIS. !! IMPORTANT !!
This first part will configure logons for the web
site.
a. Open the Internet Service Manager and find the
'helpdesk' sub directory
b. Right-click on the directory and select
'Properties.'
c. Select the 'Directory Security' tab and under
'Anonymous access and authentication control'
select 'Edit.'
d. -Uncheck 'Anonymous Access'
-Check 'Integrated Windows authentication'
-Check 'Basic authentication' if you will be
using web browsers other than IE 4+ on
Windows. You must also enter a default
DOMAIN if needed.
Now set up the 'helpdesk' sub directory as an
application.
e. In Internet Service Manager and find the
'helpdesk' sub directory
f. Right-click on the directory and select
'Properties.'
g. Under 'Application Settings' click 'Create'
to create a new application. Then click OK.
6. Decide on a database type (Access or SQL) and
configure it.
Access:
a. In global.asa, set Application("DBType") = 3
b. Set the AccessPath to the path of the helpdesk
database.
c. Set permissions allowing users to write to the
database. Permissions should be CHANGE on the
helpdesk.mdb file, CHANGE on the directory that
the database is located in, and CHANGE on the
TEMP directory. Any users accessing the help
desk will need these permissions (Domain Users,
for example).
SQL:
Setup the database on your SQL server.
You can use the Access database provided instead
of using SQL. Using a SQL server will provide
better performance.
a. Open the helpdesk.sql file with notepad and edit
the database and log locations for your server
b. Open helpdesk.sql with the SQL Query Analyzer
and execute it.
The database should now be setup. This can be
verified by use the SQL's Enterprise Manager.
c. Depending on the type of security you are using,
make sure users will have read/write access to
the database.
d. In global.asa, set Application("DBType") = 1 or 2,
depending on the type of SQL security you use.
7. Configure the Help Desk paramaters.
Open the 'global.asa' file in the root of the
helpdesk directory. Edit the paramaters to fit
your site. Key paramaters are: EnableEmail, BaseURL,
and the SQL information.
8. Open your web browser, go the appropriate URL and try
it out.
9. The Administrative pages can be reached by going to the
admin sub directory of the site. For example:
http://www.yourcompany.com/helpdesk/admin
** The default administrative password is "admin". This
should be changed in the global.asa file under
AdminPass.
10. If pages load correctly, go to the Adminstrative
section and customize the help desk.
Note: After customizing the help desk, you should edit
the global.asa file to update the DefaultPriority and
DefaultStatus parameters.
11. YOUR DONE!! Now feel free to customize and change
things to meet your needs.
Changes:
LIBERUM HELP DESK
-----------------
Change Log:
v0.92b (09/02/00)
New:
* updated readme.txt with instructions for
using the access database.
