SolarWinds
Web Help Desk
Administrator Guide Version 12.4.0
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Copyright © 2016 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.
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April 5, 2016
2 Table of Contents
Introduction 24
Key features 25
Parent/child service relationships 25
Automated ticketing processing 25
Asset management 25
Change management 25
SolarWinds product integration 26
FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography 26
Ticket processing 26
Evaluate the application 27
Installation requirements 28
Server hardware and software requirements 28
Hardware 28
Web server 28
Operating system 28
Web browser 29
Deployments with fewer than 20 techs 30
Deployments with more than 20 techs 30
Configuring the JVM 30
Server sizing requirements 30
SolarWinds integration connections 30
SolarWinds product integration requirements 31
Database requirements 31
Embedded database migration requirements 32
MySQL requirements 32
SQL Server requirements 32
3 Software 33
Hardware 33
Discovery connector requirements 33
Hypervisor requirements 34
LDAP requirements 34
Mail server requirements 35
Software 35
Supported protocols 35
Mobile client requirements 35
Virtual appliance requirements 35
Database migration options 35
External database options 36
Migrate from an Embedded FrontBase to an Embedded PostgreSQL Database 36
Migrate external or unsupported databases to PostgreSQL 37
Migrate from MySQL to SQL Server 38
Database datatypes 38
Install the application 39
Before you begin 39
Prepare the Microsoft SQL Server database 39
Enable TCP/IP on SQL Server 39
Create and configure your SQL Server database 40
Install on a Microsoft Windows system 40
Before you begin 40
Installation 40
Uninstall Web Help Desk 42
Upgrade from Windows 32-bit to Windows 64-bit 43
Install on an Apple OS X system 43
Installation 43
Uninstall Web Help Desk on an Apple OS X system 44
4 Run Web Help Desk on embedded and external Java 45
Install on a Linux system 45
Uninstall Web Help Desk on a Linux system 47
Get started 48
Set up the database 48
Use an embedded database 48
Use an external database 48
Use an embedded PostgreSQL database 48
Create a custom SQL database and account 49
Configure incoming and outgoing email accounts 50
Create the default admin account 51
Create a request type in the Getting Started wizard 53
Log in and apply activation key 53
Increase the JVM memory 55
Enable FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography 56
Network Security Services 56
CA and self-signed certificates 56
Before you begin 56
Requirements 57
Enable FIPS in a new deployment 58
Deployment checklist 58
1. Review the requirements 59
2. Download Web Help Desk 12.4.0 59
3. Install Web Help Desk in your deployment 59
4. Install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 59
5. Update the Environment Variables Path setting in your Windows Server operating system 60
6. Enable FIPS mode on your Apache Tomcat server 60
Stop Web Help Desk 61
Install the preconfigured Web Help Desk files for FIPS deployment 61
5 Edit the etc\hosts file 61
Edit the whd.conf file 61
(Optional) Edit the tomcat_server_template.xml file 62
(Optional) Edit the java.security file 63
(Optional) Edit the pkcs11_nss.cfg file 63
7. Create a Web Help Desk server certificate 64
Before you begin 64
Obtain a signed certificate by a trusted CA 64
Create and use a self-signed certificate 65
8. Complete the installation 68
9. Set up SolarWinds Integration and email 68
Enable FIPS in an existing deployment 69
Before you begin 69
Deployment checklist 69
1. Review the requirements 70
2. Ensure you are running Web Help Desk 12.4.0 70
3. Ensure that the Web Help Desk hostname is correct 71
4. Install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 71
5. Update the Environment Variables Path setting in your Windows Server operating system 71
6. Enable FIPS mode on your Apache Tomcat server 72
Stop Web Help Desk 72
Install the preconfigured Web Help Desk files for FIPS deployment 72
Edit the wrapper_template.conf file 72
Edit the etc\hosts file 73
Edit the whd.conf file 73
(Optional) Edit the tomcat_server_template.xml file 74
(Optional) Edit the java.security file 75
(Optional) Edit the pkcs11_nss.cfg file 76
7. Create a signed Web Help Desk certificate for your NSS database 76
6 Before you begin 76
Obtain a signed certificate by a trusted CA 76
Create and use a self-signed certificate 78
8. Complete the installation 80
9. Set up your SolarWinds Integration and email 81
Prepare for the database migration 81
Migrate user passwords to FIPS 140-2 cryptography 83
Prepare for the password migration 83
Execute the password migration 84
Notify all users that the migration is completed 84
Migrate user passwords to FIPS 140-2 cryptography 84
Prepare for the password migration 84
Execute the password migration 85
Notify all users that the migration is completed 85
Upgrade the application 86
Upgrade from versions prior to v12.0.0 86
Upgrade from an embedded FrontBase database 86
Upgrade from an external FrontBase, OpenBase, or Oracle database 87
Upgrade from a MySQL or Microsoft SQL database 87
Upgrade from versions after v12.0.0 88
Set up the application 89
Setup overview 89
Setup menu options 89
Web Help Desk terms 91
Configure the general settings 91
Log in and apply activation key 91
Configure the general options 92
Configure your authentication settings 93
Configure your authentication method and settings 94
7 Encrypt passwords using the Password Security Migration Tool 95
Set your time and place 96
Add a new location and set the business hours 96
Add calendar events 97
Configure your look and feel 97
Add your company logo 97
Install and apply a new style sheet template 97
Customize the database connection 99
Set your log settings 101
View your system information 101
Configure Microsoft SQL Server 102
Enable TCP/IP on SQL Server 102
Create and configure your SQL Server database 103
Configure MySQL 103
Integrate Apache Tomcat 104
Disable IIS 104
Disable IIS on Windows Server systems 104
Disable IIS on Windows Server 2008 systems 104
Bind IIS to a Windows interface 105
Bind IIS to an interface on Windows Server 2008 105
Set up your email 105
Simplify email management – options 106
Configure an outgoing email account 106
Configure an incoming email account 107
Apply your email templates 108
Built-in email templates 108
Outgoing email templates 109
Incoming email templates 111
Template layout 112
8 Edit built-in email templates 112
Create new email templates 114
Apply your tags in email templates 117
Set up tickets 119
Configure ticket options 120
Define request types 121
Define status types 123
Set the status type options for the CAB feature 123
Create a priority type 124
Create custom ticket fields 125
Create tasks 126
Access the task screen 127
Create a new task 127
Add new task elements 129
Create new tickets from task elements 130
Define your techs 131
Create tech accounts 132
Edit the admin account 134
Request types, tech groups, and ticket assignment 135
Request types 135
Tech groups 136
Ticket assignment logic 136
Define tech groups 138
Create a tech group 138
Define tech group levels for Orion platform alerts 139
Configure tech group levels 139
Assign supported request types 140
Define tech permissions 141
Create a new tech permission set 141
9 Assign techs to a permission set 142
Define the ticket routing processes 142
Approvers 142
Approval processes 142
Approver roles 142
Create action rules for ticket processing 142
Action Rule Info tab 143
Criteria tab 143
Action tab 143
Add an Action Rule 144
Load balance action rules for ticket processing 146
Define the approval processes 147
Approvers 147
Approver Process Rules 148
Approval patterns 149
Plan your approval process 150
Approval process scenario prerequisites 150
Create approver roles 151
Create approver roles for locations 152
Assign clients to location approval roles 152
Assign clients to department approval roles 153
Create a CAB 153
Add CAB status types 154
Set the status type options for the CAB feature 155
Assign a department and client to an approver role 156
Create new status types 157
Create a status type 157
Determine when a status type is applied to a ticket 158
Configure an approval process 159
10 Test the approval process 162
Apply approvals 163
Ticket approvals 163
Approver action 164
Email approvals 164
Client web approvals 164
Enter locations 165
Define Location custom fields 165
Define Department custom fields 166
Define clients 167
Manually create a client account 167
Define client options 167
Set up client admin roles 168
Add additional client admin permissions 168
Define client custom fields 169
Import Active Directory/LDAP directory connections 170
About LDAP 170
Validate LDAP certificates 170
Synchronize Web Help Desk user information 171
Import clients 172
Define assets 173
Configure asset import and permission options 174
Define asset type, status, warranty, and lease information 174
Asset Classes tab 174
Asset Status Types tab 174
Warranty Types tab 175
Lease Types tab 175
Define asset custom fields 175
Add manufacturers 177
11 Add vendors 178
Define PO custom fields 179
Import asset data 180
Set up parts and billing 181
Enable parts and billing options 181
Perform Invoicing 182
Specify a company contact for invoices 182
Generate a PDF invoice or quote from a ticket 183
Define rates and terms 183
Define part custom fields 184
Activate your license 186
Purchase a license 186
Create a standard access account 187
Retrieve your license or activation key 187
Version 12.1.0 and earlier 187
Version 12.2.0 and later 187
Activate your license 188
Version 12.1.0 and earlier 188
Version 12.2.0 and later 188
Migrate your installation to a different server 189
Deactivate your license online 189
Deactivate your license offline 189
Reinstall a license on the same server 189
Change the Java bit version on Microsoft Windows servers 189
Activate your license in a clustered deployment 190
Configure and manage authentication 191
Deploy SSO with SAML using AD FS 193
Before you begin 193
Configure Web Help Desk for AD FS 193
12 Configure SAML 2.0 on the AD FS server 194
Deploy SSO with CAS 2.0 195
Deploy CAS Server on Apache Tomcat 195
Enable SSL on Web Help Desk 195
Deploy CAS 2.0 on the Web Help Desk server 195
Configure a GPO to push Internet Explorer settings 196
Enable HTTPS 197
1. Configure the HTTPS listening port 197
2. Configure a URL port 197
3. Enable listening for HTTPS requests 198
4. Enter the SSL connection port 198
5. Restart Web Help Desk 198
Manage keys and certificates 199
Trust certificates signed by CAs 199
Store keys and certificates 199
Generate a keypair and CSR 199
Import a certificate and private key to the keystore 199
Use a default keypair alias and password 200
Add certificate chains 200
Replace a self-signed certificate with a CA certificate 201
Generate a new certificate using Porteclé 201
Create a new keypair 201
Replace an existing keypair 202
Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) 203
Import CA root and chain certificates 204
Import a CA reply certificate 204
Import certificates with another file 205
Import errors 205
Locate the issuer property 205
13 Add a CA to the embedded Java CA cert keystore 205
Import certificates on Windows or Mac OSX 205
Import certificates on a Linux virtual appliance 206
Import an existing certificate 206
Create a PKCS#12 keystore from a private key and certificate 207
Export a PKCS#12 Keystore from the Microsoft Management Console 208
Import a PKCS#12 file into the keystore 208
Add SSL certificates to the virtual appliance 209
Add a self-signed SSL certificate 209
Add a certificate from a CA 210
Add an existing PFX certificate 212
Resolve untrusted site errors after adding certificates 212
Use Internet Explorer to install the certificate as a trusted certificate 213
Use Chrome to install the certificate as a trusted certificate 213
Certificate troubleshooting tips 214
Select the CA certs keystore 214
Import certificates in order 214
Use identical keypair and keystore passwords 214
Save your keystore 215
Enable your changes 215
Prevent certificate warnings 215
Enable HTTP requests 215
Troubleshoot and resolve issues 215
Manage clients 217
Create a client 217
Set up a client-initiated account 217
Assign an existing asset to a client 218
Manage tickets 220
Ticket flow 220
14 Create a ticket 223
Create a ticket through the web interface 223
Create a ticket through email 224
Create a quick ticket 224
Configure ticket status types 225
Modify a preconfigured status type 225
Creating a new status type 226
Search for a ticket 227
Perform a basic search 227
Perform an advanced search 227
Advanced search examples 227
Configure ticket details 228
Select a request type 229
Improve ticket resolution with ticket types 229
Change ticket relationships 230
Link and unlink incident and problem tickets 230
Add details to tickets with tech notes 231
Add an FAQ to a tech note 231
Create a new tech permission 231
Send e-mail to ticket recipients 232
Manage ticket tasks 232
Escalate and de-escalate tickets 232
Customize ticket views 233
Search for an existing ticket 235
Create an advanced search 235
Display your print views 236
Create ticket bulk actions 236
Create a new bulk action 236
Edit a saved bulk action 236
15 Apply a saved bulk action 237
Update and resolve tickets 237
Ticket information 237
Edit a ticket from the Web console 237
Update tickets using email 238
Perform actions on multiple tickets 239
Create a new bulk action 239
Apply a bulk action to a group of tickets 240
Resolve a ticket 240
Merge tickets 241
Create parent/child service relationships 241
Service request tickets 241
Incident and problem tickets 242
Link child tickets to a parent ticket 243
Link incident tickets to a problem ticket 244
Link service request tickets to one service request 246
Link sub-child tickets to child tickets 249
Add notes to parent and child tickets 249
Automate parent/child ticket creation 251
Configure a task with elements 251
Link a child ticket to the parent 252
Configure an action rule 254
Create parent/child tickets 254
Manage assets 256
Discover assets 256
Configure asset discovery tools 257
Configure Absolute Manage (LANrev) settings 257
Configure Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 settings 258
Configure Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 and later settings 259
16 Configure an ARD 3.3 connection in Web Help Desk 259
Configure Casper 8 and earlier settings 260
Configure Casper 9 settings 260
Configure Database Table or View settings 261
Configure Web Help Desk to discover assets stored in Lansweeper 261
Configure Microsoft SMS/SCCM settings 262
Configure Web Help Desk to discover assets stored in SolarWinds NPM, SAM, or NCM 262
Configure the Web Help Desk Discovery Engine 264
How to install the OpenBase JDBC Driver 265
Installing the Driver on a Windows system 265
Installing the driver on an Apple OS X system 265
Installing the driver on a Linux system 265
Sync and discover assets 265
Manually add assets 266
Search assets 266
Refine your search results 267
Save a query 267
Run a query 267
Remove assets 267
Edit asset properties 268
Create parent and child associations 269
Add assets as children of a parent asset 270
Remove assets as children of a parent asset 271
Add purchase orders 272
Add a vendor 272
Add a purchase order 272
Add purchase order line items 272
Import purchase orders 273
Reserve assets 273
17 Set up asset reservations as a tech 273
Set up asset reservations as a client 273
Reserve an asset as a client 274
Check assets in and out 274
Import asset data 274
Import and export data 276
Use templates to import data 277
TSV templates 277
Data import types 277
Import data using TSV, CSV, or Excel templates 278
Export data 279
Export tickets 279
Export clients 279
Export assets 279
Export parts 280
Export FAQs 280
Create and edit reports 281
Sample reports 282
Bar and pie chart configuration options 282
Category 282
Bar Stack Category 283
Chart Metric 283
Putting it together 284
Create report groups 284
Create Asset reports 285
Create an asset report 285
Create a bar chart asset report 286
Create a pie chart asset report 287
Create a table only asset report 288
18 Create ticket reports 289
Create a bar chart ticket report 290
Create a pie chart ticket report 291
Create a table only ticket report 292
Create ticket billing reports 294
Create a custom report 295
Open tickets by tech 295
Tickets closed by request type with work time 297
Modify an existing report 299
View, print, or download reports 300
Schedule reports 301
Set up parts and billing 303
Add parts to a location 303
Add parts to a ticket 303
Manually add parts 304
Configure inventory alerts 305
Override default inventory alert recipients 305
Enable predefined service time blocks 305
Customize billing statements 306
Manage client feedback 307
Create surveys 307
Set the survey options 308
Create an automatic survey 308
Create a manual survey 308
Create messages 309
View ticket and survey results 309
Send email ticket surveys 309
SolarWinds Orion alert integration 311
Prepare request types for alert-based tickets 311
19 Alert-based ticket example 312
Configure Orion-to-Web Help Desk ticketing 313
Enable SolarWinds Orion to share alerts with Web Help Desk 313
Configure Orion alert sharing for Orion Platform 2015.1.2 314
Configure Orion alert sharing prior to Orion Platform 2015.1.0 314
Example: Create an alert for a failed node 315
Test Orion server access to the integration email account 318
Enter a SolarWinds Orion alert source 319
Configure the alert filtering rules 320
Filters 320
About rule configuration 320
Matching rules 321
Complex rules 322
Examples: Configure an alert filtering rule 322
Configure a matching rule 323
Add an And/Or block 323
Test the alert filtering rules 325
Integrate with DameWare MRC 327
Install DameWare MRC 327
Configure integration 328
Configure tech access 329
Launch and close 329
Launch from a client ticket 329
Launch from an asset 330
Close the session 330
Deploy as a virtual appliance 333
Deploy with VMware vSphere 333
Deploy with Microsoft Hyper-V 335
Upgrade the virtual appliance 337
20 Upgrade on vSphere 337
Upgrade on Hyper-V 338
Manage the virtual appliance 338
Log in to the appliance 339
Set the time zone 339
Configure the network settings 339
Configure the proxy settings 340
Reboot the appliance 341
Change the appliance administrator password 341
Knowledge-centered support 342
Benefits of KCS 342
KCS process overview 342
Using Web Help Desk to build your knowledge store 342
Accessing FAQs in Web Help Desk 343
Create a new FAQ 343
Manually create an FAQ 343
Create an FAQ based on a ticket note 344
Search FAQs 345
View or edit an FAQ 345
Link an FAQ to a support ticket 345
Get connected 347
Access the Customer Portal 347
Create your user profile 347
Explore the Customer Portal 348
Set up additional Customer Portal user accounts 349
Engage with the SolarWinds community 349
Create a thwack account 349
Explore the thwack site 350
Appendix 351
21 Deployment considerations 351
Memory sizing and JVM options 351
Clear JVM heap memory 351
Automatically restart Apple OS X 351
Automatically restart Windows 352
Automatically restart Linux 352
High availability deployments 352
Monitor deployments on Apple OS X 352
Configure multiple instance Tomcat deployments 353
Install multiple tomcat instances 354
Configure multiple instance Tomcat daemons 356
Configuration options 356
Memory allocation 357
Upgrade Web Help Desk 357
Set the Tomcat daemon 357
Set the daemon memory 357
Set the Web Objects daemon mode 358
Deploy multiple virtual machines 358
Customize tickets, notes, instructions, and emails with BBCode 359
Apply basic formatting 360
Create your own tags 362
Add clickable links 362
Customize your server settings 365
Help Desk ports 365
Web Help Desk interfaces 365
Databases 366
Emails 366
LDAP/AD 367
Asset Discovery 367
22 Configure firewalls for data traffic 367
Unsecured and secured ports for login 368
Add Third-party SSL certificates 368
No redirect to HTTPS 372
URL ports (optional) 372
Tomcat server port 373
Mail notification port 373
Java home location 373
IP address 373
Privileged networks 373
Keystore settings (for SSL connections) 374
Memory allocation 374
Database connections 375
Java command line options 375
JVM arguments 376
Connect an iPhone to a standard or hosted installation 392
Connect to a standard installation 392
Connect to a hosted installation 392
Program the REST API 393
23 Introduction
SolarWinds® Web Help Desk® is a web-based automated ticketing solution that helps you manage your IT support requests for both internal and external clients. Use Web Help Desk to create and manage tickets through the web console. It also supports email ticket creation, automatic ticket assignment and escalation, asset management, and incident and problem management.
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 as routing tickets to a specific help desk technician or work group, billing customers for parts and labor costs, and creating new tickets from email requests or alert messages from a supported monitoring application.
You can run Web Help Desk on the following operating systems and platforms:
® ® n Microsoft Windows Server ® n Apple OS X ® ® n Red Hat Enterprise Linux
n Fedora™
n CentOS ® n VMware vSphere
n Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
24 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:
n Parent/Child service relationships
n Automated ticket processing
n Asset management
n Change management
n SolarWinds product integration
n Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliant cryptography
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.
Automated ticketing processing
You can generate help desk tickets manually in the user interface or automatically by emails 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 (included with SolarWinds Help Desk Essentials), you can establish a remote connection and troubleshoot a client 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.
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.
Change management
You can manage change control in your organization using automated approval processes. These include creating approver roles, assigning departments and clients to approver roles, and configuring approval processes.
25 SolarWinds product integration
You can automatically create new tickets from alerts received from the following SolarWinds monitoring products:
n SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) n SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) n SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
If the ticket is not resolved within a preconfigured 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.
FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography
You can configure your deployment for FIPS 140-2 compliance cryptography. This configuration is required for computer systems installed in U.S. Federal government agencies and companies in a regulated industry (such as healthcare and financial institutions) that share and distribute sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information. Ticket processing
SolarWinds Web Help Desk initiates and manages your help desk processes through the Web console, email, 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 email ticket requests and opens a ticket based on the information in the email. You can also update and close tickets using email.
Each customer can access a Web console dedicated to their help desk needs. Customers can access all of their help desk features through a Web portal, but they cannot access information from other help desk customers.
The following illustration provides an overview of Web Help Desk processes at a high level.
26 Evaluate the application
For 30 days after you install your evaluation version of Web Help Desk, you have unlimited tech seats. If you do not purchase a license after 30 days, Web Help Desk automatically switches to a one-tech license, allowing updates for up to one year. All tech accounts other than the initial admin account become inactive.
Purchasing and entering a license reactivates the deactivated accounts. After you purchase a license in the Customer Portal and receive an activation key code, enter the code in the Setup > General > License > License Settings window.
Converting your unlicensed Web Help Desk version to a licensed version retains all of your existing Web Help Desk settings or files. No additional configuration or installation is required.
27 Installation requirements
SolarWinds recommends reviewing the following requirements before you install, upgrade, or migrate your software. Server hardware and software requirements
The following sections list the minimum hardware and software requirements for installing Web Help Desk.
Hardware COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS
CPU 64-bit Dual Core 2.0GHz or faster
3GB (up to 10 technicians) RAM Add 1GB for every 10 additional technicians
Hard Drive Space 20GB
8081 (or alternate browser port) Application Ports 20293 (PostgreSQL)
Web server PRODUCT VERSION
Apache™ Tomcat™ 7.0.68
Operating system PLATFORM SUPPORTED VERSIONS
Windows Server® 2008 (32- and 64-bit)
Microsoft® Windows® Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
(less than 20 technicians) Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
(more than 20 technicians) Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
Microsoft Windows Windows 7 (64-bit)
28 PLATFORM SUPPORTED VERSIONS
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) (Trial evaluation only) Windows 10 (64-bit)
Apple iOS® 7 Apple® iPhone Apple iOS 8 (for Web Help Desk Mobile) Apple iOS 9
10.10.2 (Yosemite) Apple OS X 10.11.0 (El Capitan)
RHEL 6.5 (64-bit) Red Hat® Enterprise Linux (RHEL) RHEL 7.0 (64-bit)
CentOS 6.5 (64-bit) CentOS™ CentOS 7.0 (64-bit)
Fedora 22 (64-bit) Fedora™ Fedora 23 (64-bit)
Oracle® Java™ Version 8.0
Web browser
Due to frequent Google® Chrome® v32 and Mozilla® Firefox® v32 updates, 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 SUPPORTED VERSIONS
Google Chrome Latest version
Mozilla Firefox Latest version
IE9 Microsoft Internet IE10 Explorer® (IE) IE11
Safari 7 Apple Safari® Safari 8
Microsoft Edge Latest version
29 Deployments with fewer than 20 techs
If your deployment will support 20 tech sessions or fewer, you can run Web Help Desk on a system with:
n A supported 32-bit operating system
n A 32-bit Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
n 4GB RAM (up to 3.7GB for the tech sessions, JVM support, operating system, and any additional services you need to run on the system)
This configuration supports 10 - 20 tech sessions with no onboard memory issues.
To adjust the maximum memory setting, edit the MAXIMUM_MEMORY option in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file.
Deployments with more than 20 techs
If your deployment will support more than 20 tech sessions, SolarWinds recommends installing Web Help Desk on a system running:
n A supported 64-bit operating system
n A 64-bit JVM
n 3GB RAM for 20 tech sessions plus 1GB RAM for each additional 10 tech sessions
Configuring the JVM
To enable the 64-bit JVM, add the following argument to the JAVA_OPTS option in the /library/WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file: JAVA_OPTS="-d64"
To increase the max heap memory on a 64-bit JVM, edit the MAXIMUM_MEMORY option in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file.
For other operating systems, install your own 64-bit JVM and then update the JAVA_HOME option in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file to point to your Java installation. Server sizing requirements
SolarWinds recommends installing Web Help Desk on a host server with a 64-bit Dual Core 2.0GHz or faster CPU. If you support a large number of techs, consider upgrading your existing hardware configuration.
SolarWinds integration connections
If you plan to integrate Web Help Desk with existing SolarWinds products, ensure that your SolarWinds Orion platform server is running version 2012.2 or later. Web Help Desk requires this version to integrate SolarWinds alerts into trouble tickets.
30 SolarWinds product integration requirements
The following table lists the SolarWinds products that integrate with Web Help Desk.
SUPPORTED PRODUCT VERSION
SolarWinds Orion platform Version 2012.2 and later
SolarWinds NPM 11.5.2 SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) SolarWinds NPM 11.5.3
SolarWinds SAM 6.2.0 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) SolarWinds SAM 6.2.3
SolarWinds Network Configuration Monitor (NCM) SolarWinds NCM 7.4.1
Version 12.0.0 DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) Version 12.0.1
Database requirements
Web Help Desk uses an embedded PostgreSQL database as its standard database. See the embedded database requirements for specific requirements.
The following table lists the supported databases.
DATABASE SUPPORTED VERSIONS
PostgreSQL 9.2
PostgreSQL PostgreSQL 9.3.2
PostgreSQL 9.4
MySQL 5.6 MySQL MySQL 5.7
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3
Microsoft SQL Server® SQL Server 2012 SP1
SQL Server 2014
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 specific software and hardware requirements.
31 Embedded database migration requirements
Web Help Desk does not support a FrontBase database. To automatically upgrade an embedded FrontBase database to an embedded PostgreSQL database, upgrade your software to Web Help Desk v12.0.0 and then upgrade to the latest version.
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 v12.0.0 upgrade, ensure that:
n Both FrontBase and PostgreSQL are running.
n The embedded FrontBase uses the whd and user whd schemas.
n 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 the associated files. The system administrator performing the installation must have write privileges on both the FrontBase and PostgreSQL databases.
After you upgrade to v12.0.0, you can upgrade to the latest version. The version 12.0.0 upgrade converts your embedded FrontBase database to an embedded PostgreSQL database. No additional database conversions are required.
MySQL requirements
The following table lists the minimum software and hardware requirements for a MySQL database server.
PRODUCT SUPPORTED VERSIONS
MySQL 5.6 MySQL database MySQL 5.7
CPU speed Intel® Dual Core 3.0GHz or better
Hard drive space 20GB
Memory 3GB 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.
32 Software
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3
Microsoft SQL Server SQL Server 2012 SP1
SQL Server 2014
Hardware
COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS
CPU Intel Dual Core 3.0GHz or higher
Hard drive space 20GB
RAM 3GB with 1GB additional RAM for every additional 10 techs
Discovery connector requirements
The following table lists the supported discovery connectors used for asset discovery.
DISCOVERY CONNECTOR SUPPORTED VERSIONS
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) SolarWinds NCM 7.4.1
SolarWinds NPM 11.5.2 SolarWinds Network Performance Manager (NPM) SolarWinds NPM 11.5.3
SolarWinds SAM 6.2.0 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) SolarWinds SAM 6.2.3
Absolute Manager Absolute Manager 6.9.2 (v4608)
Apple Remote Desktop Apple Remote Desktop 3.8
Casper Casper 9.73
Lansweeper Lansweeper 5.3.0.33
System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager System Center Configuration Manager 2012
System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2
33 Hypervisor requirements
The following table lists the supported hypervisor requirements.
Microsoft Hyper-V Server is included with Windows Server 2008 and later.
PRODUCT SUPPORTED VERSIONS
VMware® VMware 6.0
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
Microsoft Hyper-V® Hyper-V Server 2012
Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
LDAP requirements
The following table lists the supported Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) software products.
PRODUCT SUPPORTED VERSIONS
Active Directory 2003
Active Directory 2008 Microsoft Active Directory® Active Directory 2012
Active Directory 2012 R2
Open Directory Open Directory 4
OpenLDAP 2.4 OpenLDAP® OpenLDAP 2.4.42
34 Mail server requirements
This section lists the required mail server software and supported protocols.
Software PRODUCT SUPPORTED VERSIONS
Exchange Server 2010 Microsoft Exchange Server Exchange Server 2013 CU7
Supported protocols
n IMAP
n POP3
n SMTP Mobile client requirements
The following table lists the supported client operating systems for the SolarWinds mobile admin software.
PLATFORM SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS
iOS 7
Apple iOS 8
iOS 9
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. Database migration options
Web Help Desk uses an embedded PostgreSQL database for a standard database. If you upgrade to Web Help Desk v12.1.0 and later with an embedded FrontBase database, the Web Help Desk installation wizard assists you with 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.
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.
35 See Run Web Help Desk on embedded and external Java if you are migrating your database on a server running Apple OS X.
External database options
Web Help Desk supports SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2012, and MySQL 5.5 as external databases. You can also use an external PostgreSQL 9.2 or PostgreSQL 9.3 database with Web Help Desk v12.0.0 and later.
See Prepare the Microsoft SQL Server database for additional information.
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.
See Database datatypes for information about mapping information types across other databases types. Migrate from an Embedded FrontBase to an Embedded PostgreSQL Database
See Converting from other Databases to PostgreSQL on the PostgreSQL website for information about migrating external and unsupported databases to PostgreSQL.
See Database datatypes for information about mapping database datatypes for PostgreSQL and to each other.
1. Ensure that your current installation is running an embedded FrontBase database.
If your configuration uses another database or you intend to run a non-embedded PostgreSQL database, you cannot use the upgrade database export feature.
2. Ensure that the whd.properties file is located in the
36 6. Click Continue. The database migration program migrates the FrontBase data to the PostgreSQL database.
During the migration, the program verifies the PostgreSQL database tables against the FrontBase database tables. When completed, the migration program shuts down the embedded FrontBase database. Next, the program prompts you to update the database with your current Web Help Desk installation.
7. Click Continue. Web Help Desk is now running an embedded PostgreSQL database.
Migrate external or unsupported databases to PostgreSQL
SolarWinds Web Help Desk v12.0.0 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, stop Web Help Desk and convert the datatypes in your old database to the data types used in your new database. Convert the data types before you migrate your data.
See the PostgreSQL Wiki website located at wiki.postgresql.org for information about migrating from an external or unsupported database to PostgreSQL.
See Database datatypes for database datatypes used in previously and currently supported Web Help Desk databases.
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.
37 Migrate from MySQL to SQL Server
1. Download the SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) from the Microsoft website at www.microsoft com. 2. Stop Web Help Desk. Navigate to the
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.
Database datatypes
The following table provides a reference for mapping data types from other databases to PostgreSQL (and to each other).
OPEN POSTGRE WHD FRONTBASE ORACLE MYSQL SQL SERVER BASE SQL
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
varbinary pk BLOB BLOB object bytea BLOB (max)
varbinary data BLOB BLOB object bytea LONGBLOB (max)
VARCHAR nvarchar text CLOB char4000 text TEXT 1000000 (max)
varchar VARCHAR VARCHAR2 char varchar VARCHAR nvarchar
38 Install the application
This section describes how to install Web Help Desk on systems running Windows Server, Apple OS X, and Linux operating systems. Before you begin
n Ensure that the host system meets or exceeds the recommended server requirements. n Decide whether to use an embedded or external database. Web Help Desk v12.0.0 and later comes standard with an embedded PostgreSQL database.
n Prepare your Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL database if you are using an external database. n Review the database migration options if you are migrating your database to another database type. n Review the FIPS installation instructions if you are enabling FIPS 140-2 cryptography on a Windows Server 64-bit system. Prepare the Microsoft SQL Server database
If your deployment requires database management features such as failover clusters, do not use the embedded PostgreSQL database included with Web Help Desk. Failover clusters are not available with the embedded PostgreSQL database.
If you use the non-embedded, non-default Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL as your primary database, install the database engine and management tools according to the instructions included with your software. Install the database on a dedicated drive with at least 20 GB of space to accommodate the database engine, management tools, help desk tickets, and ticket file attachments.
You can also configure Web Help Desk to use a new SQL database instance on an existing SQL Server.
SQL Server and Web Help Desk can reside on the same server or on a separate server.
Enable TCP/IP on SQL Server
Configure the following settings in the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
SETTING VALUE
TCP/IP Protocol Enabled in SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for SQL 20xx
127.0.0.1 (if installed on the Web Help Desk server) IP Address Server IP address (if installed on a separate server)
TCP Port 1433
TCP Dynamic Ports Blank
39 Create and configure your SQL Server database
Configure the following settings in the SQL Server Management Studio for SQL Server to create and configure SQL Server to the Web Help Desk database instance.
SETTING VALUE
SQL Server and Windows Authentication Mode Enabled
Login Name whd
SQL Server Authentication: Password Enabled and configured
SQL Server Authentication: Enforce password Disabled policy
SQL Server Authentication: Enforce password Disabled expiration
SQL Server Authentication: User must change Disabled password at next login
Database name whd
Database owner whd
Install on a Microsoft Windows system
If you plan to configure FIPS 140-2 cryptography with your installation, review the FIPS installation procedures before you begin.
Before you begin
n Use an account with local administrative rights.
n Verify the account is not subject to any local or group policy restrictions.
n Use the Run as administrator option when launching the installer on a system running Windows Server 2008.
n Quit all other programs before running the installer.
If you do not use the default embedded database, ensure that you know:
n The IP address or host name and port of the database server
n The name of the database
n The database user name and password
Installation 1. Obtain a copy of the software and your activation key from the SolarWinds Customer Portal. The activation key limits your use based on the number of seats you purchased.
40 2. Log in as an administrator to the server on which you are installing Web Help Desk. 3. Extract the contents of the downloaded installation ZIP file. 4. Run WebHelpDesk-12.4.0-x64_eval.exe or WebHelpDesk-12.4.0-x64.exe. 5. Complete the on-screen instructions. 6. When the installation is complete, click Done. The system opens your browser where you can Select the Web Help Desk database. 7. To use the database included with Web Help Desk, select Use Embedded PostgreSQL database, and click Next.
41 8. To use an external database: a. Click Use Custom SQL database. b. In the Database Type field, select the database. c. Complete the remaining fields, and then click Test to test the database connection. d. To create an account on the database, click Create database and user account, enter the admin user name and password, and click Create. e. When you have established a connection with the database, click Next.
9. Configure your incoming and outgoing email accounts.
Uninstall Web Help Desk
1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log in to the server that hosts the application. 3. Navigate to: C:\Program Files\Web Help Desk 4. In the Web Help Desk directory, double-click UNINSTALL.bat. A command prompt window displays with a message prompting you to verify the uninstall.
42 5. In the command prompt window, enter Y to continue.
Web Help Desk and its associated data are uninstalled from the system. 6. Close the command prompt window.
Upgrade 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. When completed, install the 64-bit version. Install on an Apple OS X system
Before you begin, quit all other programs before running the installer. If you do not use the default embedded database, ensure that you know:
n The IP address or host name and port of the database server
n The name of the database
n The database user name and password
Installation 1. Obtain a copy of the software and your activation key from the SolarWinds Customer Portal. The activation key limits your use based on the number of seats you purchased. 2. Log in as an administrator to the server on which you are installing Web Help Desk. 3. Double-click WebHelpDesk-12.4.0.pkg. 4. Complete the on-screen instructions. 5. When the installation is complete, click Done. The system opens your browser where you can select the Web Help Desk database.
43 6. To use the database included with Web Help Desk, select Use Embedded PostgreSQL database, and click Next.
7. To use an external database: a. Click Use Custom SQL database. b. In the Database Type field, select the database. c. Complete the remaining fields, and then click Test to test the database connection. d. To create an account on the database, click Create database and user account, enter the admin user name and password, and click Create. e. When you have established a connection with the database, click Next.
8. Configure your incoming and outgoing email accounts.
Uninstall Web Help Desk on an Apple OS X 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.
44 3. Open your Applications directory. 4. Double-click Uninstall Web Help Desk. 5. In the command prompt window, enter Y to delete the application and associated data. Web Help Desk is uninstalled from your Apple OS X system. 6. Close the command prompt window.
Run 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. Install on a Linux system
Installing Web Help Desk on a Linux system does not require appliance deployment.
1. Quit all running programs. 2. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log in to the Web Help Desk server. 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-12.4.X.XXX-1.i386.rpm
For 64-bit systems, run: gunzip webhelpdesk-12.4.X.XXX-1.x86_64.rpm
5. Run the appropriate installer command based on your system configuration.
To upgrade an existing 32-bit Linux system, replace the installation command (rpm -ivh) with the update command (rpm-Uvh). During the upgrade, several warning messages may open, stating that multiple files or directories failed to be removed. This is normal. For 32-bit systems, run: rpm -ivh webhelpdesk-12.4.X.XXX-1.i386.rpm
For 64-bit systems, run: sudo rpm - ihv webhelpdesk-12.4.X.XXX-1.x86_64.rpm
45 6. Run the following command to start the application: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/WHD start
To stop the application, run: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/WHD stop
7. Launch your web browser and enter the following URL: http://127.0.0.1:8081 A dialog box displays to select your Web Help Desk database. 8. To use the database included with Web Help Desk, select Use Embedded PostgreSQL database, and click Next.
46 9. To use an external database: a. Click Use Custom SQL database. b. In the Database Type field, select the database. c. Complete the remaining fields, and then click Test to test the database connection. d. To create an account on the database, click Create database and user account, enter the admin user name and password, and click Create. e. When you have established a connection with the database, click Next.
10. In the Web console, enter admin for the user email address and admin for the password, and then click Log In.
Uninstall Web Help Desk on a Linux 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. Run the uninstaller using one of the following commands: # rpm -e webhelpdesk-12.4.X.XXX-1.i386.rpm
yum remove webhelpdesk-12.4.X.XXX-1.x86_64.rpm
The uninstall is completed.
47 Get started
The first time you use SolarWinds Web Help Desk, the Getting Started wizard opens and assists you with setting up your Web Help Desk deployment. When completed, you can log in to Web Help Desk and apply an activation key. Set up the database
Before you install Web Help Desk, decide whether to use an embedded or external database. Web Help Desk v12.0.0 and later comes standard with an embedded PostgreSQL database.
Use an embedded database
The embedded PostgreSQL database is ideal for small to medium installations, and is configured as part of the Web Help Desk setup in the Web Help Desk Getting Started Wizard. See Using an embedded PostgreSQL database for more information. Use an external database
If you use an external database, SolarWinds recommends using Microsoft SQL Server. Be sure to install and configure SQL Server before you install Web Help Desk. You can install SQL Server and Web Help Desk on the same server or separate servers. Web Help Desk can also use a new SQL database instance on an existing SQL Server.
See Creating a custom SQL database to set up an external Web Help Desk database. Use 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.
48 Create a custom SQL database and account
1. During the installation procedure, select Use Custom SQL database (advanced).
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 Configure the Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL Databases to set up your external database to work with Web Help Desk.
49 Configure incoming and outgoing email accounts
Each incoming mail account is associated with a specific request type, an optional tech group, and an outgoing mail account (SMTP server) used to deliver outgoing mail. For example, you could have an incoming mail account for all IT tickets, another account for HR tickets, and yet another for Facilities tickets. Web Help Desk checks the Incoming mail accounts each minute for new messages, processes the messages into tickets, and deletes the processed messages from the incoming mail server.
If you are not ready to set up email accounts, you can skip this step and configure them later from the Web Help Desk web console. To continue without configuring email, click Skip this step.
1. Complete the incoming and outgoing server options as required.
2. Expand Advanced.
3. In the Incoming Mail Port field, enter the port number for incoming email.
By default, Web Help Desk uses your first configured incoming email account request type as the default. After you complete the Getting Started Wizard, you can update your email account information at Setup > E-Mail.
4. In the SMTP port field, enter the port number for outgoing email. 5. Complete the remaining fields and check boxes as required.
50 6. Click Test to test your email address.
7. Click Next to continue.
Create the default admin account
The default admin account is a local super user account used to:
n Log in to SolarWinds Web Help Desk for the first time and configure the application.
n 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, so you can create and process tickets with tech privileges. Techs can have either Tech or Tech Admin account privileges.
51 1. In the Get Started Wizard, navigate to the Admin Account panel. 2. Complete the fields as required, and click Next.
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 displays 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.
52 Create a request type in the Getting Started wizard
In the last step of the Getting Started wizard, you can add request types or edit preconfigured request types. This step of the wizard is optional. You might find it easier to add request types in the Tickets panel after Web Help Desk is configured.
In most cases, SolarWinds recommends that you bypass this step in the wizard and take time to plan the request types you need.
To bypass this step, click Finish.
Log in and apply activation key
If you are evaluating Web Help Desk, you do not need to apply an activation key. For the next 30 days, you will have unlimited tech accounts.
If you have not purchased and provided a license after 30 days, the application automatically switches to a 1-tech license. All tech accounts other than the initial admin account are marked as inactive, and some product functionality (such as asset management) is no longer available. You can continue to use Web Help Desk in this mode for up to one year. Applying a license reactivates all deactivated tech accounts and restores full product functionality.
53 1. On the Get Started panel, click Login as admin to continue setup.
2. Accept the terms of the license agreement. 3. Click Setup.
4. On the General panel, click License. 5. Click the padlock to edit the license settings.
6. Enter the Activation Key, and click Activate. See Access the Customer Portal for instructions about obtaining a copy of your activation key.
54 Increase the JVM memory
Web Help Desk requires more max heap memory than the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) default. After installation, increase the MAXIMUM_MEMORY value in the whd.conf file and restart Web Help Desk.
The following procedure applies to Windows. For other operating systems, see this knowledge base article.
1. Use the following formula to determine the appropriate amount of memory for your deployment: (Average number of concurrent techs x 150) + (Average number of concurrent users x 25) = MAXIMUM_MEMORY value Example: If the average number of concurrent techs is 10 and the average number of concurrent users is 50, the recommended MAXIMUM_MEMORY value is 2750 (which is 2.75 GB): (10 x 150 = 1500) + (50 x 25 = 1250) = 2750
The MAXIMUM_MEMORY value should not be greater than the Web Help Desk server's RAM.
2. Open the whd.conf file in a text editor. The default file location is: C:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\conf\whd.conf 3. Change the MAXIMUM_MEMORY value and save the file. 4. Restart Web Help Desk: a. Open the installation directory (C:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk, by default). b. Right-click whd_stop.bat and choose Run As Administrator. c. After the command prompt window closes, right-click whd_start.bat and choose Run As Administrator.
55 Enable FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography
Beginning in Web Help Desk v12.4.0, you can configure a new or existing Web Help Desk deployment for Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliant cryptography. This compliance is required for computer systems installed in U.S. Federal Government agencies and companies in a regulated industry (such as healthcare and financial institutions) that share and distribute sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information.
If you are enabling FIPS in a new deployment, complete the installation procedures for a new deployment.
If you are enabling FIPS in an existing deployment:
1. Complete the installation procedures for an existing deployment. 2. Prepare for the database migration by running the Password Security Migration Tool. 3. Migrate all client and tech passwords to FIPS 140-2 cryptography.
Enabling FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography is optional and is not required to use Web Help Desk.
Network Security Services
The FIPS cryptography implements Network Security Services (NSS)—a set of open-source cryptographic libraries developed by Mozilla that support security-enabled client and server applications. When integrated with NSS, Web Help Desk can support public-key cryptography standards #11 (PKCS #11) certificates for FIPS compliance.
All connections through SSL to the external tools require a trusted certificate to be imported into the NSS database.
CA and self-signed certificates
After you configure FIPS in your deployment, you can obtain and import a signed certificate by a trusted Certificate Authority (for production environments) or a self-signed certificate (for test environments) to your NSS database to authenticate your Web Help Desk server identity in a secure HTTPS connection. When completed, your deployment is FIPS 140-2 compliant.
Web Help Desk 12.4.0 supports FIPS mode on supported Windows 64-bit operating systems.
Before you begin
Enabling FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography requires careful planning and coordination with IT management and corporate personnel for a successful implementation. Review the requirements and procedures in this section to ensure you have the appropriate amount of time, hardware, software, and resources for your deployment.
56 After you enable FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography in your Web Help Desk deployment, you cannot revert back to your previous configuration.
Requirements
SolarWinds recommends reviewing the following requirements before you enable FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography in your Web Help Desk deployment.
COMPONENT REQUIREMENT
Web Help Desk 12.4.x and later
Hardware system Non-virtualized platform
Windows Server 2008 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) Operating system Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)
Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
MySQL 5.6 2
PostgreSQL 9.2 (embedded)
Database 1 SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 2
SQL Server 2012 SP1 2
SQL Server 2014 2
Active Directory 2003
Active Directory 2008
Active Directory 2012
LDAP Active Directory 2012 R2
Open Directory 4
OpenLDAP 2.4
OpenLDAP 2.4.40
Exchange Server 2010
Mail server and protocols Exchange Server 2013 CU7
SMTP v3 3
MySQL 5.6 Asset discovery connections SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3
57 COMPONENT REQUIREMENT
SQL Server 2012 SP1
SQL Server 2014
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Google Chrome (Latest version)
Web browser Mozilla Firefox (Latest version)
Internet Explorer v9, v10, and v11
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
SolarWinds Integration SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
1 Single instance only.
2 SSL connections are not supported. Additionally, SolarWinds recommends running the database server on the same physical server running the Web Help Desk instance.
3 MD5 authentication is not supported.
Enable FIPS in a new deployment
If you are installing Web Help Desk for the first time in a new deployment, all cryptographic modules incorporated in Web Help Desk 12.4.0 are FIPS 140-2 compliant.
Deployment checklist
Use the following checklist to guide you through the deployment procedures.
1. Review the requirements to ensure your current deployment will support FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography.
2. Download Web Help Desk 12.4.0 from the Customer Portal.
3. Install Web Help Desk in your deployment.
4. Install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 in your deployment. This software is included with your Web Help Desk installation package.
5. Update the Environment Variables Path setting in your Windows Server operating system.
58 6. Enable FIPS mode on your Apache Tomcat server. Stop Web Help Desk. Install the preconfigured Web Help Desk files for FIPS deployment. Edit the etc\hosts file. Edit the whd.conf file. If you are installing Web Help Desk in the default
7. Create a Web Help Desk server certificate by obtaining a signed certificate by a trusted CA or creating and using a self-signed certificate.
8. Complete the final installation steps.
9. Set up your SolarWinds Integration and email. If you are using self-signed certificates on the SolarWinds Integration servers or email servers, add these certificates into the Web Help Desk NSS database.
1. Review the requirements
Ensure that your Web Help Desk deployment meets all component requirements for enabling FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography.
2. Download Web Help Desk 12.4.0
You can download Web Help Desk from the Customer Portal. This version includes
n NSS binaries
n An empty NSS database in FIPS mode
n A security provider configuration file
The NSS-related files are stored in your
3. Install Web Help Desk in your deployment
After you complete the installation steps, a window opens in your default web browser, prompting you to select a database type. Do not select any database type. Minimize the browser window and go to step 5.
You will continue the Getting Started Wizard in a later step.
4. Install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013
This software is included with your Web Help Desk 12.4.0 installation package.
When you execute the installer, it installs the runtime components required to run C++ applications in Visual Studio 2013 for a 64-bit environment.
59 1. Navigate to your
5. Update the Environment Variables Path setting in your Windows Server operating system
The following procedure describes how to edit the Environment Variables settings in your Windows Server operating system. When completed, you can run Web Help Desk commands in a command prompt without having to change directories in the prompt.
See the Microsoft TechNet website for information about locating the Environment Variables properties in your operating system
1. Press
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT %\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\
When you append the path with your nss-x64 library path, the path displays as follows:
C:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss- x64\lib\;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%S YSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\
6. Enable FIPS mode on your Apache Tomcat server
In the following procedures,
60 Stop Web Help Desk
1. Navigate to the
Install the preconfigured Web Help Desk files for FIPS deployment
When completed, you can use the drag and drop feature for FIPS configuration.
1. Navigate to the following directory:
If you are prompted to copy the tomcat_server_template.xml file, choose the copy and replace option.
Edit the etc\hosts file
Edit the hosts file to allow the local domain to be resolved correctly.
1. Determine if you want to define a host name specifically for Web Help Desk that is different from the real server host name registered in DNS. If you are using the existing host name, go to Edit the whd.conf file. If you are defining a new host name, go to step 2. 2. Open the following file in a text editor: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts 3. Add the following string in the file: 127.0.0.1 mywebhelpdesk.mydomain where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is the domain name you chose for WebHelpDesk and will be used for the remaining procedures. 4. Save and close the file.
Edit the whd.conf file
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
61 3. Locate and follow the instructions in the # Privileged networks section to populate PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS= with the IP address or IP address range where the Web Help Desk host belongs.
Use a valid IP address and not a loopback address. For example: PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS=12.20.30.40 or PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS=12.20.30.* 4. Add the following WHD_HOST variable: WHD_HOST=mywebhelpdesk.mydomain where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is the domain name you chose for your installation. 5. Save and close the file. 6. If you are installing Web Help Desk in the default
n java.security
n pkcs11_nss.cfg
(Optional) Edit the tomcat_server_template.xml file
If you are installing Web Help Desk in the default
If you are installing Web Help Desk in another location, update the path to the nss-x64 in the tomcat_ server_template.xml file.
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
62 3. Update the path to the nss-x64 in the code. a. Locate the following path: c:\\Program Files\\WebHelpDesk\\ b. Replace this path with the path to your Web Help Desk installation. Be sure to include the double slashes ( \\ ) as path delimiters.
4. Save and close the file.
(Optional) Edit the java.security file
If you are installing Web Help Desk in the default
If you are installing Web Help Desk in another directory, update the java.security file with the appropriate path.
1. Navigate to the following directory:
Be sure to include the double slashes ( \\ ) as path delimiters.
Use single slashes for escape spaces. For example: Program\ Files.
(Optional) Edit the pkcs11_nss.cfg file
If you are installing Web Help Desk in the default
If you are installing Web Help Desk in a different location, perform the following steps:
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
4. Save and close the file.
63 7. Create a Web Help Desk server certificate
This procedure describes how to obtain a signed certificate by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) or create and use a self-signed certificate.
Creating a self-signed certificate should only be used in test environments and is not recommended for production environments.
To create a Web Help Desk server certificate, select one of the following options:
n Obtain a signed certificate by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). This procedure creates a certificate for a production environment. The certificate is signed by a world-wide trusted CA (such as Verisign or Globalsign) and may require several weeks to certify and receive.
n Create and use a self-signed certificate. This procedure creates a certificate for a test environment and is not recommended for a production environment. The certificate is signed by your organization and is ready to use after you complete the procedure.
If you currently have a signed certificate for your NSS database, you can skip this procedure.
Before you begin
If you are running Internet Explorer to access Web Help Desk, add your Web Help Desk URL as a trusted site or designate the URL as an Intranet connection in the security settings. This process will prevent the default security settings in Internet Explorer from blocking Javascript code used for navigating through the Getting Started wizard.
Obtain a signed certificate by a trusted CA
1. Locate and open the copy_paste.txt file located at
64 2. Generate a certificate sign request using the NSS tools. a. Open a command prompt window. b. At the prompt, enter: cd c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\bin\ c. Create a certificate signing request. The default password to your NSS database is P@ssw0rd.
Copy and paste the following code from the copy-paste.txt file to the command prompt and execute:
.\certutil -R -s CN=mywebhelpdesk.mydomain, O=My_company, L=My_ location, ST=My_state, C=My_country -p My_phone -o "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.req" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is your Web Help Desk domain name and My_location, My_state, and so on is specific to your deployment.
Change the path to mycert.req if you want to use a different location.
3. Send the generated file to a trusted CA (such as Verisign) to validate the certificate identity. The CA validates the certificate, and then sends the validated certificate back to you. This process may require several weeks to complete. 4. Import the certificate into your NSS database. a. Open a command prompt window. b. At the prompt, enter: cd c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\bin\ c. Copy and paste the following code from the copy-paste.txt file to the command prompt and execute:
.\certutil -A -n tomcat -t "TCu,TCu,TCu" -i "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.crt" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss"
Change the path to mycert.crt if you want to use a different location.
d. When prompted, enter the password to your NSS database. The default password is: P@ssw0rd e. Verify that the certificate is stored in your NSS database. At the prompt, execute: .\certutil -L -d ../dbnss 5. Go to Complete the installation.
Create and use a self-signed certificate
Perform the following procedure only if you did not obtain a signed certificate by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).
65 The default password to your NSS database is P@ssw0rd.
1. Locate and open the copy-paste.txt file located at
.\certutil -R -s CN=mywebhelpdesk.mydomain, O=My_company, L=My_location, ST=My_state, C=My_country -p My_phone -o "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.req" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where: n mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is the Web Help Desk domain name you configured for the WHD_HOST variable in the whd.conf file. n My_location, My_state, and so on is specific to your deployment. n c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if yourWeb Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location.
Change the path to mycert.req if you want to use a different location. 4. Follow the prompts after each .\certutil command line to complete the certificate signing request. When prompted for the default NSS database password, enter: P@ssw0rd 5. Create a certificate called myissuer that will be used as the local CA to sign the tomcat certificate. Copy and paste the following code from the copy-paste.txt file to the command prompt and execute:
.\certutil -S -s "CN=My Issuer" -n myissuer -x -t "TCu,TCu,TCu" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location.
66 6. Sign your certificate request. Copy and paste the following code from the copy-paste.txt file to the command prompt and execute:
.\certutil -C -i "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss- x64\dbnss\mycert.req" -o "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss- x64\dbnss\mycert.crt" -c myissuer -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location.
Change the path to mycert.crt if you want to use a different location.
When completed, a success message will not appear in the command prompt. 7. Import the self-signed certificate into your NSS database.
Change the path to mycert.crt if you want to use a different location.
Copy and paste the following code from the copy-paste.txt file to the command prompt and execute:
.\certutil -A -n tomcat -t "TCu,TCu,TCu" -i "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.crt" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss"
where c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location. When completed, a success message will not appear in the command prompt. 8. Close the command prompt window. 9. Start Web Help Desk. Navigate to your
10. Open Internet Explorer and navigate to: https://mywebhelpdesk.mydomain where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is your Web Help Desk domain name. A certificate error message displays.
67 11. Import the CA certificate into the Trusted Root CA store of your operating system. a. In your web browser, click Proceed anyway. b. Double-click Certificate error. c. Click View Certificate and select Certification path tab > My Issuer > View Certificate > Install Certificate. d. Select Local Machine > TRUSTED ROOT CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES and click Next. e. Click Finish. f. Click OK. 12. Import the server certificate into the Trusted Publishers store. a. In your web browser, click Proceed anyway. b. In your web browser, double-click Certificate error. c. Click View Certificate and select General tab > Install Certificate. d. Select Local Machine > TRUSTED PUBLISHERS and click Next. e. Click Finish. f. Press F5 to refresh the web page. If Web Help Desk is not loaded after pressing F5, stop and then restart Web Help Desk.
8. Complete the installation
1. In the Getting Started Wizard, select the embedded database option. 2. Complete the remaining steps in the Getting Started Wizard. 3. Navigate to your Web Help Desk URL. 4. Log in to Web Help Desk using admin as your user name and password. 5. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Options. 6. In the Server DNS Name field, enter your Web Help Desk fully qualified domain name. 7. Set Force HTTPS to Always. 8. Click Save. 9. Update your Web Help Desk password to a secure password. 10. Activate your Web Help Desk license.
9. Set up SolarWinds Integration and email
If you are using self-signed certificates on your SolarWinds Integration servers, email servers, email, or third-party tools, you will need to add these certificates into the Web Help Desk NSS database. Below is an example for the Orion connection.
1. Open a Web browser window and navigate to: https://ORION_IP_Address:17778/SolarWinds/InformationService/v3/OrionBasic/ 2. Export the certificate into a file in .cer format. a. Click the lock icon next to the URL address and select Certificate Information > Details > Copy to File. b. Follow the prompts in the export wizard, selecting the .der format of the exported certificate.
68 3. Open a command prompt window. At the prompt, enter: cd c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\bin\ 4. Import the certificate. At the prompt, enter: certutil -A -t "CT,C,C" -d ..\dbnss -n orion_cert -i c:\
If you are installing Web Help Desk 12.4.0 in an existing deployment, SolarWinds recommends following the procedures in this section to upgrade your existing deployment to FIPS 140-2 compliance.
Enabling FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography in an existing deployment is optional and is not required to continue using Web Help Desk. Your database is still protected from unauthorized users, whether or not you use the tool. You can maintain your current deployment configuration if you believe that your corporate enterprise is secure and does not require the added security of FIPS 140-2 cryptography.
Before you begin
Before you enable FIPS in your existing deployment, verify that:
n Web Help Desk 12.4.0 is installed in your deployment.
n Your database is not connected to Web Help Desk using an SSL connection.
n Your Web Help Desk hostname is configured in the General Options screen at Setup > General > Options.
Deployment checklist
Use the following checklist to guide you through the deployment procedures.
1. Review the requirements.
2. Ensure you are running Web Help Desk 12.4.0. Upgrade to 12.4.0, if required.
3. Ensure the Web Help Desk hostname located in the Setup > General > Options > General Options screen is correct. This hostname will be used throughout this procedure to configure FIPS in your deployment.
4. Install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013 in your deployment. This software is included with your Web Help Desk installation package.
5. Update the Environment Variables Path setting in your Windows Server operating system.
69 6 Enable FIPS mode on your Apache Tomcat server. Stop Web Help Desk. Install the preconfigured Web Help Desk files for FIPS deployment. Edit the wrapper_template.conf file. Edit the etc\hosts file. Edit the whd.conf file. If you installed Web Help Desk in the default
7. Create a Web Help Desk server certificate for your NSS database by obtaining a signed certificate by a trusted CA or creating and using a self-signed certificate.
8. Complete the final installation steps.
9. Set up your SolarWinds Integration and email. If you are using self-signed certificates on the SolarWinds Integration servers or email servers, add these certificates into the Web Help Desk NSS database.
1. Review the requirements
Ensure that your Windows operating system and database software meets the component requirements for FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography.
Web Help Desk 12.4.0 does not support FIPS 140-2 compliance in Windows 32-bit, Apple® OS X, and Linux operating systems.
2. Ensure you are running Web Help Desk 12.4.0
The FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography is only supported in Web Help Desk 12.4.0.
If you are currently running version 12.4.0 go to step 3. If you are not running Web Help Desk 12.4.0, download the software from the Customer Portal.
This version includes:
n NSS binaries
n An empty NSS database in FIPS mode
n The security provider configuration file
The NSS-related files are stored in your
70 3. Ensure that the Web Help Desk hostname is correct
The Web Help Desk hostname will be used throughout this procedure to configure FIPS in your deployment.
1. Click Setup in the toolbar and select General > Options. 2. In the General Options screen, ensure that the Web Help Desk Name field contains the correct hostname.
4. Install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013
This software is included with your Web Help Desk 12.4.0 installation package. When you execute the installer, it installs the runtime components required to run C++ applications in Visual Studio 2013 for a 64-bit environment.
When you run the installation program, select vcredist_64.exe and install the software in your
5. Update the Environment Variables Path setting in your Windows Server operating system
The following procedure describes how to edit the Environment Variables settings in your Windows Server operating system. When completed, you can run Web Help Desk commands in a command prompt without having to change directories in the prompt.
See the Microsoft TechNet website for information about locating the Environment Variables properties in your operating system
1. In your Windows Server operating system, locate and open the Environment Variables properties. 2. In the Environment Variables properties, locate Path in the System Variables. 3. Open the PATH string in Edit mode. 4. Update the PATH string with the following path to your nss-x64 library:
71 Below is an example of the system PATH variable.
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT %\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\
When you append the path with your nss-x64 library path, the path displays as follows:
C:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss- x64\lib\;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%S YSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn\ManagementStudio\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\Binn\
6. Enable FIPS mode on your Apache Tomcat server
In the following procedures,
Stop Web Help Desk
1. Navigate to the
Install the preconfigured Web Help Desk files for FIPS deployment
Edit the wrapper_template.conf file
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
wrapper.java.additional.1=-XX:MaxPermSize=@@@WHD_MAX_PERM_MEMORY@@@m wrapper.java.additional.2=-Djava.endorsed.dirs=../../../conf/endorsed wrapper.java.additional.3-Dcatalina.base=../../tomcat ...... wrapper.java.additional.17=-DWHDWebObjectsMonitorDeployment=false
72 3. Add the following strings in the code: wrapper.java.additional.XX=-DWHDnss wrapper.java.additional.XX=-Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore=NONE wrapper.java.additional.XX=-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=NONE where XX equals the next incremented number in the section. If you do not have any customizations in this file, you can use section 1 in the copy_paste.txt file to copy from and paste into your wrapper_template.conf file. The copy_paste.txt file is located in the following directory:
# Java Additional Parameters wrapper.java.additional.1=-XX:MaxPermSize=@@@WHD_MAX_PERM_MEMORY@@@m wrapper.java.additional.2=-Djava.endorsed.dirs=../../../conf/endorsed ... wrapper.java.additional.17=-DWHDWebObjectsMonitorDeployment=false wrapper.java.additional.18=-DWHDnss
4. Save and close the file.
Edit the etc\hosts file
Edit the hosts file to allow the local domain to be resolved correctly.
1. Open the following file in a text editor: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts 2. Determine if you want to define a host name specifically for Web Help Desk that is different from the real server host name registered in DNS. To use the existing host name, go to the next step. To define a new host name, add the following string:
Edit the whd.conf file
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
73 3. Locate and follow the instructions in the # Privileged networks section to populate PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS= with the IP address or IP address range where the Web Help Desk host belongs. For example: PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS=12.20.30.40 or PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS=12.20.30.* 4. Uncomment the following WHD_HOST variable: WHD_HOST=mywebhelpdesk.mydomain 5. Save and close the file. 6. If you installed Web Help Desk in the default
n java.security
n pkcs11_nss.cfg
(Optional) Edit the tomcat_server_template.xml file
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
3. Replace the code between @@@WEBHELPDSK_SSL_START@@@ and @@@WEBHELPDESK_SSL_STOP@@@ with the code included in the copy_paste.txt file, where c:\\Program Files\\WebHelpDesk\\ is the path to your default WebHelpDesk installation directory. Be sure to include the double slashes ( \\ ) as path delimiters.
4. If you are installing Web Help Desk in a non-default location, update the path to the nss-x64 in the code.
74 (Optional) Edit the java.security file
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
security.provider.1=sun.security.provider.Sun security.provider.2=sun.security.rsa.SunRsaSign security.provider.3=sun.security.ec.sunEC security.provider.4=com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider security.provider.5=com.sun.crypto.provider.SunJCE security.provider.6=sun.security.jgss.SunProvider security.provider.7=com.sun.security.sasl.Provider security.provider.8=org.jcp.xml.dsig.internal.dom.SMLDSigRI security.provider.9=sun.security.smartcardio.SunPCSC security.provider.10=sun.security.mscapi.SunMSCAPI
3. Remove the following string: security.provider.4=com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider 4. Add the following strings before security.provider.5=com.sun.crypto.provider.SunJCE:
security.provider.XX=sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11 c:\\Program\ Files\\WebHelpDesk\\bin\\nss-x64\\config\\pkcs11_nss.cfg security.provider.XX=com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider SunPKCS11- NSScrypto
where XX equals the appropriate string increment number. 5. Adjust the increment numbers of each string so they are in sequential order (such as 1, 2, 3, and so on). When completed, this section should appear exactly as follows:
security.provider.1=sun.security.provider.Sun security.provider.2=sun.security.rsa.SunRsaSign security.provider.3=sun.security.ec.SunEC security.provider.4=sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11 c:\\Program\ Files\\WebHelpDesk\\bin\\nss-x64\\config\\pkcs11_nss.cfg security.provider.5=com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider SunPKCS11- NSScrypto security.provider.6=com.sun.crypto.provider.SunJCE security.provider.7=sun.security.jgss.SunProvider security.provider.8=com.sun.security.sasl.Provider security.provider.9=org.jcp.xml.dsig.internal.dom.XMLDSigRI security.provider.10=sun.security.smartcardio.SunPCSC security.provider.11=sun.security.mscapi.SunMSCAPI keystore.type=PKCS11
75 6. Locate and comment out the following string: keystore.type=jks For example: # keystore.type=jks 7. Save and close the file.
(Optional) Edit the pkcs11_nss.cfg file
Edit this file only if Web Help Desk was not installed in the following location: c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk
1. Open the following file in a text editor:
4. Save and close the file.
7. Create a signed Web Help Desk certificate for your NSS database
Create a Web Help Desk server certificate by obtaining a signed certificate by a trusted CA or creating and using a self-signed certificate.
If you currently have a signed certificate for your NSS database, you can skip this procedure.
Before you begin
If you are running Internet Explorer to access Web Help Desk, add your Web Help Desk URL as a trusted site or designate the URL as an Intranet connection in the security settings. This process will prevent the default security settings in Internet Explorer from blocking Javascript code used for navigating through the Getting Started wizard.
Obtain a signed certificate by a trusted CA
This procedure creates a certificate for a production environment. The certificate is signed by a world-wide trusted CA (such as Verisign or Globalsign) and may require several weeks to certify and receive.
76 1. Generate a certificate sign request using the NSS tools. a. Open a command prompt window. b. At the prompt, enter: cd c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\bin\ c. Create a certificate signing request. The default password to your NSS database is P@ssw0rd.
Change the path to mycert.req if you want to use a different location. At the prompt, execute:
.\certutil -R -s CN=mywebhelpdesk.mydomain, O=My_company, L=My_ location, ST=My_state, C=My_country -p My_phone -o "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.req" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is your Web Help Desk domain name and My_location, My_state, and so on is specific to your deployment. 2. Send the generated file to a trusted CA (such as Verisign) to validate the certificate identity. The CA validates the certificate, and then sends the validated certificate back to you. This process may require several weeks to complete. 3. Import the certificate into your NSS database. a. Open a command prompt window. b. At the prompt, enter: cd c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\bin\ c. At the prompt, execute:
Change the path to mycert.crt if you want to use a different location
.\certutil -A -n tomcat -t "TCu,TCu,TCu" -i "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.crt" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss"
d. When prompted, enter the password to your NSS database. The default password is: P@ssw0rd e. When prompted, enter the password for your Web Help Desk private key. The default password is: changeit f. Verify that the certificate is stored in your NSS database. At the prompt, execute: .\certutil -L -d ../dbnss 4. Start Web Help Desk. Navigate to your
77 5. Open a web browser and navigate to: https://mywebhelpdesk.mydomain:443/helpdesk/ where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is your Web Help Desk domain name.
If you configured HTTPS_PORT differently in an earlier step, choose a port other than port 443.
6. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Options. 7. In the Server DNS Name field, enter your Web Help Desk domain name. 8. Set Force HTTPS to Always. 9. Click Save. The FIPS configuration is completed. Your Web Help Desk deployment is running in FIPS compliant security mode. Do not go to the next section.
Create and use a self-signed certificate
This procedure creates a certificate for a test environment and is not recommended for a production environment. The certificate is signed by your organization and is ready to use after you complete the procedure. Self-signed certificate should only be used in test environments and is not recommended for production environments.
Perform the following procedure only if you did not obtain a signed certificate by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).
The default password to your NSS database is P@ssw0rd.
1. Open a command prompt and navigate to:
Change the path to mycert.req if you want to use a different location. At the command prompt, execute:
.\certutil -R -s CN=mywebhelpdesk.mydomain, O=My_company, L=My_location, ST=My_state, C=My_country -p My_phone -o "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.req" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where: n mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is the Web Help Desk domain name you configured for the WHD_HOST variable in the whd.conf file. n My_location, My_state, and so on is specific to your deployment. n c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location.
78 3. Follow the prompts after each .\certutil command line to complete the certificate signing request. When prompted for the default NSS database password, enter: P@ssw0rd 4. Create a certificate called myissuer that will be used as the local CA to sign the tomcat certificate. At the command prompt, execute:
.\certutil -S -s "CN=My Issuer" -n myissuer -x -t "TCu,TCu,TCu" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location. 5. Sign your certificate request.
Change the path to mycert.crt if you want to use a different location. At the command prompt, execute:
.\certutil -C -i "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss- x64\dbnss\mycert.req" -o "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss- x64\dbnss\mycert.crt" -c myissuer -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss" -Z SHA256
where c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location.
When completed, a success message will not appear in the command prompt.
6. Import the self-signed certificate into your NSS database.
Change the path to mycert.crt if you want to use a different location. At the command prompt, execute:
.\certutil -A -n tomcat -t "TCu,TCu,TCu" -i "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss\mycert.crt" -d "c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\dbnss"
where c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk is the location of your current Web Help Desk installation. Adjust this path if your Web Help Desk software is installed in a non-standard location. When completed a success message will not appear in the command prompt.
7. Close the command prompt window.
79 8. Start Web Help Desk. Navigate to your
9. Open Internet Explorer and navigate to: https://mywebhelpdesk.mydomain where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is your Web Help Desk domain name. A certificate error message displays. 10. Import the CA certificate into the Trusted Root CA store of your operating system. a. In your web browser, click Proceed anyway. b. Double-click Certificate error. c. Click View Certificate and select Certification path tab > My Issuer > View Certificate > Install Certificate. d. Select Local Machine > TRUSTED ROOT CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES and click Next. e. Click Finish. f. Click OK. 11. Import the server certificate into the Trusted Publishers store. a. In your web browser, click Proceed anyway. b. In your web browser, double-click Certificate error. c. Click View Certificate and select General tab > Install Certificate. d. Select Local Machine > TRUSTED PUBLISHERS and click Next. e. Click Finish. f. Press F5 to refresh the web page. g. If Web Help Desk is not loaded after pressing F5, stop and then restart Web Help Desk. 12. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 13. Open a web browser and navigate to: https://mywebhelpdesk.mydomain where mywebhelpdesk.mydomain is your Web Help Desk domain name. 14. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Options. 15. In the Server DNS Name field, enter your Web Help Desk domain name. 16. Set Force HTTPS to Always. 17. Click Save. Your Web Help Desk system is now in FIPS compliant security mode.
8. Complete the installation
1. In the Getting Started Wizard, select the embedded database option. 2. Complete the remaining steps in the Getting Started Wizard. 3. Navigate to your Web Help Desk URL.
80 4. Log in to Web Help Desk using admin as your user name and password. 5. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Options. 6. In the Server DNS Name field, enter your Web Help Desk fully qualified domain name. 7. Set Force HTTPS to Always. 8. Click Save. 9. Update your Web Help Desk password to a secure password. 10. Activate your Web Help Desk license.
9. Set up your SolarWinds Integration and email
If you are using self-signed certificates on your SolarWinds Integration servers, email servers, email, or third-party tools, you will need to add these certificates into the Web Help Desk NSS database. Below is an example for the Orion connection.
1. Open a Web browser window and navigate to: https://ORION_IP_Address:17778/SolarWinds/InformationService/v3/OrionBasic/ 2. Export the certificate into a file in .cer format. a. Click the lock icon next to the URL address and select Certificate Information > Details > Copy to File. b. Follow the prompts in the export wizard, selecting the .der format of the exported certificate. 3. Open a command prompt window. At the prompt, enter: c:\Program Files\WebHelpDesk\bin\nss-x64\bin\ 4. Import the certificate. At the prompt, enter: certutil -A -t "CT,C,C" -d ..\dbnss -n orion_cert -i c:\
After you enable FIPS 140-2 cryptography and complete the steps in the Getting Started wizard, schedule and implement the appropriate procedures in your organization to prepare all stakeholders for the database migration.
The following illustration provides an overview of the database migration milestones using the Password Security Migration Tool.
81 MILESTONE COMPLETED TASKS
Web Help Desk 12.4.0 is installed in your deployment.
1 You scheduled a date to invalidate all tech and client passwords in your current Web Help Desk database stored with weaker cryptography and a date to verify system status using the Audit Tool.
You configured a FIPS 140-2 cryptography provider in your Web Help Desk deployment.
Web Help Desk begins using FIPS 140-2 cryptography for user passwords and a non- 2 FIPS provider for hash attachment links and third-party connection passwords.
All techs and clients are notified to log in to Web Help Desk before your scheduled date.
The Web Help Desk Admin runs the Password Security Migration Tool.
All non-migrated clients and techs using the non-FIPS provider are invalidated. These 3 users are forced to change their password before they can log in and access the application.
All third-party connection passwords are re-encrypted to AES with the FIPS provider.
To prepare for the database migration:
82 1. Schedule the migration. Select a date to invalidate all passwords stored in your current Web Help Desk database stored with weaker cryptography and a date to verify your system status. 2. Notify all techs and clients to log in to Web Help Desk 12.4.0. Ensure that all clients and techs receive confirmation about the planned migration. Provide a deadline date and ample time for all users to proactively log in to Web Help Desk 12.4.0. If your clients and techs do not log in to Web Help Desk 12.4.0 by the deadline date, they will be forced to change their password after the migration before they can log in and access Web Help Desk. 3. Record your existing SolarWinds Integration configuration settings. If you are connected to an external SolarWinds product (such as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor [NPM], SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor [SAM], or SolarWinds Network Configuration Monitor [NCM] ), record your current configuration settings. All external SolarWinds integration passwords will be updated to FIPS 140-2 cryptography during the database migration. a. Click Setup and select SolarWinds Integration > SolarWinds Connection. A list of SolarWinds connections appear. b. Double-click a connection. c. Record the connection information listed in the screen. d. Click Next. e. Record the filter settings listed on the screen. f. In the SolarWinds Integration menu, click SolarWinds Connection. g. Record the connection settings for any remaining connections.
Migrate user passwords to FIPS 140-2 cryptography
On a prescheduled date, execute the database compliance tool in Web Help Desk using your administrator password to ensure that all client and tech account passwords are migrated to FIPS 140-2 cryptography. When completed, only the stored client and tech passwords using FIPS 140-2 cryptography are validated.
Prepare for the password migration
1. Log on to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > Authentication. 3. Scroll down to the Password Security Migration Tool window. 4. Click Check Password Security. The tool scans all client and tech account passwords in your Web Help Desk database. If all clients and techs have logged in to Web Help Desk 12.4.0 before the scheduled date, a message displays stating that your database is now using strong cryptography and is FIPS 140-2 compliant. If one or more clients or techs have not logged in to Web Help Desk before the scheduled date, Web Help Desk lists the remaining number of client accounts and a list of tech accounts that require a password change. The report will include third-party integration accounts that will be migrated automatically without user intervention. 5. Decide whether to invalidate all passwords in your database using the weaker cryptography. If you click No and do not invalidate all passwords, Web Help Desk will not erase any passwords from your database that are using weaker cryptography.
83 Execute the password migration
1. Click Yes to invalidate all passwords. The following message displays: Are you sure you want to erase all passwords that are using weaker cryptography? Confirm by entering your Admin password below. 2. Enter your admin password in the appropriate field. 3. Click Yes to invalidate all passwords. When completed, a message displays listing the reset client and tech passwords. All clients who did not update their passwords are forced to create a new password when they log in to Web Help Desk. Additionally, all future client and tech account passwords will be encrypted using FIPS 140-2 cryptography. 4. Click Save. The migration is completed.
Notify all users that the migration is completed
All remaining users who did not change their passwords during the notification period must navigate to the Log In page and click Forgot Password to change their password and access Web Help Desk. Migrate user passwords to FIPS 140-2 cryptography
On a pre-scheduled date, execute the database compliance tool in Web Help Desk using your administrator password to ensure that all client and tech account passwords are migrated to FIPS 140-2 cryptography. When completed, only the stored client and tech passwords using FIPS 140-2 cryptography are validated.
Prepare for the password migration
1. Log on to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > Authentication. 3. Scroll down to the Password Security Migration Tool window. 4. Click Check Password Security. The tool scans all client and tech account passwords in your Web Help Desk database. If all clients and techs have logged in to Web Help Desk 12.4.0 before the scheduled date, a message displays stating that your database is now using strong cryptography and is FIPS 140-2 compliant. If one or more clients or techs have not logged in to Web Help Desk before the scheduled date, Web Help Desk lists the remaining number of client accounts and a list of tech accounts that require a password change. The report will include third-party integration accounts that will be migrated automatically without user intervention. 5. Decide whether to invalidate all passwords in your database using the weaker cryptography. If you click No and do not invalidate all passwords, Web Help Desk will not erase any passwords from your database that are using weaker cryptography.
84 Execute the password migration
1. Click Yes to invalidate all passwords. The following message displays: Are you sure you want to erase all passwords that are using weaker cryptography? Confirm by entering your Admin password below. 2. Enter your admin password in the appropriate field. 3. Click Yes to invalidate all passwords. When completed, a message displays listing the reset client and tech passwords. All clients who did not update their passwords are forced to create a new password when they log in to Web Help Desk. Additionally, all future client and tech account passwords will be encrypted using FIPS 140-2 cryptography. 4. Click Save. The migration is completed.
Notify all users that the migration is completed
All remaining users who did not change their passwords during the notification period must navigate to the Log In page and click Forgot Password to change their password and access Web Help Desk.
85 Upgrade the application
The following illustration provides the upgrade paths from current supported versions to the latest version. All versions prior to 10.2.0.46 are no longer supported.
Upgrade from versions prior to v12.0.0
Beginning in v12.0.0, the SolarWinds upgrade process requires that older versions of Web Help Desk be updated to v12.0.0 first before being upgraded to the latest version. Web Help Desk no longer supports running a FrontBase database. 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.
Upgrade from an embedded FrontBase database
1. Back up your Web Help Desk server and any database server associated with Web Help Desk. 2. Contact SolarWinds Customer Support for a copy of Web Help Desk 12.0.0.
86 3. Before you run the Web Help Desk installer, ensure that: n The FrontBase and PostgreSQL databases are running. n The embedded FrontBase database uses the whd and user whd schemas. n The server hosting Web Help Desk includes enough free space to support the database migration. Web Help Desk notifies you about the required space before the migration begins. n You have write privileges on both the FrontBase and PostgreSQL databases. See Database Requirements for details. 4. Stop Web Help Desk. Navigate to the
Upgrade from an external FrontBase, OpenBase, or Oracle database
If you are running an external FrontBase, OpenBase, or Oracle® database, you must manually migrate your data to the embedded PostgreSQL database.
See the following sections for more information:
n Database requirements for information about supported PostgreSQL versions. n Database datatypes for information about mapping datatypes from other databases to PostgreSQL. n Migrating external or unsupported databases to PostgreSQL for more information about database migration.
Upgrade from a MySQL or Microsoft SQL database
1. Back up your Web Help Desk server and any database server associated with Web Help Desk. 2. Contact SolarWinds Customer Support for a copy of Web Help Desk v12.0.0. 3. Ensure that your version of MySQL or Microsoft® SQL Server is supported by Web Help Desk. See Database requirements for more information. 4. Stop Web Help Desk. Navigate to the
87 9. Upgrade your Web Help Desk software to the latest version.
Upgrade from versions after v12.0.0
If you are running Web Help Desk v12.0.0 or later, you can upgrade directly to the latest version.
Beginning in v12.4.0, Web Help Desk upgraded to Apache Tomcat v7.0.68 for improved security. When you upgrade your Web Help Desk software, the upgrade procedure replaces the WebHelpDesk\conf\tomcat_web_template.xml file with an updated file that includes the Tomcat v7.0.68 settings. When the upgrade is completed, add your personal settings to the new file from your backup file.
1. Back up your Web Help Desk server and any database server associated with Web Help Desk.
Upgrading Web Help Desk may add new tables, but the procedure does not impact your database and database table data. See Database migration options for more information.
2. Back up your tomcat_web_template.xml file to an external directory. 3. (OSX upgrades only). Update your Oracle Java Database Connector (JDBC) driver (if applicable). 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 preserves your Java settings during the installation procedure and continues 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. 4. Stop Web Help Desk. Navigate to the
88 Set up the application
The following sections describe how to set up Web Help Desk for your help desk operations. Setup overview
The following steps provide a basic overview of how to set up Web Help Desk in a typical help desk deployment.
1. Configure your general settings, such as logging in and activating your Web Help Desk license, configuring general user interface options, setting up your authentication method, customizing your database connection, setting up the time zone and local work hours for your employees, and configuring the look and feel of the Web Help Desk console. 2. Set up your incoming and outgoing email settings, such as setting up your inbound and outbound email accounts, applying email templates, and applying tags in email templates. 3. Configure your ticket functions, such as defining request types, status types, priority types and alert triggers, custom ticket fields and tasks. 4. Define the techs in your help desk deployment, such as adding each tech, defining your tech groups, and setting up the tech's permissions. 5. Define the ticket routing processes for all requests, such as setting up action rules for ticket processing, adding approver roles, defining your approval processes, and apply approvals to tickets. 6. Configure your customer locations, such as the room locations, location groups and assigned locations, departments, and department groups. 7. Add and configure your clients, such as setting up client administration roles, defining client custom fields, importing Active Directory or LDAP directory connections, and importing clients. 8. Define your assets, including your asset import and permission options, asset types, asset custom fields, manufacturer and model information, purchase order custom fields, and import asset data. 9. Set up your parts and billing processes for applying parts and billing options, creating invoicing options, defining rates and terms, and defining custom fields for your parts. 10. Activate your license before your 30-day evaluation period ends. When your evaluation license expires, your single admin or tech account remains active, but all advanced features are disabled.
Setup menu options
When you click Setup in the toolbar, the Setup screen displays with a left column menu. Below are descriptions of each menu option.
MENU OPTION DESCRIPTION
Defines licensing information, authentication methods, interface General appearance, time and location, logging, and information about the Web Help Desk software.
89 MENU OPTION DESCRIPTION
Defines email options, incoming and outgoing email accounts, and email Email templates.
Defines companies, locations and rooms location groups and assigned Companies & Locations locations, techs, and group managers, location custom fields, departments and department groups, and department custom fields.
Defines the Web Help Desk user interface and the fields and information they contain, request types (such as facilities and hardware), status types Tickets (such as Open and Pending), priority types and alerts (such as Urgent, High, and Low), custom ticket fields, and task names.
Defines the client options (such as ticket approval methods, display name Clients 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 Techs 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 Assets preschedule 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 from Orion platform alerts and dispatch SolarWinds Integration the appropriate techs to address the issue. You must be connected to Orion Platform 2012.2 or later.
Defines how Web Help Desk defines, stores, and applies action rules and Processes 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 Surveys gather feedback from your client users.
Defines your parts and billing options; custom fields; inventory alerts; Parts and Billing invoicing options; and billing rates, terms, and tax rates.
Defines how Web Help Desk imports data for locations, clients, assets, Data Import purchase orders, tickets, and more.
90 Web Help Desk terms
The following terms define the roles and objects managed by Web Help Desk.
n Tickets: Support requests that are opened through and managed within Web Help Desk. Tickets can be initiated through email, created in the Web Help Desk console, or imported from another application. n Clients: End users or customers who can open tickets in Web Help Desk. Clients can enter tickets through email or through the Web console. n Techs: Web Help Desk users who troubleshoot and resolve tickets. Techs can also enter tickets. For example, when a client calls the IT Help Desk, the tech opens a ticket on the client's behalf. In addition, techs can open tickets that are not associated with a client, such as tickets to schedule routine maintenance or system upgrades. n Admins: Techs with privileges to configure Web Help Desk. n Tech Groups: A group of techs with similar skills and expertise. n Request Types: A classification that identifies the type of support request. Request types are used to automatically assign tickets to the appropriate tech group.
Configure the general settings
Use the Generate Settings to set up how the application works. To access the left setup bar, click Setup and select General.
Log in and apply activation key
If you are evaluating Web Help Desk, you do not need to apply an activation key. For the next 30 days, you will have unlimited tech accounts.
If you have not purchased and provided a license after 30 days, the application automatically switches to a 1-tech license. All tech accounts other than the initial admin account are marked as inactive, and some product functionality (such as asset management) is no longer available. You can continue to use Web Help Desk in this mode for up to one year. Applying a license reactivates all deactivated tech accounts and restores full product functionality.
1. On the Get Started panel, click Login as admin to continue setup.
2. Accept the terms of the license agreement.
91 3. Click Setup.
4. On the General panel, click License. 5. Click the padlock to edit the license settings.
6. Enter the Activation Key, and click Activate. See Access the Customer Portal for instructions about obtaining a copy of your activation key.
Configure the general options
Using the General Options screen, you can 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, you want your deployment to use a secure HTTPS port or you want to include direct contact information in your client emails.
In this screen, you can define how much information a client or tech can view, but you cannot filter dashboard data for administrators.
92 Limiting the amount of data displayed in search results or the dashboard can significantly increase performance.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Options. 2. Complete the fields and selections as required, and then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information.
Configure your authentication settings
You can use the Authentication Settings to configure the authentication methods used to access the Web Help Desk.
If you plan to install FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography in your deployment, you can use the Password Security Migration Tool to encrypt all client and tech account passwords to FIPS 140-2 cryptography prior to activation. The migration tool invalidates all stored client and tech passwords that use a weaker cryptography standard. All clients and techs who did not log in to Web Help Desk before their planned migration date will not be able to log in, and must reset their passwords by clicking Forgot Password on the Log In page. Password recovery is available only if the Web Help Desk authentication method and the Show Forgot Password Button checkbox are selected in the screen.
93 Configure your authentication method and settings
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Authentication. 2. Complete the fields and selections in the top portion of the screen as required, then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information
The following table describes the authentication methods you can select in the screen.
AUTHENTICATION METHOD DESCRIPTION
Authenticates the user with the user name and password. User Web Help Desk 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 SAML 2.0 Provider (IdP) to a Service Provider (SP). (Security Assertion Markup Language) See Deploy SSO with SAML Using AD FS for information about configuring SAML with AD FS for Web Help Desk.
94 AUTHENTICATION METHOD DESCRIPTION
AD FS must be configured separately to integrate with Web Help Desk. See the AD FS 2.0 step-by-step and how to guides at the Microsoft TechNet website for more information.
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. CAS 2.0 Web Help Desk submits the ticket to the CAS validate URL to obtain (Central Authentication Service) the user name of the authenticated user.
See Deploy 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.
You can use Windows Authentication Framework Light Edition (WAFFLE) at your own risk for Web Help Desk servlet authentication. SolarWinds does not support this method of Servlet Authentication SSO. (for Apache Tomcat installations) For information about configuring WAFFLE, see Servlet Single Sign On Security Filter at the GitHub Website. For additional information, see the SolarWinds Thwack website and the SolarWinds KB article titled WAFFLE Servlet Authentication Configuration Steps.
Uses Web servers (such as the Apache HTTP Server) to forward HTTP Header externally authenticated user information using HTTP headers.
Forwards the authenticated user name through an HTTP HTTP Form Value name/value pair instead of an HTTP header.
Encrypt passwords using the Password Security Migration Tool
If you install FIPS 140-2 cryptography in an existing deployment, you can use the Password Security Migration Tool to ensure that all client and tech account passwords are migrated to FIPS 140-2 cryptography.
See the tooltip for more information.
95 Set your time and place
The Time & Place page configures the time zone and local work hours for the locations managed by your help desk. You can also configure calendar events that appear in your Web Help Desk calendars.
Add a new location and set the business hours
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Time and Place. 2. Click New. 3. Complete the fields and selections as required, and then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information.
96 Add calendar events
1. Click the Calendars tab. 2. Complete the fields and selections as required, then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information.
Configure your look and feel
Use the Look & Feel screen to configure your Web Help Desk screen with style sheets and logos. By applying a style sheet to your deployment, you can render your Log In screen and the client interface with your corporate branding.
Add your company logo
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Look and Feel. 2. Click Add File and select a logo in .PNG or .GIF format. Click the tooltip for information about image requirements. 3. When completed, click Save. Your company logo appears in the Logo field, as shown below.
Install and apply a new style sheet template
1. Download your style sheet template. You can also click Style Sheet Gallery > CSS Gallery and select a new cascading style sheet (CSS) in the SolarWinds Thwack Community Web page. 2. Copy the content of the zipped .css file into the clipboard.
97 3. In the Client Style Sheet row, select Custom and click Edit CSS to open the CSS editor.
4. Remove any existing content in the editor. 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.
98 8. Review the new style sheet implementation at the bottom of the page.
9. Adjust the template Header, Help Desk Name, and Button Bar color, size, and spacing parameters to suit your needs.
For information about color code names and colors, see the w3schools.com HTML Color Names site.
10. Click Save to activate the new style sheet.
Customize 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 automatically selects 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.
99 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select General > Database. 2. 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 is removed and the Backup Folder and Number of backups options become available.
3. In the Host field, enter the IP address or DNS name of the server hosting the Web Help Desk database. 4. In the Port field, enter the port number for the database connection. The default ports include: n 3306 (MySQL) n 1433 (Microsoft SQL Server) n 5432 (PostgreSQL) 5. In the Database field (if available), enter the name of your Web Help Desk database. 6. In the Username and Password fields, enter the user name and password for your Web Help Desk database connection.
100 7. 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. 8. In the Backup Folder row (if available), select or enter the appropriate backup folder path to store your database backup files. 9. 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 you choose to save five backup files and in time save a sixth backup file, the first backup in the series will be deleted. 10. Click Backup Now to backup your new Web Help Desk database file to your backup folder. 11. Click Save. 12. Restart Web Help Desk to enable your new database connection settings.
Set your log settings
You can use the Logs page to set a critical level for logging. This is not required for your initial configuration and is typically used for troubleshooting. Click Save to save your changes.
View your 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 DESCRIPTION
Displays the version of your SolarWinds Web Help Desk Web Help Desk Version software version. See the SolarWinds Customer Portal website for updates.
The current version of your Java Virtual Machine (JVM) running Java Version the SolarWinds Web Help Desk software.
Java Home The location of the Java Library.
The Java classpath parameter setting used by the SolarWinds Classpath Web Help Desk software.
101 FIELD DESCRIPTION
The default installation only includes 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.
The extension directories included with the SolarWinds Web Extension Dirs Help Desk software.
Temp Dir The directory provided to the JVM for storing temporary files.
The operating system and user account for your SolarWinds Operating System Web Help Desk software.
The amount of memory currently used by the SolarWinds Web JVM Memory Help Desk software and the total amount of available memory reported by the JVM.
The current preferred locale codes provided by your Web Preferred Browser Locale(s) browser, in order of preference.
The mode that the daemon services are running from within Daemon Mode this instance of SolarWinds Web Help Desk.
Configure Microsoft SQL Server
To configure SQL Server for your Web Help Desk deployment, use the SQL Server Configuration Manager to enable TCP/IP on SQL Server. When completed, use SQL Server Management Studio for SQL Server to create and configure SQL Server to the Web Help Desk database instance.
Enable TCP/IP on SQL Server
Configure the following settings in the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
SETTING VALUE
TCP/IP Protocol Enabled in SQL Server Network Configuration > Protocols for SQL 20xx
127.0.0.1 (if installed on the Web Help Desk server) IP Address Server IP address (if installed on a separate server)
TCP Port 1433
TCP Dynamic Ports Blank
102 Create and configure your SQL Server database
Configure the following settings in the SQL Server Management Studio for SQL Server to create and configure SQL Server to the Web Help Desk database instance.
SETTING VALUE
SQL Server and Windows Authentication Mode Enabled
Login Name whd
SQL Server Authentication: Password Enabled and configured
SQL Server Authentication: Enforce password Disabled policy
SQL Server Authentication: Enforce password Disabled expiration
SQL Server Authentication: User must change Disabled password at next login
Database name whd
Database owner whd
Configure MySQL
1. Start MySQL Workbench and connect to the MySQL database server. 2. Create a new schema with the following settings: n Name: whd n Collation type: utf8 - utf8_general_ci 3. Open the Configuration > Options File. 4. Configure the following settings: n Networking - Port: 3306 n General - default-storage-engine: InnoDB n Misc - init_connect: SET NAMES utf8 5. Stop and then restart the server. 6. Configure the Users and Privileges settings with the following: n Login Name: whd n Password:
103 c. In the Schema box, select Selected Schema and whd and click OK. d. Select all Object, DDL, and Other rights check boxes. 8. Save your changes.
Integrate Apache Tomcat
By default, Web Help Desk runs on port 8081. If Apache Tomcat is not required and you prefer to run the application on port 80, perform the following steps:
1. Stop Apache. 2. Set the DEFAULT_PORT variable in webhelpdesk/conf/whd.conf to 80. 3. Restart Web Help Desk. Execute: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/whdstart
4. Enable Apache to run on port 80 by allowing it to proxy requests to the Web Help Desk on port 8081. a. Open the webhelpdesk/conf/whd.conf file. b. In the file, set the URL_DEFAULT_PORT setting to 80 c. Save the webhelpdesk/conf/whd.conf file. d. Enable mod_proxy as described in the Apache HTTP Server Version 2.0. See Apache Module mod_proxy on the Apache Software Foundation site for more information. e. Add the following lines at the end of your Apache httpd.conf configuration file: ]>ProxyPass /helpdesk http://localhost:8081/helpdeskProxyPassReverse /helpdesk http://localhost:8081/helpdesk
f. Save the file. When completed, the application will appear as if it is running on port 80. 5. Restart your Apache server.
Disable IIS
Web Help Desk does not integrate with IIS. Web Help Desk runs on port 8081 by default. To run Web Help Desk on port 80, disable IIS on your Windows Server system.
Additionally, if your system is connected to multiple IP addresses and one IP address uses IIS, bind IIS and Web Help Desk to separate the IP addresses.
Disable IIS on Windows Server systems
You can disable IIS on Windows Server 2008 systems.
Disable IIS on Windows Server 2008 systems
To run Web Help Desk on port 80 and disable IIS on Windows Server 2008:
104 1. Stop Web Help Desk. 2. Go to Startup > Administrative Services > Server Manager. 3. Click Roles. 4. Select IIS, and then click WHD. 5. Click Confirm. 6. Open the following file: \Program Files\Web Help Desk\conf\whd.conf 7. Set the DEFAULT_PORT setting to the following: DEFAULT_PORT= 80 8. Save the following file: \Program Files\Web Help Desk\conf\whd.conf 9. Start Web Help Desk
Bind IIS to a Windows interface
To specify or Web Help Desk, edit the \Program Files\WebHelpDesk\conf\whd.conf file and set the IP_ADDRESS option to the desired IP address.
Bind IIS to an interface on Windows Server 2008
1. Log on with the local Administrator account. 2. Open a command prompt window. 3. Execute the following command: netsh http add iplisten ipaddress= xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx 4. To check your settings, enter: netsh show iplisten 5. Restart IIS.
Set up your email
You can set up your email options, templates, and incoming and outgoing mail accounts at Setup > E-Mail. Web Help Desk supports multiple accounts for receiving and sending email.
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. Each incoming mail account is associated with an outgoing mail account (SMTP server) used to deliver outgoing mail.
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.
105 Simplify email management – options
You can simplify incoming mail processing by configuring the E-Mail Options screen located at Setup > E- Mail > Options. In the screen, you can configure Web Help Desk to accept email from unknown senders in your client domains or define and maintain lists of each email recipient for each client. The screen also includes options for restricting email formats, senders, and contents.
1. Click Setup and select E-Mail > Options. 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.
The Incoming Mail section provides additional options to filter e-mail. Using the Ignored Senders fields, you can deny email from senders who may be sending SPAM or other unwanted email. The Regular Expression Filters fields allow you to filter out email, based on specific criteria for the subject, body, content, or attachments. Click the tooltips next to each option for more information about using these filters.
Review the remaining options settings and make any changes required for your email environment.
Configure an outgoing email account
You can define your SMTP server(s) and help desk email address in the Outgoing Mail Options section of the E-Mail Options screen.
Be sure to delete the sample outgoing server that was installed by default. The sample server may interfere with your SMTP server.
1. Click Setup and select E-Mail Outgoing Mail Accounts. 2. Click New.
106 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.
4. Complete the remaining fields and selections as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 5. Click Save.
Configure an incoming email account
You can define the requirements for accepting email and initiating some of the automated email processes in the Incoming E-mail Accounts screen.
1. Click Setup and select E-Mail > Incoming Mail Accounts. 2. Click New.
107 3. Complete the fields and selections as required, then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information. Special settings may be required for your email server to properly process incoming mail. Leave the Allow Auto-submitted E-mail check box and Advanced E-mail Properties field blank. If your server fails incoming email tests, you may have to troubleshoot this area. Click the tooltip for more information.
SolarWinds recommends leaving the Compatibility Mode check box blank.
Apply your email templates
Email templates create reusable text for outgoing and incoming email 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 emails.
See Apply tags in email templates for a complete list of tags.
You can apply email templates and tags that automate your email processes, such as:
n Ticket update emails
n Ticket approval and disapproval emails
n Action rule emails
n Other general emails 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 email templates
Web Help Desk includes ready-to-use, built-in email templates for ticket-related outgoing and incoming emails. You can use these templates or customize them to fulfill your needs.
For information about using built-in templates, see Edit built-in email templates.
108 Outgoing email templates
The following table lists the outgoing email templates included with Web Help Desk.
TEMPLATE DESCRIPTION
SMS Message Creates the body portion of all SMS messages.
Creates the message sent to a client when you create their Web New Account Message Help Desk account.
Creates the message sent to clients when they create a new account. Validate Email Message - New Account To enable this template, the Require E-Mail Validation check box must be selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options.
Creates the message sent to clients when they change their email address on an existing account. Validate Email Message - Existing Account The Require E-Mail 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. Reset/Forgot Password Message To enable this template, the Require E-Mail Validation check box must be selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options.
Creates the plain-text reply to Web Help Desk email that does not match a Client or Tech account.
Unrecognized E-mail Reply To enable this template, the Client Can Create Account setting must be set to No or Only if Client's e-mail matches an Accepted Domain in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options.
Creates the plain-text reply to email from a Tech who is not authorized to change the status of a ticket.
Unauthorized Update E-mail Reply 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.
Unauthorized Status Change E-mail Creates the plain-text reply to email from a Tech or Client not Reply authorized to change the status of a ticket.
109 TEMPLATE DESCRIPTION
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.
E-mail Reply for Status Change Creates the plain-text reply to an email from a Tech for a ticket Request on Tickets Pending that is pending Approval. Approval The ticket must be approved before a status change is allowed.
Creates the plain-text reply to an email from a client whose Location is disabled.
Disabled Account Reply Web Help Desk also uses this template if the Require E-Mail Validation check box is selected in the Client Options screen at Setup > Clients > Options but clients are not authenticated with their e-mail address.
Creates the message greeting in response to tickets that completed the final Approval step (if approvals are required for the ticket request type). Approved Ticket Greeting To enable this template, the E-Mail 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 the approval process. Denied Ticket Greeting To enable this template, the E-Mail Client On: Denial check box must be selected for the appropriate approval process at Setup > Processes > Approval Processes.
Creates the message greeting in response to tickets where the Default Ticket Greeting Status Type and Request Type do not match any other configured template.
Creates the message greeting in response to clients with one or Overdue Assets Message more checked-out assets that are overdue.
Creates the message greeting for ticket approval requests.
Approval Request Greeting You can override this greeting by configuring the appropriate approval process located at Setup > Process > Approval Processes.
Closed Ticket Greeting Creates the message greeting when tickets are closed.
Open Ticket Greeting Creates the message greeting when tickets are opened.
110 TEMPLATE DESCRIPTION
Resolved Ticket Greeting Creates the message greeting when tickets are resolved.
Incoming email templates
The following table lists the incoming email templates included with Web Help Desk.
TEMPLATE DESCRIPTION
Creates the default message for email opened by clicking the Add Message Body When Adding a Note action link in an email from Web Help Desk. Client Note This setting only addresses client email.
The default message for email opened by clicking the Cancel Message Body When Canceling a Ticket action link from an email sent by Web Help Desk. Ticket This setting only addresses client email.
Creates the default message for email opened by clicking the Yes action link in a Web Help Desk email sent when a Ticket status is Message Body When Confirming a changed to Resolved. Resolved Ticket This setting only addresses client e-mail.
Creates the default message for email opened by clicking the No action link in a Web Help Desk email sent when a Ticket status is Message Body When Rejecting a changed to Resolved. Resolved Ticket This setting only addresses client email.
Creates the default message for email opened by clicking the Yes Message Body When Voting to action link in a ticket-approval email from Web Help Desk. Approve a Ticket This setting only addresses client email.
The default message that appears in a new email opened by Message Body When Voting Not to clicking the No action link in a ticket-approval email. Approve a Ticket This setting only addresses client email.
Built-in templates can be edited but cannot be deleted.
You can also define custom email templates associated with a specific status type and a request type.
111 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 email template configuration page for SMS messages.
Edit built-in email templates
Built-in templates are pre-configured and ready to use for your Web Help Desk deployment. You can modify the tags and text in the templates so your Web Help Desk installation is able to send custom emails.
If you need to modify a built-in template, you can:
n Modify the information that appears in the resulting email by moving, adding, or removing the text and tags available for that template. See Apply email tags for a complete list of tags available for all email templates.
n Add a language other than standard English.
n Apply an email footer you have already defined in Setup > Email > Options.
The following procedure describes how to customize an outgoing built-in template called Unrecognized E- Mail Reply. Web Help Desk uses this template to send replies received from clients who submitted a request using an unrecognized email address. The goal for this example is to have the resulting emails reflect the actual name of the help desk.
112 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Email > Templates. 2. Select the Outgoing Mail tab.
3. In the E-mail Template column select Unrecognized E-mail Reply. 4. In the Subject field, change: ERROR: Your support request could not be processed. to
113 5. In the Template field, change the existing default message: We're sorry. Your e-mail address was not recognized by the help desk, so your request for support could not be submitted. to We're sorry.
6. Click Save.
Create new email templates
The following procedure describes how to create a new outgoing template for emails that Web Help Desk sends to clients who opened accepted trouble tickets.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Email > Templates. 2. Select the Outgoing tab.
114 3. Click New to open a blank template.
4. In the Name field, enter a name for the template. For example: Open Ticket Acknowlegment
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 emails sent to clients who opened tickets requiring IT support only - no HR or Facilities requests.
115 6. In the Template field, enter the customer correspondence to include in the email. Because 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: n Client name or login ID n Ticket number n Help Desk name n Help Desk contact person (such as a tech or admin) n 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 Apply tags in email templates for a complete list of available tags. Below is an example of your completed email template.
7. In the Status Type field, select Open.
Selecting Open addresses an email that is sent when a ticket is opened. If Open is not displayed in the drop-down list, another email template might be assigned to this status type. 8. In the Request Types field, select Specific. 9. Select the appropriate request types. Web Help Desk includes the following request types: n Email or Outlook n Facilities n Hardware n HR n IT General or Other n Network n Phone or Voicemail n Printer or Toner n User Administration To enable the template to apply to all open ticket greeting emails, select All. The template is applied to all default and custom-created request types.
116 10. (Optional) Select the Use Email Footer check box to include the footer as defined in Setup > E-Mail > Options > E-Mail Footer, with this template. When completed, your template is configured with your new selections, as shown below.
11. Click Save. 12. Skip the Other Languages field if you are creating a template in United States English. If your client requires emails in another language, click Add to select the client's language and then design your template. When you finish, click Save. The option lists more than 100 languages, including variants of English and other languages.
Apply your tags in email templates
Tags are placeholders in email templates that auto-populate emails with ticket information for general, approval and disapproval, and action rule emails. Web Help Desk replaces these placeholders with their proper values (based on values in client tickets) once the email 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 email template. Because these tags are hard coded into Web Help Desk, they cannot be edited.
When you add tags to an email template, use the tag syntax as it is shown in the table below. The content (such as tech, email, and client) must be entered between right and left facing angle brackets (such as
TAG INFORMATION PULLED FROM TICKET
117 TAG INFORMATION PULLED FROM TICKET
The ticket request type. A request type defines the trouble area. For
The ticket status indicating the ticket's state of completion. The ticket
The ticket priority type that determines the ticket due date. The default
The abbreviated version of the client name. Use this tag to minimize
The abbreviated version of the tech's name. Use this tag to minimize
118 TAG INFORMATION PULLED FROM TICKET
See Apply email templates for information about using tags in templates. Set up tickets
Clients and techs create tickets, either through the Web Help Desk user interface or through email, and use tickets to correspond to each other.
The Tickets tab in the left menu defines ticketing functions, such as how tickets are generated, routed, updated, and closed. These functions include:
n Configure ticket options n Define request types n Define status types n Set priority types and alerts n Create custom fields for tickets n Create tasks
When a client or tech creates a ticket, they select a request type that determines which custom fields display 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.
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.
119 You can group identical tickets together to troubleshoot and resolve all tickets as one service request. See parent/child service relationships for more information.
Configure 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:
n General Options
n Client Options
n Tech Options
To configure your ticket options:
1. In the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Select Tickets > Options. 3. On the Tickets Options page, review and update settings in the General Options section. See the tooltips for information about each option.
4. Review and update settings in the Client Options section, including how clients can create tickets and who can update the priority.
120 5. Review and update settings in the Tech Options section.
6. Click Save.
Define request types
Request types are used to categorize tickets. The request type definition specifies which users can create this type of ticket and what fields are included on the ticket.
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.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Request Types. The Request Types window displays current request types. 2. Click New. 3. Enter a name to identify this request type.
4. To create a nested request type, select the parent type. Optionally, click to copy values for the remaining fields from the parent type. To create a top-level request type, leave this field blank.
5. Select the tech group that will handle this type of request. If the tech group has not been defined, leave this field blank. You can map the request type to a tech group when you define the tech group.
121 6. Specify the default priority and whether fields are hidden or required.
7. In the Detailed Instructions field, enter additional information to be displayed on the ticket. For example, you can provide specific instructions for creating this type of ticket, or explain the request type's purpose so a client can choose the correct type.
You can apply BBCode formatting to format lists, add emphasis, or include links to supporting information. See Customize tickets, notes, instructions, and emails with BBCode for details.
8. Specify whether this type of ticket is listed in the menu displayed to clients. Clear this option for types that are selected only by techs (for example, a request type used by techs to schedule an equipment maintenance window).
9. Specify whether the user will be prompted to select an asset or model when they create this type of ticket.
10. Optionally, restrict this ticket type to specific companies, locations, or departments. Only clients or techs associated with your selections will see this request type. For example, if the request type will be routed to a facilities maintenance group for a specific location, restrict the type to that location.
11. If an approval process should be automatically initiated when a ticket is saved with this request type, select the approval process. (Alternatively, you can associate a request type with an approval process when you create the approval process.) 12. To include custom fields on this type of ticket, specify which fields to include.
122 13. Specify whether clients can attach files to this type of ticket, and whether this request type is available as a category when techs create an FAQ.
The Attachments Enabled option does not affect whether techs can attach files.
14. Identify the tech who will receive the highest level escalation (after the tech group manager). 15. Select the survey that is sent to clients when this type of ticket is closed, or select None to disable surveys for this ticket type.
16. Click Save.
Define status types
Each ticket is assigned a status from the available status types. The following status types are predefined:
n Open
n Closed
n Canceled
n Resolved
To enable Change Access Board (CAB) features, add Pending Approval, Approved, and Denied status types.
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.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. 2. Click New. 3. In the Name field enter: Denied 4. In the Description field enter: CAB Status Type 5. Click Alerts Enabled. 6. Click Client Reminders, and then click Save. 7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 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.
Set the status type options for the CAB feature
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. 2. Click the Options tab. 3. Click the Needs Approval Status Type drop-down menu and select Pending. 4. Click the Approved Status Type drop-down menu and select Approved. 5. Click the Approved Denied Status Type drop-down menu and select Denied.
123 6. Review the remaining selections and verify they are correct. 7. Click Save.
Create a priority type
In the following example, a Critical priority type is created. In the next topic, the Critical priority type will be used in an action rule that changes all tickets submitted by the CEO to Critical.
1. Click Setup. 2. Select Tickets > Priority Types and Alerts. 3. Click New.
4. Enter a name, and select a display order and color. 5. (Optional) In the Due Time field, select the time when tickets with this priority should be closed. 6. (Optional) In the Client Reminder Interval field, select the amount of time to elapse before sending (or resending) a reminder to clients. 7. (Optional) In the Alert Repeat Interval field, select the amount of time between reminders to trigger an alert. 8. Click Save.
124 9. (Optional) In the Alert Level rows, set the conditions (such as time interval, criteria, and email recipients) for each Alert Level, beginning with Alert Level 1 and ending with Alert Level 3.
Create custom ticket fields
Use the Ticket Custom Fields screen to create custom tickets fields.
Below is an example of the Ticket Custom Fields screen.
1. Click Setup. 2. Select Tickets > Ticket Custom Fields. 3. Click New. The Ticket Custom Fields screen displays the default values for a new custom field.
125 4. Enter a label to identify this field.
5. In the Display Order drop-down menu, select this field's position within the Custom Fields section of a ticket. 6. In the Clients and Techs sections, specify whether each group can see or edit the custom field. Techs with admin accounts can edit all custom fields.
7. Select the Type of input this field will accept.
The remaining fields change based on your selection. 8. Complete the remaining fields. Point to any field name to display information.
9. Click Save. The Request Types field and an Edit link is displayed on the Ticket Custom Fields screen. 10. Specify which request types apply to this custom field. Only tickets with the selected request type will display this field. a. Click the Edit link. A new tab displays a list of request types. b. Select one or more request types. To display the custom field on all tickets, click Select All below the list.
c. Click Done to close the tab. 11. Click Save.
Create tasks
Web Help Desk uses tasks to create tickets. A task contains one or more task elements, and each task element 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 configured task. 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 onboarding 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:
126 n Completing tax and insurance forms
n Accessing network resources
n Configuring a new computer system
n 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.
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.
127 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. 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 and be visible to other techs.
128 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.
To create new task elements:
129 1. Click the Element Order drop-down menu and select 1 so this task element runs first. 2. (Optional) Select the Link to Parent check box to link this task to a parent ticket and automate parent/child ticket creation. When selected, the task element is inherited from the parent ticket. 3. Select the appropriate selections for Location, Room, and Department. 4. Click the Request Type drop-down menus and select the appropriate request type. For example, for new hire tasks, select HR and New Hire. 5. 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. 6. In the Request Detail field, enter a description for the element. For example: Configure a new computer system with Microsoft Office and all required corporate software. 7. In the Tech drop-down menu, select a specific tech for this element (if required). 8. In the Priority drop-down menu, select the appropriate priority for this element. 9. In the Asset No. field, enter an asset number (if required). 10. 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. 11. 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 email account, assign a specific desk in a building, and enroll the employee in on-site new hire classes.
Create 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.
130 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.
Define your techs
Techs are users who resolve Web Help Desk tickets. Permissions specify which tickets a tech can access and what actions the tech can perform.
Tech permissions are determined by:
n The type of tech account
n The set of permissions granted to the tech account
Web Help Desk provides two account types for techs:
n The Admin account type provides unlimited access to all Web Help Desk functionality. All permissions are granted to admins.
n The Tech account type allows limited access to Web Help Desk functionality based on the tech's permissions.
Use the Techs tab in Setup to assign your techs to specific support areas, such as Locations & Departments and Clients. When completed, Web Help Desk will automatically assign tickets to the appropriate tech based on your selections, such as Tech Group, Locations & Departments, and Assets.
131 Create tech accounts
Each tech that logs in to Web Help Desk must have an account. You can use the Techs page to define the techs that will log in to Web Help Desk. For each tech, you can define their work schedule, location, associated tech group, and business zone.
When you create a non-admin tech account, you must specify the tech's supervisor. As a result, SolarWinds recommends creating the supervisors' accounts first.
The Tech Name column includes a list of a techs in your tech group. Some tech names may include the following icons indicating their availability status.
INDICATOR STATUS DESCRIPTION
[ C ] Concurrent The tech is assigned to a concurrent license.
[ D ] Deleted The tech account was deleted.
[ I ] Inactive The tech account is inactive.
The tech has a specific work schedule outside the assigned [ S ] Not on schedule business zone.
[ V ] Vacation The tech is on vacation.
You can configure all statuses except Concurrent in the Scheduling Setup section of each tech account. If the tech is assigned to a Concurrent license, the tech must wait for an available license to use Web Help Desk.
132 SolarWinds recommends creating the supervisor before creating the techs who report to that supervisor. Using this method, you can assign a supervisor to each tech as you create the tech.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > Techs. 2. Click New. 3. Enter the tech's name, Web Help Desk credentials, and contact information. All bold fields are required.
For more information about any field, see the tooltips.
4. Specify the account type. For tech accounts, specify the tech's permissions and supervisor.
A supervisor is required for tech accounts, but optional for admin accounts.
5. To enable the tech to access the Web Help Desk client interface, link the tech to a client account.
When the tech account is linked to a client account, the Switch to Client Account icon is available in the upper-right corner. The tech can click this button to display the interface exactly as the selected client sees it. Tech accounts can be linked to actual client accounts or a demo client account. If you link to a demo client account with the same user name as the tech, a message warns you that the client won't be able to log in except as a tech linked to the client account. Because that is the intent, you can ignore the message.
6. Specify the number of notes and history entries to display on a ticket. Additional entries will be collapsed by default. 7. In the Asset Setup section, select the technologies that this tech can use to connect remotely to an asset.
The Assets > Options configuration determines which technologies this section lists.
8. In the E-Mail Setup section, specify the email settings and select the events that generate an email to this tech.
133 9. To prevent Web Help Desk from escalating a ticket to this tech when the tech is not scheduled to work: a. Specify the tech's business zone. b. If the tech's work schedule is different than the default work schedule for that zone, specify the work schedule. c. Indicate if the tech is on vacation. d. Optionally, select a backup tech to receive this tech's escalated tickets. e. Indicate whether the account is active.
10. Click Save to save your changes.
Edit the admin account
Use the My Account page to update your administrator account contact information, including your identity and setup for tickets, assets, e-mail, and scheduling. This account is the administrator account you use to log in to Web Help Desk.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > My Account. 2. Click to enter edit mode.
134 3. Add or update your admin account information as needed, then click Save. Click the tool tips next to each selection for more information.
Request types, tech groups, and ticket assignment
Request types and tech groups work together to determine how tickets are routed through Web Help Desk and assigned to techs.
Request types
Web Help Desk uses request types to categorize and route help desk tickets. They define the basic structure of your help desk system. Users cannot submit a ticket without a defined request type.
Request types are used to:
n Route tickets to the appropriate tech group or lead tech
n Specify which custom fields a ticket includes
n Initiate an approval process, if needed
n Facilitate reporting
n Configure workflows and action rules
n Display related FAQs to clients
Web Help Desk provides several default request types, but you can define a set of request types that meet your organization's needs.
135 Tech groups
You can define groups of techs with similar skills and technical expertise, and then map these groups to the request types they will service. A tech group can include multiple levels, so that complex or difficult tickets can be escalated to more experienced techs.
Tech groups are optional. Small organizations with just a few techs probably don't need to define tech groups. Without tech groups, each ticket is assigned to the lead tech for the ticket's request type.
Larger organizations can use tech groups to automatically route tickets to techs with the required skill set. Web Help Desk can assign tickets to group members using a load-balancing or round-robin algorithm, or you can route all tickets to the group manager or lead tech for manual assignment.
Ticket assignment logic
The following diagram shows the logic used by Web Help Desk to assign tickets. Some steps in this process include corresponding paths in the Web Help Desk user interface where you can implement any needed changes.
136 137 Define tech groups
All current tech groups appear in the Tech Groups screen located at Setup > Techs > Tech Groups.
In this screen, you can:
n Create a tech group
n Define tech group levels for Orion platform alerts
n Assign tech group levels
n Assign supported request types
Create a tech group
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > Tech Groups. 2. Click New. The Tech Group Info page opens. 3. Enter a name to identify the tech group.
4. Select the group's manager.
5. If tickets should be assigned to the manager of the location group associated with the ticket (instead of the tech group manager), select When a Ticket's Location.
Tickets are assigned to a group manager when auto-assignment is not enabled on the Tech Group Levels tab, or when auto-assignment is enabled but no techs in the group are available.
6. Click Save.
138 Define tech group levels for Orion platform alerts
If your Web Help Desk deployment is connected to a SolarWinds Integration connection (such as the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor) to receive Orion Platform alert tickets, configure a tech group level to receive and process these tickets.
Web Help Desk channels all incoming tickets to a preselected tech level based on their location and department information. Since Orion Platform alert tickets do not include this information, they are channeled to the tech group manager by default.
To ensure all Orion Platform alert tickets are processed correctly, click the Tech Groups Level tab for your selected tech group level and select the Ignore Location and Department check box. When Web Help Desk receives incoming Orion Platform alert tickets from your SolarWinds Integration connection, these tickets will be load balanced between all techs in the selected group level.
Configure tech group levels
Group level options specify how tickets are assigned and which techs are members of that level. At least one level must be configured for each group. Add multiple levels if you want to be able to escalate tickets to more experienced techs.
If you configure multiple levels, all new tickets are initially assigned to techs in Level 1. Techs in higher levels receive tickets only if they are escalated.
1. Click the Tech Group Levels tab. 2. Click an existing level to open it, or click Add Level to add a new level.
139 3. Specify how Web Help Desk will assign tickets for this level. a. Select the type of tech Web Help Desk will assign tickets to. Tickets are not automatically assigned to individuals, but belong to None the group level. Each ticket is assigned to a tech in this level based on the tech's A Level Tech availability. Group Manager or All tickets are assigned to the manager or lead tech, who then Lead Tech reassign them to techs.
b. If you selected A Level Tech, select the assignment algorithm: n Load Balancing assigns each ticket to the tech with the smallest backlog (the lowest number of assigned tickets). n Round Robin assigns tickets sequentially to all techs in the level, regardless of the tech's current backlog.
4. Select the Ignore Location and Department check box only for level groups assigned to receive e-mail notifications for tickets created from SolarWinds Orion Platform alerts. 5. In the Force E-Mail Notification To row, select who receives email notifications when a ticket is created or updated by the REST API or a SolarWinds alert, or updated by a client. These notifications are sent regardless of the email options selected for each tech account. 6. In the Default Selected E-Mail Recipients row, specify who is selected by default to receive an email when a tech clicks Save and E-Mail in a customer ticket. 7. Select the techs assigned to this level.
8. Click Save.
Assign supported request types
1. Click the Request Types Supported tab. The tab displays the request types assigned to this tech group. 2. Click Edit. The tab displays all request types not assigned to any tech group. 3. Select one or more Request Types for this group to receive.
140 4. Click Save.
Repeat the procedures above as needed to assign tech group levels and supported request types to each tech group.
Define tech permissions
Permissions define which tickets techs can access and which actions they can perform. Web Help Desk includes default admin and tech permissions, but you can define other permissions that correspond to roles within your organization.
A named set of permissions is granted to each non-admin tech account. Web Help Desk provides a default set of tech permissions. You can edit the default permissions to meet your organization's needs.
You can also define other permission sets for specific roles within your organization. For example, you can define a permission set for senior techs to give them additional access (but not the unlimited access of an admin). Another permission set can be assigned to junior techs to restrict their access.
After you define tech permissions, use the Assigned Tech tab to link techs to permissions. You can also assign a permission when you create a tech account. A tech can be linked to only one permission at a time.
Create a new tech permission set
1. Click Setup and select Techs > Tech Permissions. 2. Click New. 3. In the Permissions tab, enter a name to identify the permission.
4. In Location Permissions, specify whether ticket access is restricted based on the company, location group, or department group a tech is assigned to.
The tooltips provide more information about each permission.
5. In Ticket Permissions, define what actions a tech can perform within a ticket.
6. In Client Permissions, specify whether a tech can edit, delete, import, or download clients. 7. In Asset Permissions, specify whether a tech can view and edit assets and associated elements. 8. In 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.
9. Click Save.
141 Assign techs to a permission set
1. From the tech permissions page, click the Assigned Techs tab. 2. Select the techs who will have these permissions.
3. Click Save.
Define the 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 cost-sensitive 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.
Approvers
You can add client personnel responsible for approving or denying changes, as well as define the process work flow and requirements. When you create your SolarWinds Web Help Desk ticket routing processes, you define your action rules. approver roles, and approval processes. 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. Approver roles
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 clients- assigned approver roles for the ticket location.
Create action rules for ticket processing
Action rules create customized processes for unique situations. You can 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.
Using parent/child service relationships, you can configure your action rules to trigger tasks that automate your ticket processing.
142 Action Rule Info tab
You can use this tab to add an action rule name so it appears in the Action Rules tab at Setup > Processes > Action Rules. You can also:
n Enable or disable the action rule.
n Specify the priority level when included with multiple action rules.
n Stop associated rules with a lower priority.
n Trigger the action rule based on a set of criteria.
Criteria tab
You can use this tab to select the conditions that must occur before a ticket triggers the action rule. For example, to address service requests, issues, or problems initiated by the CEO, you can select Client > E-mail > Is equal to > [email protected]. When the ticket meets this condition, Web Help Desk triggers the action rule.
Action tab
You can use this tab to select the action that executes when the action rule criteria is met.
The Assign To action assigns the ticket to a specific tech or tech group. If you assign the ticket to a Tech Group, you can change the assignment algorithm to balance ticket processing during periods of high call volume. For example, you can select Load Balancing to assign a ticket to a tech within a tech group level with the least amount of assigned tickets. You can also select Round Robin to reassign the ticket assigned sequentially to a member of a tech group level. See Load balance action rules for ticket processing for more information.
The Add Approval Process action assigns the ticket to an approval process that you define at Setup > Processes > Approval Processes. When the action rule is triggered, the ticket is assigned to your selected approval process for review. For example, if your company requires approvals for all new corporate assets (such as new computers or laser printers), you can assign this action to an action rule for all service requests used for new asset purchases.
The Change Priority action assigns the ticket to a specific status based on the nature of the ticket. For example, if your CEO contacts the help desk to request an immediate action, you can create an action rule with Change Priority set to Critical so it jumps to the top of the ticket queue.
The Change Status action changes the ticket status to another status type based on the action rule.
The Run Task action triggers a task that you create in Setup > Tickets > Tasks. For example, you can set up a task called New Employee with task elements that include request types for HR, Facilities, and IT. These request types can include task elements for setting up employee health insurance, setting up a work environment, and purchasing a new computer. When a tech creates a ticket to onboard a new employee, the assigned action rule triggers the New Employee task.
The Shared check box in the task must be checked to enable an action rule.
143 The Modify Ticket action provides options to automatically modify specific information within the ticket, such as Client & Location, Ticket Details, and Tech Note tabs in the ticket. For example, you can create a new action that assigns all new employee onboarding tickets to a specific tech or request type.
The Send E-mail action sends an email to one or more specific recipients with a predefined subject and message to one or more recipients in your organization. For example, when you create a ticket to address a CEO issue, you can add an action to send an email to the director stating that the ticket is being processed and will be resolved as quickly as possible.
Add an Action Rule
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Processes > Action Rules. 2. Click New.
3. Select a priority and enter a rule name.
Only one action rule can be executed at a time. The action rule priority determines the trigger order of all action rules. 4. Select the Cascade check box to trigger all defined actions for a ticket. Do not select Cascade to trigger only the highest priority action. 5. Select the rule triggering options to define when and how often Web Help Desk applies the action rule.
6. Click Criteria. 7. Configure the conditions that tickets must match to trigger the action:
144 n Every condition in the All section must be true. If any condition is false, the action is not triggered. Web Help Desk evaluates these conditions using the Boolean AND operator. n The Any section defines a group of conditions. At least one of these conditions must be true to trigger the action, but they do not all have to be true. Web Help Desk evaluates these conditions using the Boolean OR operator. n If both sections include conditions, all conditions in the All section and at least one condition in the Any section must be true. Web Help Desk evaluates the two groups with a Boolean AND operator between the groups: (all_1 AND all_2) AND (any_1 OR any_2) n If no conditions are defined in the All section, at least one condition in the Any section must be true.
8. Click Actions. 9. Specify the action to take when the conditions are met.
10. Click Save.
145 Load balance action rules for ticket processing
To balance ticket processing during periods of high call volume, you can configure action rules to reassign tickets to assigned techs in another tech group.
When you configure your Action Rule, select one of the following assignment algorithms to avoid ticket level errors:
n Load Balancing. Reassigns tickets specifically to assigned techs in another tech group with the least amount of ticket backlog.
n Round Robin. Reassigns tickets sequentially to assigned techs in another tech group.
When completed, the Action Rule will automatically assign tickets that meet the criteria to another tech group and request type.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Processes > Action Rules. 2. In the Rule Name column, click the action rule you want to modify or click New to create a new Action Rule.
3. Select the appropriate options on the Action Rule Info tab for your new or existing Action Rule according to your needs. If you are creating a new rule, enter a name in the Rule Name field.
4. Click the Criteria tab.
146 5. Select the appropriate criteria according to your needs.
6. Click the Actions tab. 7. Click the Assignment Algorithm drop-down menu and select Load Balancing or Round Robin, depending on your help desk requirements.
8. Select any additional options on the Actions tab according to your needs. 9. Click Save.
Define the approval processes
You can configure Web Help Desk so tickets associated with specific request types are automatically routed to individuals for review and approval.
This is useful in situations when you want to manage change, and those changes must be evaluated, approved, planned, and scheduled. For example, if you need to upgrade your Windows file server, you can configure a process that routes the request to one or more people for review and approval.
Due to the complexity of a system upgrade project, an approval process can help control the project and communicate to concerned parties when the project is approved and ready to begin.
Approvers
An approval process can contain one or more steps, and each step of the process involves one of the following types of approvers:
n Client. Only clients can be selected as an approver. If a tech is involved in an approval process, link the tech account to a client account.
147 Because all clients are available as approvers, using clients provides a high degree of Pros: flexibility when you configure the approval process. For example, you can define a multi- step approval process that includes clients in various locations and departments.
If a client leaves your organization and they are involved in multiple approval processes, Cons: you need to update each approval process with another approver.
n Department approver. You can configure a client to act as an approver for a department.
If a department approver leaves your organization and they are involved in multiple Pros: approval processes, you only need to update the department approver once in the system. That change propagates throughout all approval processes.
A department can only have one approver, and you cannot configure an approval process to include multiple department approvers. For example, you cannot configure the first step of an approval process to be approved by the IT department approver, and then configure Cons: the second step of the process to be approved by the Finance department approver. If you need individuals from multiple departments to approve a ticket, configure the approval process to use clients or a Change Advisory Board (CAB).
n Location approver. You can configure a client to act as an approver for a location. If a location approver leaves your organization and that person is involved in multiple approval processes, you only need to update the location approver once in the system. That Pros: change propagates throughout all approval processes. Unlike department approvers, an approval process can include multiple locations.
Cons: A location can have only one approver.
n Change Advisory Board (CAB). A CAB is a group of approvers that review and vote on requests as a team. You decide how many members must agree before the ticket is approved or rejected. For example, if a seven-member CAB reviews an upgrade request ticket, you can configure the step in the approval process to be approved if only five members vote Yes.
A CAB can approve requests even when some members disagree. Members of a non-CAB Pros: approval process review tickets in series, and any member can reject the ticket at any step of the process. If you need a "majority rules" approval process, use a CAB.
A CAB is not appropriate for ticket approval processes requiring one approval or a Cons: unanimous approval.
Approver Process Rules
When you create your approval process, use the following conventions:
n Only one client can be a department approver.
n Only one client can be a location approver.
n Only one department approver can be in a process. For example, you cannot have the Director of IT approve a ticket, and then have the Director of Finance approve the same ticket.
148 n You can include multiple location approvers in an approval process. For example, you can configure an approval process so the ticket is approved by the location approver in San Francisco, and then the location approver in New York City.
n You must link a request type to an approval process.
n An approval process can have multiple request types linked to it. The same process can be used for more than one type of ticket.
n A request type cannot be linked to more than one approval process. Multiple approval process cannot be required for the same ticket.
n If the request type associated with the approval process includes one or more children, select one of the children as the supported request type. You cannot select the parent request type as the supported request type.
n When a request is approved by the minimum number of CAB approvers, the ticket is removed from the approvals queue for the remaining CAB members.
n You can string multiple CABs together in an approval process. For example, the first step of an approval process can be approved by five out of seven approvers, and the second step can be approved by three out of four approvers.
n The client who submits a ticket can approve the ticket, provided they are set up as the approver.
Approval patterns
The simplest approval process includes a single step that is approved by a client, a location approver, a department approver, or a CAB. But you can configure more complex, multi-step approval processes that include any of these approver types. For example, you can configure an approval process so a client approves first, followed by a department approver and a location approver.
An approval process can contain any combination of:
n Multiple client approvers
n A single department approver
n Multiple location approvers
n Multiple CAB approvers
For example, you can configure an approval process so three clients approve the ticket first, followed by a department approver and a location approver.
You can also configure an approval process so a location approver approves the ticket first, followed by two CABs.
149 Plan your approval process
Consider the following questions before you begin configuring your approval processes in Web Help Desk:
n Do you have a simple approval process with just one step, or do you have a multi-step approval process?
n In an approval process, who (or what) approves each step? Is it a client approver, a department approver, a location approver, or a CAB?
n Do you need multiple department approvers? If yes, use client approvers instead of department approvers.
n Which request type are you using in the approval process? Keep in mind that a request type can be associated with only one approval process.
n Are there any steps in the approval process where you want a team of approvers to vote, and you can specify the required minimum number of approvers? Use a CAB to create a group of approvers and select the minimum number of Yes votes needed to approve the request or move to the next step in the process.
Approval process scenario prerequisites
The following examples describe how to set up a software upgrade approval process. In this scenario, a server administrator submits a request to upgrade SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012. The ticket is routed to the Director of IT for review and approval.
This example uses a department approver and assumes that the following tasks are completed:
n Clients accounts are created All users involved in an approval process must be defined as clients, even if they are also defined as techs in the system. In this example, Janet Mull is the server administrator who requests the upgrade, and Richard Meyers is the Director of IT who reviews and approves the request. Each client must have an assigned department.
150 n Departments are created A department is assigned to each client, and is used when you define a department approver. In this scenario, both clients belong to the Information Technology department. To define a department, click Setup > Companies and Locations > Departments.
n Request type In this scenario, the server administrator submits a ticket using a request type created for upgrade requests. For example, the Upgrade Request type was added to the preconfigured IT General/Other request type.
Create approver roles
An approver role provides dynamic approver assignments based on the department or location associated with a ticket. A department approver role approves or rejects tickets for a specific department.
You can only use one department approver in a process. If you require multiple department approvers to approve a request, then configure the process with client approvers.
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:
l Location Approver—Approves the assignment for specific locations
l Department Approver—Approves specific departments
l Change Advisory Board Member—Participates in a Change Advisory Board (CAB)
In the following example, the IT Department Approver role is created for the Information Technology department.
151 1. Click Setup and select Processes > Approver Roles. 2. Click the Department Approver Roles tab. 3. Click New. 4. In the Approval Role Name field, enter a name that describes the role. For example: IT Department Approver 5. Click Save.
Create 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. 2. Click the Location Approver Roles tab. 3. Click New. 4. In the Approver Role Name field, enter a name that describes the role. For example: Austin Approver 5. Click Save. Your selected name is added as an approver role name.
Assign clients to location approval roles
1. Click Setup and select Processes > Location Approvers. 2. In the Location Name column, click a location. 3. Click Add Role. 4. Click the Approver Role drop-down menu and select the appropriate role. 5. In the Approver Name row, enter a client first and last name in the appropriate field and click Search to locate a client. 6. Click the name of the person you want to assign as a location approver. 7. Repeat steps 4 through step 6 above to add additional approvers. 8. When you are finished assigning approvers, click Save.
152 Assign clients to department approval roles
1. Click Setup and select Processes > Department Approvers. 2. Click the department. For example, Information Technology.
3. Click Add Role.
4. Select the Approver Role. For example, IT Department Approver. 5. In the Client Lookup section, search for and select the name of the person you want to assign as the department approver. 6. Click Save.
Create a CAB
A CAB is a group of approvers that all review, and then together, vote on requests. The ticket is approved or rejected when a number of members that you decide approve or reject the ticket. For example, if a CAB consisting of seven members reviews an upgrade request ticket, you can configure the step in the approval process to be approved if only five members vote Yes.
1. Click Setup and select Processes > Change Advisory Boards. 2. Click New.
153 3. In the Change Advisory Board Details screen, enter a CAB name in the CAB Name field. 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.
Add CAB status types
Techs assigns a status type when they create a ticket. Before you configure the Processes section, check the ticket status types to ensure that the Approved, Approval Pending, and Denied CAB status types are configured correctly.
1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. 2. In the Status Types tab, click New.
154 3. In the Name field, enter Denied. 4. In the Description field enter CAB Status Type. 5. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for additional information. 6. Click Save. 7. Repeat step 2 through step 6 to add the Approved and Approval Pending status types. When completed, you can set the status types options to enable the CAB features.
Set the status type options for the CAB feature
1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Status Types. 2. Click the Options tab.
155 3. Complete the fields as required. Click the tooltips for additional information.
4. Click Save.
Assign a department and client to an approver role
In this example, you designate a client as the department approver. For example, Richard Meyers, the Director of IT, is assigned to the IT Department Approver role.
1. Click Setup and select Processes > Department Approvers. 2. Click the department. For example, Information Technology.
3. Click Add Role.
4. Select the Approver Role. For example, IT Department Approver. 5. In the Client Lookup section, search for and select the name of the person you want to assign as the department approver.
156 6. Click Save.
Create new status types
When you define an approval process, you can create new status types to track a ticket as it is routed through each stage of the process. The following sections describe how to create three new status types:
n Request in process
n Request Approved
n Request Denied
These status types will be assigned to tickets that must be reviewed and approved.
Create a status type
1. On the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Select Tickets > Status Types. 3. Click New.
4. Enter a name for the status type. For example, Request in process.
157 5. Complete the remaining fields as needed, and click Save.
For more information about any field, click the tooltip.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 4 to add status types.
Determine when a status type is applied to a ticket
After you create a status type, use the Options tab to select the condition under which the status is applied to a ticket. For example, when a ticket is reopened, Web Help Desk automatically changes the status to Open by default.
In the example below, the following status types are applied to tickets if the ticket's request type requires approval.
n When the ticket is submitted by a client, the system assigns the status type Request in process.
n If the ticket is approved, the system assigns the status type Request Approved.
n If the ticket is denied, the system assigns the status type Request Denied.
To determine when a status type is applied:
158 1. After you create a status type, click Options. 2. Perform the following: a. In the Needs Approval Status Type field, select Request in process. b. In the Approved Status Type field, select Request Approved. c. In the Approval Denied Status Type field, select Request Denied.
3. Click Save.
Configure an approval process
An approval process contains at least one step, and each step is approved by a client, a CAB, a location approver, or a department approver.
In the following example, a one-step approval process is created, the IT Department Approver is assigned as the approver, and the IT General/Other > Upgrade Request type is associated with the process.
1. Click Setup > Processes > Approval Processes. 2. Click New.
159 3. Enter a name for the process and click Save.
4. Click Approval Steps, and then click New.
5. Enter a name for the approval step. 6. Click an approver type. For example, Department Approver.
160 7. Select the approver to assign to the step.
8. Click Save. 9. If necessary, add additional approval steps.
10. When you have added all steps, click Request Types Supported. 11. Click Edit.
161 12. Select all request types to associate with this approval process, and click Save.
13. On the Request Types Supported tab, click Done.
Test the approval process
If you are able, test the approval process to ensure that tickets go to the correct approvers, and that the correct status type is applied when the request is accepted or denied.
1. Log in to Web Help Desk as a client. 2. Complete the web form. Make sure you select the request type associated with the approval process.
3. Log in as the approver and click Approvals in the toolbar.
Web Help Desk displays the Approvals button for clients that have been set up as an approver. If you do not see the Approvals option, log in as the administrator, and ensure that the client is selected as the approver for the step in the process.
162 4. Ensure that the ticket you submitted is displayed. 5. In the My Vote column, click Yes (or No), and click Save.
6. Log in to Web Help Desk as the admin (or tech), and search for the ticket you approved or rejected. 7. Open the ticket and review the status. In this scenario, if you approved the ticket, the status changes to Request Approved. If you rejected the ticket, the status changes to Request Denied. You can also use the Approvals field to track where tickets are in the approval process, and if necessary, you can override an approval step.
Apply approvals
This section provides information about:
n Ticket approvals
n Approver action
n Email approvals
n Client web approvals
Ticket approvals
When a client logs in, creates a new ticket, and selects a request type assigned to an approval process, the following notification appears: This Request Type requires approval.
163 To complete the approval process, Web Help Desk sends an email to the approver assigned to the first step of the approval process. The first approver approves the change, and an email is sent to the next approver. 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 email or the Web interface.
Email approvals
To complete the email approval process, approvers receive an email when a ticket is created with an assigned approval process. The approver responds by clicking Yes or No. Web Help Desk opens a Web page asking the approver to confirm their decision. If the required number of required approvers choose Yes, the ticket status changes to Approved. If the required number of required approvers do not choose Yes, the ticket status changes to Denied.
If an approver clicks No, the approver receives 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
1. Click Approvals to view New Approvals and vote on each new request and to view Old Approvals. 2. Add an explanation (if desired).
164 3. Select Visible to Requester to share the denial explanation as a note in the ticket. 4. Click Save.
Enter locations
Locations allow 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.
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.
Define Location custom fields
Use the Location Custom Fields screen to create location custom fields.
Below is an example of the Location Custom Fields screen.
1. Click Setup and select Locations > Location > Custom Fields. 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. 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.
165 b. Select the Encrypt in database check box to AES-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.
Define Department custom fields
Use this page to create custom Department fields.
166 Define clients
The Clients tab options 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 permissions you defined for each client.
The AD / LDAP Connections option copies and adds client data from Microsoft Exchange and other mail servers and add this data to Web Help Desk. Using this feature streamlines the process to help you avoid manually adding all your clients.
See Define client custom fields to define field features such as field name and display order.
See Discover and add Active Directory/LDAP directory connections to discover and import client AD / LDAP information from the client Microsoft Exchange or LDAP server.
Manually create a client account
If client information is not in a format that can be easily imported, you can manually create each client account. The account information must include the client's name, email, and Web Help Desk login credentials, as shown in the example below.
1. In the toolbar, click Clients. 2. Click New Client. 3. Enter the client's name, credentials, and contact information. (Required fields are bold.)
4. Update other options as needed. See the tooltips for more information. 5. Click Save. If you selected the client option E-mail Client When Account is Created, Web Help Desk sends a confirmation email to the client.
Define client options
Client options are general settings that affect all clients who log in to Web Help Desk. Review these options and update them as needed.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Choose Clients > Options.
167 3. If you want to allow clients to create accounts from the client interface, change the Client Can Create Account setting. If you allow clients to create accounts, SolarWinds recommends selecting Only if the client's email matches an Accepted Domain. Specify the accepted domains below.
4. If you want to email login information to new clients, select E-Mail Client When Account Is Created.
To change the text of the email that Web Help Desk sends, choose Setup > E-Mail > Templates and open the New Account Message template.
5. Review and update other settings as needed. See the tooltips for information about each option. 6. Click Save.
Set up client admin roles
You can set up a client admin to open tickets on behalf of other clients for a remote location or department. If the client tickets include service requests, incidents, and problem tickets that require additional diagnosis and intervention, the client admin can report these issues to management for problem resolution.
The client admin does not require a user license, but cannot act as a tech within the Web Help Desk deployment.
1. Click Setup and select Clients > Client Admin Roles. 2. Click New.
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.
These request types populate with the Request Types you defined at Tickets > Request Types.
5. Click Save.
Add additional client admin permissions
You can add additional client admin permissions for a specific location.
168 1. Click Setup and select Companies and Locations, Location & Rooms. 2. Click the appropriate location in the Location Name column. 3. Click the pencil icon in the Location Info tab to edit the tab preferences. 4. In the Default Client Admin Permissions row, select the appropriate values for the client admin.
If you select Client Admin Can Report for Others, the client admin has the option of creating a ticket and assigning a different client as the originator. You can override the Default Client Admin Permissions values for each client admin by clicking the icon next to each client. 5. Click Save.
Define client custom fields
Use the Defining Client Custom Fields screen to create custom client fields.
1. Click Setup. 2. Select Clients > Client Custom Fields. 3. Click New. The Client Custom Fields screen displays the default values for a new custom field. 4. Enter a Label to identify this field.
5. On the Display Order drop-down menu, select this field's position within the Custom Fields section of a ticket. 6. In the Clients and Techs sections, specify whether each group can see or edit the custom field.
Techs with admin accounts can edit all custom fields.
169 7. Select the Type of input this field will accept.
The remaining fields change based on the Type you select. 8. Complete the remaining fields. Point to any field name to display information.
9. Click Save.
Import 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 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.
Validate 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 WHDGlobalConfig.properties file contains the name, password, and location of your Java key store. This file is located in the following directory: c:\\
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.
170 Synchronize Web Help Desk user information
When you import your AD/LDAP connections, use the following conventions:
n Ensure the person configuring and using this import is experienced with AD and LDAP administration.
n 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.
n 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 or synchronize users:
1. Click Setup. 2. Select Clients > AD/LDAP Connections. 3. To create a new connection, click New. To update an existing connection, click the connection name to open it, and then click to edit. 4. In the Connection Basics tab, select Enabled to enable the connection. 5. Enter the required connection information. See the tooltips for more information.
6. Maximize the Advanced window and review or update the advanced settings. 7. If you want to use bulk synchronization, select Enabled and then specify when the synchronization should occur.
To avoid affecting network performance, schedule the synchronization for a time when the network is least busy.
8. Click Save. 9. Click Test Settings to test your settings, and make adjustments if needed.
171 10. Map client account fields to attributes in the schema. a. Click the Attribute Mappings tab. b. Specify the AD or LDAP schema being used. c. Locate each client account field that will be populated with information from the AD or LDAP server. To map each field, enter the associated schema element as instructed by the AD or LDAP administrator. The client's last name, user name, and email must be mapped. If you are using the default schema, these fields are mapped automatically. For custom schemas, you must map these attributes manually. Any field, including custom fields, can be mapped if the data is available in the schema.
11. Click Save.
Import clients
Use the Import Clients function to import client data into Web Help Desk. See Import data using templates for information on applying templates.
1. In the toolbar click Setup and select Data Import > Import Clients. The Import Clients screen appears.
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.
172 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. 1. 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. 5. In the File Type row, select the appropriate import file format. 6. 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. 7. In the Import Data File row, click Choose File and select the file to use for the import procedure.
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.
8. Click Import. The file contents is imported into the Web Help Desk database. Define assets
Assets are the Client-owned software and hardware that Techs work with. Web Help Desk tracks Assets by properties such as:
n Location
n Type
n Status
n Owner
n Serial Number
n Model and Manufacturer
n Warranty Dates
n Lease Types
n Relationship to Other Assets
n Ticket History
n 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. Web Help Desk includes an extensive selection of asset import and discovery options. These options include interfaces to:
n LANrev Absolute Manager
n Apple Remote Desktop
n JAMF Casper
n Lansweeper
n Microsoft Systems Management Server / Systems Center Configuration Manager
173 n Spreadsheet import
n CSV or TSV imports
See Import data for details on how to import Asset Data. For information about configuring connections to import asset data, see Discover assets. Configure asset import and permission options
Use the Asset Options screen to set the options for Asset and Asset permissions for Techs.
Click the information icon in each row to see the tooltip.
Define asset type, status, warranty, and lease information
Asset type, status, warranty, and lease information are usually included data imports. However, if you have 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.
Asset Classes tab
Use the Asset Classes tab to represent any type of classification you choose, such as Software, Hardware, Owned, and Leased.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. 2. The Types screen appears. 3. Click the Asset > Types tab. 4. Click New. 5. In the Name field, enter a name for the custom type. 6. In the Custom Fields row, select which of your custom fields should be attributed to the type you are creating. 7. Click Save.
Asset Status Types tab
Use the Asset Status Classes tab 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 predefined Deployed status types.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Types. 2. Click the Asset Status Types tab. 3. Click New. 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.
174 Warranty Types tab
Use the Warranty Classes to create and apply warranty classes (from one year to five years) and reflect the appropriate warranty length or type for a particular asset class.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. 2. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Types. 3. Click the Warranty Types tab. 4. Click New. 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.
Lease Types tab
Use the Lease Classes tab to create and apply lease types—from one year to five years—and reflect the appropriate warranty length or type for a particular asset class.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Lease Types. 2. Click the Lease Types tab. 3. Click New. 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.
Define asset custom fields
Use Custom Fields to extend the types properties associated with assets.
Below is an example of the Asset Custom Fields screen.
175 FIELD / CHECK BOX DESCRIPTION
Label The name of your custom field.
Select one of the following types using semicolons to delimit multiple choices in the Options setting:
n Text (up to 255 characters)
n Number (number of integers with up to four decimal places)
n Currency
Type n Date
n Dateline
n Time Period
n Multiple Choice (adds check boxes)
n Single Choice (adds radio buttons)
n Pop-up menu (adds a single-selection menu)
Width Specifies the number of columns in the custom field text area.
Creates a tool tip that helps users complete the custom field.
Info When the tool tip is created, an Info icon is displayed next to the custom field. When the user mouses over the Info icon, the tool tip pops up.
Display Order Click the drop-down menu and select the custom field order.
Height Specifies the number of rows in the custom field text area
Configures the Client permissions, defining whether the client can see, edit, or Clients interact with the custom field.
176 FIELD / CHECK BOX DESCRIPTION
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. Techs Administrative users have at least Editable access to all custom fields. The Required fields are required for Administrators.
Limit Input to Text Box Ensures the maximum number of characters does not exceed the number of Width characters chosen in the Width option.
AES-encrypts the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. Encrypt in database If you select this option after the data is entered, the existing values are not encrypted until they are updated.
Searchable Includes the custom field as a search option in the Advanced Search page.
Indexes only the first 255 characters in a custom field. Allow full-text search (slower) Select this option when the custom field values could exceed 255 characters. Applying this option greatly reduces search performance.
Exclude From E-Mail Ensures the custom field is not shown in emails to clients or techs.
Add manufacturers
Use the Manufacturers Info page to add hardware and software and other asset manufacturer contact information.
Click the Edit button to enter information. Click Save when you finish entering the manufacturer information.
177 Add vendors
The Vendors page defines contacts for ordering parts or software.
Fill in the pertinent information for each vendor contact, and click Save.
178 Define PO custom fields
PO Custom Fields define custom fields and specify view and 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.
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.
FIELD / CHECK BOX DESCRIPTION
Label The name of your custom field.
Select one of the following types using semicolons to delimit multiple choices in the Options setting:
n Text (up to 255 characters)
n Number (number of integers with up to four decimal places)
n Currency
Type n Date
n Dateline
n Time Period
n Multiple Choice (adds check boxes)
n Single Choice (adds radio buttons)
n Pop-up menu (adds a single-selection menu)
Width Specifies the number of columns in the custom field text area.
Info Creates a tool tip that helps users complete the custom field.
179 FIELD / CHECK BOX DESCRIPTION
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 Click the drop-down menu and select the custom field order.
Height 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. Clients 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. Techs Administrative users have at least Editable access to all custom fields. The Required fields are required for Administrators.
Limit Input to Text Box Ensures the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the Width number of characters chosen in the Width option.
AES-encrypts the data entered in the custom field before ti is stored in the database. Encrypt in 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 Searchable page.
Indexes only the first 255 characters in a custom field. Allow full-text search (slower) Select this option when the custom field values may exceed 255 characters. Applying this option greatly reduces search performance.
Exclude From E-Mail Ensures the custom field does not appear in emails to Clients or Techs.
Import asset data
Use the Import Assets screen located at Setup > Data Import > Import Assets to add asset data into Web Help Desk.
180 To ensure a successful data import, use the Assets Import template.
See Import data using templates for information about applying templates.
1. Click Setup and select Data Import > Import Assets. 2. In the Import Assets screen, complete the fields as required. Click the tooltips for additional information. 3. Click Import. The file is imported into Web Help Desk. Set up parts and billing
You can enable parts and billing options in Web Help Desk to track resources, such as parts, inventory, and billing tickets. When enabled, you can:
n Create invoicing options n Define billing rates and terms n Define part custom fields n Configure inventory alerts n Manage parts Enable parts and billing options
Parts & Billing Options enable or disable the parts and 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 Web Help Desk handles parts and billing.
To enable this feature, click Setup > Parts & Billing > Options and select the Parts & Billing Enabled check box in the Parts & Billing Options screen. To disable this feature, clear the check box.
181 Disabling Parts & Billing hides the main Parts icon, the ticket detail Parts & Billing tab, billing preferences and the billing reporting options.
Perform Invoicing
Set up your company contacts in Web Help Desk for each billing invoice. When completed, you can generate an invoice or quote from a ticket.
Specify a company contact for invoices
1. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Invoicing Options. 2. In the Invoicing tab, enter the appropriate contact information. Click the tooltips for more information.
3. (Optional) Click the Logo tab.
182 4. (Optional) Upload a .gif or .png file containing your company logo.
5. Click Save.
Generate a PDF invoice or quote from a ticket
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets and select Search Tickets. 2. In the Basic Search or Advanced Search tab windows, enter the appropriate search criteria for your ticket, and then click Search. 3. In the search results, click the appropriate ticket number. 4. Click the Parts and Billing tab. 5. Select the type of PDF you want to generate. 6. Click the PDF icon.
Define rates and terms
You can use the Billing Rates, Terms, and Taxes feature 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.
1. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Rates & Terms. 2. Click New. 3. Complete the fields and selections as required, then click Save. Click the tooltips for additional information.
4. Click the Billing Terms tab. 5. Click New.
183 6. Complete the field and drop-down menu as required, then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information.
7. Click the Tax Rates tab. 8. Click New. 9. Complete the fields and selections as required, then click Save. Click the tooltips for more information.
Define 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.
184 FIELD / CHECK BOX DESCRIPTION
Label The name of your custom field.
Select one of the following types using semicolons to delimit multiple choices in the Options setting:
n Text (up to 255 characters)
n Number (number of integers with up to four decimal places)
n Currency
Type n Date
n Dateline
n Time Period
n Multiple Choice (adds check boxes)
n Single Choice (adds radio buttons)
n Pop-up menu (adds a single-selection menu)
Width Specifies the number of columns in the custom field text area.
Creates a tool tip that helps users complete the custom field.
Info 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 Click the drop-down menu and select the custom field order.
Height 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. Clients These fields are disabled when the custom field is not visible in the client interface.
185 FIELD / CHECK BOX DESCRIPTION
Configures the Tech permissions, defining whether the Tech can see, edit, or interact with the custom field. Techs Administrative users have at least Editable access to all custom fields. The Required fields are required for Administrators.
Limit Input to Text Box Ensures the maximum number of characters allowed does not exceed the Width number of characters chosen in the Width option.
AES encrypts the data entered in the custom field before it is stored in the database. Encrypt in 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 Searchable page.
Indexes only the first 255 characters in a custom field. Allow full-text search (slower) Select this option when the custom field values may exceed 255 characters. Applying this option greatly reduces search performance.
Exclude From E-Mail Ensures the custom field does not appear in emails to Clients or Techs.
Activate your license
When your evaluation license expires, your single admin or tech account remains active, but all advanced features are disabled. When you purchase and activate a commercial license, you can access all advanced features and additional tech seats based on your purchase.
If you are running Web Help Desk version 12.0.x or earlier, contact SolarWinds Support for information about purchasing and activating a license.
To activate your Web Help Desk license, you must:
1. Purchase a Web Help Desk license. 2. Retrieve your license or activation key. 3. Activate your license. If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server before you activate your license on the new server.
You cannot activate your Web Help Desk license using the SolarWinds License Manager.
Purchase a license
You can purchase a Web Help Desk license by:
186 n Using the Online Store. n Contacting Customer Sales. n Submitting a purchase order to [email protected] (within the United States) or [email protected] (outside the United States).
You will receive an email with your SolarWinds customer ID (SWID) and password along with your invoice (if purchased directly). After you apply a commercial license key to your Web Help Desk software, you cannot change the license back to a trial or free single-seat license.
Create a standard access account
1. Locate the SolarWinds SWID in your purchase confirmation email. 2. Go to customerportal.solarwinds.com. 3. Under the Register tab, enter your SWID (customer ID) and password. 4. Click Log in. 5. Review the information and click Continue. 6. Complete the fields in the page to create your individual user account (IUA). 7. Click Create Individual Profile. 8. Access your email account and follow the directions in the email to verify your account. 9. Click Continue to Customer Portal. 10. Log out of the Customer Portal. 11. In the Login and Password fields, enter the email address and password you entered in your individual profile. You can now access the Customer Portal using your email address.
Retrieve your license or activation key
1. In the Customer Portal, click the License Management drop-down menu and select License Management. 2. Above the product list, click the View drop-down menu and select Web Help Desk. 3. In the Your Selections menu, locate your product version.
Version 12.1.0 and earlier
1. Click Retrieve Your License Key Information. 2. Under Web Help Desk License Key, copy the key code to a safe location. 3. Close the pop-up window.
Version 12.2.0 and later
If you are activating your license online on a system with an Internet connection, copy the Activation Key code located under License Activation Information and store it in a safe location.
If you are activating your license offline on a system without an internet connection or on a system behind a proxy or firewall that restricts access to the SolarWinds website:
187 1. Click Activate License Manually. 2. Open a second Web browser window. 3. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 4. Click Setup and select General > License. 5. Click the Lock icon. 6. Select Offline Activation. 7. In the Machine ID row, copy your machine ID number to a safe place. 8. Return to the Manage License Activation screen. 9. In the Unique Machine ID box, paste the machine ID number you copied from your Web Help Desk software. 10. Complete the remaining fields as required. 11. Click Generate License File. The Customer Portal creates your offline license. 12. Follow the prompts on your screen to copy your offline license to a separate directory.
Activate your license
Perform the appropriate procedure according to your version.
If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server before you activate your license on the new server.
Version 12.1.0 and earlier
1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > License. 3. Click the Lock icon. 4. Paste the new license key into the License Key text box. 5. Click Save. 6. Stop Web Help Desk. 7. Start Web Help Desk. Your license is activated.
Version 12.2.0 and later
1. Click Activate license manually. 2. In the Unique Machine ID box, paste the machine number ID you copied from your Web Help Desk software. 3. Complete the remaining fields as required. 4. Click Generate License File. 5. Copy the file to a separate directory. 6. Return to the License Settings screen in Web Help Desk.
188 7. In the Offline Activation File row, click Choose File. 8. Locate and double-click the license file you created in the Manage License Activation screen. 9. Click Activate. Your license is activated.
Migrate your installation to a different server
If you plan to migrate your installation to another server, deactivate your license on the original server. Otherwise, you cannot activate the license on the new 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.
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. 3. Click the Lock icon. 4. Click Deactivate. Your license is deactivated.
Deactivate 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.
Reinstall a license on the same server
Servers running Microsoft Windows Server or Apple OS X will usually preserve your WebHelpDesk license when the software is uninstalled and reinstalled on the same server. However, when you uninstall the software 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.
Change the Java bit version on Microsoft Windows servers
If you are running Web Help Desk 32-bit and you update your software to Web Help Desk 64-bit, the software may appear to run with a Demo 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.
189 Activate your license in a clustered deployment
In a clustered deployment, your license is bound to the primary node (physical or virtual) in the cluster. 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.
For an existing deployment, take all secondary nodes offline and upgrade the primary node. 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. Try to connect directly to your primary node through your Web browser (bypassing the load balancer) and manipulate the license in this location. For further assistance, contact SolarWinds Customer Support.
190 Configure and manage authentication
After setting up authentication at Setup > General > Authentication, configure and maintain single sign-on (SSO) and security authentication outside the Web Help Desk browser interface.
Web Help Desk does not support Windows Authentication for connections to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).
The following table provides a list of authentication methods and related terms.
TERM DESCRIPTION
A single point of access linking applications to one sign-on point.
Using SSO, you can log in once to gain access to all linked systems without logging in 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 email.
SSO uses SAML with Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to Single Sign On authenticate a user for multiple Web applications over the life of a single (SSO) online session.
Web Help Desk supports Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0 (SAML 2.0), Central Authentication Service 2.0 (CAS 2.0), and Application Servlet SSO authentication.
See Deploy SSO with SAML using AD FS and Deploy SSO with CAS 2.0 for information about apply SSO in Web Help Desk.
A secure encrypted communication channel between Web browsers and Hypertext Transfer servers. Protocol Secure Also known as HTTP Secure and HTTP over SSL. (HTTPS) See Enable HTTPS for information about setting up HTTPS.
A cryptographic protocol that secures communications over a computer network.
Secure Socket Layer SSL encrypts segments of network connections using a system requiring (SSL) two separate keys:
n Symmetric encryption (for privacy)
n Message authentication codes (for message integrity)
191 TERM DESCRIPTION
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.
A data file containing a cryptographic key that verifies the owner.
SSL certificates contain information about the owner, such as their name, Website address, email address, length of time the certificate is valid, and SSL certificates the digital signature of the person or entity owning the certificate.
For more information on using certificates in Web Help Desk, see Manage 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 Public and private keys incorporated into the SSL certificate and shared with web browsers. The certificates included with your browser and application contain the keys that can decrypt the application root certificates.
See Manage keys and certificates for additional information about using keys in Web Help Desk.
See the following sections for information about configuring and managing Web Help Desk single sign-on and security authentication:
n Deploy SSO with SAML using AD FS n Deploy SSO with CAS 2.0 n Enable HTTPS n Manage keys and certificates
192 Deploy SSO with SAML using AD FS
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.
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.
Before you begin
1. Enable automatic AD logon through Microsoft Windows. Add the AD FS logon URL to the Local Intranet sites in Internet Explorer through Tools > Internet options or through your corporate group policy. 2. Set up your SAML server. Use 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. Use a trusted certificate (such as GoDaddy or Verisign) or create your own certificate. When you create or generate a certificate, ensure that: n The certificates are generated in the proper order. n The Common Name (CN) certificate attribute only contains the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) with no descriptions or comments. The exact value of this field is matched against the domain name of the server to verify its identity. See Working with Keys and Certificates for information about trusting certificates. 4. Configure Web Help Desk and the AD FS settings separately. For information about configuring SSO with SAML using AD FS, see the AD FS 2.0 Step-by-Step and How To Guides located on the Microsoft TechNet website.
Configure Web Help Desk for AD FS
In the following settings, replace mydomain.com with your actual domain name.
1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > Authentication. 3. Click the Authentication drop-down menu and select SAML 2.0. 4. In the Sign-in page URL field, enter: https://adfs.
193 6. In the Logout URL field, enter the following URL or leave this field blank to use the Web Help Desk default logout page: https://adfs.
Configure SAML 2.0 on the AD FS server
1. Enter the following AD FS 2.0 RP settings: n Identifier:
n Detail: Secure hash algorithm SHA-1 2. Enter the following AD FS 2.0 Log Out settings: n Identifier: https://
n Detail: Secure hash algorithm SHA-1 3. Enter the following AD FS 2.0 Claim Mapping settings: n Attribute store: Active Directory n LDAP attribute: Usually an email address. If your Web Help Desk client login attribute is a user name rather than an email address, use the user ID or account name instead of the email address. n Outgoing claim type: NameID
194 Deploy SSO with CAS 2.0
You can deploy your Central Authentication Service (CAS) server into Web Help Desk's Tomcat or your own Web Help Desk server. Deploy CAS Server on Apache Tomcat
1. Download the CAS Server 3.5.2 release located on the Apereo website at www.apereo.org. 2. Extract the files. 3. Turn off your Web Help Desk server. 4. In the cas-server-3.5.2 directory, open the modules directory. 5. Copy the cas-server-webapp-3.5.2.war file to the /bin/webapps directory on your Apache Tomcat deployment. 6. Rename cas-server-webapp-3.5.2.war to cas.war 7. Start your Web Help Desk server. CAS 2.0 is now accessible from the following URL: https://webhelpdesk:port/cas 8. Verify that the HTTPS port is enabled on Apache Tomcat. n If the HTTPS port is not enabled, go to Enabling SSL on Web Help Desk. n If the HTTPS port is enabled, go to Deploying on the Web Help Desk Server.
Enable SSL on Web Help Desk
1. On your Web Help Desk system, open File Explorer and navigate to:
Deploy CAS 2.0 on the Web Help Desk server
1. Log in to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Setup and select General > Authentication. 3. Click the Authentication Method drop-down menu and select CAS 2.0.
195 4. In the CAS login URL field, enter: https://fqdn:port/cas/login 5. In the CAS validate URL field, enter: https://fqdn:port/cas/serviceValidate 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.
7. In the Logout URL field, enter: https://fqdn:port/cas/logout 8. Click Save. You can now log in using CAS 2.0.
Configure a GPO to push Internet Explorer settings
To complete your CAS server deployment, configure a Group Policy Object (GPO) to push the appropriate Windows login credentials to your Internet Explorer settings. This process allows authenticated users to access the Web Help Desk server without having to log in. GPOs define the settings for your Windows server configuration, and Group Policies apply these settings.
1. Log on to the Web Help Desk domain using the Domain Administrator account. 2. Click Start and select Run. 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. 5. In Available snap-ins, double-click Group Policy Management Editor and then click OK. 6. In Select Group Policy Object, click Browse. 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: 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 click Modify Settings. 15. In the Internet Properties dialog box, click the Security tab. 16. Click Local Intranet, and click Sites.
196 17. In the Add this website to the zone field, enter: *.yourdomain.com 18. Click Add. 19. Select the Require server verification (https) for all sites in this zone check box. 20. Click Close. 21. Click OK. Enable 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 HTTPS listening port to monitor HTTPS requests. 2. Configure a URL port to monitor URLs generated by Web Help Desk that point back to the application. 3. Enable Web Help Desk to listen for HTTPS requests. 4. Enter the SSL connection port (if needed). 5. Restart Web Help Desk.
Because this procedure requires changes to the whd.conf file, review the following procedures before you enable HTTPS.
1. Configure the HTTPS listening port
1. Open an Explore window. 2. Navigate to: WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf 3. In the whd.conf file locate the Ports section. 4. Enter the port number Web Help Desk monitors for HTTPS requests, which appears after the following entry: HTTPS_PORTS= 5. Save your changes. 6. Close the whd.conf file.
2. Configure a URL port
Your deployment 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 8081.
197 To configure a 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= 3. Save and close the file.
3. Enable listening for HTTPS requests
1. In the whd.conf file, locate the HTTPS_PORT entry. 2. Uncomment the entry. 3. Save and close the file.
4. Enter the 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: https://localhost:8443
5. Restart Web 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.
198 Manage keys and certificates
This section does not apply to deployments enabled with FIPS 140-2 cryptography.
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.
Trust certificates signed by CAs
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 CA, the Web browser prompts you to confirm your trust in the certificate.
After you confirm your 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.
Store keys and certificates
Web Help Desk stores its keys and certificates in a Java keystore located at WebHelpDesk/conf/keystore.jks. The open-source utility Porteclé bundled with Web Help Desk provides a graphical user interface for administering the keystore on the Windows or Mac OS X platform.
Generate a keypair and CSR
If you do not have a certificate for your server and are using the Windows or Mac OS X 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.
Import a certificate and private key to the keystore
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 Public-Key Cryptography Standards (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.
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.
For more information about working with keys and certificates, see:
199 n Use default keypair aliases and passwords n Add certificate chains n Replace self-signed certificates with CA certificates n Generate a new certificate n Add a Certificate Authority to an embedded Java CA certificate keystore n Import an existing certificate n Add SSL certificates to the virtual appliance n Certificate troubleshooting tips Use a default keypair alias and password
Web Help Desk uses the Apache Tomcat Web server. This server requires a key pair with 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.
Add 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 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. To import, add the root certificate first, and then the next chained certificate signed by the root certificate (and so on) down to the CA reply.
200 Replace a self-signed certificate with a CA certificate
A keypair created using Porteclé includes a self-signed certificate. To replace the self-signed certificate with a CA-signed certificate, generate a CSR for the keypair and submit the CSR to the CA. The CSR contains the public key and the name of the server in a format defined by the public-key cryptography standards #10 (PKCS10, which is typically given the .p10 or .csr file name extension.
After verifying the applicant 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 (with a .cer, .crt, .pem, or .der extension) or a PKCS7 file (such as .p7b).
Generate a new certificate using Porteclé
To generate a new certificate using Porteclé:
1. Create a new keypair or replace an existing keypair. 2. Generate a certificate signing request (CSR). 3. Import CA chain and root certificates. 4. Import the CA reply certificate.
If you currently have a certificate, see Import an existing certificate
Create a new keypair
1. Open a File Explore window. 2. Launch the Porteclé batch file from the following directory: Program Files\WebHelpDesk 3. Click the Files of Type drop-down menu and select: .jks 4. Select the .jks file type.
201 5. In the Enter Password field, enter the appropriate password. The default password is: changeit The keystore appears, with a keypair entry alias labeled tomcat. Web Help Desk automatically created this key pair. The next section will help you replace the key pair with a new key pair configured for your domain.
Replace an existing keypair
1. Delete the existing tomcat keypair. Right-click the alias and select Delete.
2. Click Tools > Generate Key Pair. 3. Choose an algorithm and key size. 4. Enter either 1024 or 2048, and select RSA. 5. Click OK.
202 6. Enter the X.509 attributes for your certificate. a. Select a validity (in days) that matches the number of days your CA certificate will be valid. Typical validation periods are 6, 12, or 24 months. b. The validity period is the period you specified when you purchased the certificate from the CA. c. Enter a common name 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. d. Enter an organization unit that helps distinguish this certificate from others for your organization. e. Enter an organization name, which is typically the name of your organization. f. Enter a locality name, which is typically a city name. g. Enter a state name. This is the full name of the state, province, region, or territory where your organization is located. h. Enter the country where your organization is located. This should be the two letter ISO 3166 country code for your country. i. (Optional). Enter a valid email address. j. This is an optional setting that your CA may use as the email address to send your certificate. 7. Click OK. 8. Enter the keypair alias tomcat, and click OK. 9. Enter changeit in both fields for the keypair password, and click Enter. The new keypair aliased by Tomcat appears in the window.
Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
1. Right-click the tomcat keypair and click Generate CSR.
The Generate CSR window appears.
203 2. Enter a name for the CSR to help you remember the domain it validates. For example: support.example.com.csr 3. Click Generate. The file is created. 4. Send the file to your CA to request your certificate. The CA returns an X.509 certificate in DER (*.cer, *.crt), PEM (*.pem, *.cer, *.crt) or PKCS#7 (*.p7b, *.p7c) encoding.
Import CA root and chain certificates
Before you import your certificate into the keystore, check whether the certificate vendor requires you to include any other certificates to complete the certificate chain.
1. Verify if the certificate vendor requires you to include any other certificates to complete the certificate chain. 2. In the toolbar, click Tools and select Import Trusted Certificate.
3. Locate each of the certificates provided by your CA. and import them into the keystore.
Import a CA reply certificate
After you install your required root certificates, import the CA response from the CA by right-clicking the tomcat keypair and clicking Import CA Reply.
204 Import certificates with another file
If your certificate is in Base64-encoded format (with a *.pem or *.cer extension) and you import the certificate with another file, an error may appear. If this occurs, copy the certificate text that includes: ------BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and ends with: ------END CERTIFICATE------
After you import your certificate reply, Porteclé reports that the certificate was imported successfully.
Import errors
If you import the CA Reply and Porteclé generates an error stating that the certificate cannot be trusted, the root certificate may not be included. 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
Obtain a certificate from your CA that matches the Locate the Issuer property value and import the certificate into Porteclé as a Trusted Certificate. Once you import 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.
Add a CA to the embedded Java CA cert keystore
Web Help Desk does not accept certificates signed by a Certificate Authority (CA) that its JVM does not trust. To import the certificate into the trust store, export the certificate to the .crt file and import the CA. Run Porteclé as an administrator to import the CA.
Import certificates on Windows or Mac OSX
1. Start Porteclé. If you are running Microsoft Windows, run:
205 2. Navigate to File > Open Keystore File. 3. Open the cacerts keystore file: If you are running Windows, locate the keystore at:
Import certificates on a Linux virtual appliance
1. Open a terminal window and enter following command: echo -n | openssl s_client -connect
The default keystore password is changeit.
3. Restart Web Help Desk.
Import an existing certificate
To use an existing certificate with Web Help Desk, import your private key as well as your certificate chain.
Do not import the certificate using Porteclé’s Tools > Import Trusted Certificate option because it will not include the private key.
The PKCS#12 standard specifies a keystore format 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 a PKCS#12 (.p12 or .pfx) file is not available, use the OpenSSL pkcs12 command to generate the file from a private key and a certificate. If your certificate is on a Windows server, export a PKCS#12 file from the Microsoft Management Console.
206 Create a PKCS#12 keystore from a private key and 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 OpenSSL site at openssl.org. The private key and certificate must be in Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) format (for example, base64-encoded with ---- BEGIN CERTIFICATE---- and ----END CERTIFICATE---- headers and footers).
Use this OpenSSL command to create a PKCS#12 file from your private key and certificate:
openssl pkcs12 -export \
-in
-inkey
-name ‘tomcat’ \
-out keystore.p12
If you have a chain of certificates, 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
... \
> cert-chain.txt
openssl pkcs12 -export \
-in cert-chain.txt \
-inkey
207 -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.
Export a PKCS#12 Keystore from the Microsoft Management Console
To use an existing certificate located on a Windows server:
1. Click Start > Run. 2. In the Run box, execute: mmc A Microsoft Management Console window opens. 3. Select File > Add/Remove Snap-In. 4. Select Add > Certificates > Add > Computer Account > Local Computer > Finish. 5. Expand Console Root > Certificates > Personal. Your certificate is listed. 6. Right-click your certificate and select More Actions > Export List.. 7. 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. 8. Select the option to Include all certificates in the certification path if possible, leaving the two other options unselected. 9. Import the certificate into Porteclé using the instructions in Importing PKCS#12 file Into the keystore.
Import a PKCS#12 file into the keystore
Porteclé provides two ways to import the contents of a PKCS#12 file into the Web Help Desk Java keystore.
n 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.
n Open the Web Help Desk keystore file and 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 contains a default, unsigned Tomcat certificate, delete this certificate before you import your PKCS#12 file.
When you import your file, ensure that:
n 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
208 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 at 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.
n Your root certificate is imported first, then the next certificate in the chain, and so on until you get to your own certificate.
n Your certificate is aliased as tomcat. The password for your certificate and the keystore must be identical and match the KEYSTORE_PASSWORD setting in the WebHelpDesk/conf/whd.conf file (changeit by default).
Add 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 host name.
After you create your Virtual Appliance, you can:
n Add a self-signed SSL certificate. n Add a certificate from a Certificate Authority. n Add an existing PFX certificate. n Resolve 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.
Add a self-signed SSL certificate
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 2048 -keystore ./conf/keystore_new.jks -validity daysvalid where daysvalid is the number of days the certificate is valid. 4. When prompted, enter a new keystore password. This information is required for a later step.
209 5. Enter the required information for the new certificate: n Your domain name instead of a first and last name. For example: webhelpdesk.solarwinds.com
If you do not use the domain name for the name, you will receive certificate errors.
n Organizational unit n Organization n City or locality n State or province n Two-letter country code This information is available to users accessing the Virtual Appliance through a secure connection.
6. When prompted, enter yes to confirm your new key information. 7. When prompted for the key password, enter the keystore password you entered in step 4. 8. Change the keystore permissions by entering the following command: sudo chmod 755 ./conf/keystore_new.jks 9. Backup and copy the keystore_new.jks file using the following command: sudo cp conf/keystore_new.jks conf/keystore_new.jks.backup 10. Edit the ./conf/whd.conf configuration file. Change the password used in step 4 by entering: sudo vi conf/whd.conf (i to edit,
Add a certificate from a CA
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 2048 -keystore ./conf/keystore_new.jks 4. When prompted, enter a new keystore password. You will need this information for a later step.
210 5. Enter the information needed for the new certificate, providing the following information: n Your domain name, instead of a first and last name. For example: webhelpdesk.solarwinds.com
If you do not use the domain name for the name, you receive certificate errors.
n Organizational unit n Organization n City or locality n State or province n Two-letter country code This information appears 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 in step 4. 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. 10. Submit the CSR to your CA. 11. After you download the certificate, transfer the certificate to the WebDelpDesk folder on the Virtual Appliance using a file transfer tool (such as WinSCP) and import the CA certificates.
The following procedure assumes that root.crt is the name of the downloaded certificate.
a. Import the Root or intermediate CA. These 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.jkssudo 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. Backup and copy the keystore_new.jks file using the following command: sudo cp conf/keystore_new.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 Press i to edit,
211 15. Stop Web Help Desk by entering: ./whd stop 16. Start Web Help Desk by entering: ./whd start
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 help page. SolarWinds Customer Support can only assist you with adding a self-signed certificate to your virtual appliance.
Add an existing PFX certificate
If you currently have a certificate in PFX format (such as .pk12 or .pfx), you can import the certificate to your keystore.
The following procedure uses certificate.pk12 as an example .pfx certificate.
1. Transfer your .pfx file to the WebHelpDesk folder on the Virtual Appliance using a file transfer tool (such as WinSCP). 2. Create or select a target keystore for modification. For example, you can copy the existing keystore: sudo cp ./conf/keystore.jks ./conf/keystore_imported.jks When completed, remove the existing certificate, leaving the keystore empty. sudo ./bin/jre/bin/keytool –delete –alias tomcat –keystore ./conf/keystore_ imported.jks 3. Import the keypair and certificate from your .pfx file. sudo ./bin/jre/bin/keytool –importkeystore –srckeystore certificate.pk12 - srcstoretype PKCS12 –destkeystore ./conf/keystore_imported.jks – destkeystoretype JKS 4. Modify the whd.conf file to use your modified keystore. sudo vi conf/whd.conf 5. Change the KEYSTORE_FILE setting to: KEYSTORE_FILE=/usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/keystore_imported.jks
Resolve untrusted site errors after adding certificates
If you receive an Untrusted Site error after adding a certificate, you can create a permanent exception in Firefox or install the certificate as a trusted certificate in Chrome or IE. Each browser handles security differently.
Both Chrome and Internet Explorer use the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store when verifying certificates. If you performed the steps to install the certificate for either Internet Explorer or Chrome, repeating the same steps again to use either browser is not required.
212 The certificate is issued for a specific domain name. If you are accessing Web Help Desk through an IP address, you will receive a security error. In this case, add an entry to the hosts file that maps the IP address to the domain where the certificate was issued.
For example: 172.31.219.83.webhelpdesk.solarwinds.com
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.
Use Internet Explorer to install the certificate as a trusted certificate
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.
Use Chrome to install the certificate as a trusted certificate
1. Open a browser to your Virtual Appliance using https. 2. When the error occurs, click Proceed Anyway. 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.
213 8. Enter a file name. By default Chrome saves the certificate in a hidden file at: \Users\username\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Applications\... To avoid making hidden files visible, browse to a different location to save the certificate. 9. Click Next. 10. Check the location of the certificate, and click Finish. 11. In Chrome, open Settings > Advanced Settings, and click Manage certificates. 12. Navigate to the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab. 13. Click Import. 14. Click Next. 15. Browse to the certificate you exported, and click Next. 16. Select Place all certificates in the following store and select Trusted Root Certification Authorities. 17. Click Next, and click Finish. 18. When prompted, select Yes. 19. Close the tab and restart Chrome.
Certificate troubleshooting tips
If you experience issues when importing certificates, ensure that your settings are correct and there are no errors in your procedures.
Select the CA certs keystore
In Porteclé, navigate to Tools > Options and select Use CA Certs Keystore. When completed, Porteclé checks the built-in Java certificates to establish trust. This action is normal, as this same set of certificates are available to Web Help Desk at runtime.
Import certificates in order
Porteclé requires you to import all certificates in order, beginning with the most-trusted certificate (for example, root certificate, intermediate certificate issued by the root, the certificate issued by that certificate, and so on). If you import a certificate out of order, Porteclé allows it, but generates an error stating it cannot establish trust. Confirming trust for any certificate other than the root certificate is not expected.
Additionally, 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.
Use identical keypair and keystore passwords
Ensure that the password set for the keypair and the keystore are identical 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.
214 Save your keystore
Ensure that your keystore is saved to: WebHelpDesk/conf/keystore.jks
Enable your changes
Restart Web Help Desk to ensure changes in Porteclé or the whd.conf file are enabled. For Windows systems, use the Web Help Desk Start/Stop utilities in the Start menu instead of the Windows Services panel. For systems running Windows Server 2008 and later, right-click Run As Administrator.
Prevent certificate warnings
When the hostname in the address used to browse to Web Help Desk is different from the Common Name (CN) field in your certificate, a certificate warning appears. For example, a certificate warning appears if your certificate is for help.mycompany.com and you use localhost as the hostname in your URL.
Enable HTTP requests
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.
Troubleshoot and resolve issues
Porteclé says my CA Reply certificate cannot be trusted.
An issuer Porteclé does not trust signed your certificate. You must obtain a root certificate (or chain of 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. Review the certificate details of other certificates in your keystore to see if any of them match your certificate’s Issuer attribute. If not, obtain a certificate from your CA that does match.
After you import a certificate that matches your certificate 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 commented out the SSL_PORT setting and 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 changeit.
After importing my certificate, Web Help Desk is OK, but my browser shows a self-signed certificate.
215 Verify that your private key was generated using the DSA algorithm. DSA keys can fail with many browsers, including Internet Explorer. Try using RSA instead.
216 Manage 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 email. Create a client
When you manually add a new client, the information is saved in the Web Help Desk database.
SolarWinds recommends allowing clients to create accounts only if their emails match the accepted domains.
1. In the toolbar, click Clients. 2. Click New Client. 3. Enter the client's name, credentials, and contact information. (Required fields are bold.)
4. Update other options as needed. See the tooltips for more information. 5. Click Save. If you selected the client option E-mail Client When Account is Created, Web Help Desk sends a confirmation email to the client. Set up a client-initiated account
You can enable clients to create their accounts when they first log in to Web Help Desk.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Client > Options. 2. In the Client Can Create Account row, select Yes. 3. Click Save.
When completed, new clients see the following screen. To create a new account, they can click New Account.
217 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.
Assign an existing asset to a client
You can assign asset (such as printers and computers) to clients in your Web Help Desk system. Using this process, a tech can identify and connect to a client asset to diagnose and resolve an incident or problem.
1. In the toolbar, click Assets. 2. Below the toolbar, click Search Assets.
218 3. Select the Basic Search tab.
4. In the tab window, select 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 Search. Your results appear in the bottom window.
6. Click an available asset to attach to the client. 7. Click in the Asset Basics tab to edit the asset properties. 8. In the Clients field, search and select the client for this asset. 9. Complete the remaining fields as required, then click Save. The asset is assigned to the client.
219 Manage tickets
Web Help Desk uses tickets to manage service requests. These tickets can be initiated through email, created in the application, and imported from another application. Techs, admins, and clients can also manage tickets through email or through the application in a web browser.
Using Web Help Desk, you can:
n Create a ticket using the Web Help Desk tech interface or email. n Create a quick ticket for a frequent issue, such as a forgotten password. n Configure ticket status types to identify the ticket's current stage of completion and indicate whether action is needed.
n Search for a ticket using a basic or advanced search. n Configure ticket details such as selecting a request type, improving ticket resolution with ticket types, adding details to tickets with tech notes, and escalating or de-escalating a ticket.
n Customize ticket views and searches by creating custom filters. n Create ticket bulk actions to run a set of ticket changes against one or more tickets. n Update and resolve tickets by changing ticket information and performing actions on multiple tickets.
n Merge tickets and their associated attachments and messages into one ticket. n Create parent/child service relationships to change a service request to a problem ticket (or parent) and attach related service requests (or children) to the problem ticket for ticket automation.
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.
220 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
221 NUMBER RELATED PATH IN WEB HELP DESK
See Define Tech Groups for more information.
In the Request Types Supported tab, view the supported request types.
Setup > Tickets > Request Types > [Request Type] > Lead Technician 2 See Define Request Types for more information.
Setup > Techs >Tech Groups > [Group] Tech Group Levels > Level 1 > Auto Assign 3 Tickets To See Define Tech Groups for more information.
Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Level 1 > Assigned Techs
See Define Tech Groups for more information.
To select new e-mail recipients for new tickets, go to: 4 Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Tech Group Levels > Level 1 > Email Recipients of Client Updates
See Define Tech Groups for more information.
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 5 Tech's profile.
See Define Request Types for more information.
Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Tech Group Info > Group Manager
You can use Location Group Manager instead of the specified Tech at:
Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Tech Group Info 6 If this Tech is marked On Vacation, the ticket is assigned to the Backup Tech in the Tech's profile.
See Define Tech Groups for more information.
Setup > Techs > Tech Groups > [Group] > Techs Assigned 7 See Define Tech Groups for more information.
Setup > Techs > Techs > [Technician] > On Vacation
8 Setup > Techs > Techs > [Technician] > Work Schedule
See Define Techs for more information.
9 Setup > Locations > Location Groups > [Group] > Assigned Locations tab
222 NUMBER RELATED PATH IN WEB HELP DESK
See Enter Locations for more information.
Setup > Locations > Location Groups > [Groups] > Assigned Techs tab 10 See Enter Locations for more information.
Setup > Locations > Department Groups > [Groups] > Assigned Departments
To enable departments: 11 Setup > Locations > Options > Use Departments check box
See Enter Locations for more information.
Specify which status types are used in calculating ticket load balance at:
12 Setup > Tickets > Status Types > [Status Type] > Use for Load Balance check box
See Define Status Types for more information.
Create a ticket
Clients can create tickets through email or through the web using the Web Help Desk client interface. The client interface is what clients see when they log in to the web console..
Techs can also create tickets through email or through the web. In most cases, techs create tickets through the web using the Web Help Desk tech interface. The tech interface is what techs see by default when they log in to the web console.
A tech can access the client interface if the tech's profile is associated with a client account.
In addition, admins can define Web Help Desk tasks (scripts) which will create certain types of tickets automatically.
Create a ticket through the web interface
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 2. Click New Ticket. 3. If the ticket is to report a client issue, use the Client Lookup box to select the client. 4. If the ticket requires an asset, click the Asset tab and add the asset. 5. Click the Ticket Details tab. 6. Select a Request Type. The Assign To field is displayed, showing which tech group will receive this request based on the Web Help Desk ticket assignment logic. You can override the ticket assignment logic and assign the ticket to yourself. 7. Enter a Subject and Request Details to describe the issue. 8. Specify the Priority.
223 9. Click one of the following: n Save: Saves the ticket n Save and Send E-mail: Saves the ticket and sends an email to the specified recipients. The tech, client, location, and ticket setup options determine who receives email.
You can launch DameWare MRC from a customer ticket or from the Web Help Desk Toolbar.
Create a ticket through email
Clients and techs can create tickets by sending an email message to the dedicated help desk email address. Web Help Desk creates a ticket for each new message received through its dedicated email address.
Organizations can choose to set up multiple help desk email addresses. For example, an organization can have one email for HR issues ([email protected]) and another for all other issues ([email protected]). Tickets created through the HR address are assigned an HR request type, which routes them to a specific tech group. Tickets created through the general support address are given a general request type. The tech group that receives general request types must evaluate the ticket and assign the appropriate request type.
Create a table (as shown below) to help you identify the help desk email account(s) set up in your organization.
EMAIL ADDRESS REQUEST TYPE TECH GROUP
Create a quick ticket
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.
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.
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 2. In the Tickets screen, click New Ticket. 3. In the New Ticket screen, locate the Quick Ticket section and click the plus icon to create a new ticket. 4. In the Quick Ticket Details screen, 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.
224 8. Click Save. 9. Click Apply.
Configure ticket status types
The ticket status identifies the ticket's current stage of completion and indicates whether action is needed.
By default, Web Help Desk includes the following status types. You can modify the preconfigured status types and create additional status types.
STATUS DESCRPITION
Open The issue requires a resolution. This is the default status of a ticket when it is created.
The ticket has been received, but it is currently on hold. For example, this status could be used to indicate that a feature request was received but management has not yet decided if the request will be granted. Pending This status can also be used to indicated that the assigned tech is waiting for information from a client. Or you can create a new status for this purpose, as described in the example below.
The tech believes that a solution has been provided and is waiting for the client to confirm the resolution.
Resolved By default, when a tech changes a ticket status to Resolved, the client receives an email asking if the issue is resolved to their satisfaction. If the client clicks Yes, the ticket status changes to Closed. If the clients clicks No, the ticket status changes to Open.
The client has confirmed that the issue is resolved. You can also configure Web Help Desk to Closed automatically close a ticket if the client does not respond to the confirmation request within the specified time period.
The client is no longer experiencing the problem, or no longer needs the service requested in Canceled the ticket.
You can create a Web Help Desk report to show the total amount of time or the average amount of time spent in each status.
Modify a preconfigured status type
By default, setting a ticket status to Resolved sends an email asking the client to confirm the resolution. The following example configures the Resolved status to automatically close the ticket if the client does not respond within three weeks.
1. On the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Select Tickets > Status Types.
225 3. In the list of status types, click Resolved. By default, the Resolved status type is configured to send an email prompting clients to confirm that their issue was resolved.
4. Set Automatically Close Ticket After to 3 Week(s). If a client does not respond to the confirmation email within three weeks, the ticket status is automatically set to Closed.
5. Click Save.
Creating a new status type
This example creates a new status type called Waiting on Client Response.
1. On the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Select Tickets > Status Types. 3. Click New. 4. Enter a Name and Description.
5. Change the Display Order so that tickets with this status are displayed above Closed, Canceled, or Resolved tickets.
6. Clear the Count Time check box. The time spent in this status is not included in the ticket's total open time, and the ticket's due date is extended by the amount of time spent in this status.
7. Click Save. The new status type is displayed in the list. You must click Save on the Status Types tab before you click the Options tab. If you do not click Save, the information you entered on the Status Types tab is lost.
8. In the list of status types, click Waiting on Client Response. 9. Click Options. 10. In the Client Update Sets Status To field, select Open. When the client updates the ticket, the status automatically changes to Open. This indicates that information has been added to the ticket and the tech can resume work on it.
11. Click Save.
226 Search for a ticket
This section describes how to perform basic and advanced searches, and provides examples of advanced searches. Use this material as it is, or copy and revise it to reflect your organization's practices and Web Help Desk configuration.
Perform a basic search
A basic search locates tickets based on the search criteria you enter in a set of predefined fields.
1. On the top toolbar, click Tickets. 2. On the second toolbar, click Search Tickets. 3. Enter values in one or more fields to define the search criteria. 4. Click Search to display a list of tickets that match your criteria. When you locate a ticket, you can update it as needed.
Perform an advanced search
An advanced search locates tickets based on any number of search criteria you enter. The search criteria are a set of conditions that must be met.
1. On the top toolbar, click Tickets. 2. On the second toolbar, click Search Tickets. 3. Click the Advanced Search tab. 4. Specify the conditions that the ticket must meet, starting from the left and continuing to the right. Click + in the ALL or ANY section to add additional conditions. n Every condition specified in the ALL group must be met for a ticket to be found. These conditions are evaluated with a Boolean AND operator. n At least one condition specified in the ANY group must be met for a ticket to be found. These conditions are evaluated with a Boolean OR operator. Enter conditions in either or both groups. See the following section for examples of advanced searches. 5. To save this query so that you can run it again: a. Enter a name in the Save Query as field. b. Select Shared to make the query available to other techs. c. Click Save. 6. Click Search to run the query.
Advanced search examples
Advanced searches can answer a variety of questions. Examples include:
227 n Which tickets assigned to a specific tech have not been updated within the last 10 days?
n Which tickets contain the words "network outage" in a client note OR the request details OR the subject?
n Which tickets assigned to a tech group have a priority of Urgent OR have an escalation level of 2 or higher?
Configure ticket details
When you click Tickets in Web Help Desk, you can view tickets under My Tickets and Group Tickets if:
n You belong to a group with assigned tickets.
n The tickets are directly assigned to you.
To view the ticket detail page, you can:
n Click Tickets in the Web Help Desk toolbar.
n Click My Tickets, and then click a ticket number.
n Click Group Tickets, and then click a ticket number.
n 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.
228 Select a request type
Request types define the issue type and the required action. They also determine custom fields that appear on the ticket, techs who can be assigned to the ticket, and the method used to route the ticket to a tech.
Web Help Desk includes default request types for hardware, network, email or outlook, phone and voicemail, printer or toner, IT General or Other, Facilities, and HR. If you are an Admin, you can also define request types.
When you create a request type, ensure that all Web Help Desk request types used for DameWare integration do not include required custom fields.
Improve 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, Problem, and Incident.
TICKET TYPE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
A request submitted by a client to Web Reset a password. Help Desk for assistance, such as Service Request Access a shared network resource. information, advice, or access to an IT service. Replace a printer toner cartridge.
A ticket that provides the root cause for attached Incident and Child tickets.
Problem Ticket These tickets are based on an initial The HR printer has a paper jam. Service Request or an automatic trouble ticket from a system integrated with Web Help Desk.
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 HR department personnel receive an Incident Ticket Problem ticket. Once attached, the error message when they send a Incident ticket becomes a Child ticket. document to the HR printer. Incident tickets are created from a Service Request or an automatic trouble ticket from a system integrated with Web Help Desk.
229 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.
Change ticket relationships
When you create or modify parent and child tickets, the following rules apply:
n 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.
n Only Service Requests can have Parent or Child tickets.
n A ticket cannot be linked until it is saved.
Link and unlink 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. In the Tickets screen, click the desired ticket. 2. In the Ticket Details tab, ensure that Incident is the active Ticket Type.
230 3. Click the Problems tab. 4. Enter or select a ticket number, request type, status, or search term in any existing Problem tickets that you can transform 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.
To unlink a Problem ticket from an Incident ticket:
1. In the Tickets screen, click a Problem ticket. 2. In the Ticket Details tab, ensure that Problem is the active Ticket Type. 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.
Add details to tickets with tech notes
You can add additional information to tickets using tech notes. A ticket can have multiple notes and can be added by any technician. Tech notes can contain basic HTML tag or Bulletin Board Code (BBCode) tag formatting.
Techs can also add billing rates to tech notes. To enable, click Setup > Parts & Billing > Options and select the Parts & Billing Enabled check box. When enabled, Web Help Desk will track parts, inventory, and billing on tickets.
Add an FAQ to a tech note
When an FAQ describes the resolution to an issue or provides information associated with a ticket, you can link the FAQ to the ticket.
1. Open the ticket details page. 2. In the Notes section, click the creation date to open a new note, or click New to add a new note. 3. Click the Link FAQ button below the text area. 4. In the FAQ Search dialog box, search for the FAQ. 5. Click the Link FAQ button on the right side of the FAQ's row. A link to the FAQ is added to the note. 6. Click Save to save the note.
Create a new tech permission
Administrators can re-assign technicians, change ticket status, and delete tickets. Technicians have various levels of access depending on their tech permission set.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Techs > Tech Permissions. 2. In the Tech Permissions screen, click New. 3. In the Permissions screen, enter a name in the Permission Name field for the new permission.
231 4. Select the permissions for your targeted user. Click the help icon or click the tooltips for more information about each option. 5. Click Save. Your permissions are saved.
Send e-mail to ticket recipients
When you save a ticket, you can email the ticket to a client, assigned technician, level techs, group manager, or other addresses in the ticket Recipients tab using the cc: and bcc: fields. Select the recipient check boxes and add cc: or bcc: addresses if necessary, and then click Save & Email.
Clicking Save does not generate an email unless the ticket is re-assigned. In this case, the newly-assigned tech receives an email. Clicking the lock toggles the ticket privacy setting. When tickets are private, non- tech users cannot see the tickets.
Manage 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 Create tasks. Escalate and de-escalate tickets
Escalating or de-escalating a ticket moves an assigned ticket to a higher or lower tech group level, respectively.
If a higher tech group level is available, the ticket is 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 the ticket is escalated, it inherits the email settings from the tech group level settings and ticket assignment strategy.
When a ticket is escalated or de-escalated, a tool tip provides more information about the escalation or de- escalation, as shown below.
232 When the assigned tech is reassigned, Web Help Desk sends escalation or de-escalation emails to the current and former techs assigned to the ticket.
1. In the Tickets page, click a ticket you want to escalate. 2. In the Ticket Details tab, locate the Details tab.
3. Click Escalate to send the ticket to a higher-level tech group. Click De-escalate to send the ticket to a lower level tech group. When you escalate or de-escalate the ticket to the maximum level, the Escalate and De- escalate icons disappear.
4. Click the History tab.
5. Review the ticket assignment history for accuracy.
Customize ticket views
Web Help Desk offers several options for viewing tickets. Begin by clicking Tickets in the toolbar.
233 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:
n Blue indicates a new ticket with no tech response.
n Purple indicates a ticket reassigned to a new tech.
n Yellow indicates a ticket with a new client update.
The following table describes the columns in the Group Tickets view.
COLUMN NAME DESCRIPTION
No. The Web Help Desk-assigned ticket number.
Date The date the ticket was created.
Updated The date the ticket was updated.
The category of the help request, such as for hardware support, email Request Type support, network connectivity, and facilities requests.
Details about the client's request type. For example, if a client requested Request Detail hardware support, the request detail might show that they are requesting additional memory for their notebook computer.
Latest Notes The latest notes from the Tech handling the ticket.
Client The Web Help Desk clients receiving support from Techs.
Status The ticket level of completion. The initial status is Open.
Determines the ticket due date, with priority names such as Urgent, High, Priority Medium, and Low.
Alert Level The message warning techs when a ticket needs attention. Alerts are
234 COLUMN NAME DESCRIPTION
email notifications about ticket priorities, with three configurable levels for automatic escalation.
Tech The name of the tech handling the ticket.
Location The location where the ticket issue occurs.
See Set up tickets for information about configuring the information that appears in the My Tickets and Group Tickets screens.
Techs can only see their assigned tickets in the My Tickets view, as well as tickets assigned directly to a tech group they belong to in the Group Tickets screen. These two restrictions apply to all accounts, including admin accounts.
Search for an existing ticket
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets and select Search Tickets. 2. In the Basic Search tab, use the text boxes and lists to narrow the search for the desired ticket. To view or edit a ticket, enter a ticket number in the Ticket No. field. 3. Click Search.
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 [+]. 3. Select the qualifying conditions as in step 2. The conditions specified in the ALL grouping must all be true to result in a found ticket. These conditions are qualified using the AND Boolean operator. To add a qualifying condition to Tickets matching ANY of these conditions, click [+] at the right of the ellipsis. Use the following guidelines: n 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. n 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. n The ANY condition group begins with and. As a result, the ANY group is evaluated along with the conditions in the ALL condition group, if the ALL group is used. n If no condition exists in the ALL group, Web Help Desk evaluates the ANY condition is using only the Boolean OR. 4. When completed, click Search.
The following illustrates a query that returns tickets that meet these criteria:
n Priority = Urgent
n Status = Open -- And either –
235 n Escalation is 2 or above -- Or–
n 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.
Display your print views
To display a ticket in a printer-friendly view, click the printer icon at the top of the ticket. Create ticket bulk actions
Bulk actions allow you to run a set of ticket changes against one or more tickets. For example, you can use bulk actions to escalate all open, unassigned, urgent priority IT requests for laptop repairs. Using Bulk Actions, you can select and escalate all of these requests at the same time.
Bulk action can also be saved as a template to be used and shared with other users.
Create a new bulk action
1. Log on to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Tickets. 3. In the menu bar, select the appropriate ticket screen:
n My Tickets n Group Tickets n Flagged Tickets n Recent Tickets n Search Tickets 4. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and locate the Bulk Action box. 5. In Bulk Action, click [+]. 6. In the Bulk Action Details screen, select the items you want to change. 7. In the Save Bulk Action as field, enter a name for this bulk action. 8. (Optional) Select the Shared check box to share this bulk action with other users. 9. Click Save. The saved bulk action will be listed in the Bulk Action drop-down menu in the Tickets screen.
Edit a saved bulk action
1. Log on to Web Help Desk as an administrator. 2. Click Tickets. 3. In the menu bar, click the appropriate ticket screen. The Ticket screen updates with the tickets for your selected ticket view. 4. Click the Bulk Action drop-down arrow and select the bulk action you want to edit.
236 5. Click the Pencil icon. 6. Update the appropriate fields in the screen as required. 7. Click Save to save your template.
Apply a saved bulk action
1. Log on to Web Help Desk. 2. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 3. Search and select the tickets you want to change. 4. Scroll down to Bulk Action and select the appropriate option from the drop-down list. 5. Click run [>] next to the drop-down list to run the selected bulk action. A message appears, summarizing the changes you will apply to the selected tickets. 6. Click OK. A message appears, stating that your action was applied to your selected tickets. Update and resolve tickets
This section describes how to update ticket information, perform actions on multiple tickets, and resolve tickets. Use this material as it is, or copy and revise it to reflect your organization's practices and Web Help Desk configuration.
Ticket information
Tickets in Web Help Desk include information on the following tabs:
n The Client Info tab identifies the client who requested support. This information is populated automatically from the client account.
n The Asset Info tab identifies assets (PCs or servers, for example) that are associated with the client or with the support request.
n The Ticket Details tab contains specific information about this request, incident, or problem. This is the tab that techs update to add notes or change the status.
n The Parts and Billing tab identifies parts ordered to complete this request and information about billing for the part.
Edit a ticket from the Web console
As you work to resolve a ticket, update the ticket frequently so your activity can be tracked. For example, add notes to record activities, track progress, and document the resolution.
1. Search for the ticket you want to edit, or locate it in your ticket queue. 2. Click the ticket number to open it. The Ticket Details tab is displayed.
237 3. Add or update ticket information. The following table describes some of the fields you might need to update. Most tickets are classified as service requests. A service request is a request for information, assistance, or repairs. Examples include requests to reset a password, requests for access to a shared network resource, or requests to fix a computer problem. Use problem and incident tickets to link multiple tickets that report the same problem to the root cause of the problem. n Problem tickets describe the root cause of a general problem. For example, if the Ticket email system stops working, a problem ticket tracks the effort to resolve the Type problem with the email system. n Incident tickets report incidents of the problem. For example, while the email system is down, multiple clients will create tickets to report that they cannot send or receive email. When you classify these as incidents, you can link them to the problem ticket. The problem ticket is the parent and incident tickets are children. When the problem ticket is closed, all linked incident tickets are also closed.
Select the request type that accurately reflects the type of ticket. The ticket is transferred Request to the tech group that services the request type you selected. Add a note to explain the Type reason you changed the request type. Add notes to record all actions you take to resolve the issue and any information that you gather. You can also use notes to update clients on your progress. To add a note: a. Click the green + button. b. Enter the note text and attach any associated documents.
Notes c. If an FAQ in Web Help Desk describes the resolution, click Link FAQ and select the FAQ. d. If the note is an internal note to other techs, clear Visible to Client. e. Enter your work time. f. Click Save. The priority determines the ticket's due date, and should reflect the severity of the issue and the people or business functions affected. n Urgent: A failure that severely impacts critical operations. Priority n High: An issue that degrades response times or affects normal operations. n Medium: An issue that affects a small number of users or an individual user. A work-around is available. n Low: Questions or requests for information.
Update the Status field to cancel, reopen, or resolve tickets. See Resolving a ticket for Status more information.
4. Click one of the following buttons: n Save: Saves the ticket. n Save and Send E-Mail: Saves the ticket and sends an email to the specified recipients. 5. To return to the ticket queue, click the back arrow in the upper-left corner.
Update tickets using email
When a ticket is assigned to you, Web Help Desk sends you an email. You can update the ticket by responding to the email.
238 1. In the Notes section, select the action you want to perform. You can add a note, add a hidden note, or delete the ticket. 2. Hold down the Control key and click the ticket number. Web Help Desk creates an email similar to the following example. In this example, the tech chose to add a note that is visible to the client.
3. Verify the options listed in the subject line. n The Action is based on the action you selected. For example, if you select Add Note, the action in the Subject is TechUpdate. n The EmailClient option defaults to YES. Enter NO if you do not want to email the client. (This option is not case-sensitive.) 4. Enter your note as the body of the email and send the email.
Perform actions on multiple tickets
Use bulk actions to apply a set of changes to multiple tickets at once. For example, you can use a bulk action to escalate all open, unassigned, urgent priority IT requests for laptop repairs.
Create a new bulk action
Before you can apply a bulk action, you must create the bulk action that defines what change will be made to the ticket. After you create a bulk action, you can apply it at any time. You can also share the bulk action so that other techs can apply it.
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 2. In the menu bar, select a ticket screen. 3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and locate the Bulk Action box.
239 4. Click the + button next to Bulk Action. 5. On the Bulk Action Details screen, specify values in the fields that you want the bulk action to change. Leave all other fields blank. 6. In the Save Bulk Action as field, enter a name for this bulk action. 7. (Optional) Select Shared to share this bulk action with other users. 8. Click Save. The saved bulk action will be listed in the Bulk Action drop-down menu in the Tickets screen.
Apply a bulk action to a group of tickets
After you create a bulk action, you can apply it to a selected a group of tickets.
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 2. In the menu bar, select a ticket screen, or select Search Tickets and Search for the tickets you want to change. 3. Select the tickets that will be affected by the bulk action: n To select all tickets on the page, select the check box above the first column. n To select individual tickets, select the check box in the first column of each ticket row. 4. Below the list of tickets, select an option from the Bulk Action drop-down menu. 5. Click the Run button to apply the bulk action. A message summarizes the changes that will be applied to the selected tickets. 6. Click OK. A message confirms that the changes were applied.
Resolve a ticket
When you have completed all activities required to resolve an issue, edit the ticket:
n Add a note to describe the resolution. Select the Solution check box because this helps other techs when they search for solutions to similar issues.
n If this resolution would be helpful for other Web Help Desk users, click Create FAQ to create an FAQ based on the ticket note.
n Change the Status to Resolved.
When you change the status to Resolved, Web Help Desk sends an email to the client asking them to confirm that the issue is resolved.
n If the client clicks Yes, Web Help Desk changes the Status to Closed.
n If the client clicks No, Web Help Desk reopens the ticket and notifies you.
n If the client does not respond within the specified number of days, Web Help Desk changes the Status to Closed.
240 Merge tickets
You can merge two or more tickets and their associated attachments and messages into one ticket using the Merge Tickets function.
For example, if a client submitted three separate tickets for items related to the same problem, you can merge the tickets into one single ticket.
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets > Search Tickets. 2. Use the Basic Search and Advanced Search tabs to locate the tickets you want to merge. 3. In the ticket results screen, select the check boxes next to the tickets you want to merge. 4. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click Merge selected. 5. In the dialog box, click the drop-down menu and select the ticket where all selected tickets will merge. 6. Select the Include Attachments check box to merge all attachments into the selected ticket. 7. Click Merge Tickets. Web Help Desk combines all selected tickets and their associated notes and attachments to the targeted ticket. Create parent/child service relationships
By default, all Web Help Desk tickets are created as service request tickets. If necessary, a tech can change a service request to an incident or a problem ticket.
Service request tickets
A service request is a planned request for a new or modified service. When you hire a new employee, you can create service requests for setting up a workspace, purchasing a laptop computer, and assigning a telephone number.
If you want to track multiple service requests within one ticket, you can create one ticket as the parent service request and link the remaining service requests as children to the parent ticket. Use this option to view the status of all child service requests within one ticket.
For example, Rich Meyers is setting up a new server room in his department. He decides to purchase 12 1U rack mount servers, 12 1U rack mount storage systems, and three computer racks. He creates a new service request, indicating that he wants to purchase this computer equipment for his department. He submits separate service requests for the servers, storage systems, and computer racks, because they are all purchased from separate vendors. To manage this project, he can open his initial request for computer equipment as the parent service request, click the Requests tab, and link the remaining service requests as children to the parent ticket.
241 The parent ticket displays each service as a linked child ticket. Linking the tickets will help Rich manage his service requests for new equipment. When all service requests are resolved, Rich can close the parent service request ticket.
When you close a parent service request ticket, all child service requests are not closed automatically.
Incident and problem tickets
An incident is an unplanned event that causes an interruption or reduction in service. If the new employee receives a laptop computer and cannot connect to the corporate network, you can create a new ticket for the incident. If you encounter two or more similar incidents, you can link the tickets to a problem ticket.
A problem identifies the root cause of one or more incidents. If the new employee and several other employees cannot log in to the corporate network, you can create a new problem ticket that describes the root cause and link all incident tickets as supporting incidents (or children) to the problem ticket. This process—known as parent-child service relationships—is used to group identical tickets together so you can troubleshoot and resolve all tickets as one problem. When the incident tickets are resolved, you can close all tickets simultaneously by closing the parent ticket. All incident tickets are resolved as a group.
242 For example, Janet, Ellen, and Bruce submit a service request ticket stating that they cannot access their email in Microsoft Outlook. After researching the problem, you discover that your Microsoft Exchange server is down and needs to be restarted. To troubleshoot and resolve all client tickets in one ticket, you can change the request type on one client ticket to Problem and the remaining tickets to Incident. Then link all the incident tickets to the problem ticket so they are shown as linked incidents. When all incidents are resolved, you can close the parent ticket.
When you close a parent problem ticket, all incident tickets are closed automatically.
Link child tickets to a parent ticket
If you have multiple service requests that address the same issue, you can:
n Assign one of the tickets as the parent ticket (for incident and problem tickets)
n Assign a new ticket as the parent ticket (for service request tickets)
For example, if you have multiple Incident tickets with a similar problem, change the ticket type in one ticket to Problem and link the remaining Incident tickets to the Problem ticket. If you have multiple Service Request tickets with related tasks, create a new Problem ticket that describes the task and link the related Service Request tickets to the Problem ticket.
243 Link incident tickets to a problem ticket
1. Open the service request ticket that you want to change to a problem ticket. 2. Click Problem, and click Save. The problem ticket will be the parent of each incident ticket.
3. Open the service request ticket that you want to change to an incident ticket. 4. Click Incident.
244 5. Within the incident ticket, click the Problems tab.
6. Search for the problem ticket that you want to make the parent of the incident. 7. In the Action column, click Link to make the selected ticket the parent of the current ticket.
8. Save your changes. 9. Repeat steps 3-8 for each incident you want to link to the parent.
245 10. To manage the tickets as a group, open the problem ticket and perform the following actions, as necessary.
Click a child ticket to open its details.
Click delete if you want to remove the relationship between the problem and the incident.
When you add a note to the problem, you can also propagate the note to linked incidents.
When you close a problem ticket, all linked incident tickets also close.
Link service request tickets to one service request
Perform this procedure to track multiple service requests in one service request ticket. This process can help you track all incidents related to a problem in your company, such as a network failure or power outage.
246 1. Create a service request ticket that will be the parent ticket.
2. Open a service request ticket that you want to link to the parent ticket. 3. Within the service request ticket, click the Requests tab.
4. Search for the service request ticket that you want to make the parent ticket.
247 5. In the Action column, click Link to make the selected ticket the parent of the current ticket.
6. Save your changes. 7. Repeat steps 2-6 for each incident you want to link to the parent. 8. Open the parent ticket. 9. Monitor the status of each child ticket until they are resolved. When completed, close the parent ticket.
When you close the Problem ticket, the Child tickets are not closed automatically. You must close each individual ticket.
248 Link sub-child tickets to child tickets
You may have a service request that is the sub-child of an existing child ticket. For example, if a user cannot access her email, a service technician may suggest re-installing Microsoft Outlook before diagnosing a connection issue with the Microsoft Exchange server.
In this situation, 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.
Add 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:
n Parent ticket notes propagate to first-level child tickets. Parent ticket notes do not appear in sub- child tickets.
249 n Child ticket notes propagate to the linked parent ticket (if desired) or first-level sub-child tickets.
n 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. 2. In the Notes tab, click New.
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. 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.
250 Automate parent/child ticket creation
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.
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.
You can configure action rules to load balance ticket processing to assigned techs in other tech groups during periods of high call volume. See Load balance action rules for ticket processing for more information.
Configure 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 REQUEST TYPE
Configure a new computer system IT/General
Set up an employee phone and phone number Phone/Voicemail
Configure a new employee workspace 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.
251 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 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:
n Each task you configure at Setup > Tickets > Tasks can include multiple task elements.
n The Link to Parent check box must be selected in a task element that triggers the execution of the next task element.
n 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.
n The parent ticket cannot be changed until the linked task elements are completed.
Link 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.
Web Help Desk only creates one level of child tickets.
The following screen provides an example of a child ticket displaying the Inherited column.
252 You can use the Inherited column 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. 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.
253 FIELD INHERITED FIELD LOGIC
Subject When you select one of these field check boxes, the field is appended to the value of the parent ticket. Request Detail If any of these fields are empty, the child ticket inherits the corresponding Custom Text field value of the parent ticket.
Tech
Request Type 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 Asset No. clear this check box, the drop-down menu returns to its preselected value. All non-text custom fields
When you select this field check box, the child ticket inherits all Attachments attachments from the parent ticket.
Configure 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:
n Action Rule Info. Create a rule named On-board New Employee and select the Enabled check box.
n Criteria tab. Under Tickets matching ALL of these conditions, you can select Subject | Contains | New Hire.
n In the Actions tab drop-down menus, select Run Task | New Employee.
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.
Create 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.
254 See Action rules and Create tasks for more information.
255 Manage assets
Web Help Desk provides the following options to work with assets:
n Discover assets n Manually add assets n Remove assets n Edit asset properties n Add purchase orders n Search assets n Reserve assets n Import asset data Discover assets
Web Help Desk supports several methods of automated asset discovery. Using one or more of these tools, you can synchronize Web Help Desk with your selected discovery tool and import the assets into the Web Help Desk database.
Web Help Desk discovers assets using its native WMI discovery engine and can pull assets from the following asset discovery tools and databases:
n Apple Remote Desktop 3.x and later
n Casper Recon Suite
n LANrev Client Manager 4.6.4
n Systems Management Server (SMS) / Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)
n Database Table or View
n SolarWinds NPM asset synchronization
n SolarWinds SAM asset synchronization
n SolarWinds NCM asset synchronization
n 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.
256 Configure asset discovery tools
You can configure Web Help Desk to use the following asset discovery tools:
n Absolute Manage (LANrev) n Apple Remote Desktop 3.2 n Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 and Later n Casper Asset Discovery 8 and Earlier n Casper Asset Discovery 9 n Database Table or View n Lansweeper n Microsoft SMS/SCCM n NCM, NPM, or SAM n WHD Discovery Engine (WMI)
Configure Absolute Manage (LANrev) settings
A Web Help Desk integration with Absolute Manage consists of two components:
n An Absolute Manage MySQL Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection to Web Help Desk.
n Remote control of the Absolute Manage system using a link in Web Help Desk.
To implement this integration:
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.
257 3. Create and configure an Absolute Manager connection in Web Help Desk to import client inventory data from the Absolute Manage MySQL database and enable the Absolute Manage inventory and remote control links. a. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. b. In the Asset Discovery Connections window, click New. The Connection Basics tab appears. c. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for this connection. d. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Absolute Manage (LANrev). The tab window expands to include additional fields. e. Complete the remaining fields as required. See the tooltips for additional information. f. Click Save. Your changes are saved. g. Click the Attribute Mapping tab. h. Click Edit. i. 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. j. Click Save. k. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
Configure 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 create the configurations for you. When completed, scan all 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.
1. Download WHDRemoteDesktopBridge.dmg from the SolarWinds Downloads site. 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 computer systems.
258 5. Configure ARD for TCP/IP access. Ensure that: n The Remote Desktop is started before you configure the database for TCP/IP access. n You record 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 must add them to Web Help Desk. 6. Open Remote Desktop and select the systems to import. 7. Navigate to Report > System Overview and click Run to run a System Overview Report.
ARD does not remove systems 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. 8. In Web Help Desk, click Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections. 9. Click New. 10. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for this connection. 11. Complete the remaining fields as required. See the tooltips for more information. 12. Click the Attribute Mapping tab. 13. Click Edit. 14. 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. 15. Click Save. 16. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
Configure Apple Remote Desktop 3.3 and later settings
Using Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) 3.3 requires no additional configuration on the SQLite database to create the connection.
Configure an ARD 3.3 connection in Web Help Desk
1. Install Apple Remote Desktop on the Web Help Desk server.
Beginning in version 3.3, Apple Remote Desktop uses a local SQLite database to store report data. Install Apple Remote Desktop on the same system as Web Help Desk to sync inventory data. 2. Start Apple Remote Desktop and ensure that the application scans for systems. 3. Open Remote Desktop and select the systems to import. 4. Navigate to Report > System Overview and click Run to run a System Overview Report.
ARD does not remove systems 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, click Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections. 6. Click New. 7. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for this connection. 8. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Apple Remote Desktop.
259 9. In the Remote Desktop Version row, select 3.3 or later. Click the tooltip for additional information. 10. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 11. Click Save. 12. Click the Attribute Mapping tab and click Edit. 13. 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 database. 14. Click Save. 15. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
Configure Casper 8 and earlier settings
To set up a discovery connection for Casper in Web Help Desk:
1. In the toolbar, click Setup, select Assets > Discovery Connections, and then click New. 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 auto-sync 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. Click the tooltips for more information. 8. Click Save. 9. Click the Attribute Mapping tab. 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. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
See the JAMF Software website for information about importing assets directly from the JAMF software database, which stores information about assets in the JAMF Software Server (JSS),
Configure 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. 2. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Casper 9. 3. Complete the remaining fields.
260 For more information about any field, see the tooltips. 4. Click Save. 5. Click the Attribute Mapping tab. 6. 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 database.
7. Click Save. 8. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
Configure Database Table or View settings
To create a discovery connection for a Database table or view:
1. Click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. 2. In the Asset Discovery Connections window, click New. 3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the connection. 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select Database Table or View. 5. Complete the remaining fields as required. All bold fields are required.
For more information about any field, see the tooltips. 6. Click Save. 7. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
Configure Web Help Desk to discover assets stored in Lansweeper
You can configure Web Help Desk to periodically discover assets stored in Lansweeper Network Management.
Before you begin, locate the following Lansweeper information:
n IP address and port number
n Login and password
n Database logon and password
To configure Web Help Desk to discover assets stored in Lansweeper:
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. 2. Click New.
3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the new connection.
261 4. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu, select Lansweeper. 5. Enter the Lansweeper database host name, port number, database name, user name, and password.
6. Complete the remaining fields as required.
For more information about any field, see the tooltips. 7. Click the Attribute Mapping tab, and map the asset fields as appropriate. All bold selections are required. 8. Click Save. 9. To view the imported assets, on the toolbar, click Assets > Search.
Configure Microsoft SMS/SCCM settings
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Discovery Connections. 2. In the Discovery Connections screen, click New. 3. 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. Complete the remaining fields as required.
For more information about any field, see the tooltips. 6. Click Save. 7. Click Assets > Search Assets to view your imported assets.
Configure Web Help Desk to discover assets stored in SolarWinds NPM, SAM, or NCM
You can configure Web Help Desk to periodically discover assets stored in SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), Server & Application Monitor (SAM), and Network Configuration Manager (NCM).
Before you begin, locate the following information:
262 n SolarWinds Orion Platform system IP address and port number
n SolarWinds Orion Platform login and password
n System database’s login and password
To configure Web Help Desk to discover assets stored in SolarWinds NPM, SAM, or NCM:
1. In the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Select Assets > Discovery Connections. 3. Click New.
4. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the new connection. 5. Click the Discovery Tool drop-down menu and select one of the following, depending on which connection you want to discover your assets: n SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager n SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor n SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor To discover your assets using more than one SolarWinds product, you must configure separate discovery connections for each product. 6. Enter the NPM, SAM, or NCM database host name, port number, database name, user name, and password.
7. Complete the remaining fields as required.
For more information about any field, see the tooltips. 8. Click the Attribute Mapping tab, and map the asset fields as appropriate. All bold selections are required. 9. Click Save. 10. To view the imported assets, on the toolbar, click Assets > Search.
263 Configure the Web Help Desk Discovery Engine
The Web Help Desk Discovery Engine (WMI) allows you to discover Microsoft Windows-based assets based on subnet or IP range. By using scheduled WMI discovery, Web Help Desk can periodically poll endpoints to update hardware and software inventory information, including:
n Host name
n Model
n Serial number
n Logged-in user
n Operating system
n Hard drive
n Memory
n Installed software
The Discovery Engine uses a set of administrator credentials to scan at least one IP address range for 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 this discovery connection, you can create separate Discovery and Auto-Sync job schedules. A Discovery job scans a selected IP address range and discovers endpoints that accept at least one of the saved credentials. The first time you run the discovery job, it forces an auto-sync (collection) that collects configuration data from endpoints retrieved by the discovery job.
1. On the toolbar, click Setup. 2. Click Assets > Discovery Connections. 3. Click New. 4. Enter a name for the connection, and select WHD Discovery Engine (WMI). 5. Enter the IP Ranges for the discovery engine to scan. 6. Enter the credentials.
264 7. Complete the remaining fields as required.
For more information about any field, see the tooltips. 8. Click the Attribute Mapping tab and map the asset fields. 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. 9. Click Save. 10. Run the discovery job manually, or wait until the scheduled discovery job completes. 11. To view the imported assets, click Assets > Search on the toolbar.
How to install the OpenBase JDBC Driver
The OpenBase JDBC driver is not bundled With Web Help Desk 12.3.1 and later. To create an asset discovery connection in these versions to an OpenBase database, download the latest OpenBase JDBC Driver and manually install the driver in your Web Help Desk server.
Installing the Driver on a Windows system
1. Download the latest OpenBase JDBC driver from the OpenBase website. 2. Copy the JDBC driver into the following directory:
Installing the driver on an Apple OS X system
1. Download the latest OpenBase JDBC driver from the OpenBase website. 2. Copy the JDBC driver into the following directory: Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB-INF/lib/ 3. Restart Web Help Desk The OpenBase JDBC driver is installed on your system.
Installing the driver on a Linux system
1. Download the latest OpenBase JDBC driver from the OpenBase website. 2. Copy the JDBC driver into the following directory: usr/local/WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB-INF/lib/ 3. Restart Web Help Desk The OpenBase JDBC driver is installed on your system.
Sync and discover assets
1. Ensure that: n Your discovery connections are configured correctly. n Your assets are mapped correctly.
265 2. Click Sync Now for the desired connection. Web Help Desk prompts you to sync assets with your connection. 3. Click OK. 4. In the Connection Basics tab under Discovery Status, monitor your discovery and collection progress and results. 5. When the discovery and sync process is completed, click Done.
Manually add assets
1. Click Assets and select Search Assets. 2. In the Search Assets lower window, click New. The Asset Basics tab window displays.
3. Complete the fields as required. Click the tooltips for additional information. 4. Click Save.
For information about import options and discovery tools, see Discover assets. Search assets
You can search for assets in the Basic or Advanced tabs. Basic searching provides a simplified subset of the search criteria available in the advanced search mode.
To sort your search results, click the appropriate column header. To download the search results in PDF, TSV, or Excel format, click the appropriate icon.
266 Refine your search results
Your search results can include a large amount of asset data. To reduce your search results, use the Column Set drop-down menu and select a column format. Click [+] to add a new column set, or edit the selected column set by clicking the pencil icon.
Save a query
1. Define your search criteria using the same method explained in Search tickets. 2. Click the Advanced Search tab. 3. In the Save Query as field, enter an appropriate name. 4. Select the Shared check box to allow other techs to use this search. Depending on your access level, you may not have access to the Shared box. 5. Click Save.
Run a query
Select the query name from the Query menu at the top of the search results display. When selected, the query runs automatically. Remove 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
267 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.
If Web Help Desk discovers the asset after the decommission, the asset will become active in Web Help Desk again.
See Configure 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. Edit asset properties
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. 2. Click the Basic Search tab. 3. Select and/or complete the appropriate fields 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.
268 5. In the No. field, click the asset number icon. The Asset tab windows appear.
Each tab window provides unique information. n Asset Basics provides general asset information you can edit, including the asset type, model location, and status. n Asset Details provides detailed asset information you can edit, including serial number, version, and IP address. n Asset History provides dates and actions when an asset was removed, modified, or changed status, as well as the associated tech. You cannot edit this information. n Ticket History 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. 6. In the window, click the Edit icon. 7. Make any changes as required. 8. Click the Asset Details tab. 9. Make any changes as required. 10. Click Save.
Create 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:
n A parent asset can have any number of child assets.
269 n A child asset cannot be a parent to another asset.
n Removing the parent status orphans all the child assets for that parent.
n Child assets can be removed individually from a parent.
n A child asset can have any number of parent assets.
n Child assets inherit priorities from the parent objects including location, status, and other properties.
n Parent/child status is set by adding child assets to a parent asset. You cannot add a parent to a child.
Add assets as children of a parent asset
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. 2. Click the Basic Search tab. 3. Select 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. 5. In the No. field, click an asset number. 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. 7. In the Child Assets tabbed box, click Edit. The Asset Lookup box appears.
8. Select 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.
270 10. In the Asset Lookup box, click Done. The asset is added as a child asset.
11. Click Save. The asset is saved as a child asset.
Remove assets as children of a parent asset
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. 2. Click the Basic Search tab. 3. Select 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. 7. Click the trash can next to the child asset you want to remove. 8. Click Save.
271 Add purchase orders
The Web Help Desk purchase orders feature tracks your asset purchases and leases.
This feature is not designed 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.
Add a vendor
Before you add a new PO, add one or more vendors into the database.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Vendors. 2. Click New. 3. In the Vendors information screen, complete the fields as required. 4. Click Save.
Add a purchase order
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Purchase Orders. 2. In the window, click New or New Purchase Order. 3. In the PO Number field, enter a unique number. 4. In the Order Date field, add the date when the purchase order was entered. 5. In the Invoice Date field, enter the date when the vendor shipped the product. This date is used to calculate the warranty and lease expiration date. 6. Click the Vendor drop-down men and select the vendor. 7. In the Order Type row, select Lease or Purchase. 8. In the Originator row, enter the last name of the client who created the PO request. 9. In the Deliver To row, enter the last name of the client who receives the purchased items. 10. Click Attachments and add any supporting documentation (if required). 11. In the Notes box, enter any additional information about the purchase order (if required). 12. Click Save.
Add purchase order line items
After you save the purchase order, you can add line items to the purchase order using the line item editor. These line items can include individual parts and their associated costs.
When you add purchase order line items, use the following conventions:
n Associate specific assets by providing a valid asset number. If you link a line item to an asset number that does not exist or is already linked to another PO, Web Help Desk generates an error message.
n All 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.
272 n Include a “free” line item defined in the PO to link the asset. For example, if you add a new Apple Macintosh asset, you could associate it with the free line item because the computer system line item is free (not linked) to any asset number.
1. Select a purchase order. a. Click Assets and select Purchase Orders. b. In the Purchase Order Search window, complete the files with your search information and click Search. c. In the PO Number column, click the appropriate purchase order number. 2. Click the Pencil to edit the PO. 3. In the Line Item box, complete the appropriate fields as required. Your 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. 4. Click New Line Item to add additional line items. 5. When completed, click Save.
Import purchase orders
See Import data for details about importing purchase orders. Reserve assets
To ensure that your assets are available when needed, use the Asset reservation feature.
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Search Assets. 2. Search and select the Asset you want to reserve. 3. Edit the asset. 4. Select the Reservable check box. 5. Click Save.
Set up asset reservations as a tech
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Reservations. 2. Click New or New Reservation. 3. In the Client Lookup box, select the client who will check out the Asset. 4. In the Reservation Details tab, set the Scheduled Out and Scheduled In dates and times. 5. In the Asset Lookup tab, locate the asset you want to reserve. 6. Click the asset you want to reserve. 7. Click Save.
Set up asset reservations as a client
An administrator must provide clients permission to reserve an asset before clients can use the reserve asset feature.
273 1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Assets > Options. 2. In the Asset Options screen, select Clients Can Search Assets. 3. (Optional) If you selected Clients Can Search Assets, select Limit to Assigned and Reservable (if applicable). 4. Click Save.
Reserve an asset as a client
1. In the client interface, click Assets. 2. Click Search. 3. Locate your asset. 4. Select the Reserve check box. 5. Click Reserve Checked. A calendar window appears, allowing you to select a reservation date or range of dates. 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.
Check assets in and out
Only Techs can check reserved assets in or out.
1. In the toolbar, click Assets and select Reservations. 2. In the Search screen, complete the fields as required. 3. Click Search to locate your reserved assets. 4. In the Reservation Details screen, click Check In to check in an asset. Click Check Out to check out an asset. 5. Click Save.
Import asset data
Use the Import Assets screen located at Setup > Data Import > Import Assets to add asset data into Web Help Desk.
274 To ensure a successful data import, use the Assets Import template.
See Import data using templates for information about applying templates.
1. Click Setup and select Data Import > Import Assets. 2. In the Import Assets screen, complete the fields as required. Click the tooltips for additional information. 3. Click Import. The file is imported into Web Help Desk.
275 Import and export data
To import data, configure Web Help Desk to connect to your network using one or more of the following tools:
l Absolute Manage
l Apple Remote Desktop
l JAMF Casper
l Lansweeper
l Microsoft SMS/SCCM
l Web Help Desk (using WMI)
See Discover 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 spreadsheets, tab-separated variable (TSV) files, and comma- separated variable (CSV) files.
Use template data imports for the following Web Help Desk selections:
n Locations
n Clients
n Assets
n Purchase Orders
n Tickets
n FAQs
n Parts
n Inventory
See Use templates to import data for details on how to set up and apply Web Help Desk templates to import your data.
276 Use templates to import data
After you set up your connections using the discovery tools described in Discover 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 data row in the file must match the appropriate template, which you can download from the Setup > Data Import menu. 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.
TSV templates
A typical TSV template contains column headings similar to the following client TSV template.
When you click Download Template in the Import Clients screen and download the template file, you can re-import the file into the Clients importer template.
Because ticket TSV downloads are typically used for reporting instead of bulk changes, the columns in the ticket TSV download match the columns in the selected column set rather than the columns in the ticket import template.
If you are using an Excel spreadsheet to format the data and your data file contains Unicode characters, deselect the MS Excel Unicode (UTF-16) file encoding option—both in Excel and in Web Help Desk.
Data import types
The following table lists the type of import and the fields required for the import.
TYPE OF IMPORT REQUIRED FIELDS
Location Location Name
Companies Company Name, Manager Tech Username
Clients Last Name, User Name, E-Mail
Assets Asset Type, Manufacturer, Model
Purchase Orders PO Number, Vendor
Tickets Open Date, Request Type
277 TYPE OF IMPORT REQUIRED FIELDS
FAQs Category, Question, Answer
Parts Part Number, Manufacturer, Our Cost, Customer Cost
Inventory Part Number, Location, Count
Import data using TSV, CSV, or Excel templates
Click the tooltips for additional information.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Data Import. 2. In the drop-down menu, select an import type. 3. In the Import Assets screen, complete the fields and selections as required. 4. Click Download Template. 5. Populate the template with the required information. Use the following conventions: n To prevent failed imports, do not change the data order or delete columns in any import. n Define all inventory import parts in Web Help Desk before you import your inventory. n 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. n Do not use commas or currency symbols in your template. 6. Import the populated template to Web Help Desk.
278 Export data
The following table lists the data types and corresponding export formats to use when you export your Web Help Desk data.
TSV file cells are limited to 32KB.
DATA TYPE EXPORT FORMATS
Tickets PDF, TSV, and Excel
Clients TSV and Excel
Assets PDF, TSV, and Excel
Parts TSV and Excel
FAQs TSV and Excel
Export tickets
You can export ticket data to a TSV format for export to other locations or applications.
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 2. In the Tickets window, 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.
Export clients
You can export Client information to a TSV or Excel format for export to other locations or applications.
1. In the toolbar, click Clients. 2. In the Clients screen, 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.
Export assets
You can export asset information to a PDF, TSV, or Excel format and send the file to other locations or applications.
1. In the toolbar, click Assets. 2. In the Assets screen, 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.
279 3. Save the PDF, Asset_export.txt or Asset_export.xls file to your hard drive or other location.
Export parts
You can export parts information to a TSV or Excel file to export to another location or application.
1. In the toolbar, click Parts. 2. In the Parts screen, 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.
Export FAQs
You can export FAQs information to a TSV or Excel format for review or export the file to another location or application. .
1. In the toolbar, click FAQs. 2. In the FAQs screen, 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.
280 Create and edit reports
Reports can show statistics and aggregated data (such as totals or averages). They can also represent data graphically (as bar charts and pie charts) to help you compare groups of tickets or assets.
Reports display information about tickets, assets, and billing. They are useful for showing the total or average value of one type of item in relation to a second type of item. Examples include:
n How many tickets did each tech close? n How many tickets were opened against each asset? n How many assets are checked out in each location? n What is the average work time per ticket request type? n How many tickets were opened against each request type?
Reports can be displayed in the web interface or generated in PDF format. You can also create schedules to automatically run reports and email them to groups of recipients.
From any report, you can click the ticket or asset total to display detailed information about the items included in that total.
The Reports screen includes a list of predefined reports that focus on asset, billing, and ticket information. You can also create composite reports that link together a mixture of reports. Each report can include charts or tables that display the number of items in possible categories.
Click Reports in the toolbar to access the Reports screen.
281 Sample reports
Using sample reports included with Web Help Desk, you can create asset and ticket reports to help you monitor technician performance, customer support needs by location, and incidence frequency. Using additional features incorporated into Reports, you can categorize reports into report groups, generate survey results, and schedule automated reports for distribution. Bar and pie chart configuration options
Ticket and asset reports can show information as a bar or pie chart, in addition to a table.
To configure a bar or pie chart, you must specify the Category and Chart Metric options. Understanding these options helps you create reports that display the information you need.
Category
Each bar or slice represents a group of tickets or assets. The Category is used to group the tickets or assets. (It is the element that each bar or slice represents.) To select a Category, choose the element you want to compare.
For example:
n In this bar chart, tickets are grouped by assigned tech. Each bar represents a tech.
The Category is Assigned Tech.
282 n In this pie chart, tickets are grouped by request type. Each slice represents a request type.
The Category is Request Type.
Bar Stack Category
For bar charts, you can also choose a Bar Stack Category. This setting can be used to subdivide the tickets or assets within each bar. In the example below, the Bar Category is Assigned Tech and the Bar Stack Category is Priority. Now you can see how many tickets are assigned to each tech, and whether any tech has a large number of Urgent or High priority tickets.
Chart Metric
The Chart Metric determines the size of the bars or slices. In many cases, it is the total number of tickets or assets in each group. For ticket reports, it can also be a time measurement, such as the open time or work time.
283 Putting it together
In a bar or pie chart, the Category is the element being compared and the Chart Metric is the basis for comparison. The Category and Chart Metric are reflected in the questions a chart can answer. For example:
n Which techs closed the most tickets last month? Category: tech
Chart Metric: ticket count
n Which assets are associated with the most tickets? Category: assets
Chart Metric: ticket count
n Which tech has the shortest average first response time? Category: tech
Chart Metric: average first response time
n Which location has the most open tickets? Category: location
Chart Metric: ticket count
Create report groups
Report Groups helps you organize your 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.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports and select Report Groups. 2. In the Report Groups screen, click New. 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 can access the reports. 5. Click the Included Reports tab.
284 6. Select the applicable Reports. 7. Click the Group Options tab. 8. Click Save.
Create 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.
Use Asset Reporting to gather information on various data in your organization, such as:
n Number and types of assets in your corporate enterprise
n Assets approaching end of warranty or purchased within a specific data range
n Asset attributes such as Class, Location, and Warranty Type
n Number of tickets generated by asset issues
n Overdue, reserved, and reservable assets
Create an asset report
1. In the toolbar, click Reports. 2. In the Reports screen, click New. 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.
If no Report Groups are available, the default report group is Sample Reports. To create a new report group, save the information currently in the Report Basics tab and see Create 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.
285 6. Click Save.
7. Select the type of report to create: n Bar chart n Pie chart n Table-only
Create a bar chart asset report
1. In the Chart Type row, ensure that Bar Chart is selected. 2. Click the Bar Category drop-down menu and select an option. For example, if you select Model, the bar chart will include all assets by model. 3. Click the Bar Stack Category drop-down menu and select Asset Type to specify the data stacked on each bar. 4. (Optional) To draw the bar stack categories with percentage values, select the Draw as percentages check box. 5. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 6. (Optional) Add a report filter. a. Select the Report Filters tab. b. Click New. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down window and select an option. For example, if you select Model, the report filters all assets by model. 7. In the Report Details window, click Save.
286 8. Click Run Report to generate the report. The report appears, as shown in the following illustration.
Create a pie chart asset report
1. In the Chart Type row, select Pie Chart. 2. Click the Pie Slice Category drop-down menu and select an option to indicate which data the pie slices represent. For example, if you select Model, the pie slices in the report will represent assets by model. 3. 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. For the best illustration, 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. 4. 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 100. 5. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 6. (Optional) Add a report filter. Report filters restrict the tickets included in the report by specifying the attribute values that should be excluded. For example, a Status Type filter could restrict the report to Open or Pending status types. Click the Help icon in the Report Filters tab for more information.
287 7. a. Select the Report Filters tab. b. Click New. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down window and select an option. For example, if you select Model, the report filters all assets by model. If your filter attribute is identical to the report category, only the values allowed by the filter appear in the report. 8. In the Report Details window, click Save. 9. Click Run Report to generate the report. The report appears, as shown below.
Create a table only asset report
1. In the Chart Type row, select Table Only. 2. Click the Row Category drop-down menu and select Model to indicate which data appear in the table rows. 3. Click the Column Category drop-down menu and select an option. For example, if you select Asset Type, the table columns in the report will represent assets by model. 4. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information.
288 5. (Optional) Add a report filter. a. Select the Report Filters tab. b. Click New. c. Click the Filter Attribute drop-down window and select an option. For example, if you select Model, the report filters all assets by model. If your filter attribute is identical to the report category, only the values allowed by the filter appear in the report. d. Click the Report Details tab. 6. In the Report Details window, click Save. Your changes are saved. 7. Click Run Report. The report appears, as shown below.
Create ticket reports
1. In the toolbar, click Reports. 2. Click New. 3. In the Report Name field, enter a name used to identify 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.
289 5. Click the Report Type drop-down menu and select Ticket Report. The Report Details and Report Filters tabs appear. These tabs define what the report looks like and the data it contains. 6. Click Save. The Report Details tab window appears.
7. Select the type of report to create: n Bar Chart n Pie Chart n Table Only
Create a bar chart ticket report
1. In the Chart Type row, select Bar chart. 2. Click the Bar Category drop-down menu and select the appropriate category for your report. 3. Click the Bar Stack Category drop-down menu and select an option to specify the data stacked on each bar. 4. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 5. Click Save.
290 6. (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 select 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. Select Inclusive to include tickets with one of the selected values. Select Exclusive to exclude tickets with one of the selected values. 7. Click Save. 8. In the Report Details window, click Run Report. In the example below, Day of Week Opened is the bar category and Ticket Type is the bar stack category.
Create a pie chart ticket report
1. In the Chart Type row, select Pie Chart. 2. 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. 3. Complete the remaining fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 4. Click Save.
291 5. (Optional) Click the Report Filters tab to add a report filter. a. Click New. 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. Select Inclusive to include tickets with one of the selected values. Select Exclusive to exclude tickets with one of the selected values. 6. Click Save. 7. In the Report Details tab window, click Run Report. The example bar chart below uses Day of Week Opened for the Pie Slice Category.
Create a table only ticket report
1. In the Chart Type row, select Table Only. The Report Details tab window includes options for creating a table chart.
292 2. Complete the fields as required. Click the tooltips for more information. 3. (Optional) Add a report filter. a. Click the Report Filters tab. b. Complete the fields as required. 4. Click the Report Details window. 5. Click Save to save the report.
293 6. Click Run Report. The report appears, as shown below.
This report uses the following settings: n Row Category: Status n Column Category: Location Group n Repetition Category: Assigned Tech n Table Data: Tickets Create ticket billing reports
Billing Reports generate a table showing the total work time, parts cost, and labor cost accrued for a set of tickets.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports. 2. Click New. 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. 7. Click the Category drop-down menu and select the category used to generate the rows in the report. 8. (Optional) Select the Show Filters check box to indicate whether a list of the filters configured for the report will be included in the report.
294 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. 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. Select Inclusive to include tickets with one of the selected values. Select Exclusive to exclude tickets with one of the selected values. 12. Click Save. 13. In the Report Details tab, click Run Reports. The example below shows a generated billing report with Tech Group as the selected category in the Report Details tab window.
Create a custom report
If the preconfigured reports in Web Help Desk do not show the information you need, you can add a custom report. The following sections provide examples of two custom reports: a bar chart showing open tickets by tech, and a table showing tickets closed by request type.
Open tickets by tech
This example shows how many open tickets are assigned to each tech. The information is displayed in a bar chart, which you can use to quickly identify techs with the highest number of open tickets. Each bar is subgrouped by ticket priority.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports. 2. Click New.
295 3. On the Report Basics tab, enter the report name and request type.
Report groups are optional. If you have a large number of reports, you can use them to classify the reports.
4. Click the Report Details tab. 5. As the Chart Type, select Bar chart.
6. As the Bar Category, select what each bar represents. In this example, each bar represents a tech.
For more information about bar and pie chart options, see Bar and pie chart configuration options.
7. As the Bar Stack Category, select Priority to subdivide each bar by ticket priority.
8. As the Chart Metric, select the measurement that determines the height of each bar. In this example, the height reflects the number of tickets.
9. Select Show Table to display this information in a table below the bar chart. 10. For this report, leave the time range blank so that it will include all open tickets. When the time range is blank the Date Attribute has no impact, so you can accept the default.
11. Click the Report Filters tab, and then click New.
296 12. Create a filter to include only tickets with a Status of Open.
13. Click Save, and then click Run Report. The bar chart shows the number of open tickets for each tech. This information is also shown in a table below the chart.
Tickets closed by request type with work time
This example shows how many tickets of each request type were closed during the previous week. It also shows the total amount of work time for each group of tickets. The information is displayed in a table because tables can include multiple data points for each ticket.
1. From the report list, click New. 2. On the Report Basics tab, enter the report name and request type.
3. Click the Report Details tab.
297 4. As the Chart Type, select Table only.
5. Select the value used to define the table rows. In this example, the table will include a row for each request type.
6. Select the value used to define the table columns. In this example, leave the Column Category blank. The table will include one data column showing totals for the week.
To include columns that show subtotals for each day, select Date Closed as the Column Category.
7. Select the information that will be shown in each table cell.
8. Select the time range that the report will include. Select the Round back option to include the previous week from Sunday through Sunday (rather than today and the previous seven days).
9. To include only tickets closed during the specified time range, select Date Closed as the Date Attribute.
298 10. Click Save, and then click Run. The report shows the total number of tickets and total work time for each request type.
Modify an existing report
Web Help Desk provides a set of predefined reports. You can use these reports as they are, or modify them to meet your needs.
The following example makes changes to the Assets with most Tickets for the last quarter report. By default, this report shows the number of tickets for each asset during the past quarter. This helps you identify individual assets that generate a large number of tickets. Instead, the report will be modified to show which asset models generate the most tickets, and to show the information for the previous month.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports. 2. Click the name of the report to open it.
3. On the Report Details tab, change the Bar Category from Asset No. to Model. Each bar will represent an asset model instead of an individual asset.
4. For the Bar Stack Category, select Asset No. This subdivides each bar by individual assets to identify individual assets generating more tickets than others with the same model.
5. Click the Report Filters tab, and then click the name of the existing filter to open it.
299 6. Change the Time Range to include only the previous month.
7. Click the Report Basics tab, and then change the name of the report to reflect its new contents.
8. Click Save, and then click Run. The bars represent asset models, and the subgroups in each bar represent individual assets.
View, print, or download reports
You can manually run a Web Help Desk report at any time.
Alternatively, you can create a report schedule to distribute reports at regular intervals.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports. The reports page lists all available reports. 2. Locate the report.
If you created report groups to classify your reports, you can select a report group in the upper-right corner to filter the list.
300 3. Click a button in the right column to run the report.
Displays the report at the bottom of the current Web Help Desk browser tab.
Displays a printable web view in a new browser tab.
Creates a PDF version of the report that you can download and print or distribute.
Schedule reports
Use report schedules to automatically generate one or more reports in PDF format and email them to the specified recipients via their default outgoing email accounts. Recipients can be clients, techs, or people who do not have Web Help Desk accounts.
This example schedules two asset reports to be distributed at the beginning of every month.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports and then select Report Schedules. 2. Click New. 3. Enter a name to identify this report schedule.
4. Specify how often the report is distributed and when the distribution begins.
5. (Optional) Update the email message to which the reports will be attached.
See the tooltips for more information about any field.
6. To distribute the report to clients, search for a client and then click the client name. If you defined a connection to an LDAP server, the Search LDAP check box is displayed. Select this option to include names from the LDAP directory in the search. Point to the Search LDAP label for more information. 7. To add recipients who are not Web Help Desk clients and techs, enter their email addresses in the Other Recipients E-Mails field.
301 8. To distribute the reports to techs: a. Click the Tech Recipients tab. b. Click Edit. c. Select the techs and click Save. 9. Select the reports to include. a. Click the Included Reports tab. b. Click Edit. c. Select the reports and click Save.
10. Click Done. The new schedule is activated and available in the Report Schedules screen.
302 Set up parts and billing
You can track your parts inventory in one or multiple store locations by part number, manufacturer, and model. When parts are deployed to a ticket, Web Help Desk automatically deducts the part from inventory, allowing you to maintain an accurate parts inventory in your deployment.
Using additional tools in Web Help Desk you can:
n Add parts to a location n Add parts to a ticket n Manually adding parts n Configure inventory alerts n Enable service time blocks n Customize billing statements Add parts to a location
1. In the toolbar, click Parts. 2. Click the Inventory tab. 3. In the fields and drop-down menus, select your search criteria and click Search. To list all parts, leave all search fields empty and click Search. 4. Click the Storage Location drop-down menu for a specific part and select a storage location. 5. In the Add Count field, add the number of available parts.
To reduce the number of available parts, use a negative number. For example, to change the number of available parts from 6 to 5, enter -1.
6. Click Save.
When a part inventory reaches zero, the inventory status changes from Available to Back Ordered.
Add parts to a ticket
1. In the toolbar, click Tickets. 2. Click the targeted ticket number. 3. Click the Parts and Billing tab. 4. In the Part Search box, enter and select the appropriate information to locate the part. 5. Click Search. The Search Results box appears, displaying the location and number of available parts.
303 6. In the Inventory column, click the part location.
The part appear in the Assigned Parts box. To remove defective parts from inventory, enter the number of parts in the DOA field. Web Help Desk removes 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. 7. Click Save to save your changes.
Manually add parts
1. In the toolbar, click Parts. 2. In the Parts List tab, click New. 3. In the Part No. field, enter a part number.
4. Click the Manufacturer drop-down menu and select a manufacturer.
You can add manufacturers and models 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.
304 10. In the Notes field, enter any applicable notes. 11. Click Save.
Configure inventory alerts
You can configure the frequency and recipients for all email alerts—for example, when your inventory threshold falls below your specified level for parts a client regularly requests.
1. Click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Inventory Alerts. 2. In the Inventory Alerts screen, click the first Inventory Alert Interval drop-down menu and select a value from 0 to 100.
3. Click the second Inventory Alert drop-down menu and select the appropriate alert frequency. 4. In the Default Inventory Alerts Recipients field, enter the email addresses for each recipient who will receive inventory alerts.
Click the tooltips for more information. 5. Click Save.
Override default inventory alert recipients
1. Click Setup and select Companies and Locations > Locations and Rooms. 2. In the Location Name column, click the appropriate location. 3. Edit the information in the tab windows as required. 4. Click Done.
Enable predefined service time blocks
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Parts & Billing > Options. 2. In the Parts & Billing Options screen, select the Enable Location Service Time Blocks check box.
3. Select the appropriate option to enable time blocks. 4. Click Save.
305 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 pop-up. If the value is negative, it appears in red.
Customize billing statements
You can customize billing statements by editing the invoice.html file located in the following directory: WebHelpDesk\\bin\webapps\helpdesk\WEB-INF\lib\whd- web.jar\Resources\Invoice.wo\Invoice.html
For example, if you wanted to remove the signature line, you could remove lines 433 - 438:
After you delete these lines or make any other changes, restart Web Help Desk to enable your changes.
306 Manage client feedback
Surveys provide valuable feedback from your clients. After you close a ticket, you can provide your clients the option of completing a survey.
You can link surveys to a specific ticket for a single client, or send surveys as general questionnaires to a number of clients. The survey is located at the top of the ticket e-mail and in the Help History page of the client interface. Create surveys
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Surveys > Surveys. 2. In the Surveys screen, click New. 3. In the Survey Name and Description fields, enter the appropriate information for your survey.
4. Complete the remaining fields as required.
Click the tooltips for additional information. 5. Click Save.
307 Set the survey options
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select Surveys > Options. 2. Complete the remaining fields as required.
Click the tooltips for additional information.
3. Click Save.
Create an automatic survey
1. Click Setup and select Tickets > Request Types. 2. In the Request Types column, click the appropriate request type. 3. In the Request Type screen, click the Survey drop-down menu and select a survey. 4. Click Save to automatically implement the survey.
For example, if you 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. Create a manual survey
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.
1. In the toolbar, click Clients. 2. In the Basic Search or Advanced Search tabs, enter the appropriate information to locate one or more clients. To list all clients, leave the search fields blank. Hover your mouse arrow over the selections for tooltips.
3. Click Search. 4. In the search results toolbar, click Send Survey. 5. In the Survey Invitation Mailer screen, click the Survey drop-down menu and select a survey. 6. Edit the survey content (if required). 7. Click Save & Email.
308 Create messages
Use this feature to send messages to techs and clients.
1. In the toolbar, click Messages > Create Messages. 2. Click New Message. 3. In the Message screen, complete the fields as required. Click the tooltips for additional information. 4. Click Save. The message is sent to your selected recipients. View ticket and survey results
You can examine your survey results from within a ticket. Simply open the targeted ticket and click the Survey View icon in the ticket screen.
You can also view the survey summary data on both the ticket and general surveys in the Survey Results screen. Survey reports are the only way to view the results of a general (non-ticket) survey.
1. In the toolbar, click Reports and select Survey Results. 2. In the Survey Results screen, select the survey you want to view.
To narrow the spoke of the results, complete the information in the fields and drop-down menus 3. When you complete your selections, click Run Report.
Send email ticket surveys
You can send a general email ticket survey to one or more clients for each closed ticket. Clients can access surveys by replying to the email or by selecting History from the top menu.
You can select a survey in the Setup > Tickets > Request Types screen.
1. In the toolbar, click Clients. 2. In the Basic Search and Advanced Search tabs, select the appropriate criteria to locate clients who will receive your survey.
Hover your mouse over Search LDAP for additional information.
3. Click Search.
309 4. In the generated table, select the appropriate clients to receive the survey. 5. Click Send Survey. 6. In the Survey Invitation Mailer screen, click the Survey drop-down menu and select a survey.
7. Review the survey E-Mail Subject and Message Preview boxes and modify the email message content as required.
Click the tooltips for more information.
8. Click Save & E-Mail. 9. Click OK to send the survey to your selected clients.
310 SolarWinds Orion alert integration
Web Help Desk integrates with the following SolarWinds applications running on SolarWinds Orion Platform 2012.2 or later:
n Network Configuration Manager (NCM) n Network Performance Monitor (NPM) n Server and Application Monitor (SAM)
Using a communication link (or SolarWinds connection) between Web Help Desk and a supported Orion platform, Web Help Desk can generate help desk tickets that respond to monitored events occurring in your corporate enterprise, such as a failed hard drive or a change in server health.
After you configure a SolarWinds connection in Web Help Desk and a shared alert is triggered (for example, a SolarWinds-monitored network node failed for any reason), the Orion Platform sends Web Help Desk an HTTP request to create an alert-based ticket. You can configure Web Help Desk to receive all or only specific alerts to generate a corresponding ticket that addresses the issue described in the alert.
Integrating Web Help Desk with your Orion platform applications helps you ensure that all monitored alerts are addressed in a timely manner. If your monitored servers and applications are located in a remote area or you have limited staff to monitor your corporate enterprise, Web Help Desk can automatically route the issue to the appropriate tech who can address the problem in the least amount of time. Prepare request types for alert-based tickets
A request type determines how alerts are routed to the appropriate tech for problem resolution. When you create your SolarWinds connection, select the request type that closely matches the connection.
You can select one request type for one SolarWinds connection.
311 For example, if you are creating a connection to SolarWinds SAM to address alerts related to server health, click the WHD Request Type drop-down menu and select a request type linked to a tech group that troubleshoots and resolves server issues. Alert-based ticket example
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.
Below are some notes that appear in the Web Help Desk ticket from the Orion alert.
312 Configure Orion-to-Web Help Desk ticketing
You can configure your SolarWinds Orion Platform to generate alerts triggered in SolarWinds NPM, NCM, and SAM when a network event occurs—for example, when a node fails for any reason. When specific alerts are shared with Web Help Desk, Web Help Desk automatically generates a ticket based on the alert.
To configure SolarWinds Orion-to-Web Help Desk ticketing:
1. Enable SolarWinds Orion to share alerts with Web Help Desk. 2. Test Orion server access to the integration email account. 3. Enter a SolarWinds Orion alert source. 4. Configure the alert filtering rules. 5. Test the alert filtering rules.
Enable SolarWinds Orion to share alerts with Web Help Desk
When a monitored event generates a shared alert in your Orion platform, the alert is transmitted to Web Help Desk through an integrated connection. Web Help Desk processes the request through a set of filters you configure in a SolarWinds server link, creates a help desk ticket, and forwards the ticket to the appropriate tech group for troubleshooting and resolution.
If you upgraded to Orion Platform 2015.1.0 or later, 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.
Web Help Desk does not support the following condition introduced in Orion Platform 2015.1.0:
See the appropriate section depending on your Orion Platform version:
313 n Configure Orion alert sharing for Orion Platform 2015.1.0 and later n Configure Orion alert sharing prior to Orion Platform 2015.1.0
Configure Orion alert sharing for Orion Platform 2015.1.2
The following example describes how to create and configure an Orion Platform 2015.1.0 or later shared alert with Web Help Desk. In this example, Orion will send Web Help Desk an alert concerning a failed node. Your steps may vary.
1. In the Orion Web Console, create an alert or open an existing alert. See Creating and managing alerts in the Orion Platform Admin Guide for more information. 2. Scroll to the end of the Summary panel.
3. Maximize Alert Integration and select the Integrate alert check box. 4. Select the properties you want to include in the alert, and click Submit.
Configure Orion alert sharing prior to Orion Platform 2015.1.0
If you are running Orion with a core version prior to Orion Platform 2015.1.0, you can configure alert sharing with Web Help Desk by enabling the Automatically share alert data with other SolarWinds products and subscribers option. This option is located at Advanced Alert Manager > Configure Alerts > edit_necessary_alert > Alert Sharing tab.
314 For more information about Orion alert properties, see NPM variables and examples in the SolarWinds Orion NPM Administrator Guide.
Example: Create an alert for a failed node
The following example describes how to create and configure an Orion Platform 2015.1.0 shared alert with Web Help Desk. In this example, Orion will send Web Help Desk an alert concerning a failed node.
1. On the Orion server, click Start and select SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager. 2. Click Configure Alerts. 3. In the Manage Alerts window, select the alert you want sent to Web Help Desk and click Edit.
4. In the Edit Alert dialog General tab, ensure the Enable this Alert option is selected.
The Orion server will send the alert only when this option is active. 5. Select the Trigger Condition tab. 6. Click Add and then click Simple Condition.
315 7. Click the first asterisk * in the condition, and then select Network Nodes > Node Details > Node Name.
8. 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 E-mail/Page, and then click OK. 15. In the E-Mail/Page Addresses tab, locate the Email/Pager Recipients box and enter the Web Help Desk integration email address in the To field.
Ensure your network environment is configured to allow the Orion server to send email alerts to the Web Help Desk integration email account. Check with your Orion system administrator to find out which networks accept Orion server emails.
316 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 Configure alert filtering rules for more information. 18. Click OK. 19. Click the Alert Sharing tab. 20. Select the following check box: Automatically share alert data with other SolarWinds products and subscribers 21. Set the Severity level. The alert Severity level passes along to Web Help Desk. In this example, the Severity level is Warning.
317 22. In the Properties to Include box, review the property names in the Name column.
Properties in this example include: n IP Address n Object Sub Type n Status Description n Node Name n Vendor 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, then click Done.
Test Orion server access to the integration email account
After you assign an Orion alert to the Web Help Desk integration email account, ensure that your Orion server can access your Web Help Desk integration email account.
If the alert is for an intermittent event (such as a failed node), the following test procedure may not be applicable unless you change the trigger condition to a reoccurring event. For example, if a node is not 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 email address.
See Enable SolarWinds Orion to share alerts for more information.
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 email 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:
318 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 email account using this alert.
For more information about networks that transmit Orion server integration emails, contact your Orion system administrator.
Enter a SolarWinds Orion alert source
To retrieve and process alerts from a SolarWinds alert source (such as SolarWinds NPM), add the server link to Web Help Desk. This process creates a communications between the Orion platform and your Web Help Desk server. When an event occurs, Web Help Desk can generate a ticket from the alert and forward the ticket to the appropriate tech for troubleshooting and resolution.
Before you create a connection with a SolarWinds Orion alert source, ensure that the source is running SolarWinds Orion Platform 2012.2 or higher. If you need to edit connection details for a SolarWinds source, delete the existing source and create a new source.
1. In the toolbar, click Setup and select SolarWinds Integration > SolarWinds Connection. 2. In the SolarWinds Connection screen, click Add New SolarWinds Source.
3. In the Add New SolarWinds Source screen, enter the new SolarWinds source name in the Source Name field. 4. Select a request type.
5. Enter the SolarWinds Server IP Address or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).
319 6. Enter the SolarWinds administrator user name and password.
To ensure Web Help Desk can access the required SolarWinds alerts, enter administrator-level SolarWinds account and credentials data into Web Help Desk.
7. Click Test. When Web Help Desk creates a connection with a SolarWinds Orion alert source, the checked areas in the window contain green check marks.
8. Click Next to continue.
Configure the alert filtering rules
You can configure an alert filter to recognize a specific issue in your SolarWinds Orion platform and create a help desk ticket based on that issue.
Filters
Web Help Desk creates help desk tickets from Orion alerts by matching the Orion alert contents or features to filters you set up in the application. To create alert filtering rules, apply the property names that exist in your Web Help Desk Orion alerts.
These alerts can include default names or other types of name configurations assigned by the Orion user. After you set up the SolarWinds server in Web Help Desk and gather information about your Orion alerts and associated properties, configure Web Help Desk to transform Orion alerts into client tickets.
About rule configuration
By default, Web Help Desk does not monitor Orion platform 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 the filtering rule types.
FILTERING RULE TYPE RULE DESCRIPTION
Defines the characteristics alerts must contain for Web Help Desk to Matching Rule recognize and transform the alerts into tickets or ignore them. These characteristics include:
320 FILTERING RULE TYPE RULE DESCRIPTION
n Severity level (such as Notice, Information, Warning, Critical, and Serious)
n Field name (such as Date, Alert Type, Operating System, and so on)
n Operator (such as equals, is not equal to, starts with, and so on)
n Value, which can be any type of alphanumeric data
Specifies whether Web Help Desk accepts or rejects alerts based on AND/OR block 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 Child Rule 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 Complex Rule Matching rule or an AND/OR block), plus one or more child rules.
Matching rules
Adding a new matching rule notifies Web Help Desk to match certain variables in alert text fields or a defined severity level.
The following table provides the Web Help Desk filtering options.
FILTER OPTION DESCRIPTION
Accept alert Enables Web Help Desk to recognize the alert.
Reject alert Enables Web Help Desk to ignore the alert.
Matches alerts by severity level.
If you select this option, choose one of the following:
n is equal to: Select this option to match alerts by one of the following Orion if Severity alert levels: Notice, Information, Warning, Critical, or Serious.
n 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, or Serious.
if Alert Field To further define rules, enter an Orion alert field variable.
In the following example, Web Help Desk will create a ticket from all Orion alerts containing Windows 8 in the Operating System field.
The Operating System field must be added to the Orion Alert integration.
321 Complex rules
You can add an And/Or block to a create a filter rule based on more than one condition. The Any rule creates a ticket when any child condition is true. The All rule creates a ticket only when all child conditions are true.
In the following All child rule example, a ticket is created when a node from an IP address is up and component availability is down.
Examples: Configure an alert filtering rule
You must configure an alert filtering rule with a severity or include a severity and a match to a specific alert field. You can add multiple alert field matches.
322 Configure a matching rule
The figures below show an example of a matching rule that accepts the alert if the value of the Node Status field is Up. 1. Click Add new matching rule.
2. Select Accept alert or Reject alert.
3. Configure the rule based on the severity of the alert, or an alert field value.
For both the Accept alert and Reject alert options, Ignore case and Ignore white space are active by default. To ensure the best results, leave these options selected.
Add an And/Or block
The figures below show an example of an And/Or block that accepts the alert if the severity is Critical or if the value of the Node Status field is Up.
1. Click Add new And/Or block.
2. Select Accept alert or Reject alert.
323 3. Select if Any to configure an OR rule, or select if All to configure an AND rule.
4. Click Add Child Rule.
5. Configure the rule based on the severity of the alert, or an alert field value.
324 6. To add another child rule: a. In the Filters pane, click the And/Or block.
b. In the Configure Complex Rule pane, click Add Child Rule. c. Configure the rule.
Test the alert filtering rules
Test your filter rules to ensure they are filtering properties correctly. Your test should include the severity and any alert fields that you configured in the filter rule.
This example includes a test for the following filter rule.
1. After you have configured the filter rule, click Test.
2. Select a severity. 3. Click Add New Property, select an alert field, and enter the value.
325 4. Add all alert properties defined in the filter rule, and click Test.
If your rules are configured correctly, a message states that the filter rules match and the alert is accepted in the Test Results pane. Click Done.
If your rules are not configured correctly, a message states that the filter rules did not match and the alert is rejected in the Test Results pane. Click Back to resolve your configuration errors.
326 Integrate with DameWare MRC
DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) is a remote administration and troubleshooting solution that enhances your Web Help Desk deployment. With built-in integration between both applications, you can:
n Connect to remote computers directly from help desk trouble tickets and asset inventory
n Troubleshoot and resolve remote systems directly from your system
n Save a history of troubleshooting steps to the client ticket
n 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:
n Microsoft Windows
n Microsoft Windows Server
n Linux with Virtual Network Computing (VNC) enabled
n 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 your 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. If the Asset is not 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.
Install DameWare MRC
When you install DameWare MRC in your help desk deployment, ensure that the application is installed on the same systems that 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.
327 Configure integration
After you install and deploy DameWare MRC on all tech systems in your deployment, log in as an administrator and configure Web Help Desk to integrate with DameWare MRC.
1. Click Setup and select Assets > Options. 2. In the Asset Options screen, select the DameWare Integration Links Enabled check box (if available).
Click the tooltip for additional information.
DameWare MRC is automatically enabled for all Techs in Web Help Desk. You can configure more granular access settings for individual techs in their profiles. 3. Click the Default Request Type drop-down menu and select the request type used when a tech creates a new DameWare-based ticket.
This selection determines the custom fields in the ticket, the assigned tech, and 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. See Select a request type for additional information.
To ensure seamless integration with DameWare, ensure that the Web Help Desk request type used to create DameWare tickets does not include required custom fields.
4. Click Save.
328 Configure tech access
After you install and configure DameWare MRC on the tech computer systems, open Web Help Desk and configure access for each tech who needs DameWare MRC access.
1. Click Setup and select Techs > Techs. 2. In the Tech Name column, click the tech that requires DameWare MRC access. 3. In the Account Info tab, click to enter edit mode. 4. Scroll down to Asset Setup and select the Enable DameWare Links check box.
5. Click Save. 6. Repeat step 3 through step 6 for each additional tech who needs access.
Launch and close
You can launch an MRC session in Web Help Desk from a client ticket or an asset.
Each Asset must have a valid IP address in Web Help Desk. If an asset does not have a valid IP address, you will not be able to establish a DameWare session.
When you start DameWare MRC from Web Help Desk, 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 your session, you can save the following session details to the client ticket:
n Tech notes
n Chat transcripts
n Screen shots
Launch 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 Client Assets tab, click the number associated to the asset in the No. column. 4. In the Ticket Assets tab, click the DameWare MRC icon connected to the asset. The DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) console displays, stating that you are running in Web Help Desk Integration mode. 5. Troubleshoot the asset as needed. 6. When completed, close your session. See the DameWare Mini Remote Control Reference Manual for more information.
329 Launch from an asset 1. Search for the Asset. 2. Locate the Asset in the search results. 3. Click the DameWare integration button next to the Asset number. The DameWare Mini Remote Control console displays, stating that you are running in Web Help Desk Integration mode. 4. Troubleshoot the Asset as needed. See the DameWare Mini Remote Control Reference Manual for details on how to use the MRC for troubleshooting. 5. When completed, close the session.
Close the session
1. Click Disconnect. 2. Log in to Web Help Desk to save the DameWare troubleshooting information.
330 3. Select the ticket and click Use selected ticket to save the session details to the Web Help Desk ticket listed on the screen. You must either have a ticket number or create a new ticket so the information can be saved to Web Help Desk. To save the session to a new ticket, click Create new ticket.
4. 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.
331 5. Click Save details to the ticket.
The ticket updates are uploaded to the ticket.
6. Click OK to return to Web Help Desk. When completed, n The ticket updates or new ticket displays in your list of tickets. n Chat sessions are saved in .RTF format. n Screen shots are stored in .RTF format. n Session details are incorporated into the note.
332 Deploy 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. Deploy with 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.
1. Start vSphere client and log in. 2. Click File and select Deploy OVF Template.
3. Click Browse, and then click Next. 4. Select the Web Help Desk vSphere-12.0.x.xxx.ova file on your desktop. 5. Follow the instructions on your screen to complete the Setup Wizard. 6. Select Thin or Thick provision disk format, and then click Next.
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.
7. After the WHD-vSphere-12.0.x.xxx.ova deploys and the wizard completes, click Close. 8. On the VM Summary tab, click the Power On link or right-click the VM name in the vSphere Client inventory pane.
333 9. In the context menu, click Power > Power On to start the appliance.
You can also press Ctrl-B to start the appliance.
10. Click the Console tab. A screen appears, similar to a virtual monitor.
11. To manage the appliance, launch a Web browser and navigate to the vSphere Client Console tab at the following IP address: https://
334 12. To login to the appliance for the first time, use the following credentials: Username: admin Password: admin
SolarWinds recommend changing the default password after your first login. See Change the administrator password for more information.
Deploy with Microsoft Hyper-V
This procedure installs Web Help Desk using Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 R2 and later.
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.
335 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.
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. You will need some or all of the following information: n Virtual appliance IP address n Network mask n Default Gateway IP address n Preferred DNS Server IP address
336 12. In the virtual console window, click Action > Start and wait for the appliance to start.
SolarWindsrecommends changing the default password after your first login. See Changing the Administrator Password. for information about changing your password. 13. To start Web Help Desk, launch a web browser and navigate to the URL shown in the Hyper-V Console tab.
Upgrade the virtual appliance
You can upgrade your Web Help Desk appliance by downloading Appliance-Upgrade-ISO- 12.X.X.XXX.zip from the SolarWinds Customer Portal. See the appropriate procedure below to upgrade Web Help Desk on the vSphere or Hyper-V virtual appliance.
Upgrade on vSphere
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. 6. Open a browser to the following URL: https://ip_address:5480 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.
If Web Help Desk displays odd behavior after an upgrade, clear your browser cache.
337 Upgrade on Hyper-V
1. Save the .iso file to a data store 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: https://ip_address:5480 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. 11. Log on to the website using the following default login credentials: admin/admin 12. Click the Update tab. 13. Click Check Updates. 14. Click Install Updates and click OK.
If Web Help Desk displays odd behavior after an upgrade, clear your browser cache.
Manage the virtual appliance
The appliance is configured to use default settings, including time zone, IP configuration, and host name. To function properly in your network environment, log in to the appliance and update the following settings.
n Time zone n Network settings n Proxy settings
When completed, reboot the appliance and change the administrator password (if required).
The configuration process takes approximately 10 minutes.
Both vSphere and Hyper-V virtual appliances use the same interface once you reach the appliance log in. As a result, the instructions for both machines are the same after you log in.
338 Log in to the appliance
1. Open a Web browser window. 2. Navigate to the following Website: https://
SolarWinds recommends changing the default password after your first login. See Changing the administrator password for more information.
4. Click Login.
Set the time zone
1. Click the System tab. 2. In the System tab, click the System Time Zone drop-down menu and select the correct time zone.
3. Click Save Settings.
Configure the network settings
When you configure your appliance network settings, use a static IP address. During the initial configuration, the VMware network settings apply DHCP as the default setting. If 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 for Orion Platform products and Web Help Desk are configured correctly. This process allows all connected software products to resolve the host name correctly (if you choose a to use a host name).
339 You can locate an incorrect setup in the SQL tables for Orion Alert subscribers. If the entry for the Web Help Desk URL is localhost.localdom, the DNS is not configured correctly and needs to be reconfigured.
1. Select the Network tab.
You can view your current network settings or set the network address or proxy settings. See Configuring the 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. If you select DHCP, ensure that the DHCP server or manual network settings sets a DNS server that can resolve host names for Orion and email servers configured by host name instead of a static IP address. If you select Static, enter the following information: n Hostname The 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.
n IPv4 default gateway n IPv6 default gateway n Preferred DNS server 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.
Configure the proxy settings
1. Click the Network tab. 2. Click Proxy. The Proxy screen displays.
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.
340 7. Click Save Settings. Your proxy settings are saved.
Reboot the appliance
1. Select the System tab. 2. Click Reboot. 3. In the reboot confirmation dialog, click Reboot. The appliance reboots and re-initializes all services with the new settings.
After the reboot, the Management tab appears. In this tab screen, you can:
n View appliance status
n Change your password
n Refresh your view
n View appliance and application status, version, and time zone
n Restart the application service
n Restart the system’s time synchronization network time protocol daemon (ntpd)
n Bundle logs to send to SolarWinds Support
Change the appliance administrator password
1. In the SolarWinds Management tab, click Change Password. 2. In the Change Password window, 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.
341 Knowledge-centered support Benefits of KCS
Knowledge-centered support (KCS) is a set of practices that make information available and easily accessible to both clients and techs. With KCS, knowledge is considered a fundamental asset of the technical support organization. The goals of KCS include:
n Improving efficiency within support organizations
n Making customers self-sufficient
n Reducing support costs while increasing customer satisfaction KCS process overview
When an organization implements KCS, content creation becomes an integral part of the support process. Each tech is responsible for contributing new content and updating or improving existing content.
When a tech receives a ticket, the tech first searches existing FAQs to see if a fix is already documented:
n If so, the tech follows the instructions in the FAQ (and updates it if any steps have changed). The tech can also attach the FAQ to the ticket.
n If not, the tech: 1. Troubleshoots and resolves the issue. 2. Creates a new FAQ to document the resolution.
Using Web Help Desk to build your knowledge store
Within Web Help Desk, you can use FAQs to capture solutions to common problems and make that information available. Techs can quickly create a new FAQ based on a note within a ticket, or they can manually create an FAQ.
As you increase the amount of useful information in your system, both clients and techs will be more likely to find the answers they need. Helping clients get answers from FAQs will reduce the number of tickets opened. Clients are able to provide feedback by rating articles. Use article ratings to recognize and reward useful content and to improve content that is incomplete or inaccurate.
By default, only admins can edit approved FAQs. To implement the KCS process, consider including the Approved FAQ Edit permission in the Default tech permission set. When techs have this permission, they can update or correct FAQs as needed.
342 Accessing FAQs in Web Help Desk
Web Help Desk promotes self resolution by displaying relevant FAQs to clients as they enter service requests into the Web portal.
In addition, clients can search the FAQs that are available to them.
An FAQ can be available to all Web Help Desk clients, or it can be limited to a specific audience (for example, only to clients from a certain company). Create a new FAQ
Techs can use FAQs to share information and quickly locate resolutions to common problems. In addition, clients can search the FAQ knowledge base within Web Help Desk to locate answers to their questions.
You can create a new FAQ manually, or you can automatically create an FAQ based on a ticket note. If your company is implementing knowledge-centered support, use this capability to quickly expand your knowledge base using information already captured in case notes.
Before creating a new FAQ, search the knowledge base to determine if an existing FAQ answers the question. If so, you can link the existing FAQ to the ticket.
Manually create an FAQ
1. In the toolbar, click FAQs. 2. In the FAQ toolbar, click New FAQ. 3. In the Create FAQ screen, click the Category drop-down menu and select a category.
This field is populated from the ticket request types. You can add additional request types. See Define request types for more information.
343 4. Enter the question and answer text for this FAQ. Question and answer text can include HTML links and formatting, as well as Bulletin Board Code (BBC) tags. 5. If you want to link this FAQ to a related FAQ, click . Then search for the FAQ and click Link FAQ. 6. Use the radio buttons to restrict who can view this FAQ or specify what model the FAQ applies to. 7. In the Attachments row, click Add File to add an attachment, such as a supporting document, graphic, or spreadsheet. 8. If you have permission to approve FAQs, select the Approved check box to publish the FAQ. Otherwise, notify an approver that the FAQ is ready for review.
FAQs can be approved by all admins and by techs with the Approve FAQs permission.
9. If you want the FAQ to expire, select an expiration date and time. 10. Click Save, and then click Done.
Create an FAQ based on a ticket note
1. Open the ticket and click the Ticket Details tab. 2. In the Date column of the Notes section, click in the note's creation date and time to open the note. 3. In the note editor, click Create FAQ.
4. Click OK at the confirmation dialog to create the FAQ. The following elements are automatically populated with information from the ticket:
TICKET FAQ
Request Detail Question
Note text Answer
Request Type Category
The FAQ is created, but it is not approved. Also, any attachments to the note are not attached to the FAQ.
5. Search for the FAQ, select it, and click Edit.
344 6. Make the following changes as needed: n Edit the Question and Answer text to make it appropriate for a general audience. For example, remove people's names and company-specific information. n Use the radio buttons to restrict who can view this FAQ or specify what model the FAQ applies to. n If the note included an attachment, attach that file to the FAQ. If necessary, first download the attachment from the ticket to your computer, and then attach it to the FAQ. 7. If you have permission to approve FAQs, select the Approved check box to publish the FAQ. Otherwise, notify an approver that the FAQ is ready for review.
FAQs can be approved by all admins and by techs with the Approve FAQs permission.
8. If you want the FAQ to expire, select an expiration date and time. 9. Click Save, and then click Done.
Search FAQs
1. Click FAQs in the Web Help Desk toolbar. 2. Specify the search criteria at the top of the window. 3. Click Search.
The FAQs that meet your search criteria are listed.
n To sort the results list, click a column header.
n You can view any FAQ in the list. Techs with the appropriate permissions can edit FAQs. View or edit an FAQ
1. To open an FAQ: a. Search for an FAQ. b. In the search results, double-click a row. The FAQ opens in read-only mode. 2. If you have the required permissions, you can edit the FAQ: a. In the search results, select a row and click the Edit button. b. Update any field. For more information see Create a new FAQ. c. Click Save, and then click Done.
Link an FAQ to a support ticket
When an FAQ describes the resolution to an issue or provides information associated with a ticket, you can link the FAQ to the ticket.
1. Open the ticket details page. 2. In the Notes section, click the creation date to open a new note, or click New to add a new note. 3. Click the Link FAQ button below the text area. 4. In the FAQ Search dialog box, search for the FAQ.
345 5. Click the Link FAQ button on the right side of the FAQ's row. A link to the FAQ is added to the note. 6. Click Save to save the note.
346 Get connected
This section contains information on accessing the SolarWinds Customer Portal and engaging with thwack, the SolarWinds community of IT pros:
n Access the Customer Portal n Set up additional Customer Portal user accounts n Engage with the SolarWinds community Access the Customer Portal
The SolarWinds Customer Portal provides access to license and maintenance information, support cases, and product downloads, as well as live and instructor-led virtual classroom training.
Create your user profile
To create a user profile, you must know the SolarWinds customer ID (SWID) issued to your company. If you are a SolarWinds customer but do not have a SWID, contact SolarWinds Customer Support.
Users with multiple SWIDs require only one user profile. Your user profile can be linked to multiple SWIDs.
1. Go to customerportal.solarwinds.com. 2. Click the Register tab. 3. Enter your organization's SWID and your email address. If you have multiple SWIDs, enter any SWID to create your profile. Later, use the User Profile menu to link the other SWIDs to your profile. The account administrator will review the request, and you will receive an email when it is approved.
For more information about creating an account, see this FAQ page.
347 Explore the Customer Portal
Manage licenses and access license keys.
Download purchased products.
Open a new support case and monitor existing cases.
Download free trials of integrated products.
Sign up for instructor-led virtual classroom training.
348 Set up additional Customer Portal user accounts
If you have Account Administrator access to the SolarWinds customer portal, you can add additional user accounts and define each user's access level and contact type.
For more information about user account types and permissions, see this FAQ page.
1. Log in to customerportal.solarwinds.com with your email address. 2. In the user account drop-down menu in the upper-right corner, click Company Account Settings. 3. Click the Add User button. 4. Enter the user's information. 5. Specify the user's access level: n Account Administrator: Can access all areas of the Customer Portal. Can also add and remove users, edit user profile information, and assign roles and contact types to users. n Standard Access: Can access all areas of the Customer Portal. n No Access: Cannot access the Customer Portal, but is listed as a contact on the account. 6. Specify the user's contact type: n Primary Contact: Receive all account-related communications. n Billing Contact: Receive communications relating to billing. n Partner Contact: Receive communications related to partner support. n Renewal Contact: Receive communications relating to maintenance renewals and product maintenance expiration. n Support Contact: Receive communications related to technical support. Engage with the SolarWinds community
Use the SolarWinds thwack community website to learn more about SolarWinds products, participate in discussions, and get help resolving issues.
Create a thwack account
You can read content on thwack without an account. However, having an account allows you to take full advantage of the site by submitting feature requests, liking or following posts, and contributing content. When you create a thwack account, SolarWinds will not send you unsolicited emails or add you to marketing lists.
1. Go to thwack.solarwinds.com. 2. Click Register in the top right. 3. Enter the required information and accept the license agreement. 4. Click Create Account.
349 Explore the thwack site
After you create an account, click this link to begin exploring thwack. Participating in the thwack community earns points, which you can use to purchase items in the thwack store.
As a member of the thwack community, you can:
n Participate in community discussions and get answers to your questions. In the product forums, you can post questions and view responses to other users' questions. Advice, resolutions, and troubleshooting tips are provided by community members and by SolarWinds employees. n Extend product capabilities with custom templates, reports, and scripts. The thwack product forums include thousands of downloadable templates, reports, and scripts you can use to customize or extend your SolarWinds products. This content is contributed by SolarWinds employees and by other community members. n View product roadmaps, which list the features currently being developed for future product releases. n Be notified of User Experience sessions where you can share your experiences, and help make SolarWinds products better. n Influence the direction of a product by submitting feature requests and voting for other users' feature requests. n Read blogs about SolarWinds products and about general IT topics.
350 Appendix
This section contains additional information for managing your Web Help Desk deployment. Deployment considerations
When you plan your Web Help Desk deployment, consider adding additional system RAM and Java Virtual Machine (JVM) heap memory to support the number of techs in your help desk operations. Filling up the JVM heap memory can degrade your Web Help Desk performance.
Additionally, consider creating a high availability deployment to protect your Web Help Desk operations from a single point of failure.
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, as Tech sessions use much more memory than client sessions.
Clear 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.
n Apple OSX n Microsoft Windows n Linux
Automatically restart Apple OS X
To schedule Web Help Desk 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
351 The 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.
When you schedule your nightly restart, the following conventions apply:
n The launch daemon works only with the standard Web Help Desk Tomcat deployment. WebObjects Monitor deployments use the Monitor tool to configure automatic restarts.
n When scheduling with the Monitor, make sure to clear Is Graceful to force the instances to restart.
Automatically restart Windows
Depending on your Microsoft Windows operating system version, these steps may vary.
1. Click Start and select Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks > Add Scheduled Task. 2. In the Scheduled Task Wizard, 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.
Schedule the start at least one minute later than the stop command to ensure that the service stopped before attempting to restart.
Automatically restart Linux
Create a nightly cron job that calls the stop or start scripts as root or use sudo.
You can create the cron job using the following command:
/usr/local/webhelpdesk/whd stop /user/local webhelpdesk/ whd
High availability deployments
Create a high availability Web Help Desk deployment using one of the following methods:
n Configure a multi-instance Tomcat deployment on Linux or Windows. n Deploy on multiple virtual machines
Monitor deployments on Apple OS X
Apple OS X Server 10.6 and earlier included WebObjects.
352 1. Install WebObjects. 2. Run the Web Help Desk installer to extract the application to /Library/WebHelpDesk. 3. Run the following script to configure Web Help Desk with WebObjects: sudo /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/UpdateWebObjectsConfiguration
4. In WebObjects Monitor, add a new application named Helpdesk with the following path: /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB-INF/Helpdesk.woa/Helpdesk
5. In WebObjects Monitor, add a new application named HelpdeskDaemon with the following path: /Library/WebHelpDesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB-INF/Helpdesk.woa/Helpdesk
6. In the instance configuration page for HelpdeskDaemon, add the following to the Additional Arguments setting: -DWHDDaemonMode=dedicated
Only one Web Help Desk instance should ever be running as a daemon. After you start the applications in WebObjects Monitor, connect to Web Help Desk using the following URL: http://localhost/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Helpdesk.woa
Configure 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, which 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 7.0.68 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-7.0.68
This location will be referred to as template_tomcat_home_directory in this procedure. 3. In your
This command does not apply for Apache Tomcat Core 8.
3. 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. 4. Install Apache httpd server using yum search/install commands.
353 5. 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
Install multiple tomcat instances
You can create multiple Tomcat instances that point to the
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
4. Create a webapps soft link in the
354 5. Update the TOMCAT_1_HOME/conf/server.xml file to avoid port conflicts. Update the default values listed below:
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: -Djava.endorsed.dirs=TOMCAT_1_HOME/webapps/endorsed -DWHDconfig=TOMCAT_1_HOME/webapps/.whd.properties -Dlogback.configurationFile=TOMCAT_1_HOME/logback-config.xml -DWHDPort=8200 -DWHDPrivateBaseUrl=http://localhost:8200 -Dactivemq.broker.port=61618
355 8. Edit the Apache httpd.conf, adding a new worker. Update the default values listed below:
Configure multiple instance Tomcat daemons
You can configure multiple instance Tomcat daemons by editing the tomcat_web_template.xml file located at:
For multiple-instance Web Help Desk installations, use the following guidelines:
n 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.
n Set the single daemon instance to either dedicated or background. Set the remaining instance to none.
n 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:
n Dedicated. The Web Help Desk installation instance functions only as a daemon, and the login page is disabled.
n Background. The Web Help Desk instance functions as a daemon, but users can also log in to it.
n 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.
356 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 about 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 of 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.
See the following sections to set the daemons required for multiple Tomcat instances:
n Set the Tomcat daemon n Set the Tomcat daemon memory n Set the Web Objects daemon memory
Upgrade Web Help Desk
Beginning in v12.4.0, Web Help Desk upgraded to Apache Tomcat v7.0.68 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 v7.0.68 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.
Set the Tomcat daemon
1. Stop Web Help Desk 2. Open the following file: webhelpdesk\conf\tomcat_web_template.xml 3. Set the Web Help Desk Daemon Mode (near the end of the xml file) setting for the instance type described above. 4. Save the file. 5. Restart Web Help Desk.
Set the daemon memory
1. Stop Web Help Desk 2. Open the following file: webhelpdesk\conf\whd.conf 3. Change the MAXIMUM_MEMORY setting to: MAXIMUM_MEMORY=1024 4. Save the whd.conf file. 5. Restart Web Help Desk.
357 Set the Web Objects daemon mode
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.
SolarWinds recommends creating a separate WebObjects Monitor application called HelpdeskDaemon for the daemon instance. This naming convention ensures the WebObjects adapter does not attempt direct login requests intended for the Helpdesk instance to the daemon instance.
When completed, set the daemon instance application path to: /Library/webhelpdesk/bin/webapps/helpdesk/WEB-INF/Helpdesk.woa/Helpdesk
Since the default daemon mode is none, setting the WHDDaemonMode argument for non-daemon instances is not required.
Deploy 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. As a result, you cannot install a second instance to a different location. However, you can 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.
358 Customize tickets, notes, instructions, and emails with BBCode
Web Help Desk supports Bulletin Board Code (BBCode)—a lightweight markup code for formatting text. BBCode tags use keywords encapsulated with square brackets.
Using BBCode, you can:
n Highlight text in an email
n Configure a clickable link
n Highlight important information in an asset note
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]http://www.SolarWinds.com/favicon.ico[/img]
Lorem ipsum [b]dolor sit[/b] amet, [url=http://www.webhelpdesk.com] consectetuer adipiscing[/url] elit. *** sociis natoque [i]penatibus et magnis[/i] dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Below is a list using BBCode.
[list]
[*]Fusce tellus. Proin in tellus sit amet nibh dignissim sagittis.
[*]Sed convallis magna eu sem. Maecenas sollicitudin.
[/list]
359 [list=A]
[*][color=blue]FAQ link:[/color] [faq id=1]
[*][u]FAQ link:[/u]
[/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: 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:
n Applying basic formatting n Creating your own tags n Adding clickable links Apply basic formatting
Basic markup follows a simple structure:
n Simple tags: [tag]something[/tag]
n Simple parameterized tags: [tag=value]something[/tag]
n Complex parameterized tags: [tag value1="xxx" value2="yyy"]something[/tag]
The following table lists the tags supported by Web Help Desk:
360 TAG DESCRIPTION
[code]your code here[/code] Embeds your code.
[quote]Text[/quote] Adds a quote to your text.
[quote=Author]Text[/quote] Adds a quote from a specific author.
[b]bold[/b] Formats the text in bold.
[i]italics[/i] Formats the text in italics.
[u]underscored[/u] Underlines the text. [list][*]First item [*]Second item[/list] Creates a list using your defined symbols.
[img]URL[/img] Adds a hypertext link to an image.
[email]address[/email] Adds a link to an email address.
[email=address]Text[/email] Adds a predefined email address.
[color=name]Text[/color] Adds HTML color names. [size=number of pixels]Text [/size] Defines the text size by specific number of pixels.
[google]key words[/google] Adds Google keywords.
[google=key words]Text[/google] Adds predefined Google keywords.
[faq id=number] Provides a link to an existing FAQ.
You can also use the following HTML tags with BBCode tags:
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
You can implement BBCode in many areas, such as ticket subjects, request details, notes, and custom field descriptions.
361 Most ticket fields support BBCode, but some fields (such as secondary email fields in your account details) do not support these fields. Be sure to test the code prior to implementation.
Create your own tags
You can create your own tags in the bb_config.xml file. For example, to use strike-through text, add the following custom tag definition to bb_config.xml:
(?s)(?i)\[s\](.*?)\[/s\]
$1]] >
To apply the formatting, save your changes and restart Web Help Desk.
Add clickable links
BBCode can detect HTTP and FTP links, emails, 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 clickable links as well. 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:
When completed, save your changes and restart Web Help Desk to see the link instead of the video.
Below is an example of a clickable link using BBCode.
362 When you are working on an incident or writing an FAQ, you can refer to other tickets, referencing a specific ticket or terms like request, case, or problem. To transform these references into clickable links that open the referenced tickets, create a rule.
To create a rule linking to other tickets, add the following syntax to the bb_config.xml file:
(?s)(?i)((?:ticket|incident|case|problem|request) \s*)([0-9]+)
]]>
Be sure to replace the URL with the link to your system.
Entering case 22 automatically creates a link to case 22, as shown below.
363 364 Customize your server settings
The whd.conf server configuration file defines your server options, such as the http and https port, Java Virtual Machine memory, and server IP address. This file is located at:
webhelpdesk/conf/whd.conf
When you upgrade Web Help Desk, the upgrade procedure only replaces the whd.conf.orig file located in the same directory. Use this file as a reference for new options available in the upgraded version. You can copy options into the existing whd.conf file or replace the whd.conf file with the whd.conf.orig file and edit the file as needed.
If you update the file, restart Web Help Desk for changes to take effect. On Web Help Desk systems running Microsoft Windows Server, restart your system using the Start menu option. Restarting Windows Services will not apply your configuration changes.
The following sections explain how to customize and use the default settings in the whd.conf file.
n Help desk ports n Privileged networks n Keystore settings (for SSL connections) n Memory allocation n IP address n Database connections n Java command line options Help Desk ports
Web Help Desk provides communication ports for the following resources:
n Web Help Desk Interfaces n Databases n Emails n LDAP/AD n Asset Discovery
Web Help Desk interfaces
The following table lists the Web Help Desk ports for secure and non-secure interface traffic.
PORT TYPE DESCRIPTION
80 TCP Non-secure traffic from the Web Help Desk Console (VA)
443 TCP Secure traffic from the Web Help Desk Console
365 PORT TYPE DESCRIPTION
5480 TCP Virtual Appliance Management Infrastructure (VAMI) interface for VA
8081 TCP Non-secure traffic from the Web Help Desk Console (Windows, Linux, OSX)
61616 TCP Web Help Desk Discovery engine (JMS queue port)
Databases
The following table lists the Web Help Desk ports for external and embedded database communications.
PORT TYPE DESCRIPTION
Microsoft SQL external database
Lansweeper
Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) / System Center Configuration 1433 TCP Manager (SCCM), Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Network Performance Monitor (NCM)
Server and Application Monitor (SAM)
3306 TCP External MySQL database
5432 TCP External PostgreSQL database
20293 TCP Embedded PostgreSQL database
Emails
The following table lists the Web Help Desk ports for email traffic.
PORT TYPE DESCRIPTION
Traffic from the Web Help Desk appliance to your email server for automated 25 TCP email notifications
80 TCP Non-secure connection to EWS
110 TCP Non-secure POP3
143 TCP Non-secure IMAP
443 TCP Secure connection to EWS
993 TCP Secure IMAP
995 TCP Secure POP3
366 LDAP/AD
The following table lists the Web Help Desk ports for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol / Active Directory (LDAP / AD).
PORT TYPE DESCRIPTION
Traffic from the Web Help Desk appliance to a designated server (usually a 389 TCP domain controller) for use with the Directory Service tool (LDAP, AD)
Secure traffic from the Web Help Desk appliance to designated server (usually a 636 TCP domain controller) for use with the Directory Service tool (LDAP, AD)
Asset Discovery
The following table lists the Web Help Desk ports for Asset Recovery.
PORT TYPE DESCRIPTION
Asset Discovery via WMI (WMI calls uses port 135 and then chooses a random 135 TCP port for further communication)
Microsoft SQL external database, Lansweeper, Microsoft SMS / SCCM, 1433 TCP SolarWinds NCM / NPM / SAM
1521 TCP Oracle JDBC for Asset Discovery
3306 TCP MySQL external database, LANrev, Casper 8 and lower
4445 TCP Remote log server reader
5433 TCP Asset Discovery for Apple Remote 3.2
7100 TCP Asset Discovery for Sybase
Configure firewalls for data traffic
Firewalls between any two points of communication must have the requisite ports open to inbound or outbound traffic according to the relative direction of the communication traffic.
For additional port information, see:
n Unsecured and secured ports for login n No redirect to HTTPS n URL ports (optional) n Tomcat server port n Mail notification port n Java home location n IP address
367 Unsecured and secured ports for login
Web Help Desk uses the following unsecured and secure ports for login: DEFAULT_PORT=8081HTTPS_PORT=443
The Apache Tomcat application server that hosts Web Help Desk is configured to use non-secure http on port 8081 by default. To run on a different http port, change the DEFAULT_PORT value. Be sure that the newly-selected port is available, or Web Help Desk will not be able to start.
To run the application over https, uncomment the HTTPS_PORT option. To use the standard https port (443), the port must be available or Web Help Desk will be unable to start. When the application successfully starts up on the configured https port, it automatically generates a self-signed certificate at: webhelpdesk/conf/keystore.jks
See Adding third-party SSL certificates for additional information about importing an SSL certificate into the keystore.jks file.
Add Third-party SSL certificates
To add a third-party certificate to the appliance:
1. Copy the certificate to the appliance /tmp directory, using a protocol such as SFTP or SCP. The certificate in this example procedure is: whd.crt 2. Change your directory to the Web Help Desk root directory. Execute: [root@localhost ~]# cd /usr/local/webhelpdesk[root@localhost webhelpdesk]#
3. Stop the WebHelpDesk service. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# /etc/init.d/webhelpdesk stop
The following message appears on your screen: Web Help Desk12.X.X Copyright (c) SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC Using XX:MaxPermSize=256Stopping the Web Help Desk...Stopping postgresql- 9.2 service: [ OK ] [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# 4. Obtain the keystore password. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# KEYSTORE_PASS=$(grep KEYSTORE_PASS conf/whd.conf| cut -d= -f2)
368 5. List the current keys in the keystore, entering your keystore password when prompted. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# bin/jre/bin/keytool -list -keystore conf/keystore.jks
The following message appears on your screen Enter keystore password: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# bin/jre/bin/keytool -list -keystore conf/keystore.jks -storepass $KEYSTORE_PASS Keystore type: JKSKeystore provider: SUN Your keystore contains 1 entry tomcat, May 17, 2016, PrivateKeyEntry,Certificate fingerprint (MD5): 21:DB:B3:84:26:DF:C8:94:46:5D:52:14:48:8B:D8:F0 6. Delete the existing key with the tomcat alias. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# bin/jre/bin/keytool -delete -alias tomcat_old -keystore conf/keystore.jks 7. Import the Chain Certificate into the keystore. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# bin/jre/bin/keytool -importcert -alias root -keystore conf/keystore.jks -storepass $KEYSTORE_PASS - trustcacerts -file
/cacert.pem The following message appears on your screen: Certificate was added to keystore
369 8. Import and alias the new certificate as tomcat. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# bin/jre/bin/keytool -importcert -alias tomcat -file
/whd.crt -storepass $KEYSTORE_PASS - keystore conf/keystore.jks The following message appears on your screen. When prompted, click Yes to trust the certificate. Owner: CN=whd.solarwinds.com, OU=R&D, O="SolarWinds, Inc.", L=Post Falls, ST=ID, C=US Issuer: CN=whd.solarwinds.com, OU=R&D, O="SolarWinds, Inc.", L=Post Falls, ST=ID, C=US Serial number: d06f2873e1ca8f60 Valid from: Wed Jun 26 01:09:35 UTC 2015 until: Sun Jun 25 01:09:35 UTC 2019 Certificate fingerprints: MD5:EF:FD:2A:5A:8B:45:0C:32:88:5B:33:B0:B7:67:EB:FE SHA1: 85:2F:8E:F1:D0:51:18:C9:BA:FA:EA:9D:38:91:65:E8:38:94:BF:A3 Signature algorithm name: SHA1withRSA Version: 3 Extensions: #1: ObjectId: 2.5.29.14 Criticality=falseSubjectKeyIdentifier [KeyIdentifier [0000: 12 4E F7 45 EC EE 6C A7 58 26 44 1A 5B 66 B7 AC .N.E..l.X&D.[f..0010: 2E 37 A2 E5 .7..]] #2: ObjectId: 2.5.29.19 Criticality=falseBasicConstraints:[ CA:true PathLen:2147483647] #3: ObjectId: 2.5.29.35 Criticality=falseAuthorityKeyIdentifier [KeyIdentifier [0000: 12 4E F7 45 EC EE 6C A7 58 26 44 1A 5B 66 B7 AC .N.E..l.X&D.[f..0010: 2E 37 A2 E5.7..] Trust this certificate? [no]: yes Certificate was added to keystore 9. Re-list the keystore keys. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# bin/jre/bin/keytool -list -keystore conf/keystore.jks -storepass $KEYSTORE_PASS
The following message appears on your screen: Keystore type: JKSKeystore provider: SUN Your keystore contains 1 entry root, Jun 26, 2016, trustedCertEntry,Certificate fingerprint (MD5): F9:1F:FE:E6:A3:6B:99:88:41:D4:67:DD:E5:F8:97:7A tomcat, Jun 26, 2016, trustedCertEntry,Certificate fingerprint (MD5): EF:FD:2A:5A:8B:45:0C:32:88:5B:33:B0:B7:67:EB:FE
370 10. Restart the WebHelpDesk service. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# /etc/init.d/webhelpdesk restart The following message appears on your screen: Web Help Desk 12.X.X Copyright (c) SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC Using XX:MaxPermSize=256 Restarting the Web Help Desk...
Web Help Desk 12.X.X Copyright (c) SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC Using XX:MaxPermSize=256
Using additional JVM options: -Djava.awt.headless=true -Xms128m -Xmx512m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -Dwhd.stdDeploy=true -DWHDFingerPort=-1 -DWHDPrivilegedNetworks="*" -DWHDconnections="10" -Dlogback.configurationFile="/usr/local/webhelpdesk/conf/logback- config.xml"Starting postgresql-9.2 service: [ OK ] Starting the Web Help Desk on port 80... Starting an SSL connection to the Web Help Deskon port 443...(See README.txt for information regarding SSL connections). Using CATALINA_BASE: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat Using CATALINA_HOME: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat/temp Using JRE_HOME: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/jre Using CLASSPATH: /usr/local/webhelpdeskdesk/bin/tomcat/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/local/ webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat/bin/tomcat-juli.jar Using CATALINA_PID: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/log/.whd.pid
371 11. If the HTTPS service does not appear, stop and then restart whd debug. When completed, look for error messages. Execute: [root@localhost webhelpdesk]# ./whd debug
The following message appears: Web Help Desk 12.X.X Copyright (c) SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC Using XX:MaxPermSize=256DEBUG MODE: Debug messages will be written to standard out.Press Ctrl-C to stop. Starting postgresql-9.2 service: [ OK ] Starting the Web Help Deskon port 80... Starting an SSL connection to the Web Help Desk on port 443...(See README.txt for information regarding SSL connections.) Using CATALINA_BASE: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat Using CATALINA_HOME: /usr/local/webhelpdesk/bin/tomcat 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.pidJun 26, 2015 7:38:01 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init If you have errors, they will appear here.
For additional information about installing certificates see Installing a Certificate from a Certificate Authority on the Apache Tomcat website.
No redirect to HTTPS
NO_REDIRECT=true
When both the DEFAULT_PORT and HTTPS_PORT are enabled, the default behavior is to automatically redirect all http requests to https. If this is not the desired behavior, uncomment the NO_REDIRECT=true option.
URL ports (optional)
URL_DEFAULT_PORT=8081 URL_HTTPS_PORT=443
372 In some deployments, Web Help Desk needs to use a port other than the Tomcat port in URLs it generates for external links.
For example, a Tomcat web server can be configured to route requests for the default port (80) to go to the default Web Help Desk port (8081) using a proxy pass. In this case, Web Help Desk should generate URLs with port 80, rather than port 8081. Port 8081 could be configured behind a firewall and be unreachable from other systems.
Tomcat server port
TOMCAT_SERVER_PORT=23010
The port that Tomcat monitors for start/stop commands. If you are running multiple Tomcat instances, each instance on the same machine must use a different port.
Mail notification port
#MAIL_NOTIFICATION_PORT=79
Using the command finger nm_notifyuser to send the text finger nm_notifyuser to the MAIL_ NOTIFICATION_PORT triggers the email daemon to check for new mail. Deploying this command also stops automatic email account polling.
The default notification port is 79. To disable the mail notification listener, comment out this setting or set it to -1.
For more information on this port setting, see Request for Comments (RFC) 4146 on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) website at www.ietf.org.
Java home location
JAVA_HOME=
All Web Help Desk installers include a Java JVM as part of the installation package, so a separate Java install is not required. While not recommended, it is still possible to use a different JVM by providing the path to the JRE in this setting. On Windows, the path would be: JAVA_HOME=C:\Progra~1\Java\jre8
IP address
IP_ADDRESS=
By default, Tomcat listens on the configured DEFAULT_PORT and HTTPS_PORT for all IP addresses assigned to the machine. To limit Tomcat to a specific port, use this setting.
Privileged networks
Privileged networks are networks that allow database updates.
373 In the whd.conf server configuration file, the PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS= setting identifies networks that allow database updates. If the database requires an update, browser connections from hosts not belonging to these privileged networks receive a message indicating an update is in progress.
Use the PRIVILEGED_NETWORKS=setting when installing headless servers.
You can customize the browser message by editing login.msg.applicationUpdateInProgress in the custom labels file.
To remove the info popup icon on this page, use an empty entry for: login.msg.applicationUpdateInProgressHelp
The localhost (127.0.0.1) is always permitted to update. However, a Windows server with multiple IP addresses may not respond to the localhost address. In this example, the IP_ADDRESS option must be set to one of the server IPs, and the PRIVILEGED_NETWORK should also use that same IP.
Keystore settings (for SSL connections)
The keystore settings contain the password Web Help Desk should use to access the Java keystore. The Java keystore comprises the certificate used for SSL connections. Both the Java keystore and the certificate inside it (aliased by the name tomcat) must use this password.
The following table lists the keystore settings.
SETTING DESCRIPTION
If you are using SSL, ensure that the password matches the KEYSTORE_PASSWORD=changeit password set when you created the new tomcat keypair.
See Importing an SSL Certificate for more information.
The default keystore file is: KEYSTORE_FILE= webhelpdesk/conf/keystore.jks
KEYSTORE_TYPE=JKS The keystore type can be JKS (default) or PKCS12.
Memory allocation
Most Web Help Desk 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. SolarWinds recommends adding 1 GB of memory to the Web Help Desk server for every 10 additional techs.
If you plan to integrate Web Help Desk with SolarWinds Orion, ensure your Orion server is SolarWinds Orion Core 2012.2 or higher. Web Help Desk requires this version of Orion Core so it can automatically integrate SolarWinds alerts. For SolarWinds NPM upgrade and licensing instructions, see Installing SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor, in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
374 Database connections DATABASE_CONNECTIONS=10
The maximum number of connections made between the Web Help Desk application and the configured database. Larger installations may want to increase this value. One connection for every five simultaneous users is a conservative ratio.
Java command line options JAVA_OPTS=""
Use this property to override the default options for several Web Help Desk settings. Place the entire set of arguments between the pair of quotes, and follow the format: JAVA_OPTS="-Darg1=true -Darg2=true
This property is only effective on Mac OS X and Linux servers. For Windows servers, additional JVM arguments must be specified in the Java Additional Parameters section of the wrapper_template.conf file located at
\bin\wrapper\conf\wrapper_template.conf. The following table provides a list of the available command-line options.
OPTION DESCRIPTION
Sets the number of seconds between each -DWHDEmailCheckInterval=60 email check.
Sets the number of hours LDAP passwords are -DWHDLdapPasswordCacheHours=168 cached in the Web Help Desk database. Enter 0 to disable caching.
Enables the Tickets Dashboard option in the user interface. -DWHDDashboardEnabled=true Set to false to remove the Tickets > Dashboard tab for all users.
Enables SQL debug logging to the helpdesk.log file. -DWHDsql=false Set to true to enable SQL debug logging to helpdesk.log
Describes how the targeted daemon will run in this instance. -DWHDDaemonMode=background Set to background to run a daemon as a background process.
375 JVM arguments
JVM arguments are flags that are passed to the Java Virtual Machine at the time the application is launched. On Linux or Mac machines, they can be provided through the JAVA_OPTS setting in the whd.conf file. Configure Windows machines located at: whd_home>/bin/wrapper/conf/wrapper_template.conf
For example, on a Linux or Mac installation, you could disable concurrent request handling and set the Casper requestor thread count to 6 by setting JAVA_OPTS in the whd.conf file as follows: JAVA_OPTS=“-DWHDconcurrentRequests=false -DCasper9RequestorThreadCount=6"
The syntax for Windows machines (in wrapper_template.con) is slightly different: wrapper.java.additional.12=-DWHDconcurrentRequests=false wrapper.java.additional.13=-DCasper9RequestorThreadCount=6
The number to use for each line depends on your particular configuration. Additionally, if you are adding arguments, you must use -D
. ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Defines port used by ActiveMQ. Needs to be unique activemq.broker.port
61616 per instance if you plan to run multiple Web Help Desk instances on a single machine. Provides number of threads sending REST requests to Casper9RequestorThreadCount integer 4 the JSS server during asset synchronization using Casper 9 plug-in.
If true, defines Web Help Desk does not use the true | WHDlog4jConfigOverride false database settings configured at Setup > General > false Logs to override the standard configuration of log4j.
how many clients hosted customers could create. Defines the default SMTP server host to use when whd.smtp.host
running in hosted mode. Defines the default SMTP server port to use when whd.smtp.port
running in hosted mode. 376 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Indicates that Web Help Desk is running in a standard deployment. Standard deployment is the default configuration the Web Help Desk installer provides, true | with an embedded Tomcat deployment at
/bin/tomcat/, the Web Help Desk application at /bin/webapps/, and the configuration files at /conf/. The Web Help Desk start script automatically supplies this parameter. Is an essential argument for the Spring servlet. It allows special characters from whduser_helpdesk cookie to be parsed. The argument is set to true for all org.apache.tomcat.util. true | standard deployments where the parameter is http.ServerCookie.ALLOW_ false false provided automatically by the Web Help Desk start HTTP_SEPARATORS_IN_V0 script or wrapper_template.conf. The same argument should also be applied also for non-standard deployments.
Provides the number of allowed simultaneous
can be twice this value, and even a few more when certain background processes are running. Indicates whether Web Help Desk should process requests sequentially or simultaneously (in separate threads). There is a known risk of deadlock when concurrent requests are enabled and multiple browser true | WHDconcurrentRequests true windows are open for a given session. However, false disabling concurrent requests can result in degraded performance when a request is slow to respond – such as a request to generate a computation-intensive report.
(Hosted) Determines whether Web Help Desk should run in hosted mode. When running in hosted mode, the Web Help Desk hosted password must also be provided. Hosted mode requires an account ID to be true | included in the login URL, and disables certain features WHDhosted false false (e.g., database and log settings).
Only customers who are authorized hosting providers have access to Web Help Desk hosted features.
377 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
(Hosted) Determines whether Web Help Desk should run in hosted standalone mode. When running in hosted standalone mode, certain features are disabled true | (e.g., database and log settings). Unlike regular hosted WHDhostedStandalone false false mode, only one account is serviced, and the login URL does not need to include an account ID. Web Help Desk uses this mode is used when the installation with its own database is hosted.
(Hosted) Optional URL to an RSS feed used to generate WHDhostedAlertsFeed
Messages in hosted accounts. (Hosted) Provides range of subscriber accounts to be serviced by this hosted instance. If y is omitted, it x..y | defaults to 1000000. Used only when running in WHDhostedSubscriberRange x.. hosted mode as a daemon, to enable distribution of the hosted daemon load across multiple daemon instances.
webhelpdesk.co (Hosted) Identifies host to use in URLs back to Web WHDhostName
m Help Desk. secure.webhelp (Hosted) Identifies host to use in HTTPS URLs back to WHDsecureHostName
desk.com Web Help Desk. Determines whether Web Help Desk should run in demo mode. Running in demo mode, disables certain features such as database and log settings and the true | WHDdemo false ability to save Setup menu changes. Also replaces false occurrences of DemoSandbox.woa in URLs with the name of the application as defined in WebObjects Monitor (plus .woa).
Determines whether Web Help Desk should run in live true | demo mode. Allows some functionality that regular WHDliveDemo false false demo mode does not, such as changing the look and feel.
Defines whether Web Help Desk should run as the Web Help Desk support application. When running as the Web Help Desk support application, clients must true | WHDsupport false provide a license key with an unexpired support license false in order to submit a ticket, and the parameters of their support license are displayed in the Tech view of their tickets.
378 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Determines whether Web Help Desk should run in TEST mode. Test mode enables certain features that are helpful during development, e.g., the ability to run individual daemons manually, by clicking links at the true | footer of each web page; the ability to preview e-mails TEST false false in the browser when editing a ticket; and the ability to edit help popups by clicking on labels. Test mode also provides some protections like disabling e-mail from being sent to clients that are created when bulk- synchronizing with an LDAP connection.
true | WHDsql false Enables logging of each SQL statement. false
Designates whether LDAP and asset discovery true | connections timeout when an error occurs while WHDtimeouts false false attempting to establish a connection. Timeout duration is six daemon intervals.
Prescribes the port on which Web Help Desk listens for | - WHDFingerPort 79 finger protocol requests, which indicate that it should 1=disa begin an EmailDaemon cycle to get new e-mail. bled Allows users to log in without providing a valid true | WHDIgnoreClientPassword false password. We probably don't want to document this false feature for public consumption.
(Hosted) Number of seconds of detected daemon 5 * inactivity before daemon processes are automatically WHDActivityMonitorMaxInactivi
terval currently supported, due to changes in daemon threading model. Provides Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)- formatted, comma-separated list of addresses or networks that determines which browsers have permission to do one of the following: WHDPrivilegedNetworks
localhost n Configure the database connection settings.
n Begin the database schema update process.
n Replace an invalid license key after a version update.
379 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Prescribes the port to use in URLs that refer back to Web Help Desk. If -1 is given, the port is taken from WHDPort
80 if hosted PREFERENCE.HOST_PORT. If hosted, 80 is used regardless of this setting. Defines the port to use for HTTPS URLs that refer back to Web Help Desk. If a standard Tomcat deployment (see whd.stdDeploy), -1 will be read as 443. If not a WHDSecurePort
443 standard Tomcat deployment, the port is taken from PREFERENCE.HOST_PORT_SSL. If hosted, 443 is used regardless of this setting. (Hosted/Dev) Path to labels folder. Regardless of this setting, if a standard Tomcat deployment (see
whd.stdDeploy), /conf/labels will be /conf/labels WHDLabelsFolder searched first, and then /Helpdesk.wo Helpdesk.woa/Contents/Resources/labels. Otherwise, a/.. the default path will be the folder above Helpdesk.woa. Determines path to the report plugins directory or directories. The default path is in the ReportPlugIns directory above Helpdesk.woa. Multiple directories may be specified by separating them with the path separator character (':'). If the path string begins with a plus sign ('+'), the provided paths will be included in addition to the default path. /Helpdesk.wo WHDReportPlugInDir
a/.. During development, the path may point to a classes /ReportPlugIns folder containing the unarchived contents of a plugin. Also during development, changes to plugins are automatically reloaded. (If development mode isn't detected automatically, it can be forced with the JVM argument er.extensions.ERXApplication.developmentMode=tru e.) /Helpdesk.wo Defines path to the discovery plugins directory. The a/.. default path is the DiscoveryPlugIns directory above WHDDiscoveryPlugInDir
/DiscoveryPlugI Helpdesk.woa. (See additional notes for ns WHDReportPlugInDir.) /Helpdesk.wo Provides path to the dashboard widget plugins a/.. directory. The default path is the DashboardPlugIns WHDDashboardPlugInDir
/DashboardPlu directory above Helpdesk.woa. (See additional notes gIns for WHDReportPlugInDir.) 380 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Identifies whether the development-mode Apple Push Notifications certificate should be used. When WHD true | Mobile is in development, the dev-mode certificate WHDApnDevMode false false must be used. When it is downloaded from the App Store, the production certificate must be used (default).
Prescribes whether the endpoint for querying the database is active. If true, an SQL query tool can be true | WHDEnableSQLTool false accessed at false http://localhost:8081/helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk .woa/wa/DBActions/sqlTool
If true, then when initializing the database, the application stops after creating the schema, before true | populating the database. This makes it possible to WHDInitSchemaOnly false false create the empty database schema, which can be possible when migrating data from another database type.
Sets the mail.imap.partialfetch property for IMAP true | connections to false, which can be necessary for some WHDDisableImapPartialFetch false false mail servers that fail to return attachment data properly.
Provides default number of hours for LDAP
the settings for individual LDAP Connections. true | Defines whether the schema update process should WHDSkipForeignKeyCheck false false check and repair foreign-key constraints.
true | Prescribes whether the schema update process should WHDSkipPrimaryKeyCheck false false check and repair primary-key constraints.
381 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Determines whether the application should attempt to detect whether a ticket edit session has been abandoned by leaving the page. When enabled, the ticket editor sends "pulse" requests to Helpdesk.woa/wa/processHeartbeat according to the interval specified by WHDSecondsBetweenHeartbeat. Each heartbeat request includes the ticket ID, the ticket editing session ID (a PK into the ACTIVE_SESSION table, not to be confused with the application session ID itself), and a count that is incremented for each heartbeat, starting over at 0 whenever the editing page is refreshed. When the heartbeat request is processed, an ACTIVE_SESSION record indexed by the ticket ID true | and the editing session ID is updated with the current WHDDisableSessionHeartbeat false false time.
When the amount of time specified by WHDHeartbeatTimeoutSeconds has passed without receiving a heartbeat, the ticket editing session is considered to have been abandoned, and editing locks for the ticket are cleared.
When the heartbeat count reaches WHDHeartbeatWarningCount, a warning message is logged. If the heartbeat count reaches WHDMaxHeartbeatCount, the ticket editor stops sending heartbeats, and the application stops updating the ACTIVE_SESSION table when the tickets are processed.
Defines the interval at which the ticket editor sends
Helpdesk.woa/wa/processHeartbeat. (See WHDDisableSessionHeartbeat.) Identifies the amount of time without receiving a
have been abandoned. Prescribes the number of ticket editor heartbeats until
troubleshooting.)
should be sent from a given ticket editing session. 382 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Deprecated. Whether the session ID should be stored true | as a cookie (true) or as a string in application URLs. WHDSessionCookies true false Using URL session IDs is no longer supported and behavior if this option is disabled is uncertain.
If a password is provided, the database update process may be initiated by sending a GET request to
ord> e?password= . When a database update has been initiated through this method, subsequent requests to this URL return progress statistics. Deprecated. Path to the keystore to be used for the EWSJ library for Exchange connections. This is no WHDExchangeKeystorePath
longer necessary because EwsSessionProxy.java has been modified to trust all Exchange connections without requiring them to be stored in this keystore. Deprecated. Whether or not the Dashboard page true | WHDDashboardEnabled true should be enabled. Use WHDMaxDashboardWidgets false instead.
Maximum number of widgets that a given tech may
disabled. (Hosted) If provided, the given application name is used instead of the current application name when generating bookmark-able links to specific reports.
have an instance with a large amount of memory dedicated for running reports, and have the bookmark-able URLs from the non-reporting instances point to the reporting instance. Provides how many rounds of encryption to use when creating Bcrypt digests. (Eventually, password digests may be generated using the more secure Bcrypt algorithm instead of MD5, but for now, Bcrypt is used only to generate the version number hash in
Bcrypt for passwords as soon as we upgrade the Mobile app to no longer send passwords as MD5 digests. All that is required to make the switch in the application is to change the order in which digest providers are configured in MDSDigestString.java.) 383 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Identifies estimated number of custom fields of any entity type that are likely to be active. ("Active" custom fields are those that are not empty are not marked as WHDEstimatedActiveCustomFiel
removal of inactive custom fields from the database, which is performed each time the application starts up in order to optimize the performance of custom field handling. If provided, SQL generated for updating the database schema is written to the specified file instead of being WHDUpdateSqlLog
committed to the database. Useful for generating an update script that can be applied to the database manually. If true, the Discovery Connection panel for Absolute Manage allows the user to select the Absolute Manage WHDAllowAbsoluteManageSQLi true | SQLite database instead of the MySQL database. false teDatabase false Disabled by default because Absolute Manage says the SQLite database is subject to change and isn't a supported means of accessing discovered data.
If true, the application acts as if deployed from WebObjects Monitor regardless of whether this is the detected deployment environment. (When running in WHDWebObjectsMonitorDeplo true | false WebObjects Monitor, the application does not redirect yment false to the whd-web application, which runs only as a servlet, and therefore certain functionality, such as Orion Integration, is disabled.)
Deprecated. FrontBase is no longer supported. WHDFrontbaseOptimisticLockin true | false Indicates whether FrontBase optimistic locking should g false be specified in the JDBC connection URL.
If true, EOF snapshot-reference counting is disabled. This can prevent errors about EOF snapshots, but it means that all records fetched from the database are WHDDisableSnapshotRefCounti true | false retained in memory. This is provided for ng false troubleshooting. It is unlikely to be a viable option for production deployments because it is likely to require too much memory.
384 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Determines whether history should be maintained for email that is sent. Outgoing e-mail history can be viewed at Setup > E-Mail > Outgoing Mail Accounts > E- WHDEnableOutgoingMailHistor true | true Mail History. History entries include binary copies of y false the actual e-mail message, which can result in large amounts of database usage over time. The E-Mail History tab provides an option to clear the history.
If true, "AppleConnect" is provided as an additional SSO authentication mechanism at Setup > General > true | WHDEnableAppleConnect false Authentication. This option is intentionally false undocumented and is intended only for internal deployments at Apple.
If true, the application looks in the scripts folder for the existence of JavaScript files with predefined names that corresponding to certain callback actions. true | WHDEnableScripts false Currently, only LoginCallback.js, false NewTicketUrlCallback.js, and AppleConnectAuthCallback.js (if AppleConnect is enabled) are supported.
Whether scripts should be cached or reloaded true | WHDDisableScriptCache false whenever referenced. Should be true only when false testing/troubleshooting.
"TRAC E" | "DEBU G" | "INFO" Defines the level of detail at which script execution WHDScriptLogLevel | "ERROR" should be logged.
"WAR N" | "ERRO R"
WHDScriptFolder Folder in which to look for scripts. /conf/scripts
/log WHDScriptLogFolder named "scripts.log," rolled over up to 5 times in 15MB / files. Helpdesk.woa/.. 385 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
true | If true, SSO is disabled regardless of selection at Setup WHDDisableExternalAuth false false > General > Authentication > Authentication Method.
(Hosted) If true, the URL used when generating URLs that refer back to WHD will use the application name (e.g., "HostedHelpdesk") rather than simply using the value stored in PREFERENCE.SAVED_LOGIN_URL. true | WHDUseAppNameForLoginUrl true Setting this to false allows instances that are specially false configured for things like reporting (e.g., "OneHelpReporting") to use the application name specified for general instances (e.g., "OneHelp") when constructing links back to WHD in reports, etc.
Base URL to the whd-web application. Specifying a full URL could be useful during development in order to WHDWebUrl
/whd-web redirect to a different port than the one on which the WebObjects application is being served while debugging. Provides the URL to use for backend communication between helpdesk and whd-web applications. This is constructed automatically by the WHD start scripts. WHDPrivateBaseUrl
Typically configured as "http://localhost: " or "https://localhost: ," where and are the WHD HTTP ports configured in whd.conf. If true, then when database connection issues are detected, the old database connection configuration true | WHDDisableGSW false panel will be presented instead of redirecting to the false new Getting Started Wizard. (Can be useful during development.)
Deprecated. No longer used. Use whd.db.host WHDhostedDbHost instead.
Deprecated. No longer used. Use whd.db.name WHDhostedDbName instead.
Deprecated. No longer used. Use whd.db.username WHDhostedDbUserName instead.
Deprecated. No longer used. Use whd.db.password WHDhostedDbPassword instead.
386 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Any of the database-connection properties recorded in
/conf/.whd.properties can be specified (All properties in / as JVM arguments. This can be useful to ensure that conf /.whd.properties>) the application uses the correct parameters in the event that there is a failure reading the .whd.properties file. If enabled, MDSGenericRecord records stack traces of where objects are created, which can be used when an WHDEnterpriseObjectCreationTr true | IllegalStateException occurs in false acing false MDSGenericRecord.willRead() -- which happens when an attempt is made to access an EO after its editing context has been disposed.
If enabled, MDSEditingContext.newEditingContext() returns instances of MDSEditingContext instead of ERXEC, which record the name of the editing context as well as the editing context itself, so that the object's true | EC can be more easily identified in logging output. WHDEditingContextDebugging false false MDSEditingContext also records a stack trace when the editing context is disposed so that it can be logged in MDSGenericRecord.willRead() when an attempt is made to read properties of an object belonging to an editing context that has been disposed.
If true, the Tickets menu option is hidden from client true | WHDHideTickets false and tech views. (For customers who want to use the false application for Assets and FAQs only.)
true | If true, the Helpdesk.woa/wa/createTicket direct action WHDRequireHttpApiKey false false requires an apiKey to be provided in the request.
If true, the Setup menu displays label keys instead of true | WHDShowLinkLabels false labels, to aid in determining labels to use for false generating deep links to specific setup menu options.
If true, then the original WebObjects class for parsing cookies will be used instead of the custom class true | WHDUseOriginalCookieParser false provided by WHD that corrects for cookies that fail to false follow the standard cookie syntax by including unencoded commas.
(min 15) "WHDDaemonInterval.EmailDaemon" instead.
(min 3600) "WHDDaemonInterval.CleanupDaemon" instead. 387 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Deprecated. Use
(min 300) instead. Specifies the way in which daemon processes will be run in this instance. A given daemon should never be started in more than one instance. See WHDDaemons backgr for running only certain daemon processes on a given ound | instance. WHDDaemonMode dedicat none background: Daemons will run as background ed | processes. none dedicated: Application will ONLY run background processes; users will not be able to log in to this instance. none: Daemons will not be run in this instance.
Provides comma-separated list of daemons to start, if All daemons WHDDaemonMode is background or dedicated. If list WHDDaemons [-]
enabled is preceded by a minus sign, all daemons EXCEPT those in the list will be started.
Defines the default daemon interval in seconds. Default is 300 seconds (5 mins) for standard deployments, 600 seconds (10 mins) for hosted deployments. Most daemons have a minimum interval
(min 60) default and 15s minimum; MessageCloserDaemon has a default and minimum interval of 5 mins; CleanupDaemon has a default and minimum interval of 1 hr; and EmailDaemon has a default interval of 60s and a minimum of 15s.) Designates the interval (in seconds) between checks WHDDaemonInterval.EmailDae
(min 15) Minimum is 15 seconds. Defines the interval (in seconds) between checks for whether an LDAP sync is needed. Default is 300 WHDDaemonInterval.LdapSync
(min 60) seconds (10 mins) for hosted deployments. Minimum is 60 seconds. Prescribes the interval (in seconds) between checks for WHDDaemonInterval.AlertDae
(min 60) configured in Setup > Tickets > Priority Types.) 388 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Identifies the interval (in seconds) between checks for WHDDaemonInterval.TicketClos
(min 60) configured for status types in Setup > Tickets > Status Daemon Types.) Designates the interval (in seconds) between checks WHDDaemonInterval.ClientRem for tickets that are due for a reminder to be e-mailed
(min 60) Daemon Reminders are configured in Setup > Tickets > Priority Types. WHDDaemonInterval.ServiceEx Defines the interval (in seconds) between checks for
(min 60) Daemon are configured in Setup > Parts & Billing. WHDDaemonInterval.ReportSc Identifies the interval (in seconds) between checks for
(min 60) Daemon are configured at Reports > Report Schedules. Prescribes the interval (in seconds) between checks for WHDDaemonInterval.AssetRese asset reservations that should be checked out
(min 60) Daemon overdue. Reservations are configured at Assets > Reservations. WHDDaemonInterval.DelayedA Designates the interval (in seconds) between checks
(min 15) Daemon background. Determines the interval (in seconds) between triggering of new dummy session. Used only in Tomcat WHDDaemonInterval.ServletPul
(min 60) hangups that appear to happen only when running Daemon under Tomcat, and seem to be prevented by invoking a request that generates a new session.) WHDDaemonInterval.ApplePus Provides the interval (in seconds) between checks for
(min 60) Daemon notifications. WHDDaemonInterval.AssetDisc Identifies the interval (in seconds) between checks for
(min 60) Daemon run. WHDDaemonInterval.BackupD
(min 60) for whether a database backup is due. 389 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
WHDDaemonInterval.GarbageC
(min 60) garbage collection triggers. Daemon Designates the interval (in seconds) between runs of the cleanup daemon. The cleanup daemon performs various cleanup tasks such as deleting tickets with no WHDDaemonInterval.CleanupD
(min 3600) tickets for which the value is null; deleting single-use bulk actions that have completed; adding 2000 years to any ticket open or close dates prior to the year 100; and removing expired e-mail history entries. Prescribes the interval (in seconds) between checks for whether it is time to check the RSS feed of notifications from SolarWinds. RSS feed for non-hosted applications WHDDaemonInterval.FeedDae
(min 60) http://webhelpdeskalerts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/ default. RSS feed for hosted instances is specified by WHDhostedAlertsFeed JVM flag. WHDDaemonInterval.MessageC
(min 300) Messages are due for closing. Defines the interval (in seconds) between checks for WHDDaemonInterval.AssetAlert
(min 60) warranty expiration, and lease expiration. WHDDaemonInterval.Approval
(min 60) approval requests that need reminder e-mails. WHDDaemonInterval.SurveyRe
unanswered surveys that need reminder e-mails. Designates the interval (in seconds) between checks WHDDaemonInterval.Inventory
(min 60) requiring alert e-mails. Specifies the interval (in seconds) between support WHDDaemonInterval.SupportE
(min 60) expiration warning emails. Sets the number of pages cached by the WO for <# backtracking, can be used for tweaking memory pages 10 consumption. WHDPageCacheSize cache (min 2) d> Use carefully; numbers 0 and 1 can cause issues.
390 ARGUMENT VALUE DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Size in WHDLogMaxSize 15 Presents size of helpdesk.*log files. MB
<# of Provides count of helpdesk.*log files generated by WHDLogFileCount 5 files> log4j.
391 Connect an iPhone to a standard or hosted installation
You can connect an Apple iPhone to a standard or hosted Web Help Desk installation.
Connect to a standard installation
1. Navigate to Settings > Server. 2. Make sure the Configuration option is set to Default. 3. Input the DNS name of the server on which Web Help Desk is installed. 4. Set the appropriate port. 8081 is the default port number, unless it has been changed in the whd.conf file. 5. 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.
Connect to a hosted installation
1. Navigate to Settings > Server. 2. Make sure the Configuration option is set to Hosted. 3. In the Account # field, specify your Subscriber ID number. 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. 4. Set the Host to: webhelpdesk.com 5. Set the SSL option to: On 6. Return to Settings and add the Tech Username and Password to connect with and set up Notifications. 7. Click Done to authenticate the iPhone configured in the Web Help Desk server.
392 Program the REST API
The Web Help Desk Application Programming Interface (API) supports the REST architecture for creating, reading, updating, and deleting data in Web Help Desk. This architecture uses a URL that uniquely identifies a Web Help Desk resource (such as a ticket or a ticket list) with an HTTP request method, identifying an action to be taken on the resource. The content of the HTTP request provides the data used to create and update the resource, which is typically in XML or JSON format.
For information about programming the REST API, see the Web Help Desk REST API Guide located on the SolarWinds Web Help Desk documentation website.
393