Installing 4.0
From Cerberus Helpdesk Wiki
Contents |
Introduction
Important Note
While an incredible amount of time has been spent making the concepts and interface of Cerberus Helpdesk 4.0 more approachable and intuitive, the server-side requirements have become more technical. It's not easy to provide a high-performance piece of software that's intuitive enough to be used like webmail, but scalable enough to process hundreds of thousands of corporate e-mail messages per day.
Lessons on productivity and scalability over the past 5 years have taught us that it's best to focus our developmental stewardship on the core of Cerberus Helpdesk -- efficiently managing e-mail responsibilities as a team. There are many other library projects in the open-source world which are as vigorous, passionate and quality-focused on their respective problems as we are on the core purpose of Cerberus Helpdesk. There is no sense in us duplicating these libraries' work and distracting ourselves from the "uniquely Cerberus" refinements which add real value to the project.
To benefit from this new "best-of-breed" mindset we really need to bring the project into the current moment of innovation. We can't continue to support server environments that haven't been updated in years. Aiming for every server configuration widens our reach but waters down our potency.
The compromise is simple. A "software-as-a-service" model is the ideal way for MOST companies to have a cutting-edge helpdesk without spending their valuable time buried in technical maintenance. A service model allows us to push the project toward its full potential without having to needlessly educate every new user to be a server administrator before they can use an innovative helpdesk.
If you happen to represent a technical company, don't panic! If you're up for the challenge of maintaining a server to current stable versions of our dependencies (PHP, extensions, etc.) then you are absolutely welcome to run Cerberus Helpdesk 4.0 on your own hardware.
However, if you don't have direct control over your server configuration then we STRONGLY urge you to consider "software-as-a-service". E-mail management is a major component for any online organization and it can be quite technical. While the service model is based on a monthly fee rather than a one-time licensing cost, you're not really paying for the same software over and over -- you are paying for a partner who will keep the technical obstacles and maintenance out of your way so you can focus on what you're best at.
The benefits of the hosted version can be found on the following page of our official site:
http://www.cerberusweb.com/purchase.php
If you decide to go the "software-as-a-service" route you don't need to continue any further in this Installation documentation and you can simply skip ahead to Getting Started when you receive your order confirmation. All the technical details will be handled for you.
Otherwise, if you're ready to jump through a couple technical hoops we'll do our best to get Cerberus Helpdesk 4.0 running in your environment. Let's begin!
PHP Environment
Cerberus Helpdesk 4.0 uses the Zend Framework, which requires your server to be running PHP 5.1.4 or later. It also requires several specialized PHP extensions to provide a better balance of speed, resource usage and power.
These new requirements have drastically improved the focus and performance of the project. However, if you don't have access to modify your current application hosting environment you will likely run into trouble or dead-ends.
- Download the Server Environment Checker and ensure your server meets the minimum requirements for Cerberus Helpdesk 4.0: http://www.cerberusweb.com/downloads/cerb4-servercheck.php.txt
- Rename the extension to .php and save the file in your web-path.
- Access the proper URL on your server to display the cerb4-servercheck.php page.
- Correct any errors then continue to the next step.
More info:
- Installing PHP Mailparse
- Note, if you cannot install the Mailparse extension, a member on the forums has written PHP emulation called "mailpars2em" which uses the freely available PEAR package "Mail/mimeDecode" instead of Mailparse. No compilation is required, but since it is not compiled C code, it runs more slowly than Mailparse. You can download mailpars2em, under an "experimental, use at your own risk" agreement. For more information, see this forum thread.
Acquiring the Files
Assuming the Server Checker tool above passed all tests, it's time to download the Cerberus Helpdesk files.
Using Subversion (recommended)
Subversion is the recommended method for obtaining the project files, since it allows for painless software updates and the preservation of any custom modifications you make. It is highly recommended that you do whatever you have to do to use this delivery method.
Subversion is usually available from the package manager for major Linux distributions. For Windows Servers the best option is TortoiseSVN.
SVN Details:
- URL: http://xev.webgroupmedia.com:2222/cerb4/
- Username: readonly
- Password: cerberus
Example usage:
svn --username readonly checkout "http://xev.webgroupmedia.com:2222/cerb4/cerb4/"
Be sure to checkout or copy the files into the appropriate web-path and domain name.
Downloading a ZIP File
A .zip file is provided for situations where Subversion access can't be made available. This method makes your future software updates a much bigger hassle than they otherwise would be with Subversion.
- Download the current release ZIP file here: http://www.cerberusweb.com/downloads/cerb4-build-latest.zip
- Extract the files into your web-path for the appropriate domain name.
Preparing the Files
Unix-based Servers
On Unix-based servers (e.g., Linux, BSD, MacOSX, Solaris) you'll need to set the proper ownership and permissions on the files.
From the command-line in the cerb4/ directory you downloaded above:
chown -R www-user:www-group * chmod -R 0774 libs/devblocks/tmp/ chmod 0774 storage/ chmod 0774 storage/attachments/ chmod 0774 storage/mail/ storage/mail/new/ storage/mail/fail/ chmod 0774 storage/indexes/
Windows-based Servers
- Depending on your server configuration you may need to change the owner of the cerb4/ directory (and contents) to your IIS user.
Creating a Database
You need to create a new database and login for your helpdesk data.
MySQL Console
mysql> CREATE DATABASE cerb4; mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cerb4.* TO user@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Use your own values for cerb4, user@localhost and password.
phpMyAdmin
(coming soon)
Running the Installer
At this point you should be able to run the Cerberus Helpdesk 4.0 Installer by opening your browser to http://your-website/cerb4/
The guided installer will walk you through the process of configuring your helpdesk for use.
Finishing Touches
Friendly URLS
If you're using Apache you can enable URL rewriting so the URLs created by Cerberus Helpdesk are much more user friendly.
Friendly URL: /display/FCX-12345-678
Unfriendly URL: /index.php?c=display&id=FCX-12345-678
This difference is entirely cosmetic.
From the cerb4/ directory:
- Copy the .htaccess-dist file to .htaccess
If you run into any trouble simply delete the copied .htaccess file.
Congratulations!
Welcome to the Cerberus Helpdesk community!
To get familiar with the new concepts in Version 4.0, visit New Changes.
To migrate your Cerberus Helpdesk 3.0 content to 4.0, visit Migrating from Cerberus Helpdesk 3.x to 4.0.
To walk-through a step-by-step example of use with explanations, visit Getting Started.
