Chat Installation Guide

Documentation

The chat application depends on the .Net Framework v4.5.1, this should be installed first.

ASP.Net must be enabled in the IIS configuration on the server. If you do not have this enabled then you will need to follow the steps below.

  • On the taskbar, click Server Manager.
  • In Server Manager, click the Manage menu, and then click Add Roles and Features.
  • In the Add Roles and Features wizard, click Next. Select the installation type and click Next. Select the destination server and click Next.
  • On the Server Roles page, expand Web Server (IIS), expand Web Server, and then expand Application Development.
  • Select the appropriate ASP.NET version, which in this case is 4.6 as seen below.
    asp.net version
  • Click Next.
  • On the Features page, click Next.
  • On the Confirmation page, click Install.
  • On the Results page, click Close.

The chat application files live in a sub-folder of the ‘suppdesk’ (SupportDesk installation) folder called chat. An IIS App Pool called ‘suppdeskchat’ should be set up:

.Net Framework Version v4.0
Enable 32-Bit Applications True
Managed Pipeline Mode Managed Pipeline Mode

iis app pool

An IIS application called ‘suppdeskchat’ should be created pointing to the ‘suppdeskchat’ folder using the ‘suppdeskchat’ App Pool. The application must be created at the root of the web site so that URLs ending /suppdeskchat resolve correctly.

suppdeskchat app

An ODBC DSN should be created for the chat pointing to the HotH database. The name of the DSN should be one of the following – suppdeskchatMsAccess, suppdeskchatMsSql, suppdeskchatMySql. The application uses the name of the DSN to determine which SQL dialect to use.

The DSN name, SQL login and password should be entered into the web.config file in the chat folder (the one that resides in the root folder).

odbc dsn config

Note: When upgrading HotH with a hotfix, you will need to extract the contents of ‘chat.zip’, which will be in the hotfix zip file.


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