Installation Requirements and Setup

Summary

Desktop Alert is a pure software solution with a non-intrusive installation process. Desktop Alert operates on existing protocols, networks, hardware and infrastructure. Desktop Alert is HTTP/S enabled and FIPS enabled. Desktop Alert is fully Active Directory enabled.

Components

DTA is a client/server application; as such, there are four separate components in DTA that must be installed in order to run the full DTA system.  Database – DTA can use MS SQL Server 2000, 2005, or MS SQL Server Express.  Website – DTA runs as an ASP.NET 1.1 application, and will run on any supporting platform such as MS Windows Server 2000 or MS Windows Server 2003 or greater.

Client Application

DTA requires install of client software to (DesktopAlert.exe) workstation computers. This includes processes run from the Website server that communicates with the clients. Client computers must be running Windows 2000 or greater, and have .NET 2.0 installed.

Active Directory – DTA requires the installation of a service application (DesktopAlert.Service.exe) on a server which has access to the Desktop Alert database and the domains Active Directory. The service application updates the database several times an hour 24x7 insuring up to date and accurate group and user information is accessible by the Desktop Alert administrators, moderators and end-users.

Downloads

The following links catalog the software you may need to download to satisfy the DTA installation requirements.

  1. Web Services Enhancements (WSE) 2.0 SP3 for Microsoft .NET - Download
  2. Microsoft SQL Server Express - Download

NOTE: If you choose to use MS SQL Server Express as the DTA database you will also need to install .NET Framework 2.0, available on the same page as the MS SQL Server Express link above.

Server Installation and Setup

The basic requirements for a server running DTA are as follows:

  1. The DTA database and website must be installed on a supported Windows platform; for example, MS Windows Server 2003 (the recommended DTA Server).
  2. The server must have the .NET Framework 1.1 and Web Services Enhancements 2.0 installed, and must be running Active Directory.
  3. The Server may optionally require a SMTP mail server application for e-mailing options.

Once you have verified that your server meets these requirements, you must configure the server to support communication between DTA server processes and DTA client computers.  The customary steps necessary to configure your server to work with DTA on a Windows network are as follows.

NOTE: many Windows networks will differ in their configuration, and you may have to amend these steps as appropriate for your individual network.
To configure your server to run DTA on a Windows network:

  1. Create or designate a Windows Domain Account for use with DTA.
  2. Permit this Account to run the Desktop Alert Active Directory Synchronization Service application.
  3. Permit this Account to access to the DTA database (see below).
  4. Designate the Active Directory path that user accounts and group will be retrieved from (e.g. OU=myoffice,DC=chicago,DC=hortonbros,DC=com).
  5. Ensure that any firewall or security and networking software your organization uses is configured to allow the DTA server to connect to the DTA client software installed on users’ individual computers.

Website

The DTA website must be installed and configured through Windows IIS as normal (You can find information on web administration in IIS at http://www.no-ip.com/support/guides/web_servers/setting_up_iis.html or http://www.advancedinstaller.com/user-guide/tutorial-iis.html

To set your server for the DTA website installation:

  1. Add new DNS host for the DesktopAlert web site and assign it to an IP address on the web server (e.g. desktopalert.subdomain.domain.tld)
  2. Add the new DNS host created above to the user workstation trusted sites list in Internet Options.

The Database

The DTA database is installed through a provided SQL script and then run through your SQL Server Enterprise Manager query interface.

XML System Config Files

There are three main xml files which require value editing:

  1. Web Site’s Web.Config (i.e. c:\Inetpub\wwwsites\desktopalert\web.config)
  2. Active Directory Synchronization service settings.xml (c:\program files\desktopalertservice\settings.xml)
  3. Client applications setting.xml (c:\program files\desktopalert\settings.xml)

These three files provide all of the settings required to run and synchronize the desktop alert mass notification platform.

Client Polling Rate

In the Web Site’s Web.Config the following key will determine the client application polling interval which determines how often the client application querys the web service (and subesquently the database) to see if there are any new alerts.  Minimal value is 1 (1 minute).  Only whole numbers are allowed.  i.e.  no seconds.

<add key="DefaultPollingInterval" value="1" /> <!-- in minutes -->

Copyright © Desktop Alert Inc. 2008