Description

ProjectDox generates and stores event information in many different log files as a method for being able to review the information and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.  

Resource

The table above has been attached for your download convenience. 

Revised 02-26-2015

 Description

The ProjectDox application allows site branding to meet a jurisdiction's needs. The attached document provides information on the standard branding features as it related to logos, URL references and email templates for the ProjectDox site.

Solution

An additional URL link can be added to the login page of ProjectDox utilizing the applications translations section. It can be added by performing the below steps within ProjectDox:

1. Navigate to Admin->Translations->ODD

2. Locate the below setting in the Phrase column:

{LoginAnchorOpen}MyURL{LoginAnchorMid}{LoginAnchorClose}

4. In the Translation column add the URL after {LoginAnchorOpen} and the name to display for the link on the login page after {LoginAnchorMid}

Example:{LoginAnchorOpen}http://avs.pdoxonline.com/ProjectDox/HelpFile.html{LoginAnchorM id}Click to View Help File{LoginAnchorClose}

6. Click Save.

An additional logo and link may be added to the home page header. This is displayed upon logging in and is optional. It can be configured by performing the below steps within the ProjectDox application:

1. Navigate to Admin->Translations->ODD

2. Locate the below setting in the Phrase column:

{HeaderAnchorOpen}http://#{HeaderImageOpen}images/spacer.gif{HeaderImageClose}{Heade rAnchorClose}

4. In the Translation column add the desired URL after the {HeaderAnchorOpen} {HeaderAnchorOpen}http://google.com

5. Click Enter and enter on the next line after {HeaderImageOpen} add the name of the new image file. (This image file should be located in the images folder in the ProjectDox directory on the Web Server)

Example: {HeaderImageOpen}images/IGCLogo.gif

7. Click Enter to go the next line add the close tags:

 {HeaderImageClose}{HeaderAnchorClose}

9. Click Save.

Resources

For screenshots and further information to clarify the steps above, see the attached file. 

Revised 02-26-2015

Description

Increase file transfer limit size in IIS with following steps:

Solution

1. Open IIS Manager on the ProjectDox web server.

2. Select the site that ProjectDox is installed under.

3. Make sure you are in Features View per the button at the bottom of IIS Manager.

4. Double click "Request Filtering" in the center pane.

5. Click "Edit Feature Settings" on the right panel.

6. Modify the "Maximum allowed content length (Bytes):" to the maximum size you would like allowed for viewing. This is measured in BYTES so convert accordingly.

7. Run "IISRESET" from a command prompt.

Revised 02-26-2015

 Gathering of information:

1. Are there group policies that stop the user from writing to C:\ or user home? The installation must be able to write to C:\ and %userhome% (user that will log in).

2. Are you using roaming profiles? Roaming profiles will prevent pushing the msi from central location.

Prerequisites:

• Ability to write to C:\ drive and %userhome% (user that will log in).

• UAC will need to be disabled (or set to never notify)(Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10)

• Windows firewall must be turned off (if used)

Push:

• To push the MSI, use the appropriate commence from the distributing application, and include the flags /q /n with the appropriate scripts in place.

   

  After the push command (still needs to be provided for in the script):

• For 64-bit clients grant full access to “\Program Files (x86)\Avolve Software\ProjectDox Components”

• For 32-bit clients grant full access to “\Program Files\Avolve Software\ProjectDox Components”

• We recommend adding your ProjectDox URL to the trusted sites in Internet Explorer (this can also be scripted)

End-user test (this is a manual procedure):

• Test viewing and uploads (this is required to complete the installation of components for all non-admin users, and must be done by each user on the PC)

After end-user test:

• Turn UAC back on.

• Turn Windows firewall back on (if used)

• Revert to original group policies and permissions

Revised 02-26-2015

Moving ProjectDox Share Folders: UserFilesSource and UserFilesPublish

1. Create new folders for copying the content of existing share folders into on the new storage location

2. Create accounts on the machine where the new storage is located for the PD_USR and NetItSvc accounts giving them Local Administrator rights on the machine and using the same passwords as they are configured on the ProjectDox Web Server

3. After folders are created, establish NTFS Permissions and Share Permissions on the folders

   1. Setting the Security Permissions

      1. Select physical folder

      2. Right-click, select Properties

      3. Select Security tab

      4. Add appropriate users and permissions, Add PD_USR and NetItSvc accounts with Full Control

      5. Click OK to accept changes

   2. Setting the Share Permissions

      1. Right-click on the folder again and select Properties

      2. Select Sharing, then click on the button for Advanced Sharing

      3. Place check mark in the Share this Folder and provide a Share Name of UFS for UserFilesSource folder and UFP for the UserFilesPublish folder, then click on the Permissions button towards the bottom of the window

      4. In the Share Permissions window, click the Add button and add the PD_USR, NetItSvc accounts and the Administrators group to the Groups or Users Name selection

      5. Select each of the three accounts and set the Permissions for each to Allow Full Control

      6. Remove the Everyone Group from the Group or User Names selection

      7. Click OK to accept the changes.

4. Using ROBOCOPY or XCOPY, relocate the files from the old location of the files to the newly created folders on the new storage location (Note: this may take awhile depending on how much content is in each of the share folders)

5. On the ProjectDox web server

   1. IIS Administration Control Panel

      1. Select the UserFilesPublish virtual directory

      2. Select properties

      3. On General tab, update path to point to the new physical UserFilesPublish

      4. Test accessing the new location through IIS under the Basic Settings Option

   2. Locate the UpdatePaths.sql file in the ProjectDox installation folder under the Database\SQL\ sub-folder and copy to the SQL Database Server where the ProjectDox database resides

6. On the SQL Database Server

   1. Modify the UpdatePaths SQL script and provide the portion of the path to the files that you want to update in the database, if you are unsure of what the existing path is, open up the Files table in the ProjectDox database and look at the current records stored in the database. Look at the SourcePath column and see what portion of the current value stored needs to be updated and insert that into the updating the UpdatePaths script under the parameter named @OldServerSourcePath. Example provided in the UpdatePaths script file

   2. Next update the UpdatePaths script for the @NewServerSourcePath parameter with the location for the new file share folder location

   3. Next update the UpdatePaths script for the @OldServerPublishPath parameter with the location from the Files table query performed above looking at the PublishPath column

   4. Next update the UpdatePaths script for the @NewServerPublishPath parameter with the location for the new file share folder location

   5. Run the UpdatePaths script against the ProjectDox database, the number of records affected will be displayed in the results pane in SQL Server

7. ProjectDox Configuration Changes

   1. Log in to ProjectDox with an Systems Administrator account

   2. Navigate to Admin>Configuration>Core tab

   3. Scroll down and locate the field for UserFilesPublish – update with the new path to the share folder

   4. Scroll down and locate the field for UserFilesSource – update with the new path to the share folder

   5. Scroll to the top of the page and hit the SAVE button

   6. Select the Troubleshoot option from the Admin dropdown selection in the upper left side of the page and then test the access to the new share folders from ProjectDox by clicking the check folder permissions button

   7. Results of the test will be displayed on the page with a green success message if the connectivity and permissions are all successful

8. Live test

   1. Test opening existing files in a Project to ensure they can be viewed without any issues

   2. Test uploading new documents into a Project and see if they can be viewed

   3. Test creating a new Project in ProjectDox and that files can be uploaded and viewed without any issues

Occasionally there is a need to relocate the ProjectDox File Share folders to a new storage location due to size limitations of the current storage device.  The following steps walk you through relocating one of the File Share Folders but specifics relating to the customer's install may be different depending on the implementation.  Customers should notify Avolve Support that they intend on relocating the file shares prior to performing the move and review and specifics that may differ from the steps below.  Avolve Support can assist with the relocation, but it is outside the scope of normal Support and would be billable to the customer.

The steps below are for relocating one of the ProjectDox File Shares and in this example we are specifically relocating the UserFilesSource folder.  The UserFilesPublish would follow

STEPS FOR RELOCATING THE USERFILESSOURCE FILE SHARE:

1. Schedule a time for the system to be taken off-line and inaccessible to Users.
2. Stop all Brava and ProjectDox Windows Services on all ProjectDox servers:  Brava Licensing Server, Brava Server, Brava Job Processor, ProjectDox Incoming, ProjectDox Project Creator, ProjectDox WCF, ProjectDox Workflow, ProjectDox Utility etc.
3. Login to ProjectDox with a System Admin account and go to the Admin, Configuration, Core tab and put a checkmark in the Lockout Users from App checkbox and hit Save button at the top of the page to prevent users from accessing Projects on the site temporarily.
4. On the server where the new storage location exists, check for the existence of the PD_USR and NETITSVC accounts, if they do not already exist, create two new user accounts and name them the same as they are on the other existing ProjectDox Servers.
5. Make sure that the PD_USR and NETITSVC accounts belong to the Local Administrators group on the Server.
6. Create a folder on the new storage drive named ProjectDoxSupportFiles.
7. Add the PD_USR, NETITSVC local user accounts and the Administrators local group account to the Security permissions granting them Full Control permissions.
8. Copy the existing UserFilesSource folder and it's contents to the new storage location under the ProjectDoxSupportFiles folder previously created.
9. After the copying of the files has finished, right-click on the UserFilesSource folder in the new storage location and select Properties.
10. Click on the Sharing tab and then click on the Advanced Sharing button and then put a checkmark in the Share this Folder option, using the default share name of UserFilesSource.  Click on the Permissions button.
11. Under the Group or User Names, remove the Everyone group, and then click on the Add button and enter PD_USR;NETITSVC;ADMINISTRATORS in the text box and hit the Check Names button to resolve the names and click OK, OK to accept your changes.
12. Now that the Share permissions and the Security permisssions are set on the UserFilesSource folder, login to ProjectDox with a System Admin account and go to Admin, Configuration, Core tab again and this time you will modify the UserFilesSource value to indicate the full UNC path of the new UserFilesSource folder that was created above and hit the Save button at the top of the page.  New Projects that are created will have the new path for the source files stored when they are created, but additional steps need to be taken to modify existing Projects which are still set to the old location. 
13. In order to change the existing Projects and update them with the new location for the UserFilesSource folder, the UpdatePaths.sql file needs to be ran against the ProjectDox database using Microsoft SQL Management Studio, adjusting the file paths in the script file with the correct values for your ProjectDox site.  The UpdatePaths.sql file can be found in the \ProjectDox\Database\MSSQL\ folder on the Web Server.
14. With the UpdatePaths.sql file open in the Management Studio, modify the values of the following variables at the top of the script.  You can perform a select statements forand view the records in the Files table to obtain the values for the OldServerSourcePath and the OldServerPublishPath.

set @OldServerSourcePath = '\\OldServerName\UserFilesSource\'
set @NewServerSourcePath = '\\NewServerName\UserFilesSource\'

set @OldServerPublishPath = '\\OldServerName\UserFilesPublish\'
set @NewServerPublishPath = '\\NewServerName\UserFilesPublish\'

If you are not updating the paths for both locations, simply use the same value as currently exists in the database for the OldServerName as you use in the NewServerName for either the UserFilesSource or the UserFilesPublish folder. 

Execute the script, making sure that the ProjectDox database is selected in the dropdown in the Management Studio window.  This script will update all of the locations in the ProjectDox database where the path is referenced.

Start the ProjectDox Windows Services backup, Brava License Server and Brava Server Services on the web server first and then the Brava Job Processor services in that order and then the remaining ProjectDox Services except the ProjectDox Project Creator Service until you can verify that is working.  Keep the Lock Users from App enabled until you have verified that you can upload and view files in existing Projects.  If you are able to view files in existing Projects, move forward to the final test by creating a new Project and then upload files and try to view after the publishing has finished. If you receive any errors during these tests or were not able to view the files on the site, then there is a problem with the relocation of the File Share folder.  You may first try reviewing the instructions for missed steps or contact Avolve Support for billable assistance.

If uploading and viewing is successful in both old and new Projects, then you may remove the checkmark from the Lockout Users from App on the  tab within ProjectDox and then notify the users that the site is accessible again.

Any questions, please contact Avolve Support by entering a ticket on the Support Portal.

Thank you

Revised 02-25-2015

ProjectDox Server Administration, Backing Up & Monitoring Tips

The attached document has additional information regarding the administration of the ProjectDox servers including Backing Up and Monitoring the servers for issues.

Description

The User Account Control (UAC), depending on the User's Permission level and rights, may prevent the user from being able to perform some functions with the Brava Client:

• When installing the Brava Client, UAC (if on) can prevent the Brava Client from being installed as UAC blocks the user's ability to write files being downloaded by the browser (Internet Explorer).

• With the Brava Client installed, UAC (if on) can prevent the Brava Client from saving/writing files to the local file system.

• During Brava's client side loading/processing, UAC (if on) can prevent Brava's client side loading/processing by preventing the Brava Client from writing the temporary output CDL files to the user's temp directory.

Solution

To turn off UAC:

1. From the Control Panel, open User Accounts.

2. Click the “Turn User Account Control on or off” link.

3. In the “Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure” options screen, un-check “Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer” check box.

4. Click “OK” and restart the system.

Note: The User's permissions level/rights will affect how the UAC works.

Revised 02-18-2015

All SQL Server ADO.NET Connection String Properties

This table shows all connection string properties for the ADO.NET SqlConnection object. Most of the properties are also used in ADO. Using this table will give you a better understanding of the options available when setting the connection string values in the ProjectDox Services config files.

When encountering this problem, we have found that the issue could be a setting on your Firewall, which limits large uploads into your network. To correct this, check the Firewall settings and ensure that there is not a limitation on the size of files being transmitted across the Firewall into your network? Some of the settings that you may want to look for would be "tcp-mss-sender" for outbound traffic and "tcp-mss-receiver" for inbound traffic. The values for those settings controls the maximum amount of data that can be sent in a single packet, and can sometimes be troublesome when transmitting large files.