System Notes and Help

1.) Accessing Exchange. The Exchange server is now on a different server from the web server but can be accessed  the same way so that a request to http://a-1electric.com/exchange will be redirected to https://a-1electric.com/exchange which using a secure encrypted line. While the SSL certificate used in the encrypted does that job as good as any, however since it was self-generated, and not purchased from a commercial certificate authority, you will get a warning message the first time you access it from a given browser. You should override this can make it a permanent exception.  Here are some helpful links Internet Explorer  Firefox

2.) email@a-1electric.com still operates on the Exchange server so adding, deleting and administrating email accounts is done through Exchange as it was always done.

3.) Administration of webserver can most easily done through webmin at https://a-1electric.com:10284  Login as 'admin' with the proper password. This interface is only for administering the apache server and the operating system and requires some knowledge of unix. Secure shell [ssh] is also available via port 22 to gain command line access to the system. Both of these are powerful, and in the wrong hands, dangerous [because the wrong commands could destroy the system software], maintenance interfaces. They are there for someone with system administration experience and you should not need to use them.

4.) The system has been setup for unattended-upgrade so that software security updates for the system software should be automatically downloaded and installed on a nightly basis, keeping the system secure.

5.) The website itself using the drupal content management system and all of the website users and other features of the website are administered by logging in to drupal at http:/a-1electric.com as "admin" with the proper password and going to http://a-1electric.com/admin or choosing Administer from the main menu
  
6.) For example new users can be added, modified of deleted from http://a-1electric.com/admin/user/user

 There are many good guides to Drupal 6 administration on-line, here are a few I like:

Getting started with Drupal 6 administration

Site configuration in Drupal 6

Drupal 6 Training Manual [Doc] [PDF]


7.) The drupal website is driven by a MySQL database server that stores all the data associated with drupal. The mysql server can be administers with phpMyAdmin by going to http://a-1electric.com/phpmyadmin login as "root" with the system "root" password. Under normal conditions there should be no need to use this maintenance tool.

8.) This system includes the Storm structured project management system with the following features:

• Organizations, Teams, People,

• Projects, Tasks, Tickets, Timetrackings,

• Notes, Invoices, and Expenses.

Each part provides permissions to control the sharing of data with other Drupal users, and based on assignment of projects/tasks/tickets to particular users or teams.

There is a Storm discussion group at http://groups.drupal.org/storm. And more documentation can be found here and here.  Here is a YouTube video on Drupal with Storm.
This is a 29 page manual put together by the developers: storm.pdf

9.) This system includes the MERCI (Manage Equipment Reservations, Checkout and Inventory) system for tool tracking. MERCI Documentation. This was written by the developers and is also useful: Equipment Reservations.
   
The Open Media Project has developed a number of on-line video guides to using MERCI:

• Setting Up MERCI

• MERCI Reporting

• Importing Equipment with Custom Fields

• Configuring CiviCRM to work with MERCI

• Managing MERCI with Views

• Taking Inventory Using Barcodes

10.) Updating Drupal. Unfortunately there is no automatic update mechanism for the drupal software. The Status report page will report any system issues and the Available updates page will alert you as to when updates are available but they must be installed from the commandline with the drupal admin tool drush, which is also installed on the system.

Using Drush to update modules

11.) IMPORTANT: There is currently no system in place to backup this system. Although some protection is gained because it is running on mirrored drives.

12.) Here is a video tutorial on using File Depot:
Filedepot Tutorial Part1 8:11 minutes
Filedepot Tutorial Part 2 7:43 minutes

There is also an Integrated MS Windows desktop client available to easily upload one or 100's of files directly to the remote web-based document repository. Simply drag and drop files from their local desktop and they are uploaded. More info on that is available here.

This module is sponsored by Nextide and their consultants are available for specialized modification.

Here are some instructions written by CyAir: File Depot Document Management System - How to Use