This guide will walkthrough the user on how to setup Backstage in their own environment.
Prerequisites
You will receive the Setup package in zip file, which contains:
“backstage” – the “Admin Portal” application folder
“ess” – the “ESS Portal” application folder
“setup” – misc components to be installed on the Web server
A bak file – the database for initial setup
MSSQL server (including Management Studio) is already setup and the credential is ready
Step 1 – installing software components
1-1: From “setup” folder
Run “CRRedist2008_x86.exe” to install Crystal Report library for pdf generation
Install “ARIALUNI.TTF” which is Unicode version of Arial for pdf generation
Step 2 – configuring the Web Server (IIS)
2-1: Go to “Add or remove programs” in the Control Panel, and click “Turn Windows features on or off” on the left hand side.
2-2: Find Internet Information Services and check the box first. And there is one more feature to add on, so expand the tree.
2-3: Go to Application Development Features, and select ASP.NET and press OK. It will take several minutes to turn on the features.
Step 3 – configuring the Application
3-1: System files
3-1-1: Copy both folders (“backstage” and “ess”) to C:\inetpub\wwwroot. Make sure all the folders and files are not Read Only. If possible, grant the Full Control right to IIS User account or other account of chosen.
3-1-2: Inside each folder, there is a file called config. Open it with Notepad, and do the following steps for both files.
3-1-3: Find this line and enter all the MSSQL information. You can simply search “connectionStrings” to get to this line.
3-1-4: Find another line to enter your email setting. You can search “mailsettings” to get to this line.
3-1-5: For the web.config file of ESS, you will need to look for “backstageUploadUrl”, “backstageUploadPath” and “backstageReportPath” and insert to correct value related to your folder path and URL.
3-2: Database
3-2-1: Go to SQL Server Management Studio, and connect as “sa”.
3-2-2: Right click on Databases and find Restore Database.
3-2-3: Select “From device”.
3-2-4: Then click “Add”, and locate the database backup.
3-2-5: Type in or select “To database”, and remember to check the restore box. Then click OK. The restoration of the database should be done.
3-3: Internet Information Services (IIS)
3-3-1: Go to the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, and find Application Pools.
3-3-2: Right click on the DefaultAppPool and select Advanced Settings.
3-3-3: Make sure
.NET Framework Version is 0
Enable 32-Bit Applications is True
Managed Pipeline Mode is Integrated
3-3-4: Then go to Default Web Site and expand the tree.
3-3-5: Right click on the Backstage folder and click Convert to Applications.
3-3-6: And just click OK.
Repeat Step 3-3-5 and 3-3-6 for the ESS folder as well.
Step 4 – Testing
4-1: Open a browser in the server (preferably Google Chrome).