Installing PerlDesk

1. QUICK INSTALL OVERVIEW
2. DETAILED INSTALLATION GUIDE
   
   

Quick Installation Overview

These quick install instructions are intended for people with existing experience in installing web based applications.

1. Upload/De-compress Files on target server
2. Create MySQL Database
3. Open /include/conf.cgi.dist and edit configuration parameters, after doing so, please rename this fiel to conf.cgi (removing .dist)
4. Set permissions for CGI files (.cgi) to 755 (executable)
5. Open the install.cgi file in your web browser, and perform the installation.
6. After completing the installation, remove the install.cgi
7. Install Complete.

Detailed Installation Guide

You are now assumed to have downloaded the PerlDesk software from our license area, to install the software on your system please follow this documentation carefully ensuring every step is carried out prior to executing the installation.

• 1.1 Preparing The Server
  • Create a MySQL Database
    Before installing PerlDesk, you must create a MySQL database for PerlDesk to utilize. For information on how to do this please refer to the document below:
    First you must log into MySQL, you can usually do this by simply typing 'mysql' on the command line. You should then be presented with something such as:
    
    

    Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 10663 to server version: 3.22.22 Type 'help' for help. mysql>

    You must remember that ALL MySQL commands end with a semicolon ";".

    We must now create a database for PerlDesk to use, you may call it whatever you wish but in this example we will simply call it 'perldesk'
    

    mysql> create database perldesk;

    If you did this successfully, you will get something like this result;
    

    Query OK, 1 row affected (0.03 sec)

    You have now created a database that PerlDesk can use. Please note that the above has not taken into account user privaleges or granting access to any users other than the mysql root user. For information on how to do this, please see the Mysql.com link below:
    
    http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/create-database.html
    http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/privilege-system.html
    

• 1.2 PerlDesk File Archive
  
  When downloaded the PerlDesk files can be obtained in either a .ZIP or .TAR compressed format. We assume in this document that you are on the server you are installing the files, if this is not the case, please transfer the files to the target server before continuing.
  
  
  • De-Compress The Files
    You can use a compression utility such as Winzip or WinRAR if you are on Windows, if you are untarring them on the server you may use the commands below:
    
    

    tar zxvf PerlDesk.tar.gz

    unzip PerlDesk.zip

    
    Your system should then proceed to de-compress all of the PerlDesk files.
    
    
  • File Structure
    After de-compressing the files you should notice that three directories are created, as follow:
    
    

    cgi-bin/ images/ docs /

    
    
    These folder names are simply to indicate the types of files they contain, as on most systems the installation location will vary for these folders.
    
    
  • File Placement
    Please copy the contents of the 'cgi-bin' folder to the directory on your server where you can execute CGI/PERL files. (For IIS you may need to configure this support) In Apache, the default directory is
    
    

    /var/www/cgi-bin

    
    The images folder need to be placed outside of this directory, as inside they cannot be called correctly due to permissions. Therefor you must place the images folder in the HTML directory, for example:
    
    

    /var/www/html/images

    
    
    
  • Preparing PerlDesk
    The files are now in place and ready to be installed, but before running the installer you must tell PerlDesk how to connect to MySQL.
    
    Please open up the */cgi-bin/include/conf.cgi.dist
    
    You must configure the below sections:
    
    

    $dbhost = "localhost";	# No need to change unless mysql is on a different server
    $dbname = "perldesk";	# The database name, we created above.
    $dbuser = 'root';	# The database user you have created for PerlDesk
    $dbpass = '';	# The password for the above user

    
    
    Also set the full system path to the backup folder (THIS CAN BE MOVED OUTSIDE OF YOUR WEB ACCESSIBLE FILES FOR SECURITY)
    
    

    # BACKUP FOLDER $db_backup_dir = 'E:/CVS/perldesk/perldesk/backup';

    The Backup Directory is VITAL for upgrades, and is important if you intend to use the backup feature within PerlDesk. This directory should be well secured, if utilized. Either place it outside of a web accessible folder, or sufficiently secure it. Your SQL backups will be placed in this folder!

    
    
  • Set File Permissions
    
    Your server must be able to execute the files inside the CGI-BIN folder, to allow this you must enable execute permissions on your system. On Linux this can be done utilizing the chmod command as below:
    
    

    cd /var/www/cgi-bin chmod -R 755 *.cgi

    
    
  • Running The Installer
    
    You must now run the install.cgi file to populate and configure your PerlDesk installation. To do this, simply open your browser and direct it to the location of the /cgi-bin/install.cgi file.
    
    For example, on a local installation this may be:
    
    http://localhost/cgi-bin/install.cgi
    
    Simply follow the on screen prompts and install guidance to complete your installation of PerlDesk. Once completed you must remove the install.cgi file and you can begin utilizing your PerlDesk installation.