Ubersmith

Why is the PHP command line interface necessary?

The most common questions that come up when installing Ubersmith are regarding the required php extensions for Ubersmith and the 2 pages of tests in the installer. There are 2 ways that php can be used on a server:

The first is the one you are probably familiar with, where php is running as part of the server (on Linux usually an Apache module) and generating web pages. The first of the 2 system check pages is designed to check the configuration and installed extensions of this version of php.

The second way php can be used is as a command line tool, usually referred to as the php CLI (Command Line Interface). In ubersmith we use this to run the various background scripts that perform tasks such as invoicing clients, monitoring servers, processing incoming tickets, etc.

This uses a copy of php which is completely separate from the one generating web pages, and so the second system check page tests the configuration and installed extensions of the php cli. For full Ubersmith functionality, both 'types' of php will need to be correctly configured on your server.

How do I get Ubersmith to run on my CPanel server?

In order for ubersmith to run correctly on cPanel servers, you will need to use the cPanel tool to rebuild PHP with the required extensions.

Why am I getting an error when I update my token?

You Ubersmith instance will validate its license once every 7 days. This is referred to as 'updating the token.' When this happens, issues with your license or the server configuration may cause one of the following errors:

Token Updater Failed to Start

Typically, this error indicates a problem with Apache calling the PHP interpreter on your system. You may also wish to run through setup again just to verify that your server has all the components that Ubersmith requires. It may also be work checking if Apache has the necessary permissions to run the PHP command line / cgi binary.

Error Updating Token

This is most commonly caused by the system being unable to reach the licensing server to validate itself. If you have a firewall installed, check to make sure the system can call out to licensing.ubersmith.com.

Instance Not Found

This error is returned when the hostname and/or database name of your instance do not match what is stored on the licensing server. It usually happens when the hostname of the server is changed or if the instance is moved to a new server. If you receive this error, contact Ubersmith to have your license details updated.

Looping Token Update

This is not an error message, but what can happen is that the token will update itself, say it is going to load the login page and then start the update process again over and over. There are two common causes for this:

1) If the date and time of the server is more than 7 days in the future, Ubersmith will always think that its token is out of date. Correct the date on the server and it should stop.

2) If the OpenSSL PHP Extension is not installed on the server or if there is some problem with it. This extension is required to properly update the token.

How do I configure when and how my clients are invoiced?

We realize that invoicing and billing your clients is the most important feature of ubersmith. We also realize that each company may do it differently. Because of that we've designed our system to be as flexible as possible when it comes to how and when your bill your clients. The first important step is to decide when your clients are going to be automatically invoiced by the system. You may choose to do it Daily or Monthly. First let me explain the differences between the two options.

Monthly:

Monthly invoicing means that each client is invoiced once a month on a particular day. That day is set by the admin when the client is added and can be changed by editing the client's details. For example, if you are adding a client that is to be invoiced on the 15th of each month, you would set their 'Invoice Send Date' to 15. From then on that client will be automatically invoiced by the system on the 15th of every month.

Please note that a client's invoice send date can be set to and day from 1 to 28. The maximum is 28 because not every month has a 29th, 30th and 31st.

Daily:

Daily invoicing means that an invoice is generated for the client every day regardless of the date. Because clients may have multiple services setup with you that come due on different days of the month, daily invoicing allows them to be invoiced right when they should be without having to constantly update their account details. If nothing is due on a particular day, the invoice is thrown out.

The daily/monthly invoicing setting can be set by the admin on the 'Invoice Configuration' page in the Setup & Admin section of your instance.

The second key detail when invoicing a client is the due date of the invoice. If an invoice is still unpaid after it's due date has passed, the system considers it past due and begins sending out email notices to the client informing them of their overdue invoice. Like the invoice send date, there are two different options for determining how many days after it is generated, an invoice comes due. These options are to use a 'Grace Period' or a 'Static Due Date.'

Grace Period:

A grace period is the number of days between when an invoice is generated and when it comes due. For example, if a client has a grace period of 16 days, an invoice generated on the 1st of the month will be due on the 17th. The grace period is a client specific setting. It can be set either when a client is first added or when an existing client is edited.

Static Due Date:

A static due date is the specific day of the month that a client's invoice will always be due. This option is useful for those businesses where there may be a variable number of days between when an invoice goes out and when it comes due. For example, if a client is invoiced on the 15th, and that invoice is due on the 1st of the next month, a static due date is in order. In that example a grace period would not work because of the different number of days between the 15th and the 1st in different months. The static due date can also be set either when adding a new client or when editing an existing client.

Please note that because daily invoices can be sent out on multiple different days of the month, Static Due Dates are not available for clients invoiced on a daily basis.

While the grace period and static due date are both client specific, the default values can be set on the 'Invoice Configuration' page in the Setup & Admin section of your instance.

How do I configure the support manager to receive email sent to different addresses?

The Ubersmith installer sets up an address where the system can receive incoming email. This address is typically support@hostname.domain.com (where 'hostname.domain.com' is replaced with whatever is appropriate for your server). You can then set as many addresses as you'd like to forward to that one. Everything received by Ubersmith will be entered in the support manager as either a new ticket or a response to an existing ticket. Further, when you define departments in the support manager you can set a default address for each. Any emails received at that address by the system will automatically be sorted into that department.

How do I order queues and forms?

The new order manager includes a huge amount of new and powerful features, but how do you get started? Here is a quick walkthrough of how to get started right away.

1. Navigate to the Setup & Admin area of the system, and click on the Manage Order Queues link on the bottom left.

2. Create a new Order Queue based on a product line that your company sells. Companies using ubersmith usually sell a number of products lines, each having a different process in which they are verified, provisioned, and released. Generally speaking, you will setup an Order Queue for each product line you carry, having a unique setup process and integrations. Your order forms are then created within these modules, to funnel your orders into the correct workflow processes. A standard web host may have the following Order Queues: Dedicated Servers, VPS's, and Virtual Hosting.

3. Once you have created your new queue, click the Add Order Step link to begin to define your Steps and Actions. The steps of an Order Queue allow you to create top level groups in which the available actions reside. This allows for a birds eye view of the orders in your system, defined by you. There are three steps that are required in every queue and cannot be edited (Leads, Completed, and Cancelled), but the rest is completely up to you to customize.

A standard web host may have the following Order Steps: Leads, Fraud Verification, Order Provisioning, Complete, and Cancelled.

The Order Actions are the actual workflow steps that your employees will be following. We have included a group of initial action modules in the system, and will continue to release them to the Ubersmith community as fast as we can get them out. In the future we will be releasing documenation on how users can write their own custom modules that can easily be added to their existing ubersmith system. These modules are designed to be a single file you drop into a folder on your server, so they are not contigent upon full Ubersmith releases.

A standard web host may have the following Order actions within their Fraud Verification step:

• Maxmind Integration (MaxMind Module)
• Review & Approve Maxmind Results (Simple Question Module)
• Employee Telephone Verificaion (Simple Question Module)

• Add Client (Add Client Module)
• Add Service (Add Service Module)

The system actions will usually have a prerequisite of the first steps being completely successfully (You can set prerequites for your actions in the 2nd tab of the Action popup window). The system modules allow you to dictate when the client and services are actually added to your ubersmith instance, so each new order does not create new clients unnecessarily, and fraudulent or cancelled orders can be disregarded easily.

4. Now we can create an order form. Click the order forms link in the queue you wish to create it under, and Add a New Order Form. This will take you into the Order Form wizard and allow you to easily create an order form. As you are testing and tweaking your order form, you can go back into the wizard at any time, jump to the step you wish to update, and save your progress. If you have customized the look and feel of an order form that you are happy with, you can copy those details into any other form, at any time. In Step 7: Look and Feel, simply select the order form that you wish to copy from, and click the Copy button.

With this release also comes the addition of a number of Service Plan improvements, most notably the Upgrade Options. You can check them out by adding or editing a service plan in the 'Manage Service plans' page in setp & admin. Another post will be forthcoming shortly explaining how to best utilize these new features.

Once you have created this Order Form, a link will be provided to you next to the Order Form. Simply add this link to your website in the right location, and you will be ready to start accepting orders!

How do I set up a device monitor?

To add a monitor to a server you will need to perform the following steps:

1. Go to the device manager and click on the device you want to monitor to open its profile page

2. Enter the ip address of the device, you can do this by clicking the 'Add Address' link in the orange bar at the top of the screen and entering the device address in the popup window.

3. Once you have added an address you can click on the 'Monitors' tab at the top of the screen.

4. Click the 'Add Monitor' link in the orange bar and a popup will open.

5. Enter the monitor details:

     1. select the address to monitor

     2. select a protocol, icmp for a ping test and tcp for the others (http,smtp, etc)

     3. select the port you wish to test (eg 80 for an http test, blank for icmp)

     4. select the type of test you want to perform.

     5. enter the email address you want notifications to be sent to.

     6. enter the delay and delay factor, this is the amount of time the device must be unresponsive before a notification is sent

     7. enter the notification interval and factor, this is the amount of time between successive notification emails

6. Click 'Save'

7. You may need to refresh the monitor list to view the new monitor.