Installation Instructions

The are two installation packages for ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro - the automated setup package (.msi file) and manual setup package (.zip file). If automated method is used, you do not need to go through all the steps in this manual, you just need to run the setup and register the product (step #7 below). However, we still encourage you to go through this document (especially steps #1, #7, #9, #10 and #11) even if you use automated setup to better understand the installation process and to secure you server.

Below are the steps needed to be performed manually (.zip file) for successful ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro server installation:

 

  1. Install Prerequisites.

     
     
  2. Setup chat physical directory and copy files to it.
    One of the advantages of the product is that it allows for XCopy deployment. That means that you do not need to register any objects or run any setups. All you need, is to copy files to your web, which is especially important for hosting at a third party Internet Service Providers (ISP).
    Please copy the content of ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro zip file to the local directories on your server.  The zip archive has 4 directories and 2 files on the root of it: directories
    web, db, samples and  logs ; and files license.txt and readme.htm. The main thing that you would definitely need is the contents of the web directory. So, please go ahead and copy the contents of the web folder (without the web folder itself) of the zip archive into the directory on your server where you plan to put the chat application.
    For example, you may have a directory on your web server with the path
    c:\inetpub\mygreatwebsite\sitewwwroot. That is the root of your web site pointed to by a DNS name, say, www.mygreatwebsite.com . So, you would create a sub-directory for the chat called chat, for example, and copy into it the files from the web folder of the zip archive. For instance, we have a page named login.aspx in the chat. So, in our example that page would end up at c:\inetpub\mygreatwebsite\sitewwwroot\chat\login.aspx (and NOT in c:\inetpub\mygreatwebsite\sitewwwroot\chat\web\login.aspx ) and will be accessible by the following URL: www.mygreatwebsite.com/chat/login.aspx.
    Next, you will need to create a
    logs directory. Many ISPs allow you to create directories on levels higher than the actual web root. This way the contents of those directories is not publicly accessible. So, if you have such ability create the logs directory outside of your web root. Following our example you would create your logs directory at: c:\inetpub\mygreatwebsite\logs. If you provider only allows creating directories on the root of the site then go agead and create logs directory there.
    Finally, depending on which database your are planing to use (see below), you might need to copy the
    db directory with MS Access database to your web server. We recommend that you copy the database, also, into a directory outside of your web root to prevent unauthorized access. If we go with our example, the database file will end up at: c:\inetpub\mygreatwebsite\db\zbit_chat.mdb. You do not need other files in the db directory if you are going to use MS Access database.
    Directory
    samples  and two files on the root of the zip file are not needed on your web server for the chat to run.
    Please do NOT try to open the newly created site in a web browser before the product has been registered. Please follow this guide step by step to the end in order to avoid certain complications.
     

  3. Set up ASP.NET application.
    ZBit ASP.NET chat needs to run in the context of a ASP.NET web application. IIS ASP.NET engine should be able to execute DLL files (assemblies) in the
    bin sib-directory of the chat folder structure. There are 2 ways of doing it - either assign the chat folder as virtual directory with a new application or use the application running on the root of your web site. First method is simpler - all you need to do is to change a configuration parameter in IIS settings, but second method provides greater flexibility in terms of future integration with the rest of the web site. Besides, some ISPs do not allow you to assign new ASP.NET applications to sub-directories; then the second method is your only option.

  4. Create Microsoft SQL Server database (Optional).
    ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro can be configured to run against any OLEDB compliant relation database management system (DBMS or database) that has some concept of stored procedures. Out of the box support is provided for two DBMSes: Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server. The later is recommended, being more salable and robust database engine. If you are going to use Microsoft Access database please skip this step and follow with the step #5.
    To setup SQL server database for ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro you can ether create a new database for the chat  or use your existing database if you already have one. To create the "zbit_net_chat" database on your Microsoft SQL server use the scripts zbit_chat_schema.sql and zbit_chat_populate_data.sql, located in db\mssql_setup directory in the installation zip file. The two scripts are creating database schema and populate initial data correspondingly. Please run zbit_chat_schema.sql script first.
    If you already have an existing database that you would like to use for chat as well you can create tables and stored procedures used by chat using the same script. All the tables and procedures that script creates are prefixed by "zbc_", so there is little chance that they would override your existing database elements. To use the
    zbit_chat_schema.sql script on an existing database just delete the top portion of it where it tries to create a new database and run the rest of it. Then run the second script to populate the initial data.
     

  5. Configure database Connection String and Log directory.
    You should open web.config file located in the chat directory for editing and modify zbc.ConnectionString key under the appSettings in configuration section. Sample connection strings are shown in the web.config file.

  6. Another important setting in web.cofig file, is the logging directory (configuration/appSettings/add key="zbc.Log.Directory" ). By default, zbc.Log.Directory parameter is set to an empty string, which directs ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro to create log files in sub-directory logs under the root of the chat installation. However this parameter can and should be changed if you see that log files are not being created. Please set the value of this key to the full physical path of the logs directory (c:\inetpub\mygreatwebsite\logs in our example ).
    Please note: you can see which logging directory the chat engine is trying to access by loading the chatstats.aspx page into your browser.

     
  7. Change permissions on some sub-directories (Very Important).
    Most of the installation problems that were encountered during the beta testing of the product were cased by omitting this important step.
    By default, the windows account that is running ASP.NET applications has only read access to the files in the directories on your machine. For ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro to run properly it needs to have write access to the directory where the log files will be created. Additionally, in order to register the product another directory should be made writable temporally for the time of installation (see Register Product section below). Finally, if you are using MS Access database, the directory where database is located should be made writable as well.

  8. Register Product (Very Important too)
    If your chat server is not registered with ZBit Inc. it will not function properly. All installations of the ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro, both trial and release versions, must be registered.
    To register your ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro server make sure your computer is connected to the Internet during registration. If your machine is not online, the registration will fail and the server will not function properly.
    Please note: The connection to the Interment is only required during registration; once the product is registered it doesn't need to be connected to the Internet.
    Please note: We also provide an off-line installation procedure but you would have to contact us in order to perform it.
    Assuming that you installed chat in a directory called chat on port 80 off of the default web (see step #3), please open a web browser and direct it to the following URL:http://localhost/chat/setup.aspx
    This page allows you to register the chat server. If you bought the product please enter your registration code. Otherwise just leave the corresponding field at 'TRIAL' for trial version registration. Click the Register button.
    Please read carefully the status of registration. If an error occurs please try to fix it or contact customer support. Most likely case of an error is absence of write permissions to the etc directory as described in previous step. You might receive several warnings or even errors in the beginning or in the middle of the output string, however the most important message that indicates the outcome of the registration is on the bottom of the text. As long as it says that the registration was "successful" then it means that it went through.
     

  9. Remove not -needed Permissions
    Once the product is registered without any errors please change the permission for etc directory back to the way it used to be before performing step #6. Usually it means removing the write permissions from windows account running ASP.NET application on that directory.

     

  10. Configure ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro
    Most of the configuration parameters for the chat server are stored in the  database. Some settings, however, are stored in
    web.config file located in the root of chat installation. Please see step #5 above and  configuration section of readme file for information how to configure logging directory, database connection string and UI culture.
    To change settings stored in the database you can either modify the on the DBMS directly or, preferably use web interface to make such changes. In case of MS Access, it is located in the folder
    /db/ . If you have MS Access installed on your machine, you might want to open the database file zbit_chat.mdb to study configuration parameters. If you use SQL Server, you can view parameters in zbit_net_chat database on the DBMS.
    However, It is recommended to change all the settings through administration web interface. When the server is running properly you can log-in to the chat server as Server Administrator and change configuration parameters. Assuming that you setup ZBit ASP.NET Chat Pro in directory
    chat as per step #3, please open your web browser on the server and point it to the following URL:
    http://localhost/chat/login.aspx

    Log-in as chat server administrator. The default log-in for Server Administrator is
    administrator / administrator for log-in ID and password correspondingly. When you log-in as server administrator you are automatically directed to the administration page where you can change many settings.
    If you can't log-in to chat at this point, and error messages that you get are not helpful, please check the log file for detailed error message. If you see registration errors please try to restart chat application by either restating IIS or by re-saving
    web.config file.
    Please read the rest of this help file for operations that can be performed in administrative interface specific to chat server administrators. For site administration please check corresponding help file.
     

  11. Change passwords
    It is highly recommended that you change the password for Server Administrator as well as password of SQL Server account if you are using SQL Server database. Both should be changed as soon as possible, once you made sure that everything works. To change password for chat server administrator please log-in to chat as described in the previous step then, once in administration page, click on "
    enter site" to enter a default site. Then, once in the chat interface, enter any room and finally click on your log-in name (Administrator) to see your profile. On the profile pop-up window you can change your password and other profile fields.
    To change the password for SQL Server (if you use SQL database) please change it the DBMS first and then edit connection string setting (
    zbc.ConnectionString) in web.config file so that the password matches the one you just modified.
     

  12. Rename / Delete dangerous pages
    Some of the pages that come with the installation are there for debugging purposes and are not needed for the application to work. We recommend you to rename those pages or remove them completely when the application is functioning properly to avoid security issues. The files that you need to rename or delete are setup.aspx, chatstats.aspx and chat_debug.aspx