How to Install Issuetrak Using the Issuetrak Deployment Manager (IDM)

Introduction

This article is intended to assist the Issuetrak administrator with using the Issuetrak Deployment Manager (IDM) to deploy a new production installation of Issuetrak. If you're looking for instructions on how to deploy a test Issuetrak instance, look here instead.

The IDM provides a graphical wizard interface for deploying Issuetrak while providing a fair degree of control over how the site is installed.

If you would prefer to have more control over the deployment of Issuetrak, and you're comfortable with using PowerShell and hand-editing configuration files, then you might consider using the Issuetrak Deployment Utility (IDU) instead.

You can find more about Issuetrak Deployment Fundamentals here.

Identifying Requirements

Please ensure that your environment meets Issuetrak's system requirements. It may be necessary to add roles and features that aren't currently installed on the Web or SQL servers. Additional configuration beyond roles and features may also be required.

Beyond the Issuetrak product‘s requirements, you may also need to evaluate the requirements of your environment and listen to the feedback of your organization’s stakeholders.

Here are some things to consider:

• What will you name the initial organization in Issuetrak?
• What password should be set for the default ‘admin’ user within Issuetrak?
• Do you have your Site ID handy? You can contact Issuetrak Support to get this information.
• Will you be using Windows or SQL authentication to install Issuetrak?
• Will your site run using Integrated Security or SQL user accounts?
• Will you want the API to be installed?

Getting the Issuetrak Distribution

Download the latest Issuetrak distribution.

You will be prompted to enter your credentials to access our Support site in order to download the distribution.

Once you've downloaded the distribution, place it on the Web server and extract it. If it is necessary to transfer the distribution to another server after downloading it, be sure to unblock the zip file prior to extracting it.

Preparing and Deploying a New Issuetrak Site

Navigate to the Issuetrak distribution, then perform the following steps:

1. Right-click the file Issuetrak.Deployment.Manager.exe and choose Run as Administrator.
2. You will be prompted to accept Issuetrak's Terms of Service at this location. Choose Continue to accept the Terms of Service and proceed with your usage of the IDM.
3. Choose Install a new production Issuetrak site.
4. Enter your Site ID, then click Verify License Details.
   1. Don't know your site ID? Contact Issuetrak Support!
   2. Is the error "There was a problem verifying license details" displayed? Either the Site ID entered is incorrect, or your server's having trouble reaching out to the license validation service. If you are still having trouble after verifying the entered Site ID is correct, then please begin the manual license request process and then contact Issuetrak Support for assistance with manual license validation.
5. Confirm the license details are correct, then click Next.
6. Enter the required information:
   1. Choose whether to select or create a new IIS website.
   2. Enter the relative IIS Application path that will be used to get to your site. This is the string that will appear after the Application URL you entered in the previous step.
      
      For example, if your server is https://yourserver, and you want your users to be able to access Issuetrak at the URL https://yourserver/Issuetrak, then you would set the relative path to: /Issuetrak
       
   3. Choose a location to store the web files for this site. The specified folder will be created if it doesn't already exist.
   4. Click Next.
7. Fill out the binding information that will be used to access your site. If you choose HTTPS or Both, you will need to already have a certificate installed in IIS to proceed. Change any information on this screen to suit your needs. Click Next.
8. Enter the required information:

• Application URL: (eg. https://yourserver )
• Initial Organization Name
• Password for the default Admin user.
• Click Next.

9. Choose whether to install the API or API v2.

• If you‘re installing the API, you'll need to enter each IP address that you’ll be accessing the Swagger interface from on this screen.
• Additionally, you‘ll need to take note of the API key that’s been auto-generated on this screen. You (and your colleagues) will need it if you intend to access the API.
• Click Next.

10. Enter the required information:

• Database server, in the form of hostname or IP address (with named instance, if applicable)
• Give the database a name.
• Decide which configuration to install:
  • Clean - A blank slate for all settings and areas in Issuetrak.
  • Standard - Contains prefilled data and settings to give a new administrator a view of what a configured site looks like, and what effect various settings have on the site.

11. Select whether to use Integrated Security or SQL users to run the site. 
    1. If you choose "Integrated Security" then you must enter:
       1. The user ID of the domain-authenticated service account you want the site to run under the authority of, in "Domain\UserID" format.
          1. If you are using a gMSA account, the trailing $ must be included in the UserID.
       2. The password for the Integrated Security user you entered above.
          1. This can be left blank if using a gMSA account.
    2. If you choose "SQL Users" then you should click on Show Details.
       For your records, this deployment has auto-generated three SQL users and passwords that will be created and used for different aspects of running the site. This is the only time these credentials will be presented. Please take note of these for your records.
        
12. Select whether to use Windows or SQL authentication for authenticating to the SQL server during the deployment. 
13. Click Next.
14. You have the option to either deploy the site now, or Add Site to Site Explorer.

• If you're interested in adding more sites, or exploring the IDM a bit more, choose Add Site to Site Explorer and then proceed to step 15.
• If you would like to deploy your site now, click Deploy Now and skip to step 17.

15. Note that you now have several options across the top of the IDM. You may choose to:

• Add Sites for Deployment – With the New Site Wizard: You will go through all previous steps, adding another site for deployment, allowing you to deploy more than one site at the same time (in the next section).
• Add Sites for Deployment – From a Configuration File: Assumes you have a JSON configuration file, either generated from the IDM using the Export button or using the IDU.
• Add Sites for Deployment – By Scanning for Existing Sites: Assumes you have existing instances of Issuetrak on this web server.
• Deploy – This will immediately deploy all of the selected sites according to the contexts you have chosen.
• Deployment Options – Allows you to select which Contexts of Issuetrak you wish to deploy. If you're not sure what to select here, leave the default option of All.
• View Options – Allows you to see more detail for the sites that are about to be deployed. Also lets you toggle IDU Output, which will let you see verbose details of what‘s going on when you choose to deploy your sites. We recommend turning IDU Output On so that you can see what’s happening.
• Export – Allows you to export all of the site configuration information you entered as a JSON file. This is useful if you need to come back to do the deployment later, and want to save what you've done so far. You may also choose to edit the JSON before re-importing it later.

16. If you find that you‘ve made a mistake on one of the sites you’ve configured, simply uncheck it from the Site Explorer list, then re-add it via the New Site Wizard. By adding an existing site to this list, the site will be upgraded.

17. Now that you‘ve configured your site(s) and made any necessary changes, enable the IDU Output and then click on the Deploy button. The IDM will begin to carry out the deployment, and its output in the bottom of the window will tell you what it’s doing and whether it succeeded at each step.

Failed Deployment?

Get as much context from the IDM window as you can. Something as simple as a misspelled server name can cause the deployment to fail. If the root cause is unclear, proceed with the steps below:

1. Open Explorer and navigate to your distribution folder.
2. Open the Logs folder.
3. Open the latest timestamped log file.
4. Read the log and try to determine where the deployment failed.
5. Change the site configuration according to what you've found, then re-run the installation.
6. If the deployment fails again, determine if it's the same problem or a new one, and re-apply the steps above as needed.

If the steps above failed, Issuetrak Support will be happy to troubleshoot or assist you with your installation. You can contact Support at 888-789-8725 (US & Canada), +1 757-213-1351 (International), support@issuetrak.com or https://support.issuetrak.com/.

Successful Deployment

Congratulations on your successful deployment of Issuetrak!