Web Application installation

Video tutorial

Install Internet Information Services (IIS)

In Windows Server, follow these steps to install IIS:

  1. In the Server Manager → Dashboard → Add Roles and Features

  2. Select Role-based or feature-based installation

  3. Select your server from the server pool, and select your server from the list

  4. In Server Roles → select Web Server (IIS) → Add Features

  5. In Features

    1. Select .NET Framework 3.5

    2. Select .NET Framework 4.6 and ASP.NET 4.6 (or later)

  6. In Web Server Role (IIS) → Role Services

    1. In Web Server, ensure that Common HTTP Features → Static Content is ticked

    2. In Application Development, select .NET Extensibility, ASP, ASP.NET, ISAPI Extensions, ISAPI Filters and Websocket Protocol

    3. In Management tools, tick all boxes

  7. Click on Install and wait for the features to be installed

  8. Restart the server if required

Download openIMIS Web Application

Download and unzip the desired release from Github web_app_vb repository into a new folder under the IIS wwwroot (e.g. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\openIMIS.1.4.0).

Configure IIS

The configuration of IIS is done through Internet Information Service (IIS) Manager.

Add the openIMIS Site

In Internet Information Service (IIS) Manager:

  1. Select your server name → Sites

  2. Remove the Default Web Site (if new installation)

  3. Right-click on Sites → Add Website

  4. Enter a site name for your openIMIS instance (e.g. openIMIS.1.4.0)

  5. Enter or select the physical pathname (e.g. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\openIMIS.1.4.0)

  6. If you have an SSL certificate, select binding type to HTTPS (port 443) and select your certificate

  7. If you don't have an SSL certificate, select binding type to HTTP (port 80)

If you have selected the binding type to HTTPS (port 443), then you will have to add also the binding type for HTTP

  1. Right-click on the new added website

  2. Select Edit Bindings

  3. Select binding type HTTP (port 80) and click ok

If you have a DNS address (e.g. demo.openimis.org) that is mapped to your server IP address, you can add it in the site binding configuration as the hostname. This will allow having multiple Sites deserving same ports (80 and 443) and can be used to have, for example, openIMIS development (e.g. dev.openimis.org) and production (e.g. demo.openimis.org) sites on the same server.

Change Globalisation

Depending on the server’s initial configuration, the date format may differ from the expected DD/mm/YYYY format. To force the date format, go to the openIMIS site, then select Culture → .NET Globalisation, and select English (United Kingdom) (en-GB) as a culture.

Configure openIMIS Web Application

Edit the web.config

The web.config file provides the configuration for openIMIS Web Application, including database connection string and necessary folders.

For the Web Application to work, make sure the openIMIS Database is installed.

To configure the database connection string, go in openIMIS root folder (e.g. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\openIMIS.1.4.0), locate the web.config file and edit IMISConnectionString entry so that the connection string points to the database created in openIMIS database section with the right credentials. For example:

<connectionStrings> 
    <add name="IMISConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=WIN-H4E4ARREBFH\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=openIMIS.1.4.0;User ID=ImisUser;Password=password1234" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" /> 
</connectionStrings>

Other configuration settings can be found within the <appSettings> tag and should be modified with caution.

Assign permission to source folders

openIMIS Web Application needs to have full right in certain folders. For this, IIS_IUSRS Windows user must have full control access to the following folders in openIMIS root folder (e.g. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\openIMIS.1.4.0):

  • Archive

  • Extracts

  • FromPhone

  • Images

  • Workspace

Repeat the following steps for each folder listed above:

  1. In Windows Explorer, right-click on the folder and select properties

  2. Ensure that the folder is not read-only

  3. Select the Security tab

  4. Click on Edit

  5. Select IIS_IUSRS and allow full control (in the below section).

  6. Then apply and click OK.

Edit permissions to Windows event logs

Click on the Windows Start menu of run Regedit via the search box:

  1. In the Registry Editor, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → System → CurrentControlSet → Services → Eventlog.

  2. Right-click on the EventLog node, select Permission. Give full permissions to IIS_IUSRS, as described in the above paragraph (Assign permission to source folders). If the IIS_IUSRS user is not present in the list, then click Add button to add it manually.

  3. Now repeat the same steps for Eventlog → Security and Eventlog → State node, as it can be required depending on the server’s environment.

Additional resources:

Open the Web Application

Open your Internet browser and type the following URL in the browser address bar: http://localhost/

If you have initiated the openIMIS Blank Database, use the following credentials:

  • Login name: Admin

  • Password: Admin

If you have initiated the openIMIS Demo Database, use the following credentials:

  • Login name: Admin

  • Password: admin123

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