Data

ou are entitled to support for your system which is what we would classify as troubleshooting.   This would only be for your admins. If you are referring to after-market services outside of your organization, then the answer is absolutely NO.   Your data is stored in a completely segregated system that is only accessed by users of that system with defined access levels. All data is confidential to your users and will not be shared.   It will be destroyed when you deem necessary.

Installation

Alcea is set to run on port 10000 by default. If you see a bindException message when you try to configure the system for the first time, it is likely that you already have something using this port on your system. You can try to determine what process is using the port by using the following command:

netstat -aon

If you choose to use a different port, you will have to choose one of the following methods to override it (assume port 10001), since Alcea uses 10000 by default.

  • Option 1If your installation directory has a Alcea.ini file, you can modify it to explicitly state the port that you want to use. Note however that you must also change AlceaService.ini if you ever want to run the application as a service with the same setting. Try changing :Virtual Machine Parameters=-Xms128M -Xmx512MtoVirtual Machine Parameters=-Xms128M -Xmx512M -DPORT=10001and restarting the application.
  • Option 2If your installation directory has a Fit.lax file you can modify it to explicitly state the port that you want to use. Try changing :lax.command.line.args=$CMD_LINE_ARGUMENTS$to:lax.command.line.args=-p 10001Then try restarting the server and it should let you configure your system like normal. You can now change the port setting to your desired setting in the configuration sequence.
  • Option 3You can run Alcea manually using the following command line:java -Xms128M -Xmx256M -cp fit.jar Fit -p 10001orjava -Xms128M -Xmx256M -cp fit.jar Fit -DPORT=10001On windows, type “cmd” in the “start->run” menu, to open up a command prompt.cd “c:Program FilesAlcea”Then type ‘jrebinjre.exe -classpath “fit.jar;jrelibrt.jar” Fit -p 10001’ to start manually.

If you are a user and you have lost/misplaced your password, you will need to get the administrator to reset it for you. If you have lost the admin pasword, you have two options:

  • Option 1If the server.cfg file is missing (ie: move to server.backup), the system starts up the configuration sequence again, allowing you to create another admin user. You must finish the config sequence and then copy the backup server.cfg before restarting, so you have your old settings.
  •  
  • Option 2The users.cfg file contains passwords in the following format :login,PASSWORD||type (type only exists if not normal) The PASSWORD is usually encrypted, but the system will understand straight text also. Simply restart the system after changing this.You will want to change your password again using the system, so that it is then encrypted.

You want to Start running the server application. This will depend on the system that you’ve installed it on. It is also a good idea to read the readme that is installed with the application.

On a Windows system, you’ll likely choose “Start…”, “Programs…”, “Alcea”.

On a Unix system, you’ll execute Fit.sh.

Remember that Alcea is a Web Server, and that the only GUI interface is through a web browser.

Now you want to point your web browser at the appropriate location. When Alcea starts up, it displays some suggested url’s to try. It’s important to include “http://” at the start of the url, as Alcea runs on a non-standard port.

A couple of possibilities:

Alcea is not running. If you’re on a Windows system, it should appear on your toolbar. Unix users can use “ps -aef | grep Fit” to see if Alcea is running. If this is the case, start it up and attempt to reconnect.

You’re not going to the correct url. Check that you haven’t made a typo.

  • Check that you’ve got “http://” at the start of the url in the browser.
  • Check that you’ve got the correct port (defaults to 10000).
  • If you’re trying to connect from the same computer that is running Alcea, try “https://alceatech.com:10000/”.
  • If you’re trying to connect from a different computer, try using the IP address displayed by Alcea when it starts.
  • Check with a network administrator if you’re still having problems

There is a new DEP feature on some versions of Windows (ie Windows 2003 with Service Pack 2) that can stop our installer from installing directly, without permissions.

You have two options:

  • Option 1 (recommended)The best solution is to add our program to the list of allowed programs in the DEP settings using the following instructions:
    1. Download the FitInstall.exe to your machine. Say c:/FitInstall.exe
    2. Click Start, click Run, type “sysdm.cpl” and press OK
    3. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, press Settings
    4. On the Data Execution Prevention tab, turn on “DEP for all programs and services except those I select” to use the opt out policy and add to add our program to this list of exceptions. Then add our program to the list. (ie: Add c:/FitInstall.exe)
    5. You should now be able to install Alcea as normal.

Configuration

Alcea allows you to add custom html and/or javascript code within the product, by editing custom strings. Each field name on the edit menu, will have a special name attribute which can be used to reference or modify the look of the field.

For example, if you wanted to change the background of the AssignedTo field to red, you could add the following code to the sHead or sFoot custom strings :

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE='Javascript'>  //get assigned to field  var assignTo = document.getElementById("mAssignedTo");  if (assignTo) { // check we are on ModifyBug page and field is visible  //get assigned to label  var labelTd = assignTo.parentNode.previousSibling;  //change bg color  labelTd.style.background = "red";  }  </SCRIPT>

Note: You may want to just use the sNewBugFooter and sModifyBugFooter, since this assignTo tag is only used there, but since we added the “if (assignTo)” check, it works out similar. Another option would be to check the menu that you are currently using like this :

 if ("<SUB page>"=="com.other.ModifyBug") // instead of "if (assignTo)"

Add the following code to the sFoot or sHead custom string. This will simply hide the search box from users on the page:

<script>  document.getElementsByName("searchString")[0].style.display = "none";  document.getElementsByName("quickSearch")[0].style.display = "none";  </script>

Licensing

Licenses are are currently priced according to how many users will be using the system.

A user is defined as any user that can log into the system. Generally, this means any user that can take ownership of an issue. This is also known as a fixed user (not a concurrent user).

User counts do not include anonymous users (see anonymous features) or multiple users logging in with the same login

Our product comes with a complete year of free upgrades and support. After the first year, you can still run your server using your existing version. However, you must renew our extended support agreement to continue to upgrade to the latest versions and continue to receive our outstanding support

If you wish, you may purchase a base system and then choose to upgrade your license at a later time. You will simply be charged the difference between the two packages. There are no extra charges and you have the same 30 day satisfaction guarantee on all your purchases.

Demo

The demo product is a fully functional application with the following 2 exceptions:

  • We have limited the demo product to a 25 item limit. This should allow users to properly evaluate and test the product. A time trial can also be arranged if you contact us.
  • There is normally an “archive” button on the “Bulk Update” page that moves an item to the archive state, when it is no longer needed. This has been removed, so that users cannot remove items to get past the first demo limit.
  • The demo product cannot be configured to display a company name or logo.

We have made the conversion process as painless as possible. If you choose to purchase Alcea, then you will be provided with a special key that will instantly override all of the demo limitations. Your existing items and information will be kept intact and no modifications are necessary.

After you have configured your trial to where you are happy with it, you may want to remove any the test data from your system. The Admin->Data Import menu has a “Delete all data” option for this purpose. This feature will delete all existing issues and respective attachments from your system so that you can start fresh. The ids are reset to start at 1 and no other configuration changes are lost. If you want to start over completely, your best bet is to simply re-install the product on the server where you will be using it.

Notifications

  • You will not receive any notification if you assign a item to yourself. Notification is only performed if the item is assigned to a different person. Make sure you understand how the email notification rules work.
  • Make sure that you have the correct smtp information configured. If it is not correct, you will see a connection exception in the Admin->ExceptionLog.
  • You should be using the same settings as you would be putting in your email client outgoing connection settings. (ie: can you connect using the client).
  • Make sure that there is no virus software interfering with the connection over port 25 (SMTP). Otherwise, you will have to have this restriction disabled, enabling Alcea to work on your server.

For instance, McAfee VirusScan Database 8.0i includes a subset of “desktop firewall” functionality, mainly to stop the proliferation of worms. One of the settings is described as “Prevent mass mailing worms from sending mail”, and is implemented as blocking port 25 for all processes except those listed as exceptions. Default exceptions include Outlook.exe, tomcat.exe, apache.exe, netscp.exe, etc. You would have to disable this, or add Fit.exe to the exception list

Some languages need to operate using a specified character set and will result in strange characters showing up in your email subjects (ie: “?”). In this case you must manually set the character set that Alcea is to use.

As an administrator, login, go to “Admin Menu”, “Server”, and you will see an “Override Charset” field where you can enter an explicit charset for messages sent by Alcea. It may simply be enough to add the example that is displayed.

Database

  • A general Alcea system uses an internal file-based system for storing items. The server has been custom built to cache the appropriate information within each issue. It is extremely efficient, handles concurrent users easily, and will scale to tens of thousands of issues. Our stress testing machine is an old P-100 with 64Megs of RAM running Linux. There is no performance degradation with over 30,000 items within the database. An export function is available to export the data within Alcea to a comma separated file, that can then be read into Excel or other tools.

    A Custom Database Module can be tailored to work with any JDBC database. This work involves customizations that are specific to customer needs.

The Database Module comes with a Database Admin menu that allows you to define a connection to any JDBC compliant database and store data in the database rather than the regular flat file system. This system is only available as an Unlimited license and is not available as a hosted system. The Database version also comes with a migration tool that allows you to migrate between the two types of systems. You can find complete documentation here

Database Modules require customized procedures to create a DB backup.

However, we provide an “Admin Menu->Backups” utility that will create a backup of your system. All system data is stored in a new backup directory. You may want to stor this on a second machine for safe keeping.

The backup utility allows an administrator to create a backup directory of their current system. This process should be done consistently in case any problems arise such as machine failure. The backup directory that is created should always be copied and stored on a separate machine.

Two types of backups can be created. A complete backup of all files on the system will copy all the executables and installation files. A system backup (excludes windows install files) of all data files is all that is needed because they can be copied over a fresh installation. This option is also very common for moving a system to a new machine.

The System file backup can be copied over a fresh system. To move your system to another machine (or bring it to a saved state), simply install a fresh system and then copy the system file backup over that fresh installation.

Database Module:
When you are storing your data in a database (using Database module), all of your data is stored in the database except the base server.cfg and any custom templates that you may have created for your tracks.
A move for a database system consists of installing a fresh copy of Alcea on the new server. Once this is done, you should copy the server.cfg and templates (if applicable) to the new server. Restarting the new setup with your old server.cfg (copy over new one), which should instruct Alcea to use the database for retrieving data.

Charts

Administrator users can do this by selecting Bulk Update from the Main Menu (in the Actions menu if using the Alcea dropdown menus), selecting the items to be deleted and clicking the Archive button at the bottom of the page. Archived items can be recovered using the Admin Menu->Advanced->Unarchive feature.

The default setting is to hide all closed items. You will notice a red link just under the logo image that states “Closed Hidden”. If you click on this link, the text will change to “Closed Displayed” and you will be able to see all the Closed items in the system.

Miscellaneous

Administrator users can do this by selecting Bulk Update from the Main Menu (in the Actions menu if using the Alcea dropdown menus), selecting the items to be deleted and clicking the Archive button at the bottom of the page. Archived items can be recovered using the Admin Menu->Advanced->Unarchive feature.

The default setting is to hide all closed items. You will notice a red link just under the logo image that states “Closed Hidden”. If you click on this link, the text will change to “Closed Displayed” and you will be able to see all the Closed items in the system.

A common mistake is to create groups and not properly list all of the projects that should be seen by the members of that group. Sometimes projects are added at a later time and not propogated to the group setup.

Yes, the group feature allows you to create groups. In addition, you can make the members of that group invisible to oneanother. Therefore, you are able to create a group of users that cannot see each other. All these users can see is the system users that are not members of this group.

Yes! Check out the customizations of our online documentation. If you have any questions about this process our support team can help, please email: support@alceatech.com for further details.

NOTE: Please note that although this option exists, we have implemented a LDAP module which can be added to your solution. This new module does not require you to code the authentication class yourself.

Yes! One caveat is that users must still have a “profile” (you must have created them as a user in Alcea), as we store additional info about the user…

  1. Code & Compile your authentication class…
  2. Edit server.cfg adding:authenticationClass=example.CustomAuthentication(where example.CustomAuthentication is your own class…)
  3. Edit your Fit.lax file:Ensure that the location of your class is in the classpath
  4. Start Alcea and you should be all set…

—- here is the example code

package example;

public class CustomAuth {

public static boolean authenticate(String name, String password) {

if (name.equals(“invalid_user”)) {

System.err.println(“FAIL: ” + name + ” ” + password);

return false;

} else {

System.err.println(“PASS: ” + name + ” ” + password);

return(true);

}

}

}

Advanced

The best way to get information about your system is to look at the Admin->Exception log and see if there are any abnormal messages. Please feel free to send this file to the support@alceatech.com team. We will be happy to assist you.

Exceptionjava.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space It looks like your system has grown past the default java memory setting that is setup by the installer.
If you are starting Alcea with the Alcea.exe, there is a Alcea.lax (or FastBugTrack.lax on older versions) file with the following memory setting. lax.nl.java.option.java.heap.size.max=256000000
Alternatively, on the new installer, you may have a Alcea.ini file, rather than a Alcea.lax. In this case there is a line such as the following, which specifies the minimum (-Xms option) and maximum (-Xmx option) memory usage for this java application : Virtual Machine Parameters=-Xms128M -Xmx512M
Or you may by starting it manually with a line such as the following, which has the same options as the .ini file : java -Xms128M -Xmx256M -cp fit.jar Fit
To solve the problem, try doubling the maximum setting (for example, change 256 to 512). After making the change, save the file and restart Alcea.

Alcea Tracking Solutions introduced a new installer for Alcea in February 2008 which automatically installs Alcea as a service and eliminates the complexities that were required with the old installation. If you are unsure about the installation, you can take a look for a FitService.exe file in your Alcea installation directory. If this file is missing, you probably have the old installation.
If you wish to upgrade to the new installer for this purpose, please make sure to make a backup of your current system. Once that is done, the windows uninstaller (from the Add/Remove Programs utility of the windows control panel) should simply remove the initial files which were installed with Alcea. (namely Alcea.exe, Fit.lax, and the jre directory). After that is successful, you can then install the new version of Alcea from our download pages. If you require assistance, please let us know. Make sure to keep your backup onhand until you are sure you are satisfied with the results.
Alternatively, you can use one of these following methods which existed before this new advanced installer implementation.

Windows NT/XP

Download invoker. It’s a free, distributable command line utility for creating registered services, created by Idetix (www.idetix.com). Steps:

  1. Download invoker.zip
  2. Unzip invoker.zip to your C:winntsystem32 directory. It consists of three files: invoker.exe, invoker_readme.txt, and invoker_license.txt.
  3. Open a command prompt.
  4. If Alcea is running, stop it.
  5. Execute the following:

C:>invoker install Alcea “Alcea” “c:program filesAlceaFit” automatic

Note: Check that users can still access Alcea, after the user that activates the service logs out. You may have to add the “-Xrs” Java option to let Java know that it should continue running Alcea even after the user that started it logs out. To correct this problem, edit the Fit.lax (or possibly FastBugTrack.lax or FastIssueTrack.lax in older versions) file in the installation directory and add the following line, then restart Alcea:

lax.nl.java.option.additional=-Xrs

Additionally, you will want to stop Alcea from trying to open a browser, when it starts automatically.

From the following Alcea menu:

Admin Menu -> General Setup -> Server Configuration

And select the checkbox for “Disable Auto Browser Launch”

Windows 2002/2003

There are problems with invoker and Windows 2000. srvany and instsrv are the tools used to run Alcea as a service. Steps:

  1. You will need to get the executables srvany and instserv which are part of the Windows Server Resource Toolkit
  2. Place srvany.exe in your system32 directory (Likely c:winntsystem32 or c:windowssystem32).
  3. Use instsrv to install srvany as your service: instsrv Alcea c:winntsystem32srvany.exe.
  4. Run regeditand Find: My ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesAlcea
  5. Select “Alcea” and select “Edit..”, “New…”, “Key”. Name the key “Parameters” (without the quotes).
  6. Select the Parameters key that you have created, and select “Edit…”, “New…”, “String Value”. The Name should be “Application” (without quotes). Double click the name to open a dialog in which you can enter the value “c:program filesAlceaFit.exe”.
  7. Close regedit.
  8. Attempt to start your new service from the services control panel.

Note: Check that users can still access Alcea, after the user that activates the service logs out. You may have to add the “-Xrs” Java option to let Java know that it should continue running Alcea even after the user that started it logs out.

To correct this problem, edit the Fit.lax (or possibly FastBugTrack.lax or FastIssueTrack.lax in older versions) file in the installation directory and add the following line, then restart Alcea:

lax.nl.java.option.additional=-Xrs

Additionally, you will want to stop Alcea from trying to open a browser, when it starts automatically. From the following Alcea menu:

Admin Menu -> General Setup -> Server Configuration

Select the checkbox for “Disable Auto Browser Launch”

automatically on a unix box

#####  # Tentative startup script for Alcea  #  # NOTE: Only start is currently supported (ie. stop/reload not yet implemented).  #  # Please email suggestions / improvements to:  # support@alceatech.com  #  # chkconfig: 345 85 15  # To use, as root:  # 1) As root, place in /etc/init.d/fit  # 2) chmod 755 /etc/init.d/fit  # 3) Update AlceaPATH, AlceaUSER, and AlceaEXE below…  # 4) Test with: fit start  # 5a) Add to auto-start on Red Hat with:  # chkconfig –add fit  # 5a) Add to auto-start on Debian with:  # update-rc.d fit defaults  #####  AlceaUSER=”fituser”; #uid to run Alcea as…  AlceaPATH=”/home/fituser/Alcea”; # Where Alcea is installed…  ####  # For InstallNow installation:  ####  AlceaEXE=”./Fit”;  ###  # For straight running java…  ###  # Java 1.1:  #AlceaEXE=”/usr/lib/jdk1.1/bin/jre -green  -classpath “fit.jar:pja.jar:/usr/lib/jdk1.1/lib/classes.zip”  -mx128000000 -D$0 Fit ”  startup() {  su – fituser -s /bin/sh -c “cd $AlceaPATH ; nohup $AlceaEXE > /dev/null 2>&1 &”  }  # Note that the name of daemon running could be Alcea or java XYZ…  case “$1″ in  start)  echo $”$0 Starting”;  startup  ;;  stop)  echo $”$0 Stop not currently supported”;  ;;  status)  echo $”$0 Status not currently supported”;  ;;  reload|force-reload)  echo $”$0 Reload not currently supported”;  ;;  *)  echo $”Usage: $0 {start}”  exit 1  esac

Change “Apache Group->conf->http.conf” :
– uncomment the following two lines :
LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
then add the following lines :
# Alcea Proxy
ProxyPass /fit https://alceatech.com:10000
Note: this line should not be put in any other directives.
Make sure Alcea sURLPREFIX is set to “/fit/” (including trailing /)
If you are using https, change sURLPREFIX to your complete url (https://server/fit) so that notification links contain the correct address. When using SSL, the ProxyPass setting will still start with http:// because Fit relies on apache for SSL.
Note: The easiest way to set sURLPREFIX is to manually set it in the server.cfg and then restart the system. A setting there will override the LANG-lang.cfg string settings of all the different tracks and allow you to control in one place. It is also easier to do it here if using the DB module, since editing the DB is harder than a file.
The format in server.cfg would be :
sURLPREFIX=http://server:port
The format in the LANG-lang.cfg files would be :
sURLPREFIX,http://server:port
Your Content Goes Here

Steps to configure IIS to serve Alcea from a subdirectory:

Our example assumes that requests to http://IISHOST/ is the IIS server, and http://IISHOST/test/ will be forwarded to the Alcea server running on the same machine… IIS and Alcea are already installed and running.

Although it is possible to rename “test”, currently there is a maximum length for this alias of 4 characters and we recommend you get things working before attempting to change it.

  1. asp (download link, .zip) should be placed in a directory all by itself. We will assume that it is placed in “C:AlceaASP” Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Internet Services Manager.
  2. Under “Default Web Site”, right-click, choose “New -> Virtual Directory”A Wizard starts: For Alias, enter “test”
  3. For Directory, we will use the directory that Default.asp is installed: C:AlceaASP
  4. Ensure that “Read” and “Run scripts (such as ASP)” are checked.
  6. >Now we right-click our virtual directory, and choose “Properties”
  7. We choose the Custom Errors tab, and for http errors “404” and “405”, choose Message Type: “URL”, and in the URL field, enter: “/test/default.asp”.

We now have IIS configured correctly – we must finally configure Alcea so that it will rewrite it’s urls to support this setup…

  1. Connect directly to Alcea (not through IIS), and login as an administrator
  2. Choose “Admin Menu”, “Customize Strings”Edit “sURLPREFIX”…
  3. Set it to “/test/” (without the quotes, but with both slashes).
  4. If you are using https, change sURLPREFIX to your complete url (https://server/) so that notification links contain the correct address.

Note: The easiest way to set sURLPREFIX is to manually set it in the server.cfg and then restart the system. A setting there will override the LANG-lang.cfg string settings of all the different tracks and allow you to control in one place. It is also easier to do it here if using the DB module, since editing the DB is harder than a file.

The format in server.cfg would be :

sURLPREFIX=http://server:port

The format in the LANG-lang.cfg files would be :

sURLPREFIX,http://server:port

Access to Alcea should now be possible either directly, or through IIS.

Additionally, one user noticed that when running Alcea as a service, “I changed the Log On for the service to Local System Account and everything appears to work properly now.”

Notes:

– Recent versions of IIS require you to turn on the ASP functionality. If you have problems, please test with a simple helloWorld.asp file first and make sure that works.

– IIS treats errors from local address differently unless you specify otherwise.

The “Edit Feature Settings” option to the right of the Error Page settings. Set to custom or it will not work properly when testing on a local machine. If you are getting a login page with messed up images, try requesting an image directly from the local machine which may give you a better error message.

If you have questions or problems, please contact Alcea support: support@alceatech.com

– IIS Defaults (allow attachments)

IIS installs with a number of defaults which limit the size of requests to the server. Large requests and attachments will be limited to 200k unless you make a few modifications :

1- Double-click Request filtering, edit feature settings. Set Maximum allowed content length to 2000000000

2- Double-click ASP, expand Limit Properties. Set Maximum Requesting Entiry Body Limit and Response Buffering Limit to 2000000000

3- For large responses: click on Default Web Site (I think this needs to be set at the root level for some reason), double-click ASP, expand Limit Properties and raise the “Response Buffering Limit”. This is needed when returning a large amount of data (e.g., a SOAP filter returning lots of data).

If you downloaded Alcea with Java bundled in the download, you will have a /jre directory in your Alcea installation directory and a line in the Alcea.lax file that reads:
lax.nl.current.vm=jrebinjre.exe
This JRE is minimal and you may want or need to upgrade the version of Java that you are using. We recommend you upgrade your JVM to 1.6 or higher. This will solve some problems with time zone changes and database issues.
You can find the latest JRE versions here:
http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
After you install the JRE, you will need to make sure your system is using it.
If you have a Fit.lax file (from older installations) please change the above line to:
lax.nl.current.vm=java.exe
This will use the JVM registered with your system.
You can verify which version Alcea is using by going to the Admin->Advanced->SystemInfo and looking for a line like this:
java.vm.version=1.5.0_06-b05

Your Content GIt is possible to restrict attachment size by adding the following line to the server.cfg (size is in Megabytes) : attachmentMaxFileSize=20
If you are having trouble with limits, it will depend on your setup. The following are two common problems. If this does not help, please send your except.log and any error message you receive to the Alcea support team.
1) If you are using IIS to forward to Alcea, there is a default limit that needs to be changed for file uploads. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295626
2) If you are using MySQL you need the following parameter when the DB is started. mysqld –max_allowed_packet=10M.
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