25 June 1999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Release Notes for WebAdmin 4.01 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================= About these Release Notes ========================= These Release Notes contain information for the release of WebAdmin v4.01. They should be read together with the ERL Administrator's Guide. The latest version of this Guide is available in PDF format on the SilverPlatter web site: http://www.silverplatter.com/support/docs/erl.html Version 4.0 is available on the ftp site: ftp.silverplatter.com/software/erl-server/solaris/erlman40.pdf The ERL Administrator's Guide contains full details of how to install and configure WebAdmin. These Release Notes contain the following additional information (along with other items listed in the Contents): * Any late-breaking information about WebAdmin v4.01 that has not yet been included in the ERL Administrator's Guide. * Details of features that are new or are changed in this release. * Details of known issues in this release. Note: SilverPlatter intends that our customers use WebAdmin to administer ERL version 4x. Our earlier, DOS-based product, ERLAdmin, can also be used to administer ERL. If you have a specific question about using either product, please contact SilverPlatter Technical Support. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Contents =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. Downloading the WebAdmin software 2. Installing and Running WebAdmin: Additional information for this release 3. Late-breaking information about WebAdmin v4.01 4. New Features and Changes in this release 5. Known Issues 6. Contacting SilverPlatter Technical Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 1. Downloading the WebAdmin software =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If you have not yet got a copy of the WebAdmin 4.01 software, this is how you download it: Downloading with a web browser: ------------------------------- 1. Access the software download page on the SilverPlatter web site; http://www.silverplatter.com/support/registration.html 2. Choose the WebAdmin 4.01 check box and select your platform from the drop-down menu. 3. Fill in the registration details, and click Submit Request. 4. The download package contains the following files: The compressed software (webadmin.exe or webadmin.tar.Z, depending on the platform) The release notes (readme.txt) (this document) Downloading using ftp: ---------------------- 1. Use anonymous ftp to connect to SilverPlatter's site: ftp.silverplatter.com 2. Login with user-id anonymous and enter your email address as a password. 3. Change to the /software/erl-administration/webadmin directory. (To do this, enter cd/software/erl-administration/webadmin) 4. Change to the directory for the platform you will use for WebAdmin. 5. Make sure you will download the files as binary files. (To do this, enter bin) 6. Download all the files from the directory. (To do this, enter mget *. You are prompted to enter y to download each file.) The files will download into whatever is your local directory. The files are: The compressed software (webadmin.exe or webadmin.tar.Z, depending on the platform) The release notes (readme.txt) (this document) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 2. Installing and Running WebAdmin v4.01 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Current software and hardware requirements for WebAdmin are as follows: Operating Environment: Windows NT, AIX, SCO, or Solaris Web Server: Windows NT: IIS2, IIS3, or IIS4 UNIX: Apache Web Browser: Windows 95 or Windows NT: Netscape 4.0+, with the exception of 4.02 Internet Explorer 4.0+ Macintosh OS 7.6+: Netscape 4.05+ Please check the SilverPlatter web site: http://www.silverplatter.com/ for any changes. Full details of how to install the WebAdmin v4.01 software are given in Chapter 3 of the ERL Administrator's Guide, but you should also note the following points: Upgrading WebAdmin ------------------ If you already have WebAdmin v4.0 installed, you can upgrade by installing v4.01 in the same directory. Uninstalling WebAdmin --------------------- If you uninstall WebAdmin for any reason, you must delete any files in the WebAdmin data directory first. If you uninstall WebAdmin, you may see a message that WebAdmin has not been able to remove all the files. This is the correct behavior, and ensures that Perl, which may be needed by other SilverPlatter software,(the Holdings Conversion Utility, for example) has NOT been deleted. In these circumstances, we recommend that you retain the remaining files in the WebAdmin directory, and do not try to delete them manually. Administering Different ERL Servers ----------------------------------- The ERL server you administer is selected at the WebAdmin Login page. Some ERL administrators administer different servers, and so must constantly enter different specifications. This process can be made easier by the use of "bookmarks" (Netscape) or "favorites" (Internet Explorer). 1. Access the URL of the location where you installed WebAdmin. 2. "Bookmark" this location or "Add to Favorites" by selecting the applicable menu choice in the browser you are using, or by pressing Ctrl-d. 3. Select to edit bookmarks or to organize favorites, and right-mouse-click on the "bookmark" or the "favorite" you have just made. 4. Select Properties from the menu, and add one, two, or all of the following parameters to the associated URL: o Name of the ERL Server (the "erlserver" parameter) o Account name (the "accountname" parameter) o Password for that Account (the "password" parameter) 5. Precede the first parameter with a question mark and the next parameters with ampersands; precede every parameter with "[parameter]=" Examples: http://www.university.edu/webadmin/index.html?erlserver=library&a ccountname=admin&password=sesame http://www.company.uk/webadmin/index.html?erlserver=central http://www.partner.net/webadmin/index.html?accountname=mary 6. Rename the bookmark or favorite to remind yourself of the parameters that have been associated with it. 7. You may choose not to include all of the parameters. For example, If the browser from which you are running WebAdmin might be used by others, it may be unwise to enter the password in the bookmark. Reloading/Refreshing Pages -------------------------- When using applications over the Web, you sometimes need to "Reload" (Netscape) or "Refresh" (Internet Explorer) a page. This is generally done by clicking a button on the browser's toolbar, by using Ctrl-r in Netscape on Windows, by using the F5 key in Internet Explorer on Windows, or by using Command-r on Macintosh. However, this can also be done by invoking a context-sensitive menu, and selecting Reload or Refresh. Because WebAdmin consists of dynamically created data rather than a sequence of static pages, using the button on the browser's toolbar may cause the data you are looking at to be lost. If you wish to reload/refresh, point the mouse at the data to be refreshed, click the right button on the mouse (Windows) or hold the mouse button down (Macintosh), and select Reload or Refresh from the pop-up menu. This will always preserve the data. "Off site" Functionality ------------------------ Earlier releases of ERL administrative tools required the definition of an "off site" file to note those Accounts that are allowed to access ERL regardless of their IP addresses. This is not necessary in WebAdmin. Instead, define an all-inclusive IP Address Set (such as 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0) and assign those Accounts that should have no restriction to that Set. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 3. Late-breaking information =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- There is no late-breaking information. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 4. New Features and Changes in this release =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ----------------------------------- Problems Corrected in this Release: ----------------------------------- * The minor problems with the failure of the keywords "lastyear", "thisyear" and "nextyear" have been fixed for this release, which is now fully Y2K compliant. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 5. Known Issues =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * Lists Not Adjusted After Deletion If you delete all of the Accounts, Portfolios, or Statistical Reports from a list page, a blank page is then shown instead of the remaining section of the list. Use the Previous or Next buttons (if available) to keep on viewing the list. (8270) * Database Menu Headings Need To Be Unique Database Menu headings need not be unique, though this is enforced by the current release of WebAdmin. You can work around this by manually editing the dbmenu.cfg file that belongs to your ERL server. (8706) * Empty Statistical Report Window Minimizing a Statistical Report window may cause it to display no content when it is restored. In this case, reload or refresh the screen as described above in the Operating Hints. (8155) * Database Menu Headings Cannot Contain Certain Characters Currently WebAdmin does not allow you to use the characters, * (asterisk), + (plus sign) or | (pipe symbol) when defining a database menu heading. In addition, you should not use HTML markup in the heading name as this can cause unexpected results and may even cause WebAdmin to stop functioning. (9258) * Timeout in browser with some statistics reports When running some large reports your browser may time out and inform you that there was no response from the server. In this situation it is normal to divide your report into smaller units, which will result in the browser returning the generated data more quickly, thus avoiding the timeout problem. * Statistics reports are CPU intensive Most statistics reports are CPU intensive and should generally be run when your server is not busy. You may experience problems (see above) if running large reports on a busy server. * Incorrect Statistics Sometimes Displayed We are aware of a problem with temporary file names, which sometimes means that incorrect statistics are displayed, even though the calculations are correct. This is caused by the browser displaying information from the cache rather than displaying the newly-generated information. This will be corrected in the next release. In the meantime, clicking Export Contents, Export with Headings, and Format for Print all work with the correct statistics (10019) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 6. Contacting SilverPlatter Technical Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you need further assistance with the WebAdmin 4.01 software, please send an e-mail to support@silverplatter.com or contact one of SilverPlatter's regional offices: UNITED STATES: SilverPlatter Information, Inc. 100 River Ridge Drive Norwood, MA 02062 Tel: 800-343-0064 781-769-2599 Fax: 781-769-8763 ---------------------------------- LONDON: SilverPlatter Information LTD 10 Barley Mow Passage Chiswick, London W4 4PH England Tel: +44 (0) 181 585 6400 Fax: +44 (0) 181 585 6640 ---------------------------------- AMSTERDAM: SilverPlatter Information BV Nieuwe Herengracht 49 1011 RN Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 (0)20-625 96 50 Fax: +31 (0)20-623 74 08 ---------------------------------- BERLIN: SilverPlatter Information GmbH Guentzelstrasse 63 D-10717 Berlin Germany Tel: +49 (0)30-857799-0 Fax: +49 (0)30-857799-99 ---------------------------------- =-=-=-= 25 June 1999