Installation Manual
LabCollector Complete Installation Manual
For Windows 2000
LabCollector works exactly like a web site, even if you want it confined to your local
network.
Requirements:
A Web Server
Local network or Internet access
Step 1: Web Server or Intranet server configuration
You can have LabCollector installed:
Locally on a computer with web server capabilities
or have it installed on a user local account opened on the company server. This is
a simple solution, but execution speed will be lowered.
or it can be hosted on a normal web hosting provider or ISP (used to host common
web sites on th eInternet). You access it as a normal Internet web site. This is the
easiest installation method but the slowest in execution speed (depends on your
internet access bandwidth).
Here we will deal with the process of installation in a computer inside your local
network.
1. Install IIS Web Server (Windows 2000):
If your IIS web server has not been installed with Windows 2000, you can do it now.
Otherwise jump this step.
Start >> Settings >> Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs
In the “Add/Remove Programs” window select “Add/Remove Windows Components”.
You get a new window:
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Check the “Internet Information Services (IIS)” and click Next. Follow instructions till
the end.
Your web server should be installed and running now.
2. Activate and configure IIS Web Server (Windows 2000)
- Confirm that IIS is running
Your computer running under Windows 2000 may already have the Web Server in place.
Confirm it by calling it from Internet Explorer: call in the URL prompt for the computer
name (the one used to identify it over the local network).
<= http://computername
If you get an error, it means that the web server may not be started, or you don’t have a
home page. We will see in the following lines how to start the web server.
- Now we will check IIS configuration:
Open Control Panel and select Administrative Tools:
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Then select “Internet Services Manager”:
A new window will open.
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In the left tree, you can open the sub-branches, to let appear the different services you
have. The second one is the web server, usually called “Default Web Site”.
If you select the “Default Web Server” item in the tree, you will see the start/stop
controls in the top bar. A black square means it is running and you can stop it. If you see
a black triangle, you have to click on it to start IIS web server.
Once the web server is selected in the left tree, you can access its properties by the Action
Menu item or with the right button of your mouse. You get:
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Default values should be sufficient. You probably don’t have to change anything, except
the IP address item. Write the IP address of your computer.
TIP: How to get the IP address?
Click Start >> Run …
Write cmd and hit return
A new black window opens: write ipconfig and hit return:
You have your computer IP address.
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Now you have to edit the web server home directory. From the Web Server properties
window, click the “Home Directory” tab.
Here you will define where the web server will look for files. This is where you will have
LabCollector files. You have to create it first.
Select “A directory located on this computer” and write the path to it.
Now we will configure document access. Click on the “Documents” tab:
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Click Add button and write index.php in the pop up field box. Click OK. Now index.php
is in the list of documents. Select it and click on the up arrow to move it up to the top of
the list.
Click OK.
Your web server is working now!
We will test it later, once LabCollector is installed.
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Step 2: PHP and mySQL installation
PHP:
Now we will install PHP language engine. Visit www.php.net for the latest installation
binary. Go to the download page (http://www.php.net/downloads.php) and download the
Installation pack in the Windows Binaries section (PHP Installer).
Once downloaded, execute it and follow instructions. Select IIS web server as your
server. It should be straightforward.
MySQL:
MySQL is a also simple to install. Visit www.mysql.com for the latest installer. Go to the
“MySQL database server & standard clients” in the downloads section.
Choose the latest stable release available. Download it to your computer. You will access
a download page, go down until you find Windows downloads and download the
Installation files in ZIP format.
Once saved on your computer, extract the ZIP installation file to a new mysql folder (ex:
c:\mysql) that you created. Execute setup.exe from these extracted files. Follow
instructions till the end.
One more step is required to activate the mySQL server as a Windows service, which
starts it automatically after each computer reboot.
Click Start >> Run …
Write “C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-nt --install” and hit return
Replace c:\mysql by the folder name where you have installed mySQL.
Now, mySQL server is a Windows service and should be started. Check it in:
Control Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Services
In the services list, you should have a mysql item, which should be started. If not started,
click on the “Play” icon in the bar.
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Step 3: LabCollector installation
1- Uncompress the LabCollector ZIP you downloaded to a temporary folder (ex:
c:\labcollector). Move the files and folders from the HTML folder to the web server
root folder.
2- Or copy the LabCollector files in the HTML folder if you got the CD-ROM to the
web server root folder.
3- You have now to install the “loader” file. On the extracted files or in the Labcollector
CD-ROM, you have a loader folder. Copy the loaders folder to your labcollector root
folder.
Open PHP.INI and write at the end (then save the changes):
zend_extension_ts=C:\labcollector\loaders\4.2.x\ioncube_loader.dll
Note: 1) PHP.INI file is located inside the Windows system folder, usually: c:\WINNT
2) Choose the correct loader folder, according to the version of PHP you installed.
For the last version of PHP, which is greater than 4.2.3, use the loader inside 4.2.3 folder.
4- Open Internet Explorer
5- Execute in it the install.php file from the web server root folder. You can do that by
writing in the URL prompt field of Internet Explorer:
http://[network computer name]/install.php
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6- Fill the form fields. You probably can keep the default values:
Database server address: “localhost” - This probably is correct for you.
It means that your using your local computer. If not, indicate where is the
database (can be on a remote internet server)
Database name: “labcollector” - You can change this, but is irrelevant.
Database user name: “root” – If you installed mySQL server and did not
change settings, you can leave it as “root”. If you changed it or want to use
another mySQL user name, write it here.
Database user password: “EMPTY”. If you installed mySQL server and
did not change settings, you can leave it empty. MySQL default settings
have no password. If you changed it or want to use another mySQL user
name, write the correct password here.
Your LabCollector is now installed and ready to be accessed. To access it, use:
http://[network computer name]
You can access the administration part by clicking on the [admin] link item in the left
part of the screen, or calling directly:
http://[network computer name]/admin.php
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For the first time login, you will use:
Login: admin
Password: admin
You will enter Administration Area:
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You will notice that you are in DEMO mode. DEMO mode is not limited in time, rather
being limited in functions availability.
DEMO mode only allows Plasmids management. You can add up to 3 Plasmids in the
database.
-
If you want to purchase a license, you need to get your Machine Key
from LabCollector.
If you already purchased a license, you can unlock LabCollector.
Or you can try the demo.
Get the Machine key from LabCollector:
Go to license section:
In that section, you can read and copy the Machine key, specific to your computer. You
will need it to activate your license. When you order a license, please indicate it.
Unlock LabCollector:
Once you receive the lincense key, you can unlock LabCollector. For that just copy and
paste it into the License Number field in the License area.
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