Setting up development and staging environments

You can set up your Ektron website in the following ways. You decide which configuration is the best fit for your particular situation.

Copying the site and database to other servers

When your project is ready to be tested in house, move the site to a staging server. When the project is ready to go live, move the site to a production (live) server. You can use the same database for all environments. Back up that database often to keep it safe. Alternatively, create a separate database for each server.

To create new environments:

On the same server or a separate server, create new folders for Ektron: C:/cmsstage and/or C:/cmsproduct.
In IIS, create a new domain for each server. http://stage.example.com points to c:/cmsstage and http://www.example.com points to c:/cmsproduct.
If all environments are on the same server, you do not need to copy other folders. But, if you are using a separate server for each environment, copy the c:/assetcatalog and c:/assetlibrary folders to the other servers.
For the database, access the SQL manager and make a backup of the development database. Then, create new databases for staging and production. Finally, restore the backup of the development database to the staging and production databases.
In the staging and production environments, open web.config. Then, update the database connection information so that it points to the new databases.
Test the staging and production environments.

Setting up the certificate for IIS 7

See Configuring Internet Server Certificates (IIS 7).

Updating web.config to use SSL

Open the siteroot/web.config file.

Find these settings.

<add key="ek_UseSSL" value="false" />
<add key="ek_SSL_Port" value="443" />

Set ek_UseSSL to true.
WARNING! If ek_UseSSL is true, but you did not install the certificate to the Web Server, you cannot log into Ektron.
Set the ek_SSL_Port to 443 (unless you specified another SSL port).
Find the following line: <add key="WSPath" value="http://server name/site name/Workarea/ServerControlWS.asmx" />
Change http to https.

Edit the <wsHttpBinding>/<security> element so it looks like this:

<security mode="Transport">
   <transport clientCredentialType="None"   
      proxyCredentialType="None" realm="">  
   </transport> 
</security>

Save and close the file.

Managing web.config

Ektron’s web.config file lets you control many key functions of your content management system. When you install Ektron, web.config is placed into webroot/siteroot.

If your server is currently running another .NET application, you must merge that web.config file with this one. To distinguish Ektron’s tags, they begin with ek_ and reside within the <appSettings> tags of the web.config file.

The following sections show the settings in the web.config file.

appsettings

appSettings

ek_AdvancedWorkflowEnabled. Enables or disables advanced workflow; when set to false the original (basic) approval functionality is available.
ek_appName. The name of the application, CMS400. You typically would not change this value.
ek_appPath. This element is prefixed by the ek_sitePath value and describes the location of the Workarea folder. This file stores external applications (such as eWebDiff), templates, and the images folder.
ek_appImagePath. The folder that stores Ektron images, such as toolbar icons. Only change this value if you need to move the images folder to another location. This value is prefixed by the value in the ek_appPath variable. By default, ek_appPath is set to webroot/siteroot/workarea/. So, by default, this folder is set to webroot/siteroot/workarea/images/application/.
ek_appXSLTPath. The folder that stores XSLTExtensible Stylesheet Language Transformationss. Only change this value if you need to move the XSLT folder to another location. This value is prefixed by the value set in the ek_appPath variable. By default, ek_appPath is set to webroot/siteroot/workarea/. So, by default, this folder is set to webroot/siteroot/workarea/Xslt.
ek_buildNumber. Value set by the installation program. You typically would not change it.
ek_cmsversion. Value set by the installation program. You typically would not change it.
ek_enableLegacyBlogFields. Determines whether the Summary tab displays the 9.00 fields for Tags, Traceback URL and Pingback URL when you create a blog post. In 9.10, the default is false. Setting it to true uses the functionality from 9.00 and earlier versions. (Blog subjects will display but will not allow changes to be saved without setting the value to true.)
ek_LDAPMembershipUser. Integrate membership users with LDAPLightweight Directory Access Protocol; permits access to distributed information. or Active Directory. Set the value to True for Membership Users to be authenticated using LDAP/AD.
ek_RedirectFromLoginKeyName. Provides a mechanism to return from the login page to the previous page, specify the query string key-name. By default the value is RedirectUrl. Currently, the redirect works in 2 instances.
1. When a user tries to use a forum but is not logged in, it sends them to a login page and returns them. The value in this key used in conjunction with the ek_RedirectToLoginURL key sends the user from a forum page to a login page and back to the previous page.
  For example, a user tries to reply to a forum post but is not logged in. The user is sent to the login page, then returned to the original page.
2. A user sends a private message to another user or group administrator from the SocialBar server control. In this case, once the message is sent, the user is returned to the page from which he/she clicked private message.
  For example, you visit a community group’s page and click Private Message Admin. You are directed to the private message screen. When you click post, you return to the community group’s page. For additional information, see ActiveTopics.
ek_RedirectorInstalled. Turns the redirector on or off. Turning the redirector on alloes you to alias your website's URL. The default is False.
- True. Aliasing turned on.
- False. Aliasing turned off.
See also: Creating user-friendly URLs with aliasing.
ek_RedirectorManualExt. Set a comma-delimited list of Web page extensions for which you will create aliased pages. For example, .aspx,.htm,.html. By default, the list contains.aspx. See also: Creating user-friendly URLs with aliasing.
NOTE: You can enter several extensions. Each extension must begin with a period, and the last extension must be followed by a comma (,).
ek_RedirectToLoginURL. The URL of a login page to which to redirect a site visitor who is not logged.
ek_sitePath. The location of Ektron relative to the Web root. This value is set during installation at the Site Path Directory screen. If you move Ektron to another folder, you must update this value.
ek_TreeModel. Choose whether or not to use Ajax for the folder tree in the Workarea.
- 0. use the legacy folder tree in the Workarea.
- 1. use Ajax for the folder tree in the Workarea.
  NOTE: This key has been removed from the web.config file. However, you can still use this key by adding it between the <appSettings> tags. For example, <add key=”ek_TreeModel” value=”0”> changes the Workarea folder tree to legacy.
ek_workareaDateFormat. Choose how to display dates in some areas of the Workarea.
- long. example: Tuesday May 21, 2014
- short. example: 5/21/2014
ek_xmlPath. The location of the xmlfiles directory. The ek_sitePath path is prefixed to this location. Only change this value if you want to move the location of the xml files relative to the Web root.
GoogleMap. Enter connection information for using Google Maps with the Mapping feature in Ektron. See also: Map.
VirtualEarthMap. Enter connection information for using Bing Maps for Enterprise with the Mapping feature in Ektron. See also: Map.

Miscellaneous settings

Miscellaneous settings

ek_assetPath. The folder that stores assetAn external file, such as a Microsoft Word document or image, stored in one of these Ektron siteroot folders: assets, privateassets, uploadedfiles and uploadedimages. An asset can be managed like native Ektron content.s. Only change this value if you need to move the Assets folder to another location. Note that this value is prefixed by the ek_appPath value. By default, ek_appPath is set to webroot/CMS400Min. So, by default, this folder is set to webroot/CMS400Min/assets.
ek_BatchSize. The number of files that can be uploaded at one time. The default is 4, but it can be any non-negative number.
NOTE: Users can upload any amount of files. The system handles them 4 at a time.
ek_CacheControls. Enable or disable caching for Ektron server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.s. See also: Caching with Server Controls.
- 0. Disable
- 1. Enable
ek_EditControlMac. Defines the editor used by a Macintosh operating system user. See also: Changing the default editor.
ek_EditControlWin. Defines the editor used by a Microsoft Windows operating system user. See also: Changing the default editor.
ek_EnableMessageBoardEmail. Set to True to enable e-mail notification when a user posts a message to a user or community group’s message board. If true and a user posts to another user’s message board, the board's owner is notified. If true and a user posts a message to a community group’s message board, all group members are notified. This setting does not affect content messages. See also: Sending notifications to a community.
ek_helpDomainPrefix. The path to the help files. By default, help files are located on an external server and the path is
http://documentation.ektron.com/cms400/v[ek_cmsversion]/webhelp
Change this path if you install help files on a local server. See also: Installing help files on a local server.
ek_InvitationFromEmail. The “From” email address used when a user sends an Invitation. Invitations are emails that are sent to non-system users asking them to join your site. See also: Invite server control.
ek_LinkManagement. This setting determines if Ektron uses linkit.aspx when inserting a quicklink. By default, it is set to false. If set to true, when a user inserts a quicklink, Ektron inserts a special link instead of a quicklink. A special link determines the correct quicklink to use when a site visitor clicks it. For example, a user adds a content block to folder A. A quicklink to that content is a.aspx?id=10. Later, if an administrator changes the folder’s template but doesn’t update the quicklink within the content block, the quicklink is broken. To avoid this problem, enable link management.
ek_LogFileName. Path to the log file name for the message queue
ek_loginAttempts. Ektron has a login security feature that, by default, locks out a user after 5 unsuccessful attempts to log in. See also: Restricting login attempts.
ek_LoginScreenWidth. The width of the login screen in pixels. You may need to widen the screen if you are using Active Directory and database names are long.
ek_PageSize. This setting determines the maximum number of items that can appear on a page before it “breaks.” When a page breaks, additional entries appear on another screen, and the following appears near the bottom of the list:
Page 1 of 2
[First Page] [Previous Page] [Next Page] [Last Page]
NOTE: The above text changes depending on the page you are viewing.
ek_QueueName. Path to the message queue.
ek_ShowWorkareaRetErrorReferrer. Choose whether to enable referrer debug information on the RetError.aspx page.
- True. enable
- False. disable
ek_ToolBarFormatTag. This setting only applies after a user logs in to your site. Change this setting if the colored border that surrounds content looks wrong. (The border color indicates the content’s status.) By default, <table> tags create the border. If the border looks wrong or inappropriate, change setting to div. If you do, <div> tags are used to draw the border instead of <table> tags. This change typically solves the problem.
ek_WorkareaLibSearchResultMode. Sets the Workarea Library search-results mode.
- text. returns a text only version of the library search results.
- mixed. returns text and images associated with library search results.
- graphical. returns a images associated with library search results.
ek_XliffVersion. Define the XLIFFXML Localization Interchange File Format; for exchanging localization data. version to use when exporting files. See also: Exporting content to XLIFF.
WSPath. Determines the location of the Web servicesEktron Windows Service uses Windows Web Services to perform these activities: • Schedules the future publication and removal of content. • Transmits notifications that a sync should be started between the staging and production servers. • In the 3-Tier feature, transfers data between servers. page used by the server controls at design time.

mediaSettings

mediaSettings

Migrating your site to Ektron

This section explains how to migrate your website to Ektron, as follows.

What to copy to your website
Setting up and deploying templates

Setting up a new site

NOTE: You can use the Site Setup utility to perform these tasks by choosing Start > Programs > Ektron > CMS400 > Utilities > Site Setup. See Installing a site.
If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, press the Windows key ()/Q then enter CMS400 Site Setup. Right click and choose Run as Administrator.

Copy application core files. Copy these files from the siteroot/workarea folder into your site folder. These files operate the Workarea, library, and content functions.
Set up the database. Content is stored in a database. To learn how to set one up, see Setting up a database.
Modify application parameters. Modify the web.config file installed to the Ektron site root directory. In that file, update the <ConnectionString> tags to point to your server, database, user, and pwd.
NOTE: If you are using SSL, web.config settings are explained in Setting up SSL.
Create a Login Page. You can either copy the one from the starter site or create your own. See also: Log-in server control.
Log In
1. Browse to the login page you created and click Login. A login dialog box opens asking for a username and password.
2. Enter the admin username and password and click Login. (You selected these while installing Ektron.) You are logged into Ektron.
Modify configuration settings. Click Workarea to modify these settings.
- Set up Active Directory. If plan to use Active Directory, configure this now. The settings for Active Directory can be found in the Settings > Configuration folder. Refer to Using Active Directory with Ektron.
- Modify the Setup screen. The Ektron setup section is located under the Settings > Configuration folder. The setup section lets you configure items such as your license key, style sheet support, and default language. See Modifying setup information.
- Set up Metadata. Ektron includes extensive metadata support. Settings for metadata definitions can be found under the Settings > Configuration folder in the Workarea. You can have as many metadata definitions as needed. See also: Working with Metadata.
- Set up Smart Forms. You can also set up your Smart Forms. You create XML files externally or via the Data Designer. Next, a Smart FormAn Ektron-defined Web page that contains XML (hidden from the end user) to display content, and receive, verify, and save user input. is assigned to content blocks and folders. See also: Working with Smart Forms.
Create Ektron users. If you are not using Active Directory support, add users manually. The maximum number of users is determined by your license key. For instance, if you purchase a 10-user license, you can enter 10 users. If you exceed the licensed number of users, you may get locked out of Ektron. Every user must belong to a group. When you first add a user, the user is automatically added to the Everyone group. You can create more user groups and add users to them as desired. See also: Managing users and user groups.
Configure content and forms folders. Create folders to organize content blocks and forms. Create as many folders as you want. Each folder level can go as deep as you want. See also: Planning your CMS folder structure.
As you create folders, you can assign a default template and style sheet. The default template is used when a new content block is created and Ektron creates a Quicklink that points to the new content block. If you do not provide a default template, it is inherited from the parent folder.
After creating the folders, assign permissions and workflow to them. Permissions can be assigned to a user or a user group. The same is true for workflow.
Best Practice
Limit permissions for the “Everyone” group, as this gives every user permissions to content. Similarly, limit the “Everyone” group’s inclusion in the workflowA core element of Ektron, workflow lets you set up a sequence of approvers who control the publication of content to your website. to restrict which users can publish content.
Create templates. Templates determine the look and feel of the site. Masthead, navigation, and footer graphics are all part of the template. Use server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.s to insert Ektron content into a template. For a list of server controls, see Server Controls.
Best Practice
Because dynamic templates include URL parameters, make each main landing page and other important pages static tags. This makes it easier for you to remember if you need to provide that link to someone.
For instance, each main landing page from your home page could use the static tag. Then, as you go deeper into that section, subsequent pages use a dynamic tag.
Migrate or create content. You can create or migrate your content. If you are migrating content from an existing site, add a new content block, and cut and paste the content into the Ektron editor.
NOTE: All images and files must be uploaded and inserted into the content separately.
Deploy the content. Deployment from development to production is as simple as moving the files over. To properly deploy your new Ektron website:
1. Copy all assets (templates, images, files, and so on) from your development box to your production machine.
2. Move the database. You have 2 choices
  - point your data source on the production machine to the database you were using.
  - copy the database, move it to your production server, and point a data source to that.
Optionally, for email notification to work in Ektron, make sure the SMTP service is setup and running in IIS, and that it points to a valid mail server. See Enabling email notification.

Setting up an additional site

After installing Ektron, it is easy to create another site. While creating the new site, you can create a sample or minimal site and database. To create a site for your content, you typically install a minimal site and database, then create your Web page templates. Later, add users and content.

Set up New Site.
1. Create a new folder in the Web root folder to contain the site files.
2. From the Windows Start menu, choose Start > Programs > Ektron > CMS400 > Utilities > SiteSetup.
  If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, press the Windows key ()/Q then enter CMS400 Site Setup. Right click and choose Run as Administrator.
3. Follow the steps for creating a new site, as described in Installing a site. When prompted to select a folder to which you want to install the files, choose the folder you created in Step 1.
Set up New Database. After installing an Ektron site, it is easy to create a new database. You can create either a sample or minimal database. When creating a database for your content, you typically install a minimal database.
1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Start > Programs > Ektron > CMS400 > Utilities > SiteSetup .
  If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, press the Windows key ()/Q then enter CMS400 Site Setup. Right click and choose Run as Administrator.
2. On the Setup Type screen, choose CMS400 Database Setup.
  —Image—
3. Follow the steps for creating a new database, as described in Setting up a database.
Create Project in Visual Studio.NET. To work with the new site in Visual Studio.NET, you must create a new project for it. To do that:
1. Go to the folder that contains the new site.
2. Double click Ektron’s solution file. If you are using the minimal database, the file is CMS400Min.sln.
  At this point, you can build the project and log in. If you cannot log in because you have not set up the license key, use the builtin account: by default, the username is builtin and password is builtin.
  IMPORTANT: You should only use the builtin account temporarily. As soon as possible, you should insert the license key and log in under a user name assigned in Ektron.
  To learn about creating templates and using server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.s, see Ektron Server Controls.

Supporting multi-site configurations

Ektron’s multi-site support lets you set up and manage several websites under one CMS. (The multi-site support feature does not support multiple databases.) You manage content in the additional sites the same way you work with content in the root site. You log into a root site then begin editing content in an additional site. Regardless of which site you are using, you can use the library to insert common hyperlinks, images, files, and quicklinks.

IMPORTANT: Place any file (such as an XSLTExtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations file) that needs to be shared among sites in a multi-site environment in a virtual folder. Also, you cannot create a quicklink within content, a collectionA list of Ektron content links for display on a Web page., menu, and so on to a form that resides in another site.

In the Workarea, sites appear in Ektron’s folder structure with a globe icon.

A folder to which a production domain is assigned is a domain folder. Links to content in a domain folder are activated via linkit.aspx, which redirects to the appropriate domain name using the appropriate template for the folder or content.

There are 2 ways to install multi-site support. (The automatic setup is easy to use and minimizes issues.)

Creating multiple websites on a single server

NOTE: This text is adapted from Microsoft’s IIS help.

IIS lets you create multiple websites on a single server.

Before adding a website

Adding a website to a server requires careful preparation before running the Website Creation Wizard. Consider these recommendations.

Review the methods of hosting multiple websites, and determine which one is appropriate for your environment.
Multiple websites can use the same IP address. But if you decide to use a unique IP address for the new website, obtain a static IP address from your organization or ISP. Then, configure the server’s TCP/IP settings.
If you use a host header name to identify the new website, select a unique name. On a private network, the host header can be an intranet site name. But on the Internet, the host header must be a publicly available Domain Name System (DNS) name, such as support.microsoft.com. Register a public DNS name with an authorized Internet name authority.
Update your name resolution system (typically DNS) with a new record that contains the new IP address and site name. For more information, see Domain Name Resolution in IIS help.
Standard Internet services use TCP port 80 by default. It is not recommended to use any other port for HTTP services.
If you use a non-standard TCP port number to identify a new website for special situations (such as a private website for development/testing), select a TCP port number above 1023. In this way, the number does not conflict with well-known port numbers assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. (For more information about IANA and port assignments, see List of TCP and UDP port numbers.)
Use Windows Explorer to create a home directory for the content. Create subdirectories to store HTML pages, image files, and other content as needed.
To organize home directories for multiple websites on one server, create a top-level directory for all home directories, then subdirectories for each site.
You can create a home directory
- on the local server
- as a uniform naming convention (UNC) path on a network share
- as a URL that redirects clients to a different Web server
You can also create virtual directories that map to physical directories. For more information, see “Setting Home Directories” and “Using Virtual Directories” in IIS help.
Determine whether to generate the website’s identification number incrementally or from the website name.
Create a home page that clearly identifies the new site.

Adding a website

IIS provides 2 methods for adding a new website.

The Website Creation Wizard
The iisweb.vbs command-line script

IMPORTANT: You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to perform the following procedure (or procedures), or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. As a security best practice, log on to your computer using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the Run as command to run IIS Manager as an administrator. From the command prompt, type runas /user:administrative_accountname "mmc %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\iis.msc".

Balancing the load on your servers

Load Balancing has 2 purposes:

Provides redundancy for your website—if one server fails, a second can handle requests
Balances requests—distributes requests across multiple servers

To enable load balancing, set up several servers that include the same files.

IMPORTANT: The physical path to the Ektron website must be the same on all load balanced servers. Also, sticky sessions must be enabled.

Purchase load balancing equipment to evenly distribute content requests among servers. Then, whenever an image or file is uploaded, regardless of the Web server the user is working on, the assetAn external file, such as a Microsoft Word document or image, stored in one of these Ektron siteroot folders: assets, privateassets, uploadedfiles and uploadedimages. An asset can be managed like native Ektron content. is replicated on all servers.

The client browser is unaware that more than one server is involved. All URLs point to a single website. The load balance software resolves them.

Ektron provides different strategies for load balancing library images and files and DMSDocument Management System; Ektron's way of managing assets (Microsoft Office files and other types of files) assets. See also: eSync in a load-balanced environment.

Setting up a user for the Ektron database

The installation automatically sets up user permissions based on data collected during setup. However, if you have issues with user permissions, this section describes how to install manually.

NOTE: If you are using SQL Authentication, you only need to set up the SQL user. If you are using Windows Authentication, you need to set up IUSR and an IIS_WPG or Network Service user.

In the SQL Server Management Studio, select Security > Logins.
Right click and select New Login.
On the Login dialog, click Search to the right of the Login name field. Network Service
Select your server.
Enter ASPNET, IIS_WPG, or Network Service user (depending on your Windows version).
Click Add then OK.
Select your Ektron database. Then, assign permission to read and write to that database.
Run the grant permission script.
NOTE: Before doing this, review your users and their permissions. Adjust as necessary for your configuration. Also, if you use Windows Authentication and all users are domain users (and the database administrator wants it this way), you may not have to perform this step.
1. Open SQL Server Profiler.
2. Choose File > Open.
3. Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\CMS400vnn\Utilities\SiteSetup\Database\cms400_permissions.sql. (nn represents the release number)
4. Within that file, replace [MACHINENAME or DOMAINNAME\USERNAME] with your domain name, backslash (\), and ASPNET (the ASP.NET machine account). For example, [ws10080\ASPNET].
  NOTE: If you are using Microsoft Windows 2003 Server or Microsoft Widows Vista, the user is IIS_WPG. For example, [ws10080\IIS_WPG]. If you are using Microsoft Windows 2008 Server, the user is Network Service.
5. Click Execute Query ().
6. Replace the text between square brackets with your domain name, backslash (\), and the IIS Internet Guest Account. For example, [ws10080\IUSR_ws10080]. Click Execute Query ().
7. If using SQL server authentication, replace the text between square brackets with the SQL server authentication name only. Do not include the domain name. Click Execute Query ().

Enabling email notification

Microsoft’s SMTPSimple Mail Transport Protocol; an internet standard for electronic mail. service can be set up to send an email that notifies a user when a task (such as approving a content block) was performed or needs to be performed. This section explains how to enable email notification in Ektron.

To process email, Ektron uses CDOSYS. Using Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTPSimple Mail Transport Protocol; an internet standard for electronic mail.) and the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTPNetwork News Transfer Protocol; used for transporting Usenet articles between news servers.) standards, CDOSYS enables Windows applications to route email and USENET-style news posts across multiple platforms. CDOSYS lets authors create and view sophisticated emails using HTML and data sources.

NOTE: If CDOSYS is not installed on the SMTP email server, it tries to use the CDONTS mail server protocol.

For CDOSYS to work, set up the SMTPSimple Mail Transport Protocol; an internet standard for electronic mail. server on your Ektron server or a remote system that sends and receives email. It is good practice to run SMTP on a server separate from your Ektron server. However, your Ektronserver must relay email messages to your SMTP server.

NOTE: To access an SMTP server on a local or remote system, consult your organization's email administrator.

Local. Before setting up an SMTP server locally, install IIS. Below are examples of SMTP server settings on a local system.
```
“ek_SMTPServer" value=“localhost”
“ek_SMTPServer" value=“127.0.0.1”
“ek_SMTPServer" value=“myname”
```
Remote. Set up an SMTP server on a remote system. Below are examples of SMTP server settings on a remote system.
```
“ek_SMTPServer" value=“smtp.example.com”
“ek_SMTPServer" value=“example.com”
```

Use this article to configure SMTP in IIS7: Configuring SMTP E-mail in IIS 7.

Next, configure Ektron to use SMTPSimple Mail Transport Protocol; an internet standard for electronic mail..

Open the siteroot/web.config file.

Find the section with these settings.

<!-- SMTP Server configuration -->
<add key="ek_SMTPServer" value="localhost" />
<add key="ek_SMTPPort" value="25" />
<add key="ek_SMTPUser" value="" />
<add key="ek_SMTPPass" value="" />
<add key="ek_SMTP_EnableSsL" value="" />

Set the ek_SMTPServer value.
Set ek_SMTPPort to the port your system will access to retrieve email. In most cases, the port is 25. If that is not the case, consult your organization's email administrator.
Set ek_SMTPUser to the username that is set up for the SMTP server to send and receive email. Typically, the username is an email address, such as "ek_SMTPUser" value="[email protected]".
This retrieval of email is based on how basic authentication is set up for you. You do not need a username when using a local SMTP server. Check with your system administrator for details. If you are using a remote system for accessing email, you must provide an authenticated username before you can send or receive email.
Set ek_SMTPPass to the password set up for the SMTP server to send and receive email. This password is based on basic authentication. Ektron only accepts encrypted passwords.
To encrypt the password, use Ektron's password encrypting tool.
1. Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\CMS400vxx\Utilities
2. Run EncryptEmailPassword.exe. The Encrypt Utility dialog appears.
  —Image—
3. Enter your SMTP password in the Text field.
4. Click Encrypt. The screen displays an encrypted password.
5. Copy the encrypted password and paste it into the web.config file's "ek_SMTPPass" value.
Set ek_SMTP_EnableSsL to true.
Set IP Address and Domain Restrictions by following these steps. See also: https://portal.ektron.com/kb/10234/.
1. On your Web server, open IIS.
2. Click your website > workarea > services.
3. Click IP Address and Domain Restrictions in the right pane.
  NOTE: If you do not see this option, enable it through your server's Roles, or by adding it as a Windows feature.
4. Click Add Allow Entry for IP addresses or the IP address range that will connect to the server to access the services APIs. Add all IPs for each server, not just the primary.
  —Image—
5. Repeat steps b-d for the workarea > webservices folder and the /workarea/ServerControlWS.asmx file.
  NOTE: To access the features for the ServerControlWS.asmx file:
  1. Right click the Workarea folder and select Switch to Content View.
  2. Locate the ServerControlWS.asmx file.
  3. Right click the file and select Switch to Features View.
  4. Open the IP Address and Domain Restrictions feature.

Customizing Ektron email with tokens

Ektron can send email notification to users, informing them that actions have taken place or are requested of them. For example, a content contributor receives an email that the contributor's content was published. These emails are stored in resource files, where each email consists of one string for the subject and one for the body. To learn about editing the resource file, see Translating the Workarea.

Each message is called in the presentation layer by its message title. Ektron does not support HTML email, however the message text is fully customizable.

The body of an email can include tokens, located between @ symbols. Ektron replaces them with the information for that instance of the email. For example, @appContentTitle@ in the following sentence is replaced with the email’s title.

Before: The content “@appContentTitle@” has been deleted.
After: The content “Home Page Content” has been deleted.

You can customize the emails, move the tokens, add text, rewrite and reorganize.

Before: “@appContentTitle@” has been deleted from the XYZ website.
After: “About Us” has been deleted from the XYZ website.

Carriage Return/Line Feeds are represented by @appCRLF@. These cause the email to move down one line. For example:

Before: The content was approved.@appCRLF@Thank you!
After: The content was approved.
Thank you!

Ektron email tokens

Ektron email tokens are specialized for the type of email message you need to send.

Notify CMS users
- @appApprovalList@. The current approval list that the content block must pass through.
- @appChangeDateTime@. The date and time changes will be updated on the website.
- @appComment@. Displays the comments for the content block.
- @appContentLink@. The link to the content block on the website.
  NOTE: You must be logged in to see the changes.
- @appContentTitle@. The title of the content block.
- @appCRLF@. A carriage return.
- @appDeclinerFirstName@. The first name of the user who declined the content block.
- @appDeclinerLastName@. The last name of the user who declined the content block.
- @appDeletionDateTime@. The date and time the content will be deleted from the website.
- @appEmailFrom@. The address of the email sender.
- @appEmailTo@. The address of the email recipient.
- @appFolderPath@. The location of the content block in the Ektron folder tree.
- @appPassword@. Displays the account password for ResetPassword and RequestResetPassword message types.
- @appSubmitterDateTime@. The date and time the content block was submitted.
- @appSubmitterFirstName@. The first name of the user who submitted the content block.
- @appSubmitterLastName@. The last name of the user who submitted the content block.
Notify discussion board users—Discussion board email.
- @appForumUrl@. The forum’s URL.
- @appHostUrl@. The host site’s URL.
- @appPosterDisplayName@. The display name of the person who posted.
- @appPosterId@. The integer ID of the person who posted.
- @appPosterProfileUrl@. The profile URL for the person who posted.
- @appPostMessage@. The text of the message posted to the discussion board.
- @appPostUrl@. The URL of the post on the website.
- @appRecipientDisplayName@. The display name of the email recipient.
- @appRecipientEmail@. The email address of the email recipient.
- @appRecipientFirstName@. The first name of the email recipient.
- @appRecipientId@. The email recipient’s integer ID.
- @appRecipientLastName@. The last name of the email recipient.
- @appTopicId@. The integer ID of the topic.
- @appTopicTitle@. The title of the topic.
Invite users to participate in a community group—Community group email.
- @appFriendDisplayName@. The recipient's name.
- @appFromUserDeleted@. Token message is from a user that was deleted.
- @appFromUserDisplayName@. The name of the user from whom the private message was sent.
- @appFromUserID@. The ID of the user from whom the private message was sent.
- @appGroupName@. The group a person is being invited to join.
- @appInvitedEmail@. The recipient's email address.
- @appInviteId@. Appends the invite ID to the registration URL. For example:
  Click <a href=http://www.example.com/register.aspx&fInvId= @appInviteId@>here</a> to accept.
- @appMessage@. The Message field of the private message (message body text).
- @appOptionalText@. Text a user types into the Optional Message box on the Invite server control.
- @appPrivateMessageID@. The CMS ID for the particular private message.
- @appSenderName@. The sender of the invitation.
- @appSubject@. The Subject field of the private message.
- @appToUserDisplayName@. The name of the user receiving the message.
- @appToUserID@. User ID of the user receiving the message.
- @appToUserMessageID@. The CMS ID of the recipient's message object.
Notify a subscription list of users through a Web Alert—Web alert email.
- @appComment@. The comments for the content block.
- @appContentLink@. The link to the content block on the website.
  NOTE: You must be logged in to see the changes.
- @appContentTitle@. The title of the content block.
- @appContentURL@. The URL of the content, from the quicklink and domain.
- @appCRLF@. A carriage return. Moves text down one line.
- @appSubmitterFirstName@. The first name of the user who submitted the content block.
- @appSubmitterLastName@. The last name of the user who submitted the content block.
- @appSubscriptionNames@. Comma separated list of subscriptions that a user selected.
  You can insert these membership tokens into the confirmation message.
  - @appActivateId@. Account ID
  - @appAvatar@. Avatar
  - @appDisplayName@. Display name
  - @appEmail@. email address
  - @appFirstName@. First name
  - @appLastName@. Last name
  - @appSignature@. Signature
  - @appUserName@. UserName

Managing logins and passwords

This section describes how to log in and out, restrict login attempts, and manage passwords.

Restricting login attempts

Ektron can lock out a user after 5 unsuccessful attempts to log into one computer. You control login security via the ek_loginAttempts element in the siteroot/web.config file.

Possible values for ek_loginAttempts.

1 through 254. The number of unsuccessful login attempts after which a user is locked out
0. Lock out all users
-1. Disable feature; unlock all locked users
-2. Lock out Ektron users only; membership users can log in

If a user unsuccessfully tries to log in more than the specified number of times, an error appears: The account is locked. Please contact your administrator. After that happens, even if the user enters the correct password, the user is locked out.

NOTE: You can change the error message text in the resource file. See also: Translating the Workarea.

Managing passwords

This section explains various aspects of managing passwords.

Creating a custom password strategy

The Ektron password validation provider lets developers create custom password validation strategies. These providers can enforce custom password rules inside the system, beyond the out-of-box capabilities.

This section explains how to create a custom password validation provider for Ektron.

Create a class library project in Visual Studio.
Import the namespaces you need. Add references to:
- Ektron.Cms.Commerce
- Ektron.Cms.Common
- Ektron.Cms.ObjectFactory
- Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation.dll
- System.Configuration
- Ektron.CMS.User
- Ektron.CMS.DataRW
- Ektron.Cms.Contracts

Add the following using statements.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration.Provider;
using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation;
using Ektron.Cms;
using Ektron.Cms.Common;
using Ektron.Cms.Commerce;
using Ektron.Cms.Commerce.PasswordValidation.Provider;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

Change the namespace to Ektron.Cms.Extensibility.Commerce.Samples, rename your class to CustomPasswordProvider, and inherit from the Ektron.Cms.Commerce.PasswordValidation.Provider.PasswordValidationProvider class and the Ektron.Cms.Commerce.IPasswordValidation interface.
```
namespace Ektron.Cms.Extensibility.Commerce.Samples
{ public class CustomPasswordProvider : 
  Ektron.Cms.Commerce.PasswordValidation.Provider.PasswordValidationProvider, 
  Ektron.Cms.Commerce.IPasswordValidation
```

Add the following constructor.

#region constructor, member tokens
public CustomPasswordProvider() { }
#endregion

Add GetRegexFor methods required by the PasswordValidationProvider base class. These methods return the RegExRegular expression; an alias that creates a pattern. For example, blogs.aspx?blogmonth=3&blogyear=2012&blogid=41 can be a RegEx blogs/2012/03/41. From that, a site visitor can infer blogs/2012/03/40 to see the previous post, or enter blogs/2012/03 to see all March 2012 postss that will validate passwords in Ektron for specific user types.
- GetRegexForMember. Returns one or more regular expressions used for client side validation of membership users, along with corresponding error messages to be used when client-side validation fails.
- GetRegexForAuthor. Returns one or more regular expressions used for client side validation of Ektron authors, along with corresponding error messages to be used when client-side validation fails.
- GetRegexForCommerceAdmin. Returns one or more regular expressions used for client-side validation of eCommerceAs of Ektron version 9.10, Ektron has discontinued new development on its eCommerce module. If you have a license to eCommerce, you will continue to receive support, but if you need to upgrade, contact your account manager for options. administrators, along with corresponding error messages to be used when client side validation fails.
- GetRegexForAdmin. Returns one or more regular expressions used for client-side validation of Ektron administrators, along with corresponding error messages to be used when client side validation fails.
NOTE: This example enforces a minimal requirement for authors/members, and adds a length and diversity requirement for administrators.
```
#region public methods
public override string GetRegexForAdmin()
{ return "[/.{7}/, Password must contain at least seven characters]
    " + ",[/[0-9]+/, 
  Password must contain at least one number]
    " + ",[/[a-zA-Z]+/, 
  Password must contain at least one alphabetical character]
    " + ",[/^[^ \t'\"%#]+$/, 
  Password cannot contain spaces, tabs, single-quotes, 
    double-quotes, percent-signs, or pound-signs]";
}
public override string GetRegexForAuthor()
{ return "[/.{1}/, Password too short]" + ",[/^[^ \t'\"%#]+$/, 
  Password cannot contain spaces, tabs, single-quotes, 
    double-quotes, percent-signs, or pound-signs]";
}
public override string GetRegexForCommerceAdmin()
{ return "[/.{1}/, Password too short]" + ",[/^[^ \t'\"%#]+$/,
  Password cannot contain spaces, tabs, single-quotes, 
    double-quotes, percent-signs, or pound-signs]";
}
public override string GetRegexForMember()
{ return "[/.{1}/, Password too short]" + ",[/^[^ \t'\"%#]+$/,
  Password cannot contain spaces, tabs, single-quotes,
    double-quotes, percent-signs, or pound-signs]";
}
#endregion
```

Implement the ValidateFor methods, which use the regexs to validate passwords. We use the generic function Validate to which we pass parameters.

public override ValidationResults 
  ValidateForAdmin(string password)
  { return Validate(password, GetRegexForAdmin());
  }
public override ValidationResults 
  ValidateForAuthor(string password)
  { return Validate(password, GetRegexForAuthor());
  }
public override ValidationResults 
  ValidateForCommerceAdmin(string password)
  { return Validate(password, GetRegexForCommerceAdmin());
  }
public override ValidationResults 
  ValidateForMember(string password)
  { return Validate(password, GetRegexForMember());
  }
protected ValidationResults 
  Validate(string password, string regexErrorMessage)
  { ValidationResults results = new ValidationResults(); 
    string regex, errorMessage; 
    string[] parts; 
    string[] raw = regexErrorMessage.TrimStart('[').TrimEnd(']')
      .Split(new string[] { "],[" }, StringSplitOptions.None); 
    foreach (string combined in raw) 
    { parts = combined.Split(new string[] { "/," }, 
        StringSplitOptions.None); 
      regex = parts[0].Trim('/'); 
      errorMessage = parts[1].Trim().TrimStart('"').TrimEnd('"'); 
      if (!Regex.IsMatch(password, regex)) 
      { results.AddResult(new ValidationResult(errorMessage, 
        this, "", "", null)); 
      } 
     } 
  return results;
  }

Tell the system whether to enforce password expiration on users. There are 2 requirements.
- PasswordExpirationEnabled. Enabled password expiration globally, which allows the RequiresPasswordExpiration to be called.
- RequiresPasswordExpiration. Returns whether password expiration is enforced for a user.
NOTE: The system handles password expiration dates. Setting PasswordExpirationEnabled and RequiresPasswordExpiration tells Ektron to check and enforce those values.
```
public override bool PasswordExpirationEnabled()
{ return RequestInformation.CommerceSettings.ComplianceMode;
}
public override bool RequiresPasswordExpiration(long userId)
{ return (userId == 1);
}
```
Build the project, and copy the assembly to the Ektron site's bin directory.
Register the provider, and direct Ektron to use it. The siteroot/web.config file lets you manage password providers within Ektron.
1. Locate the <passwordValidationProvider...> tag in the web.config file.
2. Add a reference to the class created earlier in the <providers> key.
3. Change the defaultProvider attribute, as shown below.
```
<passwordValidationProvider defaultProvider="CustomPasswordProvider">
<providers>
  <add name="CustomPasswordProvider" 
    type="Ektron.Cms.Extensibility.Commerce.Samples
      .CustomPasswordProvider, CustomPasswordProvider" />
</providers>
```

Modifying setup information

Prerequisite

You are a member of the Administrators group.

You must complete this before any user can access your Ektron website.

In Workarea > Settings > Configuration > Setup, you can enter or edit information for the Ektron website including:

License keys
Default language
email notification
Physical library folders on file server
Builtin user information
Editor options
Work page size settings
Password Regex

The Application Setup screen appears. Click Edit to modify the settings.

General tab

Version. This number shows the Ektron version and build numbers. This number is important to know if you place a call to Ektron Support.
License Key(s). Enter the license key sent to you from Ektron.
Default Application Language. Select a default language for Ektron. This user’s language determines the screens and messages that appear in Ektron. In the user profile, you can set any user’s language to system default. Each user set to system default uses the language assigned here.
NOTE: Do not confuse the default application language with the ek_ DefaultContentLanguage variable in web.config. For more information on that, see Setting the default language.
System E-mail Address. Enter a valid email address. This address will appear in the From field in the notification emails. See also: Enabling email notification.
Enable Sending of System Notification Email. Check this box if you want notification emails to be sent when triggering actions occur. See also: Enabling email notification.
Server Type: Staging Server. Check this box if you want your library links to refer to the staging server domain, as opposed to the production server domain. This would help you verify that the linked items exist on the staging server. See also: Automatic multi-site setup
NOTE: Checking this box disables the Web Alerts feature on your server.
Asynchronous Processor Location. If your site uses the Web Alerts feature, enter or update the location of the asynchronous processor Web servicesEktron Windows Service uses Windows Web Services to perform these activities: • Schedules the future publication and removal of content. • Transmits notifications that a sync should be started between the staging and production servers. • In the 3-Tier feature, transfers data between servers. file. The default location is “[none specified].” See also: Setting up message queuing and the asynchronous processor.
Enable CMS to create file system folders for library assets. Check the box if you want to create physical folders on your file system server that match the Ektron library folder tree. See also: Creating file system folders with Ektron.
Builtin User. Edit the username and/or password for the built in user. By default, the username and password combination is builtin/builtin.
WARNING! Ektron strongly urges you to change the default password assigned to the builtin user. Opportunities to do this are presented during installation and in the above field.

Workarea tab

The following fields change the default Web page after log-in and the default Workarea page. The default values are automatically applied to all new users, and to all existing users when you upgrade. Normally, you can modify these values for any user via the Edit User screen. But, you can force these values on all users, removing the ability to personalize them.

Landing Page After Login. If you want one page in your website to appear after users log in, enter the URL to that page. If you do, the landing page points to published content, not the Workarea. You can click Select Page to browse to a landing page. The last published version of the page appears. If the page has never been published, nothing appears.
By default, the page from which the user logged in reappears.
IMPORTANT: If you are logging in from the OnTrek sample site, this field is ignored. OnTrek has its own landing page after login, regardless of this setting.
Set Smart Desktop as Start Location in the Workarea. If you want the Smart Desktop to appear as soon as a user enters the Workarea, click this box. By default, the user sees the Smart Desktop after log in. If you leave this box blank, when a user enters the Workarea, the folder of the content specified in the user profile at the Landing Page after login field is displayed.
Force Preferences to all users. To force these settings on all Ektron users, check this box. If you do, users can see the values in the user profile screen but not change them. If you leave this box blank, users can personalize these values in their User Profile.
Enable Verify Email. Check this box if site visitors who complete the membership form are placed on the Users Not Verified list. Upon confirming their interest, these site visitors become membership users. If you do not check this box, site visitors who complete the membership form automatically become membership users. See also: Allowing membership users to self-subscribe.
IMPORTANT: When using the Checkout server control on an eCommerceAs of Ektron version 9.10, Ektron has discontinued new development on its eCommerce module. If you have a license to eCommerce, you will continue to receive support, but if you need to upgrade, contact your account manager for options. site, the Enable setting must be unchecked. Otherwise, new users will receive an error message when they sign-up using this control. See also: Checkout.
Enable PreApproval Group. Use this field to enable Automatic Task Creation. See also: Setting up an automatic task for pre-approving content.

Password Regex tab

Use the Application Setup screen's Password Regex tab to customize Ektron's password security policy, and the error text that appears if a user's entry does not conform to the policy. Ektron provides a default policy and error text. The default policy enforces these criteria:

minimum of 5 alphabetical and numeric characters
at least one uppercase letter

The password policy is enforced if either the Workarea or the API is used to add a CMS or membership user, or an existing user's password is changed.

Additional Password Policy Notes

The policy is not enforced when using the Membership User Reset Password screen. See also: Activating other membership actions.
The policy is not enforced during installation, when you are prompted to enter a password for admin and builtin users. The policy is enforced if you later change those users' passwords.
The policy is not enforced if you are using Active Directory. See also: Using Active Directory with Ektron.

Handling background processing functions with the Ektron Windows Service

Ektron provides a Windows service (EWSEktron Windows Service) to handle the following background processing functions.

Balancing the load on your servers
Bad link report
Scheduling Content to go live at a future time, and removal of content scheduled to expire.
Applying Metadata to content: When a new metadata definition is created, the Windows service applies it to all content in the Ektron database. However, the metadata definition is only activated for the content when it is enabled for the content’s folder.

Also, the EWS propagates updates that are made to the database connection string or the site path in the web.config file. The service copies the new value to the data.config and sitedb.config files, which are located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\EktronWindowsservice40. Any Ektron components that reference these values can retrieve the current information from these files.

The data.config and sitedb.config files are updated once each day at a time prescribed in the updateTime value in C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\EktronWindowsservice40\Ektron.ASM.EktronServices.exe.config. You can change this time.

WARNING! Do not edit the data.config and sitedb.config files. They are dynamically generated by Ektron. If these files have incorrect values, edit the web.config file, which is used to generate them.

The EWS starts automatically when Ektron is installed, and again whenever the server is restarted.

To see the status of the service, go to Start > Computer, then right click and choose Manage.

Windows 7: The Computer Management screen appears. Choose Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services.
Windows 2008: The Server Manager screen appears. Choose Server Manager > Configuration > Services.

If you're using Windows 8 or 2012, press the Windows key () /Q then enter Services.

Look for Ektron Windows Services. You can see its status in the Status column.

On your file system, the EWS is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\EktronWindowsservice40. Within that folder, the Ektron.ASM.EktronServices.exe.config file runs the EWS.

Additional resources

Upgrading the Ektron Windows Service

Setting up development and staging environments

Virtual staging

Same server, same database

Same server, different databases

Separate servers, same database

Separate servers, separate databases

Copying the site and database to other servers

Setting up the certificate for IIS 7

Updating web.config to use SSL

Managing web.config

Migrating your site to Ektron

Before you migrate

Setting up a new site

Setting up an additional site

Supporting multi-site configurations

Best practices for working in a multi-site environment

Automatic multi-site setup

Creating multiple websites on a single server

Before adding a website

Adding a website

Using IIS 7's website creation wizard

Adding a website with a command line script in IIS 7

Balancing the load on your servers

Load-balancing library images and files

Load-balancing assets

Refreshing load-balanced files

Load-balancing status

Setting up a user for the Ektron database

Enabling email notification

Using Google as an SMTP server

SMTP error messages

Automatic email notification

Customizing Ektron email with tokens

Ektron email tokens

email notification tokens

Default Ektron email messages

Sending instant email

Managing logins and passwords

Logging into an Ektron website

Logging out

Restricting login attempts

Unlocking a locked account

Manually locking a user from logging on

Preventing Ektron users from logging on

Preventing all users from logging on

Changing images used for logging in and out

Resolving a problem with the login screen

Managing passwords

Editing the builtin username and password

Ektron's password security policy

Enforcing a password change every 90 days

Enforcing log in after time of inactivity

Enforcing a minimum password

Enforcing a no-match password

Creating a custom password strategy

Logging in through Facebook

Setting up Facebook login

Step 1: Connect Facebook to Your Ektron Website

Step 2: Create or Modify a Facebook Login/Signup Page

Alternative to redirecting to the signup form

Step 3: Place the Facebook login server control on a page

Using Facebook connect extension with the Targeted Content widget

Modifying setup information

General tab

Editor tab

Workarea tab

System tab

Impact on Ektron

Password Regex tab

Customizing the password security policy and error text

Restoring the default password RegEx and error text

Creating file system folders with Ektron

Handling background processing functions with the Ektron Windows Service

Additional resources

Viewing the EWS activity log