If JavaScript is disabled in your browser, you would not be able to work with the back-end, also front-end functionality will be limited.

Starting from v5.4.0 you get a message that suggests you to enable JavaScript.

In earlier versions, you may experience the following symptoms:

• blank page is shown upon login to the back-end
• category tree, and all menus/buttons do not work in the front-end

How to enable/allow JavaScript in your browser

• Internet Explorer 7/8

Internet Explorer 7/8

Internet Explorer may have restrictions on usage of JavaScript in highly secure environments. JavaScript is required for KMP to run successfully, so if you get blank page after login to KMP in Internet Explorer, you need to check the security settings and allow usage of JavaScript for KMP website.

1. Go to Tools > Internet Options > Security
   
   
2. Select "Trusted Sites"
   
   
3. Click "Sites" below.
4. Click "Add" to add KMP website to the trusted sites list.
   
   

1. Open IIS Manager.
2. Select the website with KMP.
3. Double-click on "Request Filtering".
   
   
   
   
4. Select "Rules".
   
   
   
   
5. Click "Edit Feature Settings".
   
   
   
   
6. In the dialogue window that opens you can see the "Maximum allowed content length" field. It is set to 30 million bytes by default, which allows you to upload files up to almost 30MB. Let's say we want our files to be up to 1GB, then we would need to put "1073741824" there (this number equals 1GB exactly).
   
7. Also make sure that the "Allow double escaping" option is enabled. It must be enabled for correct downloading of files which names contain a space character.
8. Click OK. The new setting is usually applied without restarting IIS.
   
   

Actual PHP versions work with IIS via FastCGI interface. We will explain how to install FastCGI and configure it to work with PHP.

• Installing the FastCGI Extension for IIS 7
• Windows Server
• Windows 7 and Windows Vista SP1
• Download and Install PHP
• Configure IIS 7 to Handle PHP Requests
• Using IIS Manager
• Setting FastCGI Configuration for Optimal Performance
• Configure default document in IIS
• Testing PHP CGI

Installing the FastCGI Extension for IIS 7 / IIS 8

Windows Server

Add the CGI role service by going to Server Manager -> Roles -> Add Role Services. This enables both the CGI and FastCGI services:

Windows 7 and Windows Vista SP1

Add the CGI feature by going to Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off. This enables both the CGI and FastCGI services.

Download and Install PHP

1. Download a PHP package for Windows 
   You need the latest version of PHP v5.6 family. Choose ZIP package VC11 x86 Non Thread Safe.
   
   Warning Box Title
   

   Please note that PHP v7.* and x64 versions are not supported at this time.

2. Extract the contents of PHP zip package to a folder on your server, e.g. C:\PHP\
3. Make a copy of the php.ini-production file and name it php.ini
4. Open the php.ini and setup the following parameters. Every parameter already exists in the php.ini and you just need to find it, uncomment (by removing ";" character from the beginning of the line), and change its value. Make sure that you do not have one of these options specified twice in the php.ini file.
   

   memory_limit = 256M
   post_max_size = 128M
   extension_dir = "C:\PHP\ext"
   upload_tmp_dir = "C:\PHP\upload"
   upload_max_filesize = 128M

   max_execution_time = 600
   max_input_time = 600
   max_input_vars = 2000

   cgi.force_redirect = 0
   cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1
   fastcgi.impersonate = 1

   extension=php_curl.dll
   extension=php_mbstring.dll
   extension=php_exif.dll
   extension=php_gd2.dll
   extension=php_ldap.dll
   extension=php_mysqli.dll
   
   session.save_path = "C:\PHP\session"

   session.use_cookies = 1

   Extensions Loading Order
   

   It is required to load "php_mbstring.dll" extension before "php_exif.dll". Make sure that order of extensions in your php.ini is the same as shown above.

5. Create "upload" and "session" sub-directories in the C:\PHP\ directory. You can use different names, just make sure that they match upload_tmp_dir and session.save_path parameters that you've set in the php.ini.
6. Setup date.timezone parameter in php.ini, for example:
   
   date.timezone = "America/New_York"
   

   Chose your city or at least a city from your time zone.

   You can find the full list of possible date.timezone values on PHP.net website.
   
   
7. Save the php.ini.
8. To test if the PHP installation is successful, run the following from the command line prompt:
   
   C:\PHP>php -i
   
   
   If PHP Fails to Start

   VC9 Versions are compiled with the Visual Studio 2008 compiler and have improvements in performance and stability. The VC9 versions require you to have the Microsoft 2008 C++ Runtime (x86)  or the Microsoft 2008 C++ Runtime (x64)  installed. You may need to download these extensions on old versions of Windows if PHP is unable to start.

Testing PHP CGI

After installing the FastCGI extension, and registering and configuring the PHP CGI, you can use KMP normally.

Restart the IIS server to apply all changes that you've made.

To test, create and request an info.php page in your site that contains the following:

You see something like: 

Note that the Server API indicates that PHP is hosted in FastCGI mode.

1. Create a new text file somewhere, for example in the root of disk C. Name it "cron.vbs".
2. Put these lines into the file with the replacements specified below:
   

   Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

   WinScriptHost.Run "%PATH-TO-PHP%\php.exe %PATH-TO-KMP%\admin\CRON\cron.php %URL-TO-KMP%/", 0

   Set WinScriptHost = Nothing

   
   Replace %PATH-TO-PHP% with path to php executable file (php.exe). Be sure to use "php.exe", not the "php-cgi.exe"!
   
   Replace %PATH-TO-KMP% with physical path (not URL) where you have installed KnowledgeBase Manager Pro.
   
   Replace %URL-TO-KMP% with URL to location where you have installed KnowledgeBase Manager Pro (if open this URL in your browser, you'll see the front-end part of your knowledge base). Please note that website name should not be "localhost", otherwise you would get incorrect URLs in emails that KMP sends - users won't be able to open articles they are subscribed to, etc.
   
   Example #1:
   

   Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

   WinScriptHost.Run "C:\PHP\php.exe c:\inetpub\wwwroot\kmp\admin\CRON\cron.php http://www.yourwebsite.com/kmp/", 0

   Set WinScriptHost = Nothing

   Example #2 (if PHP and/or KMP path contains whitespaces - in this case, you need to take path to double quotes):
   
   Set WinScriptHost = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

   WinScriptHost.Run """C:\Program Files\PHP\php.exe"" ""C:\Inetpub\Some Folder\kmp\admin\CRON\cron.php"" http://www.yourwebsite.com/kmp/", 0

   Set WinScriptHost = Nothing

   
   
   
   
   Warning
   

   Please, do not forget the slash at the end of the last parameter for the php.exe.

   This is correct:
   

   http://www.yourwebsite.com/kmp/

   This is incorrect:
   

   http://www.yourwebsite.com/kmp

3. Go to the Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks.
4. Open Control Panel and type "Schedule Tasks" into the search field.
   
   
   
   
5. You will see the "Schedule Tasks" link. Click on it.
6. Click the "Create Task" on the right pane.
   
   
   
   
7. Give it an appropriate name, e.g. "KMP Cron Task" and set the "Run whether user is logged on or not" radio-button.
   
   
   
    You may want to change user under whom the scheduled task will run.
   
   
8. Go to the "Triggers" tab and click "New...".
9. Set checkbox on "Repeat task every" and enter "1 minutes" to the next dropdown menu (there is no "1 minutes" item, but you can easily enter it from keyboard).
   
   
   
   Click OK.
   
   
10. Go to the "Actions" tab and click "New...".
11. Click "Browse..." to select cron.vbs.
    
    
12. Click OK on both windows and you're done with Cron setup.
13. Open the KMP control panel and go to Administration > General Settings > Auto Related Articles. You may see the following message there previously: "You have to setup cron script in order to use this functionality."
    
    
    
14. This message will disappear after the first run of the Cron script. Click "Recheck"  in about a minute to see that Cron job has been successfully installed.
    
    
    
    

1. Download and install URLRewrite version 1.1 or 2. Installation is fast and simple.
2. Open the IIS manager and check that URL Rewrite is installed.
   
   
   
   
3. Edit the web.config file in the wwwroot folder and add four rewrite rules for KMP to the <system.webServer> section. 
   
   
   Rewrite Rules for web.config
   

    <rewrite>
               <rules>
                   <clear />
                   <rule name="Rule 1" stopProcessing="true">
                       <match url="^kmp/hosts/hosted/(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
                       <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll">
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
                       </conditions>
                       <action type="Rewrite" url="/kmp/hosts/hosted/index.php?/{R:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
                   </rule>
                   <rule name="Rule 2" stopProcessing="true">
                       <match url="^kmp/hosts/preview/(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
                       <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll">
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
                       </conditions>
                       <action type="Rewrite" url="/kmp/hosts/preview/index.php?/{R:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
                   </rule>
                   <rule name="Rule 3" stopProcessing="true">
                       <match url="^kmp/admin/(.*)$" ignoreCase="true" />
                       <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll">
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
                       </conditions>
                       <action type="Rewrite" url="/kmp/admin/index.php?/{R:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
                   </rule>
                   <rule name="Rule 4" stopProcessing="true">
                       <match url="^kmp/(.*)$" ignoreCase="true" />
                       <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll">
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" />
                           <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" />
                       </conditions>
                       <action type="Rewrite" url="/kmp/index.php?/{R:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
                   </rule>
               </rules>
           </rewrite>
   

   
   

   Check Path to KMP

   Please note that the example above works for KMP installed to the "kmp" folder under the web root. If you have installed KMP to another folder, you need to change the highlighted values accordingly (there are 8 of them).

4. You can download an example of web.config file with those rewrite rules from the Attachments section below.
5. Open the URL rewrite tool from your website page in IIS Manager and check that all rules have been added successfully.
   
   
   
   
6. Go to Styling and Front-end Settings to switch URL Rewriting ON and save the new settings:
   
   
7. Open a front-end page in your browser to check if URL Rewrite works correctly now.

A: You can use the following link format to guide user to the login form with already filled login and password fields:

where "login" and "password" should be actual login information.

After opening of such an URL, user just needs to click "Login".

The remote installation API helps with fast deployment of new KMP packages. It assumes that all package files are already extracted from the package and uploaded to the remote server, and all necessary file/folder permissions are set.

Contents

• Creating the Request
  
• XML Reference
  
• Sample XML Request
• Sample PHP Request (Using CURL)
  
• A Successful Installation Response
  
• An Erroneous Installation Response
  
• Error Codes
  
• Installation by Shell Script

Creating the Request

Before launching remote installation of KMP copy, make sure that:

• All files are uploaded on the remote server.
• Correct permissions are set.
• Package is not installed yet.

XML Reference

• xml version - XML declaration which specifies the version of XML being used
• methodCall - The root node of the XML document. It outlines your request
• methodName - type of request. It must be "install.setup" for installation request.
• params - This node contains all parameters that you send
• product_key - Product key for KMP. You can get it from your member area.
• db_prefix - Prefix for database tables (optional)
• db_host - Database server address
• db_login - The username of the Database user
• db_password - The Database password for the above user
• db_name - The name of the MySQL database to install the KMP in to
• acc_login - The username of the knowledgebase administrator
• acc_password - The password to assign the KMP administrator account
• acc_first_name - The first name of the knowledgebase administrator
• acc_last_name - The last name of the knowledgebase administrator
• acc_email - The email address of the knowledgebase administrator
• smtp_host - SMTP (mail) server address
• smtp_port - SMTP server port

Sample XML Request

Sample PHP Request (Using CURL and IXR)

The following sample code is written on PHP with usage of CURL functionality.

You can also find this sample in the KMP package: /examples/installation-api/rpc_install.php

Although it uses IXR as XML RPC library (include 'inc/xmlrpc.php') it is just a sample, and you may use any library suitable for you.

A Successful Installation Response

A successful installation response has the following format.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodResponse>
  <params>
    <param>
      <value>
        <string>Installation completed successfully</string>
      </value>
    </param>
  </params>
</methodResponse>

An Erroneous Installation Response

If an error occurred during installation or server doesn't meet KMP requirements, you will get an erroneous installation message. It includes error code and error message with information why installation cannot proceed.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodResponse>
  <fault>
    <value>
      <struct>
        <member>
          <name>faultCode</name>
          <value><int>-101</int></value>
        </member>
        <member>
          <name>faultString</name>
          <value><string>Not all parameters specified. Following parameters are required: acc_login, acc_password, acc_first_name, acc_last_name</string></value>
        </member>
      </struct>
    </value>
  </fault>
</methodResponse>

Error Codes

The table below outlines all possible error messages for faultCode attribute.

Error Code	Message
-101	Not all parameters specified. Following parameters are required: [list of parameters]
-201	Your PHP version is not compatible. Current PHP version is [current version]. Required version: [required version]
-202	Some of the required modules are missing: [list of missing extensions]
-203	Some of the required custom checks has been failed: [list of custom checks]
-301	File system permissions are incorrect: [list of files with incorrect permissions]
-401	Can not connect to database server
-402	Can not select database
-403	Unknown error while database connection
-410	MySQL error when executing sql dump: [mysql error]
-411	MySQL error when executing sql dump for administrator's account: [mysql error]
-501	Error when setup configuration file
-502	Error when setup file [file name]
-601	Wrong license key
-701	Unable to run installation process because KMP has been already installed

Installation by Shell Script

Installation shell script supports installation of KMP from UNIX shell. Before starting the script:

• Check that server meets the KMP requirements
• Upload files from the KMP package on server
• Setup correct permissions
• Create an empty database for KMP
• Specify correct installation details including database connection parameters, administrator account details, etc in the installation script

If you would like to use a dedicated hosting or host it  on a local server, you can use hardware requirements and example specifications below for a reference.

• Recommended Hardware Requirements
• Example Hardware Specifications
• Maximum Reported Usages
• Technical Overview of Clustering in KnowledgeBase Manager Pro

Recommended Hardware Requirements

On small instances, server load is primarily driven by peak visitors.

5 Concurrent Users

• 1GHz+ CPU
• 512MB RAM
• 20MB database space
• 300MB disk space

25 Concurrent Users

• Dual 2GHz+ CPU
• 2GB+ RAM
• 80MB database space
• 1GB disk space

Example Hardware Specifications

These are example hardware specifications for non-clustered Knowledgebase Manager Pro instances. These values are customer instances reported to us.

Maximum Reported Usages

These values are largest customer instances reported to us or used for performance testing. Clustering for load balancing, database tuning and other performance tuning is recommended for instances exceeding these values.

KMP uses Microsoft's SQLSRV driver, which installs as a PHP extension, to connect to a MSSQL database. This guide explains how to install this driver on Windows with Apache.

Supported PHP versions:

• PHP v5.3.6+
• PHP v5.4.*

Installation

Download the SQLSRV30.EXE file from the official Microsoft website.

Double click on the downloaded file. It is a self-extracting archive. It will ask you where to extract the files. Use a temporary target folder for this, you would need only one of the extracted files.

Check the upacked files. You can see a bunch of them, though you need only one file. You should use the Tread Safe version of PHP with Apache (if you're using a package like XAMPP, your PHP version is Tread Safe). If you're using PHP v5.3.6+, you would need this file:

Or if you're using PHP v5.4+ the file would be this one:

Copy the chosen file to the PHP extensions directory. By default it is C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP v5.4\ext or similar (for the latest XAMPP versions it is C:\xampp\php\ext by default). If you're not sure, check the "extension_dir" parameter in the php.ini file.

To load the sqlsrv dirver, add the following line to the php.ini (for PHP v5.3.6+):

Or

for PHP v5.4+.

Also, you would need to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) on the web server.

Restart Apache.

To determine whether the driver has been successfully loaded, run a script that calls phpinfo().

Search for "sqlsrv" on that page (use Ctrl-F shortcut in your browser). If sqlsrv driver is installed correctly, you should see something like this:

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 R2 Native Client must also be installed on the server on which PHP is running. To download and install SQL Server 2012 R2 Native Client now, click on the link below that matches the Windows edition on the web server:

• Download the x86 package
• Download the x64 package

• Cron Setup
  

Overview

Installing Knowledgebase Manager Pro means uploading files to your web server and completing the simple installation wizard. The wizard will ask you to configure file system permissions, database, administrator account and some other settings.

Uploading Files

To upload Knowledgebase Manager Pro you need to unzip contents of the "package" directory from the latest KMP package onto your local hard drive and, using an FTP client for example, login to your web server and copy Knowledgebase Manager Pro files through. 

To start the setup wizard, navigate to the directory you have uploaded Knowledgebase Manager Pro to. For example if you uploaded files to the "kmp" under the web root, open http://www.yoursite.com/kmp/ in your browser to start.

If you have a blank screen instead of the installation wizard check if JavaScript is enabled in your browser.

If you get a "Don't have permissions" error, check this guide for help.

You will see the following page. Choose language if necessary and click "Apply". 

Enter the product key. You can get it from your account in the member area.

You can skip activation if you're installing KMP on a test server that doesn't have internet connection. To skip product activation leave this field empty.

You must also agree with End-User License Agreement to proceed.

Click "Next" to start the installation.

Requirements

For a successful installation of the Knowledgebase Manager Pro your sever must match the system requirements.

On this step you may be asked to install the required modules.

Curl setup

If you are asked to install Curl, chose follow one of the guides below according to your server preferences:

• Installing Curl on Windows + Apache or Windows + IIS
• Installing Curl on Linux or a UNIX-like system
• Installing Curl on WAMP

File System Permissions

Knowledgebase Manager Pro requires some files and directories to have special permissions set. The exact permissions may vary from server to server however the ones that should work on the majority of servers are: write and read permissions for owner and read permissions for others. It can be set up by chmod 755 (or chmod 777 depending on server configuration) command for folders and chmod 644 (or chmod 666) command for files in UNIX systems. 

Open our guide that describes how to set files and folders access permissions efficiently in a new window or browser tab. It will help you to set necessary permissions right now in a few clicks and it also includes the directions for setting secure permissions after installation.

You cannot proceed to the next step until all the system permissions are set up correctly. If you have some difficulties with this step do not hesitate to contact our support or your system administrator.

Database Setup

Knowledgebase Manager Pro supports MySQL and MS SQL database to store the data. Select a desired database type and then select a PHP extension which you're going to use. If it says that no extensions for your database type are available, learn how to install PHP extensions for databases.

You need to create an empty database on this step.  This is usually can be done within Control Panel or cPanel web interface of your hosting account. If it asks you for character set and collation, please select character set: utf8, and collation: utf8_general_ci (this is needed to MySQL).

Your MySQL or MS SQL user account should also be granted full access to that database (including CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE operators) because installation wizard will need to create some tables and fill this database during the setup process. 

If you do not have MySQL on your server, check this guide to find out where to get it.

For MySQL: the "STRICT_TRANS_TABLES" option must be disabled.

If you're installing it on MSSQL make sure that Full-text Indexing is enabled. This must be done prior to the installation.

If you're using MSSQL, you need to specify an account with SQL Server instead of using Windows Pass-through authentication when connecting to MSSQL.

Host names "localhost" and "127.0.0.1" are common for most servers where web server software (e.g. Apache or IIS) and database are installed on the same machine (it is true for most hosting plans and when you install it on your PC or server), but if the Installation Wizard is unable to connect to the database server with this address, check for your hosting account documentation or contact your ISP or system administrator for correct SQL server name or IP address.

If your database server uses non-default port, you can specify it within the host field separated by colon from the host name itself, e.g. "127.0.0.1:3307"

Tables prefix field should be empty by default. This is optional field that allows you to install Knowledgebase Manager Pro to the database that already contain tables of some other software. Tables prefix is added to a table name without any additional symbols, i.e. if you set "kmp_" as prefix and the table named "accounts" is going to be created, then setup wizard will name it "kmp_accounts".

Click "Test" to check the database connection and if it is successful, click "Next" to fill the database.

System Preferences

On this step you can set up SMTP settings. Default SMTP settings are detected automatically and work on most servers so you do not usually need to change them. If you do not receive test email (check SPAM folder first), you can contact your ISP or refer to your hosting documentation to receive custom SMTP settings. These settings can be changed after installation.

When all corrections are done, click the "Next" button.

Administrator's Account

Here you need to enter your name, e-mail, create login and password and click "Save" button.

Please remember your login and password. You will need them to login to Knowledgebase Manager Pro.

Summary

This is the last step of the installation wizard. Here you can check all the settings and installation results made in the previous steps and setup cron jobs.

In order to complete the installation you should add a task for Knowledge Base Manager Pro pseudo-cron to scheduler application. This step is optional and allows sending of updated content to subscribers, run indexation of knowledge base for automated related articles creation, periodical database backups, and attachments indexation.

Cron setup guides

Chose your platform:

• Windows XP/2003
• Windows 7/Vista/2008
• Linux/UNIX
• Control Panel (e.g. Plesk)

If everything is arranged purely, then you get the green light to finish the installation process by clicking on "Finish" button.

If you get any errors or other issues after installation, please take a look at troubleshooting section. If you can't find the solution there, feel free to submit your question at our support center.

Later, you can check the post installation checklist to enable and configure additional features and fine-tune system preferences.