The most recent software version is always available at the ObserveIT download site:
www.observeit-sys.com/download.asp

The following instructions will take you step by step through the process of installing ObserveIT using the “One Click” Installer. This installation method is recommended if you are installing all the ObserveIT Server components on a single platform or if you will install the Web and Application Servers on a single platform and have a separate SQL Server platform. For other types of installations, refer to the Custom Install section in the product documentation.

1. Run setup.exe and Respond “Yes” or "Run" to the security warnings.
2. You will see the main installation screen.
3. If you are installing all components on the local server, use “[local]” for the destination server. Otherwise, select the remote SQL Server from the list.
4. If the account you are currently using is a SQL Server administrator, you can use Windows authentication for the installation. Otherwise, choose SQL Server authentication and provide a User and Password with privileges to create databases and user accounts. If you select Windows Authentication as the authentication method you will need to perform additional tasks. Please refer to the product documentation.
5. Either way, you must use a SQL Server or Window login username that has 'dbcreator' privileges at the minimum. The default SQL Server login is "SA" (without the quotes). You can also use a Windows user that has administrative rights on the server.
6. Select the check box to agree to the Terms of Service and click Install to begin the installation.
7. As the installation proceeds, you will see messages about its progress in the text window.
8. The text message area will look like the following example:
   
   OK
   Checking selected Web Site...
   OK
   Checking ASP.NET...
   ASP.NET 1.1 Registered = False
   ASP.NET 2.0 Registered = True
   OK
   ================================
   Databases already installed - False
   Web Console already installed - False
   Application Server already installed - False
   ================================
   ## Installing Databases...
   Databases installed successfully.
   ## Installing WebConsole...
   WebConsole installed successfully.
   ## Installing Application Server...
   Application Server installed successfully.
   ## Installing Client...
   Client installed successfully.
   ================================
   Installation completed !
   
   
9. When the installation is complete, Click on Exit to close the ObserveIT Installer.
10. If there were any errors during the setup, you will be presented with a message describing the error. Please refer to the product documentation for additional troubleshooting information.

If you've used the "One Click Installation" to perform a pilot or test installation on just one server you do not need to manually install the Agent. However, in most normal scenarios, the "One Click Installation" is seldom performed because the Agent needs to be installed on many servers, while the "One Click Installation" installs all the ObserveIT components. If you want to install the ObserveIT Agent separately on the servers that you wish to monitor, please follow these steps:

1. To run the ObserveIT Agent Installer, run the Setup.exe file located in the ObserveITAgent folder which was created when you extracted the setup files from the archive.
2.  When you execute the Installer, you might see a Security Warning telling you that the publisher could not be verified. Click Run to continue.
3. Next, specify a URL to the ObserveIT Application Server, the one which the Agent will communicate with. Click “Next” to continue. If you've made changes to the default port add a ":<port number>" (without the quotes) to the end of the URL. For example, if the ObserveIT Application server was installed on a server named "SRV100", the URL would look like this: "HTTP://SRV100/ObserveITApplicationServer" (without the quotes). Of course you can use the server's FQDN or IP address if required.
4. When the installation is complete, click “Close” to exit.

As specified in the previous topic, the ObserveIT Agent installation is pretty straightforward and only required little user input. However, in most scenarios, the Agent will be deployed on many servers and the manual installation of each Agent will increase the administrative overhead required to deploy ObserveIT. Therefore, the Agent can be easily configured to automatically install itself. This is accomplished by using a batch file. A sample batch file is included in the ObserveITAgent setup directory. The most commonly used parameter is:

/quiet SERVERURL=”http://servername/virtualapplicationdirectory”

This parameter installs the Agent with no user interaction and directs it to communicate with the specified Application Server.

<add new settings such as the password and policy configuration>

If you've used the "One Click Installation" you do not need to manually create the SQL database. However, if you want to install the different ObserveIT components separately, and you now want to create the database, please follow these steps:

1. To run the ObserveIT Database Installer, run the SQLPackage.exe file located in the DB folder which was created when you extracted the setup files from the archive.
2. When you execute the Installer, you might see a Security Warning telling you that the publisher could not be verified. Click Run to continue.
3. On the main installation screen you will select the SQL Server to install to and specify whether to use Windows or SQL authentication to perform the installation. If you are running the installer on the SQL Server console, select “(local)” for the server name.
4. If you select Windows Authentication as the authentication method you will need to perform additional tasks.
5. The “More Info…” button will open another dialog displaying the SQL script that will be used for the installation. If you are using a custom script, you can verify the commands by scrolling down in the script window. Click “OK” to close the dialog and return to the main installation screen.
6. The “Advanced Options” button allows you to change the locations of database and log files, the type of collation that will be used by the databases, the recovery mode and initial database size. These options should only be changed by experienced SQL administrators who understand the effect they will have on database behavior and performance. Click “OK” to save the options and return to the main installation screen.
7. Click “Run” to begin the installation. You will receive a verification message that each database was installed successfully.
8. You have completed the installation of the SQL databases and the ObserveIT SQL user.

If you've used the "One Click Installation" you do not need to manually install the Application Server. However, if you want to install the different ObserveIT components separately, please follow these steps:

1. To run the Application Server installer, run the ObserveIT.Server.Installer.exe file located in the \Web\ObserveIT.Server.Installer folder which was created when you extracted the setup files from the archive.
2. When you execute the Installer, you might see a Security Warning telling you that the publisher could not be verified. Click Run to continue.
3. On the ObserveIT Server Installer main screen you will see a listing of the two available servers. Select the ObserveIT Application Server and click “Install.”
4. You will see a confirmation dialog that you have selected to install the ObserveIT Application Server. Click “Next” to continue.
5. You will now see the opening screen for the ObserveIT Application Server Setup Wizard. Click “Next” to continue.
6. Enter the name of the SQL Server with the ObserveIT databases and ObserveIT database user. If the databases have not been installed, click “Cancel” to stop the installation. The SQL databases must be installed before either the Web or Application Servers.
7. Click “Next” to continue.
8. Specify the name of the Application Server virtual directory and port. The defaults are ObserveITApplicationServer and port 80. Click “Next” to continue.
9. Confirm that you want to install the ObserveIT Application Server. No files have been installed to this point. Click “Next” to begin installing files with the specified configuration.
10. When the installation is complete, click “Close” to exit.

If you've used the "One Click Installation" you do not need to manually install the Web Management Server. However, if you want to install the different ObserveIT components separately, please follow these steps:

1. To run the Web Management Server installer, run the ObserveIT.Server.Installer.exe file located in the \Web\ObserveIT.Server.Installer folder which was created when you extracted the setup files from the archive.
2. When you execute the Installer, you might see a Security Warning telling you that the publisher could not be verified. Click Run to continue.
3. On the ObserveIT Server Installer main screen you will see a listing of the two available servers. Select the ObserveIT Web Application and click “Install.”
4. You will see a confirmation dialog that you have selected to install the ObserveIT Web Application. Click “Next” to continue.
5. You will now see the opening screen for the ObserveIT Web Application Setup Wizard. Click “Next” to continue.
6. Enter the name of the SQL Server with the ObserveIT databases and ObserveIT database user. If the databases have not been installed, click “Cancel” to stop the installation. The SQL databases must be installed before either the Web or Application Servers.
7. Click “Next” to continue.
8. Specify the name of the Web Console virtual directory and port. The defaults are ObserveIT and port 80. Click “Next” to continue.
9. Confirm that you want to install the ObserveIT Web Application. No files have been installed to this point. Click “Next” to begin installing files with the specified configuration.
10. When the installation is complete, click “Close” to exit.

By default, ObserveIT uses SQL authentication to connect to the SQL databases. If your SQL server is not configured to allow SQL authentication, you will need to configure your installation to use integrated authentication (Windows or Active Directory) using the following procedures:

1. On the Domain Controller:
   1. Decide which domain user you want to use for the SQL authentication.
   2. Open "Active Directory Users and Computers" -> select the user -> Properties -> Member Of -> add the user to the IIS_WPG group. Instead, you can add the user to the "Domain Admins" group in order to start with full permissions and reduce them afterwards.
2. On the MSSQL server:
   1. Add this AD user to Security -> Logins.
   2. Add this login as user on both databases ObserveIT + ObserveIT_Data.
   3. Give db_owner database role to both users.
3. On the computer running the ObserveIT Web Console:
   1. Open the IIS Administration tool -> Application Pools -> create new application pool (for example "ObserveITPool").
   2. "ObserveITPool" -> properties -> Identity tab -> select "Configurable" -> type the domain user username and password (from step 1a).
   3. Go to the ObserveIT virtual directory -> Properties -> Directory tab -> select "ObserveITPool" under "Application Pool". Save your settings.
   4. Restart the IIS services by typing Iisreset in a command prompt window.
   5. Using Notepad, edit the web.config file (the file is located under the %systemroot%\Inetpub\wwwroot\ObserveIT\ folder), and the ObserveIT.WinService.exe.config file (the file is located under the %systemroot%\Program Files\ObserveIT\NotificationService\ folder). For example: <add key="ConnectionString" value="Data Source={the name of your SQL server};Initial Catalog=ObserveIT;Persist Security Info=False;Integrated Security=SSPI" />
   6. Give Full Control permissions to the domain user (from step 1a) to the following folders:
   1. %systemroot%\windows\temp\
   2. %systemroot%\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v1.1.4322\temporary asp.net files\. (No need if the user is a member of the Domain Admins group)
4. On the computer running the ObserveIT Application Server
   1. Open the IIS Administration tool -> Application Pools -> create new application pool, (for example "ObserveITAppServerPool").
   2. " ObserveITAppServerPool " -> properties -> Identity tab -> select "Configurable" -> type the domain user username and password (from step 1a).
   3. Go to the ObserveITApplicationServer virtual directory -> Properties -> Directory tab -> select " ObserveITAppServerPool" under "Application Pool". Save your settings.
   4. Restart the IIS services by typing Iisreset in a command prompt window.
   5. Using Notepad, edit the web.config file (the file is located under the %systemroot%\Inetpub\wwwroot\ObserveITApplicationServer\ folder). For example: <add key="ConnectionString" value="Data Source={the name of your SQL server};Initial Catalog=ObserveIT;Persist Security Info=False;Integrated Security=SSPI" />
   6. Give full permissions to user to
   1. %systemroot%\windows\temp\
   2. %systemroot%\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v1.1.4322\temporary asp.net files\. (No need if the user is a member of the Domain Admins group)

Although ObserveIT supports both SQL Server Authentication and Windows Integrated Authentication, using Windows Integrated Authentication requires you to perform some additional steps, thus making the process of installing ObserveIT a bit more complicated. That is why it is sometimes easier to configure the SQL Server to work in both SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode, also known as "Mixed Mode". In order to do that follow these steps:

1. In Microsoft SQL 2005.
   1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
   2. Right-click the server object and select Properties.
   3. Click Security.
   4. Under the Server Authentication section, select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode.
   5. Click Ok.
   6. This requires a restart of the SQL Server service.
2. In Microsoft SQL 2000
   1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
   2. Right-click the server object and select Properties.
   3. Go to the Security tab.
   4. Under the Server Authentication section, select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode.
   5. Click Ok.
   6. This requires a restart of the SQL Server service.

Upgrades are installed over previous versions retaining all settings and configuration. Although hardly likely to cause any issues, it's always a best practice to make sure you have a good and working backup of your SQL database before upgrading. In order to upgrade your existing version of ObserveIT, you will need to upgrade the Database, Application and Management components, plus all the ObserveIT Agents that are deployed in your organization.

The Web Console is available using a web browser and connecting to http://servername/ObserveIT.
While highly unlikely, if you've changed the Web Console directory or port using a custom installation, use the correct virtual directory name instead of “ObserveIT”.
If you are logged in at the console of the server where the Web Console is installed, you can access it from the Start Menu under All Programs, ObserveIT.

The default Operator credentials are:

• User Name: admin
• Password: admin
  (Note that passwords are case sensitive)

If the machine on which the agent has been installed is NOT part of an Active Directory domain, at this point of the configuration process, the only available Authentication type will be "Only ObserveIT.Authentication". On the other hand, if the machine is a member of a domain, you will be able to log on as one of your domain users.
Enter the User Name and Password and click “Enter” to continue.

When multiple users have access to a generic account (for example - Administrator), it can be difficult, even impossible. to identify the actual person using the account. ObserveIT Identification Services allows you to force users to further identify themselves against any LDAP data source of ObserveIT’s internal accounts database, with the use of an additional user name and password prompt. In order to configure the ObserveIT Identification Services please follow these steps:

1. Use the "Configuration -> Logins -> To Identify” view to specify these generic accounts. Refer to the LDAP Configuration section in order to setup the LDAP connection.
2. Enter the Domain (* for all) and the User Name and click “Add.”
3. You will see the user name added to the list. Note: The "To Monitor" tab lists the users that should be monitored on the servers running the agent. In order to learn more about this tab please read the Limit monitoring to specific users section.
4. Now, users will have to authenticate with the ObserveIT Identification Service when they login using an account on the list.

To allow Windows Authentication with Active Directory, you will need to identify the Domain, User Name and Password to use to access that domain. Note that this configuration is only required when the server is NOT a part of the domain. Please follow these steps:

1. Enter the information on the Configuration > LDAP Settings view.
2. Enter the LDAP Path, User Name and Password, then click "Add & Verify".
3. You will see the connection added to the list if the Domain and credentials were valid.
4. Once the LDAP connection is established, the domain appears in Configuration > Logins view, on Web Console Login Screen, and on the ObserveIT Identification Services Screen.

In order to allow ObserveIT to send messages to the configured Administrators (also known as "Logins"), you will have to configure SMTP communication information. Please follow these steps:

1. Go to the Configuration > SMTP Settings view.
2. Enter the name or IP address of the SMTP server, a "Mail From" e-mail address and a User Name and Password to authenticate with the SMTP server. Click “Update” to save the settings.
3. To test the configuration, enter a valid e-mail address and click “Send” to send a verification message.

By default, after installation, the Agent runs and records all actions that are performed on the server it is installed on. However, as an Administrator, you can easily disable the agent from recording. The default state is “Enabled.” Selecting the “Disabled” checkbox will prevent the Agent from monitoring the selected server.
To enable or disable the agent's recording status, go to Configuration > Servers and select or un-select the "Enabled" check-box.

The Agent runs in one of two modes: silent, or with a tray icon.

• Silent: No icon is displayed in the System Tray. In order to hide the tray icon just clear the "Display Tray Icon" check-box.
• Tray icon: A tray icon showing the recording mode is displayed at the start of every session. If the icon is grayed-out then there is a problem with the recording. Please refer to the Troubleshooting section for more information.

To add or remove the tray icon, go to Configuration > Servers and select or un-select the "Display Icon Tray" check-box.

The ObserveIT health check system monitors each agent, as well as the Application and Database Servers to verify that all components are functioning and communicating properly. In case of a malfunction with the agent, the administrator can be alerted.

You can use the Identification Services to specify certain Login IDs that require a second challenge-response login identification. This feature is most commonly used in order to identify the actual user when someone logs in as "Admin" (or some other generic login ID). In order to do that follow these steps:

1. Go to Configuration > Servers and check the "Require Login" checkbox in the Identification Services area.
2. Next, create a list of logins that should trigger an ObserveIT login screen. Click on the "Manage List" icon.
3. In the Logins to Identify screen, specify the domain (* for all domains) and user name. Click the "Add" button.
4. After configuring the Logins that you wish to identify, once a user logs on, they will be displayed with an ObserveIT logon screen.

By default, ObserveIT monitors the activity of every user that is logged on to the console of the server/workstation where an agent is installed, or via any Remote Desktop or Terminal Services/Citrix session to that server. However, it is possible to configure the Agent to monitor only selected users. In order to do that follow these steps:

1. Go to Configuration > Servers and check the "Limit monitoring to specific users" check box.
2. Next, create a list of logins for users that you want to record. Click on the "Manage List" icon. In the following screen, specify the domain and user name. Click the "Add" button.

By default, ObserveIT monitors every application that is accessed and run on the console of the server/workstation where an agent is installed, or via any Remote Desktop or Terminal Services/Citrix session to that server. However, it is possible to configure the Agent to monitor only selected applications. In order to do that follow these steps:

1. Go to Configuration > Servers and check the “Enable application monitoring” box and add the applications from the drop down menu. When done, press "Update". Note: The applications that are listed in the drop down menu include any application that was run and monitored by ObserveIT. If you wish to add additional applications, they need to be run on any monitored server. ObserveIT will then add it to the drop down automatically.
2. If the checkbox is not selected, ObserveIT will record all user activity.
3. If you wish to remove certain applications from being monitored, just click to select the right check-box next to the right application, and press "Delete".

By default, only one user can access the ObserveIT Web Management Console, and that is the Admin user that is created by default. You can, and should, create additional administrative users that can access the configuration and/or view recordings. In order to do that follow these steps:

1. Select the Configuration View by clicking the “Configuration” tab.
2. The first post-installation configuration task is to create an additional Administrator Login to use for daily ObserveIT administrative tasks. Enter the Name and Password and click “Add” to create the new Login.
3. Now that you have created a new Login account to use, and changed the Admin password, log out of the Web Console and log in again using the new Login account.

Because the default password for all ObserveIT installations is identical, it is highly recommended that you immediately change the Admin password for production installations right after you finish the initial installation phase. As a best practice, you should also create a separate Login account for each ObserveIT administrator, and use those accounts instead of Admin. To change the Admin password follow these steps:

1. Click on the Admin user in the Operators list to display the User Details page.
2. Enter the new password, confirm it and click “Update.” Next click “Close” to exit the User Details page.

All the data captured by ObserveIT for Servers along with the configuration data is stored within a Microsoft SQL database. By utilizing your existing backup solutions you can easily backup your SQL server, and thus protect your ObserveIT data and configuration. Please consult your backup software manual for information on how to backup the SQL server.

When ObserveIT's Agent runs on the monitored servers, it uses very little resources such as CPU network bandwidth, but only while the user is actively interacting with the system. During idle time, which usually comprises of approximately 95% of the session time, there is no CPU or network usage impact on the monitored server. Nevertheless, you can configure the ObserveIT Agent to consume less CPU and network bandwidth by changing three settings that affect the overall ObserveIT performance. These settings are related to the frequency that data is collected and the amount of storage required:

• Image Format:
  • Color - Requires no additional CPU resources to do compression, more data stored per screenshot and higher network bandwidth utilization.
  • Gray Scale Server Compression - Requires additional CPU resources on ObserveIT Application Server to do compression, less data stored per screenshot, higher network bandwidth utilization (default)
  • Gray Scale Client Compression - Requires additional CPU resources on Agent server to do compression, less data stored per screenshot, lower network bandwidth utilization
• Session timeout: period of user inactivity in minutes after which the Agent will stop monitoring.

Each of the separate ObserveIT component setup programs will generate log files that contain detailed information about the progress and results of each installation process. If you are experiencing a problem installing ObserveIT, our support may ask you to send the contents of these files to assist in troubleshooting. Some of the files are stored in the setup directory, while others are located in the subdirectories under %systemroot%\Program Files\ObserveIT\ folder.

While ObserveIT's installation, usage and management are very easy and in most cases - trouble-free, we recognize the fact that some network and software settings on the environments that you're planning to install ObserveIT may differ slightly from our recommendations. In order to assist you to troubleshoot ObserveIT usage issues and to limit the number of manual checks you need to perform, the ObserveIT support team has created a special utility that, when run, will automate the collection of important system configuration information from your machine, database and application servers, and from the Windows operating system. All this information is displayed for you to view, and does not contain any sort of personal information that might compromise your privacy and security. You can easily view this information before sending it to support. However, by sending it to us, our support team will be able to quickly determine if there are certain system, network or database changes that need to be performed in order for ObserveIT to function properly.

In order to begin the information collection process please run the <insert file name> from the Bin folder.

Here is a sample of the information gathered (some of the information was snipped in order to make the output shorter):

ObserveIT Version = 3.21.1.0
Checking RAM...
RAM = 4293246976
------------------------
Checking .NET Framework...
.NET Framework 1.1 = True
.NET Framework 2.0 = True
------------------------
Checking Registry Entries...
Registry - Run Startup = True
Registry - Disable Local Machine = False
Registry - Disable Current User = False
Registry - RestrictRun policy enabled = False
Registry - ObserveIT.Client.exe in RestrictRun program list = False
Registry - ObserveIT.Capture.exe in RestrictRun program list = False
------------------------
Checking Key Files...
ServerSettings.xml Exists = True
ObserveIT.Capture.exe Exists = True
ObserveIT.Client.exe Exists = True
Trace Exists = True
------------------------
Checking ServerSettings.xml...
ServerSettings.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ServerSettings>
<ServerId>GUID</ServerId>
<InventoryRegistered>1</InventoryRegistered>
<SoftwareRegistered>
</SoftwareRegistered>
<HostServer>http://192.168.1.200/ObserveITApplicationServer</HostServer>
<MonitorMode>2</MonitorMode>
<SessionTimeout>15</SessionTimeout>
<CurrentCulture>en-US</CurrentCulture>
<PicRate>2000</PicRate>
<ApplicationToMonitorStatus>0</ApplicationToMonitorStatus>
<WebConsoleUrl>http://SQLSERVER01:80/ObserveIT</WebConsoleUrl>
<ImageFormat>2</ImageFormat>
<MonitorStatus>1</MonitorStatus>
<MonitorNetMeetingOnly>0</MonitorNetMeetingOnly>
<DisplayTrayIcon>1</DisplayTrayIcon>
<EnableHotkeys>1</EnableHotkeys>
<SaveLastUsedCredentials>1</SaveLastUsedCredentials>
<ApplicationToMonitor>
</ApplicationToMonitor>
</ServerSettings>
HostServer = http://192.168.1.200/ObserveITApplicationServer
ServerId = GUID
------------------------
Checking Traces...
latest client trace C:\Program Files\ObserveIT\ObserveITAgent\bin\..\Trace\Client(3.21.1.0).5C064F04-DFD4-4075-8428-D6D3D1277CAD.txt = 2008-06-03 12:34:07.213 ThreadId: 7028 ### OS ###
2008-06-03 12:34:12.985 ThreadId: 7028 OSVersion: Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6001.0
2008-06-03 12:34:12.985 ThreadId: 7028 ##########
------------------------
Checking License Status...
License Status = Demo
------------------------

To obtain a license key, please contact ObserveIT Customer Support at: support@observeit-sys.com

1. The first time you access the Web Console, you will need to activate the product. Click the “Browse” button to get a list of files.
2. Find the license file provided to you by ObserveIT Software when you registered the product.
3. Click “Activate” to use the specified license file. If you do not have a license file, please contact Support to get a Demo license or your sales representative to get a full license. When you product has been activated, you will be taken automatically to the Web Console Login Screen.