Installing ShopSite on a Windows Server

It's easy to install ShopSite shopping cart software on a Windows server; all you need is administrative access and an FTP program.

Overview

The process of installing a new ShopSite store on a Windows server includes the following phases:

1. Preparing to Install
2. Additional Preparations for Windows Server 2008
3. Obtaining Installation Files
4. Uploading Installation Files
5. Running the ShopSite Installer
6. Upgrading from a Previous Release
7. Adding Stores
8. Enabling New Features
9. Access Logging for PCI Compliance
10. Troubleshooting

Preparing to Install

If you are running a typically configured web server, ShopSite only requires minor configuration changes in order to run. Before you get started, you should be aware of the following requirements:

• ShopSite runs on a variety of Operating Systems and web servers. See the ShopSite System Requirements to make sure you have a compatible web server.
• If you choose to use basic authentication instead of ShopSite Login to control user access to ShopSite, your Web server must be using NCSA compatible user authentication. Most Web servers, including Apache and Microsoft IIS, should already be configured to do this.
• In order to view store reports in ShopSite, you must have your server configured to store the web logs in NCSA Common Log file format. See Enabling NCSA Common Log Format for IIS to learn how you can do this.
• In order to comply with PCI Security Requirements, you must have SSL (secure connections) configured and working on your Web server, and you must configure ShopSite to use SSL. Additionally, PCI compliance requires that the OS and web-server support and implement an active access log. For information on enabling and configuring access logging in IIS on Windows Server 2008, see this knowledgebase article. For information on enabling and configuring access logging in Apache Web Server on CentOS, see Apache's documentation.

Before you begin the installation process, you should plan out where you want to place the various files and folders ShopSite uses. You do not need to create any of these folders at this time, but you should decide where they will be and make sure they will have the required access. ShopSite will let you put the folders wherever you want, and you can name them however you wish, as long as the folders have the appropriate access rights for the web server. There are three types of folders that you will need to plan for:

• CGI Folders
  ShopSite uses numerous CGI programs, which must be allowed to run from a web browser. The ShopSite install utility will automatically place these folders underneath your store document root directory:
  • Shopping Cart Folder - this is the folder where the shopping cart CGIs will be stored.

    Example File System Path: C:\Program Files\ShopSite\mystore\sc
    Example URL: http://www.mystore.com/sc/

  • ShopSite Back Office Folder - this is the folder where the back office CGIs will be stored.

    Example File System Path: C:\Program Files\ShopSite\mystore\ss
    Example URL: http://www.mystore.com/sc/

• HTML Folders
  ShopSite stores static content in HTML folders, which must be viewable from a web browser. The ShopSite install utility will automatically place these folders underneath your store document root directory:
  • Store Pages Folder - this is the location where your store pages will be placed. This is usually the same as your site document root directory, and must match the store URL in your Auth file.

    Example File System Path: C:\Program Files\ShopSite\mystore
    Example URL: http://www.mystore.com/

  • Store Media Folder - this is where your store images will be placed.

    Example File System Path: C:\Program Files\ShopSite\mystore\media
    Example URL: http://www.mystore.com/media/

  • ShopSite Images Folder - this is where the ShopSite back office images will be placed.

    Example File System Path: C:\Program Files\ShopSite\mystore\images
    Example URL: http://www.mystore.com/images/

• Data Folder
  The store data folder is where the databases and store configuration files are located. This folder must be accessible to the web server, but it should not be accessible from a Web browser. This is an essential requirement for PCI Security Requirements.

  Example File System Path: C:\Program Files\ShopSite\data\mystore
  Not accessible using a URL.

Additional Preparations for Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 requires a few additional steps before ShopSite will work as intended. Use the following steps to add the Web Server Role Service and CGI role service, allow CGI services to run on the Server, and, if instructed to do so, add the IIS 6 compatibility service.

• Add the Web Server Role Service (for a new OS install or when Web Services is not installed)
  1. In the Roles Summary section, click Add Roles, and then in the left panel click Server Roles.
  2. In the list of Server Roles, check the box for Web Server (IIS). If prompted for confirmation to add required features, click the Add Required Features button.
  3. Click Next. Read introductory information if you wish, and then click Next again.
  4. Select the role services or features to install for Web Server (IIS):
     
     1. In the Application Development group, check the box for CGI.
     2. In the Security group, check the box for Basic Authentication.
     3. In the Management Tools group, check the box for IIS Management Console.
  5. Click Next. Review the selections to make sure that all of the above services or features are listed, and then click Install.
  6. Click Close when installation is complete.
• Add the CGI Role Service
  1. Run Server Manager
  2. In the left panel click Roles and wait a few seconds for the information to be displayed. Then in the right panel scroll down to find the Web Server (IIS) category. In the Role Services box, look for CGI in the Application Development group and check the CGI status.
  3. If the CGI role service is not installed, click “Add Role Services”. In the Application Development group, check the CGI box and click Next, and then Install. The install process may take a few minutes to complete. When it finishes, click Close and then Cancel to exit the wizard.
• Allow CGI Services to Run on the Server
  1. Run Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, or in Server Manager expand Roles, then Web Server (IIS), and then click on Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. In the Connections box, click on the machine name in the tree view.
  3. In the IIS box double-click the “ISAPI and CGI Restrictions” icon (or right-click and select “Open Feature”.
  4. In the panel to the right, click “Edit Feature Settings”.
  5. Check the box for “Allow unspecified CGI modules” and click OK.
• Add the IIS 6 Compatibility Service (only perform these steps if instructed to do so by your support provider)
  1. Run Server Manager.
  2. In the left panel click Roles and wait a few seconds for the information to be displayed. Then in the right panel scroll down to find the Web Server (IIS) category. Scroll down further to find the Management Tools group.
  3. Under IIS 6 Management Compatibility, check the install status for IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility.
  4. If IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility is not installed, click “Add Role Services”. Look for the IIS 6 Management Compatibility group and check the box for IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility. Click Next and then Install. When the install finishes you may have to reboot the server.

Obtaining Installation Files

Once you are ready to install ShopSite, you need to obtain the installation files. Each ShopSite store requires a unique Auth file in order to run. See the Auth File Help for information about what an Auth file is and how to obtain one. When you get the Auth file, you should save it on your local computer in a place where you will be able to find it later. Be sure to use ASCII (text file) format any time you use FTP to transfer your Auth file.

ShopSite partners can obtain the program installation files directly from ShopSite by following the instructions below. You will need the partner ftp username and password you were given when you signed the partner agreement. Make sure you have them ready before you start.

FTP to the ShopSite Support FTP server and download the installation files using one of the following methods:

• Using an FTP client on your local computer:
  1. Open your FTP client program and open the Connect dialog.
  2. Enter support.shopsite.com as the Hostname.
  3. When you are prompted, enter the username and password you were provided.
  4. On the Server, change to the folder that correlates to your Web server operating system, then the folder for the version of ShopSite you want to download (this will usually be the current folder).
  5. On your local computer, change to the folder where you want to put the installation files. You may want to use the same location where you put your Auth file.
  6. Use Binary (BIN) mode to copy the installation file to your local computer. The file to download will be named setup.exe.
  7. If there is a patch folder in the version folder, you will also need to copy any files in that folder to your local computer using Binary (BIN) transfer mode.
• Using a Web browser on your local computer:
  1. Open your Web browser and enter the following URL into the location bar. You will need to replace MyUserName and MyPassword with the username and password you were provided:
     ftp://MyUserName:MyPassword@support.shopsite.com/
  2. Click on the name of the folder that correlates to your Web server operating system, then click the name of the version of ShopSite you wish to download (this will usually be the current folder).
  3. Click on the file named setup.exe.
  4. When prompted, select a location to save the file on your local computer. You may want to use the same location where you put your Auth file.
  5. If there is a patch folder in the version folder, you will also need to save any files in that folder to your local computer.

Uploading Installation Files

Once you have all the files required to install ShopSite, you need to upload the files to your web server.

1. Open your FTP client and connect to your web server.
2. Navigate to the folder on your server where you want to place the installation files. This should be a location you will be able to easily locate through the administrative interface.
3. Navigate to the folder on your local computer where the installation files are located.
4. Use ASCII Format to upload your store.auth file.
5. Use Binary Format to upload the setup.exe file and any patch files.

Running the ShopSite Installer

After you have uploaded all of the required files to your web server, you can run the installation program.

1. Log in to your windows server administration interface.
2. Locate the folder where you put the installation files and double-click setup.exe to launch the installation utility.
3. Click Next on the Welcome screen.
4. Click Add to create a new installation.
5. Select the option to Create a new ShopSite installation with an initial store, then click Next.
6. Click Browse... to locate the auth file in the folder you uploaded it to. After you have selected your auth file, click Next to continue.
7. Select the Web Site to install ShopSite on. This will usually be the Default Web Site. The installer should automatically display the path to the site in the Home Directory field. Click Next to continue.
8. Select the options to Set access permissions for ShopSite directories and Create virtual directories for ShopSite URLs. This will enable ShopSite to automatically create the folders and web server aliases required by ShopSite. Click Next.
9. Use Microsoft's Computer Management tools to Create the Windows User and Group required for the ShopSite store.
   • Create a User account with the same name as the StoreID in the Auth file.
   • Create a Group account named ShopSite.
   • Assign the User account you just created to the ShopSite group.
   After you have finished, close the Computer Management window and return to the ShopSite installation utility. Click Next to continue the ShopSite installation.
10. Click Browse... to select the location where ShopSite will be installed. This should be the Store Pages Folder you decided on earlier.
11. Enter a ShopSite Name for your store. This must be a unique name, and should be a name you will associate with this store. You may want to use the StoreID. Click Next to continue.
12. Review the folder settings for your installation. These should match the folder and URL paths you decided on during your preparation. Click the name of a location (e.g. [Images]) to change the file system path or URL for that location. Click Next to continue.
13. Enter the domain name (or IP address) of the Mail Server for your store and the Merchant E-mail Address, then click Next.
14. Review the installation settings and click Next to begin installing ShopSite with the selected options. It may take several minutes to create and copy the ShopSite files to the destination folders.
15. View Setup log and other important information opens the log file and displays general information about your ShopSite installation.
16. Launch IIS Manager to view or make additional changes to your web server settings after the installation is complete.
17. Click Finish to exit the ShopSite installation utility.

ShopSite is now installed on your Windows web server. To log in to the store:

1. Open a web browser and enter the URL of the ShopSite Back Office Folder followed by start.cgi in the location box (e.g. www.mystore.com/ss/start.cgi).
2. Enter the Username and Password for the Windows User Account you configured during the installation process.
3. Click OK.

The first time you log in to the store, ShopSite will automatically launch the Store Setup Wizard.

Upgrading from a Previous Release

Upgrading ShopSite will affect all stores that share the same ShopSite folder.

1. Shut down the web server before running the installation program. IIS will complain if someone is even accessing your graphics during the upgrade.
2. Make a backup of the files in the ShopSite directories.
3. Run the ShopSite Setup program.
4. On the ShopSite Installations screen, select the installation that you want to upgrade and click Next.
5. On the Setup Options screen, select Upgrade to version 11. Verify that the path to the ShopSite folder is correct. If it is not, use the Browse button to locate the correct folder. (Note that this is the folder that contains the ShopSite merchant CGI programs, not the folder that holds store's HTML pages.)
6. Click Next to start the upgrade process.

After the upgrade completes, your store(s) will be at version 11.

Adding Stores

To add a new store that shares CGIs with existing stores:

1. Obtain a store.auth file for the new store.
2. Create a Windows user account for the ShopSite merchant.
• Create ShopSite user and group accounts on Windows Server 2003/2008
3. Run the ShopSite Setup program by double-clicking setup.exe.
4. On the ShopSite Installations screen, select the installation to which you want to add a store and click Next.
5. On the Setup Options screen, select Add a store.
6. On the next screen, type in the location of the auth file for the new store, or use the Browse button to locate it.
7. If you did not create a user account for the merchant before running the setup program, click the Add User/Group button on the Administrative Tasks screen to launch the appropriate IIS application.
8. After you have created the merchant account and the "ShopSite" group, close the IIS admin program and click Next on the ShopSite setup screen.
9. Verify the locations for the store's data and output folders.
10. Enter the merchant's e-mail address.
11. Verify the settings that will be used to create the new store. If they are not correct, click the Back button and make changes on the appropriate screens. If they are correct, click the Next button, and the setup program will create the folders and files for the new store.

Enabling New Features

If you did not enable new features for all stores when you upgraded to the new release, you can use the setup program to enable the features for individual stores. Note that there may be a charge when the features are enabled if the store is not already running version 11 or later.

1. Run the ShopSite Setup program by double-clicking setup.exe.
2. On the ShopSite Installations screen, select the installation that contains the store and click Next.
3. On the Setup Options screen, select Change store settings.
4. On the Change Store Settings screen, highlight the store and click the Settings button.
5. On the Store Settings screen, click the Enabled button for New Features, then click Save.

Access Logging for PCI Compliance

In addition to the information provided above, you should also be aware that PCI compliance requires access logging by the webserver (in this case, IIS 7) and also by the OS. Access logging may not be enabled. If access logging is disabled, PCI compliance will be invalidated, so make sure that acces logging is enabled. Please see this article for more information on configuring access logging with IIS 7.0 and this article for more information on security auditing for Windows Server 2008.

Troubleshooting

If your installation did not work, pay attention to the error messages you receive; they should point you in the right direction. If that fails, try checking the following:

• Is Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows Server installed and running? IIS 7.0 for Windows Server 2008 is not installed by default. See Microsoft's documentation for how to install and configure IIS.
• Are file permissions set correctly for all the folders that you specified? Not having file permissions set correctly is the number one installation problem that users run into. Specifically, the user account under which the install program is executed needs to be able to write in the ShopSite folders.
• Do you have administrator permissions, which are required to run the install program?
• Is your Web server configured correctly?
• Did you enter the same store ID and URL that you told the salesperson when the store.auth file was originally created? If you've changed your mind, you'll need a new store.auth file.
• Try downloading a fresh copy of setup.exe from shopsite.com; sometimes the file can get corrupted in FTP transit. Be sure to use a binary-mode transfer.

ShopSite Help and Resource Center

Last updated: April 6, 2008

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