How do I install SIM+CMS™

The process of installing SIM+CMS™ is very straight forward; basically the only requirements are to upload directories of the system into the root directory of your web-site, set the permissions of the systems Account “ASPNET” and configure Web.Config to use SIM+CMS™ form validation. So let’s put this into 3 steps.

Step 1: Upload directories

In case you downloaded the zip file the first thing you do is unzip the zip file on to a directory in your hard drive. The zip file should unpack in the following directories and files:

Directories:

simplus_cms : main directory for the whole system.
simplus_ajax : directory for client site ajax scripts, used for dynamic content .
bin : contains the DLL’s you need .
images/cms_content : the default image directory used for the image gallery.

Upload these directories, as they are, to the root of your web-site using an FTP program. Sometime hosting companies have a directory within you FTP upload location called ‘wwwroot’ or ‘www’, go into this directory and install the directories as described in this step within that directory.

Step 2: Set Systems Access Rights

For this we have 2 options:

using systems account - ASPNET Account
(NetworkService for Windows 2000 Server)
use FTP account (in case you can not change access to Systems account)

Option 1:

Once all files and directories are uploaded you have to make sure that the systems account named ‘ASP.NET’ has ‘Modify’ rights (can add/delete file and folders). Please contact your web administrator in case you are not familiar with setting the systems account or have no permission to do so.

When you used shared hosting you most likely have to contact the support of your hosting company with the request to set the permission of the ‘ASP.NET’ account so it can add/delete files and folders.

For those who can set permissions for the web-site, take following steps:

On the server, open Windows Explorer and find the web folder
Right Click on the folder and select Properties
Select “Security” Tab
Check if you can see account ASP.NET Machine Account (…)
If yes then go to point 8.
In case you don’t see this account name click on the Add… button.
Enter in textbox ASPNET and press OK button.
If correct this should add the ASP.NET Machine Account (or NetworkService for Windows 2003 Server) to the list
Select account ASP.NET Machine Account (or NetworkService for Windows 2003 Server)
Make sure it has Modify checked.
Press Apply or OK button to store settings for the web-site folder

Note: Please note that the default account used for Windows 2003 Server is not ‘ASPNET’ but ‘NetworkService’. If you or your Hosting Company are using Windows 2003 Server please follow same steps for ‘NetworkService’ account instead.

Option 2:

This is a new option and is in most cases the best option to use. FTP Account has standard all the user access rights as required to add/remove folders and add/remove files. The system supports impersonation of the FTP account for File-updates. To use this option you will first have to finish step 3 and use tool -> Systems Options - System Access Account, to set the FTP user access info.

Step 3: Configure Web.Config

SIM+CMS™ use a customized version of the .net’s Form validation process. In order to login to the system the Web.Config file in the root of the web-site need to have the following configuration. In case you use already a ‘web.config’ file please modify accordingly:

<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms name="simplus_cms" loginUrl="/simplus_cms/login.aspx" protection="All" timeout="30" path="/">
</forms>
</authentication>

<authorization>
<allow users="?" />
<allow roles="Superuser,Administrator,Editor" />
</authorization>

For those who do not have any ‘web.config’ please use the one that comes with the setup.

Technical note! For those familiar to ASPNET form validation it might be strange that roles are specified normally this element is only used in windows authentication. SIM+CMS™ use this element for identifying the roles that have access to the system. In this case only ‘Superuser’ and ‘Administrator’ are able to edit the root of the web-site.