TimeTiger On-Premises Installation and Deployment Guide

This document includes information pertaining to TimeTiger On-Premises, which is no longer available for sale to new customers. This information will be removed on 2021-06-30.

Introduction

This guide will walk you through the process of installing and configuring the TimeTiger On-Premises system for your organization. Please follow each step carefully, and e-mail support@indigo1.com if you run into problems or questions during the installation process.

System Requirements

The system requirements for TimeTiger On-Premises are available online at http://www.timetiger.com/system-requirements

System Overview

TimeTiger On-Premises is a software system that consists of the following components:

1. TimeTiger System Server - the main TimeTiger software that you install on one computer at your organization. This can be a network server or even your own workstation if you only need TimeTiger for your own use. The System Server allows you to access TimeTiger applications (described below) using your web browser.
2. TimeTiger application - the TimeTiger System Server can host one or more TimeTiger applications, each of which represents a company or organization that you are tracking time for. Most TimeTiger users will only need a single TimeTiger application, but some may wish to run separate TimeTiger applications for separate corporate divisions or departments. The TimeTiger System Server automatically installs the sample application, which includes sample data for a fictional consulting firm.
3. TimeTiger database - each TimeTiger application is connected to a database that stores the information for that application. TimeTiger can use several different database formats and can create its own database from scratch.

For a more detailed technical overview of the TimeTiger On-Premises system and how the components fit together for various types of deployments, click here.

Installation Overview

These are the main steps you will follow during the TimeTiger On-Premises installation.

1. Download the TimeTiger On-Premises software.
2. Install the TimeTiger System Server.
3. Set the startup options for the TimeTiger service.
4. Configure the TimeTiger System Server.
5. Set up a TimeTiger Application.
6. Create a TimeTiger Database or Convert your TimeTiger 1 Database.

Download the TimeTiger On-Premises software

The latest version of TimeTiger On-Premises is always available here. You should save the file, called SetupTimeTiger.exe in a convenient location on your hard drive.

Install the TimeTiger System Server

• Log on to Windows using an account with administrative rights.
• Close all running programs.
• Execute the file you downloaded, SetupTimeTiger.exe.
• Complete the setup dialog box as follows:



Authorization Key - Your authorization key determines how long you can use the TimeTiger software and the total number of users you can have in all of your TimeTiger applications. When you downloaded TimeTiger you were e-mailed a key for evaluation purposes. If you require another key, contact support@indigo1.com.

Folder - Type the path where the TimeTiger server software and sample database will be installed.

Service Port - The Internet port TimeTiger will monitor for browser connections. We highly recommend you choose port 80, as this is the default port used by Internet browsers. If you are already running an Internet server on this computer (such as Microsoft Internet Information Server, which is installed and enabled by default on some versions of Windows) you will need to disable it prior to installing TimeTiger on port 80. By default, this field will show port 80 if it is available, or the first available port after 80.

Administrative User Name and Password - These will be your TimeTiger login credentials for both the sample application, which is installed and started as part of the installation process, and also for the Setup and Configuration area of TimeTiger. Make careful note of this information. If your TimeTiger server is accessible over the Internet, it is extremely important to choose a secure user/password combination.




• Click OK to begin the installation process. The window will disappear and there will appear to be nothing happening for a moment, but the process could take up to 30 seconds. Soon, you will be informed that TimeTiger has been installed. Click OK again.
• In a moment, your default web browser will appear and present you with the login page of the sample application.

Take a look at the address bar of the Internet browser displaying the sample database login page. You will see something like this:

http://myserver/sample/login.htm

In this example, myserver is the name of the computer where the TimeTiger server is running, and sample is the name of the TimeTiger application you are using. There is a special application, setup, that allows you to configure the TimeTiger server and add or modify the TimeTiger applications running on the server. To access the setup application on the server above, you would use the following URL:

http://myserver/setup/login.htm

You can log in to the setup application using the same user name and password you entered when you first installed TimeTiger.

Only on the computer where the TimeTiger System Server was installed, you can also access the sample application and the setup application from your Windows Start menu, Programs, TimeTiger.

Set the startup options for the TimeTiger service

This step is only required if you will be storing your TimeTiger database on another computer. If you are planning to store your database in Microsoft Access 2000 format on the same computer, or on a SQL Server running on the same computer as the TimeTiger System Server, you do not need to change the startup options in this step.

The TimeTiger System Service is installed on your PC as a Microsoft Windows Service, and is set to start automatically when your computer starts up. By default, the TimeTiger System Server logs in using the Local System account, which does not have permission to access files (such as a database) on other computers on your network. In order to use a database that resides on another computer, you must change the account that the TimeTiger System Server uses to log in.

• Go to Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
• Right-click on TimeTiger and choose Properties.
• Click on the Log On tab.
• Select This account and type the login and password of a domain account with sufficient permissions to access network resources.
• Click OK.
• Right-click on TimeTiger again and choose Restart.
  
  

If you set TimeTiger to log in as Windows or domain administrative account for testing purposes, remember to change to a more restricted account later. We do not recommend granting the TimeTiger service network administrative privileges.

Configure the TimeTiger System Server

• Go to Start, All Programs, TimeTiger, TimeTiger Setup and Configuration.
• Log in to the setup application using the same user name and password you entered when you first installed TimeTiger. You will see the Server Configuration page.
  
  
  The TimeTiger Setup and Configuration page is used to change your administrative password, enter a new authorization key, and control the TimeTiger applications hosted by this TimeTiger System Server. You will want to come back to this page and enter your support contact information as well as set up e-mail integration so that TimeTiger can send status e-mails to your users. You do not need to do this right now.
  
  
  
• Let's stop the sample application. If you are evaluating TimeTiger, you can skip this step, but if you have received your permanent TimeTiger authorization key and are setting up your organization's TimeTiger application, you will need to reallocate the user licenses currently used by the sample application to the application you are creating for your organization. To stop the sample application, click the More... button beside the Applications heading on the page.
• Click the ... button to the left of the sample application to see properties for the sample application.
• Click Stop Application.
• Beside the Licensing heading, click Change....
• For the Current Licenses Allocated, enter 0. This will reclaim the licenses currently allocated to the sample application. Click Submit Changes.
• Click Done, and Done again to return to the Server Configuration page.

Set up a TimeTiger Application

• From the Server Configuration page, click the More... button beside the Applications heading.
• Click Create New Application.
• Choose a brief Application ID. The Application ID is part of the URL you use to access your application. For example, if the Application ID you choose is 'mainstreet', the URL to access your application will be:

http://myserver/mainstreet/login.htm

• You can enter a descriptive note for your application if you wish, but this is optional.
• Click Submit changes.
• Beside the Licensing heading, click Change....
• For Current Licenses Allocated, enter the number of licenses that appears in Maximum Licenses you can allocate. If this value is Unlimited, simply choose a large enough number for Current Licenses Allocated to accommodate your current and future TimeTiger users. Click Submit changes.
Create a TimeTiger Database or Convert your TimeTiger 1 Database


• Make sure you are in the Edit TimeTiger Application page for the application you just created. You can get to this page from the Server Configuration page by clicking More... beside the Applications heading and then clicking the ... button beside your application.
• Click Change... beside Database Setup.

To create a new TimeTiger Database Click Setup a new TimeTiger database. Choose your preferred database format (Microsoft Access 2000 or Microsoft SQL Server). If you chose Microsoft Access, type the exact path where the TimeTiger database should be stored, including the .mdb extension. For example, type c:\MyDataDirectory\TimeTiger\MyData.mdb If you chose Microsoft SQL Server, type the name of the database server and the name of the new database that TimeTiger will create to store its data. You must also tell TimeTiger how to log in to the SQL Server. If you choose Standard security, you must give TimeTiger a valid SQL Server login and password that has permissions to create a database. If you choose Integrated security, make sure that you have selected a login name and password for the TimeTiger service (when configuring the TimeTiger service above) that has login permissions to the SQL server and that has permissions to create a new database. Choose the fields to include in your TimeTiger database. Read the descriptions carefully and only include the fields that you think you will need for reporting purposes. The fewer fields you include, the easier and quicker time logging will be for your people. We can help you with these decisions: e-mail us at support@indigo1.com to help with your database setup. Choose an administrative username and password for this TimeTiger database. To keep things simple, you may wish to choose the same name and password you set up for the TimeTiger system server. You will need these credentials to log into the new TimeTiger application you are creating to add users, projects, etc. Click Create Database.

To convert your TimeTiger 1 Database Click Convert or Upgrade a TimeTiger database. Under Source Database, choose the type of TimeTiger 1 database (Microsoft Access 2000 or Microsoft SQL Server) that you are converting. If you chose Microsoft Access, type the exact path to the previous TimeTiger database file, including the .mdb extension. For example, type c:\MyDataDirectory\TimeTiger\MyOldData.mdb If you chose Microsoft SQL Server, type the SQL Server and TimeTiger 1 database name. You must also tell TimeTiger how to log in to the SQL Server. If you choose Standard security, you must give TimeTiger a valid SQL Server login and password that has permissions to read your TimeTiger 1 database. If you choose Integrated security, make sure that you have selected a login name and password for the TimeTiger service (when configuring the TimeTiger service above) that has login permissions to the SQL server and that has permissions to read your TimeTiger 1 database. Under Destination Database, choose the type of TimeTiger database you wish to create. You can choose the same type as your source database or you can choose a different type of database. If you chose Microsoft Access, type the exact path where the TimeTiger database should be stored, including the .mdb extension. For example, type c:\MyDataDirectory\TimeTiger\MyNewData.mdb If you chose Microsoft SQL Server, type the name of the database server and the name of the new database that TimeTiger will create to store its data. You must also tell TimeTiger how to log in to the SQL Server. If you choose Standard security, you must give TimeTiger a valid SQL Server login and password that has permissions to create a database. If you choose Integrated security, make sure that you have selected a login name and password for the TimeTiger service (when configuring the TimeTiger service above) that has login permissions to the SQL server and that has permissions to create a new database. Click Begin Conversion/Upgrade. This step can take a very long time (several hours or longer) depending on the size of your database and the speed of the connection between your TimeTiger server and your SQL Server, if any.

• Click Start application and wait until the status changes to Running.

You're done!

Now you and your users can access this application through your browser using a URL like the following:

http://myserver/mainstreet/login.htm

Replace myserver in the address above with the name of the computer where you installed the TimeTiger system server and mainstreet with the name of your application.