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nService Upgrade Instructions

How do you know which release of nService you are using?

Click the “Powered by nService” link at the low left corner of any page on your nService website.

Version 4.6 (October 1, 2008)

This version added fields for user defined theme and the request progress field. Please take the following steps to upgrade from version 4.5 to this one.

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService4\. If you deployed nService as a website instead of a web application under one of your sites listed in your IIS Manager, then you need to delete the \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\root\ folder instead. That is because IIS puts the compiled web pages of nService in one of the subfolders of the above root folder. You can find that subfolder and delete it if you don’t want to stop your entire IIS to delete the root folder.
  4. Download http://www.avensoft.com/ns/nService4.zip and unzip it to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService45to46.sql in your database to update it. Make sure you select the right database (nService4) from the database list next to the Execute button in MS SQL Server Management Studio.
  6. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\.
  7. Restart nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.

Version 4.5 (September 1, 2008)

This version added support for request workflow. There is no version 4.4. Please take the following steps to upgrade from version 4.3 to this one.

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService4\. If you deployed nService as a website instead of a web application under one of your sites listed in your IIS Manager, then you need to delete the \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\root\ folder instead. That is because IIS puts the compiled web pages of nService in one of the subfolders of the above root folder. You can find that subfolder and delete it if you don’t want to stop your entire IIS to delete the root folder.
  4. Download http://www.avensoft.com/ns/nService4.zip and unzip it to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService43to45.sql in your database to update it. Make sure you select the right database (nService4) from the database list next to the Execute button in MS SQL Server Management Studio.
  6. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\.
  7. Restart nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.

Version 4.3 (April 1, 2008)

This version added support for site management and allow reference numbers for service requests. Please take the following steps to upgrade from version 4.2 to this one.

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService4\. If you deployed nService as a website instead of a web application under one of your sites listed in your IIS Manager, then you need to delete the \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\root\ folder instead. That is because IIS puts the compiled web pages of nService in one of the subfolders of the above root folder. You can find that subfolder and delete it if you don’t want to stop your entire IIS to delete the root folder.
  4. Download http://www.avensoft.com/ns/nService4.zip and unzip it to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService42to43.sql in your database to update it. Make sure you select the right database (nService4) from the database list next to the Execute button in MS SQL Server Management Studio.
  6. Go to the Object Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio, right click nService4 database and select design. Change column width of the following fields to to NVARCHAR(100): ns4_article_file.af_mime_type, ns4_asn_file.anf_mime_type, ns4_sc_file.scf_mime_type, ns4_srn_file.snf_mime_type.
  7. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\.
  8. Restart nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.

Version 4.2 (November 27, 2007)

This version increased the size of the ns4_req_query.rq_where field from 200 to 500. It also has the latest French translation. To upgrade, take the same steps as the section before for 4.1. In addition, make the following change to the database.

  1. Run SQL Server Management Console, locate the ns4_req_query table, right click it and select Modify. Change the size of rq_where from 200 to 500.

Version 4.1 (October 1, 2007)

This version added support for service specific email template and user defined service request fields. Please take the following steps to upgrade from version 4.0 to this one.

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService3AppPool/nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.  
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService4\. If you deployed nService as a website instead of a web application under one of your sites listed in your IIS Manager, then you need to delete the \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\root\ folder instead. That is because IIS puts the compiled web pages of nService in one of the subfolders of the above root folder. You can find that subfolder and delete it if you don’t want to stop your entire IIS to delete the root folder.
  4. Download http://www.avensoft.com/ns/nService4.zip and unzip it to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService40to41.sql in your database to update it. Make sure you select the right database from the database list next to the Execute button in MS SQL Server Management Studio.
  6. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\.
  7. Restart nService3AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.

Version 4.0 (September 1, 2007)

This version supports Unicode. You can now store text in multiple languages in to the database. In addition, it allows you to set up cascading services. Please take the following steps to upgrade from version 3.12 to this one.

1. Install version 4 according to the instructions at http://avensoft.com/download.html.

2. When you run ns4ms.sql to create the tables, run it in nService3's database.

3. Run ns312to4ms.sql in SQL Server Management Studio. Make sure you select nService3 database before you execute the script.

4. Modify your new nService4 ODBC data source from step #1 and set its default database back to nService3.

Version 3.12 (June 15, 2007)

This version fixed the Office 2007 attachment problem. Please take the following steps to upgrade.

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService3AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService3\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService3\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService3\. If you deployed nService as a website instead of a web application under one of your sites listed in your IIS Manager, then you need to delete the \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\root\ folder instead. That is because IIS puts the compiled web pages of nService in one of the subfolders of the above root folder. You can find that subfolder and delete it if you don’t want to stop your entire IIS to delete the root folder.
  4. Download http://www.avensoft.com/ns/nService3.zip and unzip it to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService3\.
  6. Modify your SQL Server nService3 database. Change the following mime type fields from varchar(30) to varchar(100)
        ns3_asn_file.anf_mime_type 
        ns3_sc_file.scf_mime_type
        ns3_srn_file.snf_mime_type
        ns3_article_file.af_mime_type
        ns3_email_file.emf_mime_type
  7. Restart nService3AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.

To fix the problem with the existing attachments in the database, you need to use the Attachments link in the history section to reattach them. You can right click on an attachment link, save it as a file on your local disk, and then replace the one in the database with the one on your local disk. This way, the MIME type gets corrected.

Version 3.11 (May 31, 2007)

In this version, search on knowledge articles has been changed to keyword based. Also, you can now create services with an applicable product list. Take the following steps to upgrade from 3.10 to this version.

 

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService3\. If you deployed nService as a website instead of a web application under one of your sites listed in your IIS Manager, then you need to delete the \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\root\ folder instead. That is because IIS puts the compiled web pages of nService in one of the subfolders of the above root folder. You can find that subfolder and delete it if you don’t want to stop your entire IIS to delete the root folder.
  4. Download and unzip the new files to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService3\.
  6. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService310to311.sql in your database to update it. Make sure you select the right database from the database list!
  7. Modify table ns4_article_keyword. Change the ak_id column to a non-primary key column and then delete it.
  8. Restart nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.
  9. To index the old articles, go to Knowledge Base and edit and save the articles without change.
  10. This version distinguishes between internal technicians and external technicians. Internal technicians can see the Users, Assets, Organizations and Admin command on the menu bar. External technicians don’t because they work for other companies. If all your users are internal, you can run this SQL statement in your database to make sure this doesn’t affect you: UPDATE ns4_user SET usr_org_id = 90. Or you can update the technician accounts one by one on the website.
  11. If you have imported assets from your Active Directory, run this SQL statement in SQL Server Management Studio, New Query to update your assets: UPDATE ns4_asset SET as_org_id = 90. Make sure you select nService4 from the database list next to the Execute button.

Version 3.10 (May 5, 2007)

In this version, asset management has been further improved. Departments have been added to the system. Take the following steps to upgrade from 3.9 to this version.

 

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService3\
  4. Download and unzip the new files to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService3\.
  6. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService39to310.sql in your database to update it. Make sure you select the right database from the database list!
  7. Restart nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.
  8. Go to Admin, Asset Settings and reconfigure the asset custom field names.

Version 3.9 (April 10, 2007)

In this version, asset management has been greatly improved. Google Maps integration was added to display geographically distributed assets. Previous versions support user oriented service request management. This version added full support for asset oriented service request management. Take the following steps to upgrade from 3.8 to this version.

 

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Backup \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ by copying it to another location.
  3. Delete \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\ and \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\2.0…\Temporary…\nService3\
  4. Download and unzip the new files to \Inetpub\wwwroot\.
  5. Copy the old web.config back to \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService3\.
  6. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService38to39.sql in your database to update it.
  7. Restart nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.
  8. If you have QnA wizards that redirect to the service request submitting page, you must change all references to SrAddPage.aspx to SrSelServicePage.aspx.

Version 3.8 (February 22, 2007)

In this version, you can keep track of maintenance contracts. Turn around time of service requests is now calculated excluding holidays and non-business hours. In addition, variables in email templates have been changed to use “{}” as delimiters. Take the following steps to upgrade from 3.7 to this version.

  1. Go to IIS manager to stop the nService4AppPool application pool.
  2. Download and unzip the new files to \Inetpub\wwwroot\ to overwrite the old files.
  3. Run \Inetpub\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\nService37to38.sql in your database to update it.
  4. Restart nService4AppPool application pool in IIS Manager.
  5. Modify all your email templates. Change all ~variable~ to {variable}.

Upgrade HD2 data

  1. Copy \Inetput\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\upgrade_hd2.hds to \hd2\webroot\script\folder.
  2. Open it up in Help Desk Studio. Correct the data source settings if needed.
  3. Select Debug | Start to run the script.
  4. Sign in to nService4 web site as user ns4.admin with no password. Point your browser to http://nService4_website/Upgrade/UpgradePage.aspx to encrypt all passwords.
  5. Check everything to see if the data has been copied over. Set up routing rules if necessary.

Upgrade Perfect Tracker 7 Help Desk data

  1. Please upgrade your Perfect Tracker 7 to Help Desk Server 2 first and then upgrade from HD2 to nService4.

Upgrade Perfect Tracker 6 Help Desk data

  1. Copy \Inetput\wwwroot\nService4\Upgrade\upgrade_pt6hd.hds to \pt6\script\folder.
  2. Open it up in Perfect Tracker 6 Studio. Correct the data source settings if needed.
  3. Select Debug | Start to run the script.
  4. Sign in to nService4 web site as user ns4.admin with no password. Point your browser to http://nService4_website/Upgrade/UpgradePage.aspx to encrypt all passwords.
  5. Check everything to see if the data has been copied over. Set up routing rules if necessary.
Copyright 2008 Avensoft, Inc.