| Features-1:
Can I check for unauthorized usage of listings
with PolicyPage?
This is a planned feature but has not
yet been implemented.
Features-2: Can I have
PolicyPage automatically visit each individual page
on a site? Can I Spider or Crawl through a site?
Yes. You can specify the starting page
and the number of levels to spider. PolicyPage will
evaluate each page it finds as it follows the links
starting at the page you specify. You may specify the
names of links such as "About" that you want PolicyPage
to ignore.
Install-1: I am a Windows user. Which
of the Windows installation methods should I use?
If you are installing PolicyPage on your
own desktop for personal exploration, the PolicyPage
Installer for Windows is a good option. This installer
will automatically install the necessary prerequisite
software including the Apache Web Server.
If for any reason you already have the
Apache Web Server installed on your desktop, it is recommended
that you do not use your desktop machine to install
PolicyPage. Consider finding another machine - even
a previously retired machine to run PolicyPage.
The PolicyPage Installer for Windows is
also a good choice if you are setting up a new Server
machine to share PolicyPage with multiple users.
If you are installing PolicyPage on a
Server machine that already has a web server such as
IIS or Apache installed, use the standard PolicyPage
Windows setup (ppageNNNSetup.exe).
If you just want to copy the PolicyPage
files without performing any software installation,
use the zip file (PolicyPage-N.N.N.zip.
Further information about installation
options is available in the
Installation section of the System Overview.
Install-2: Should I install PolicyPage
on my Windows desktop or on a server?
The advantage to running PolicyPage on
a desktop is that PolicyPage can be quickly installed.
Only the person using PolicyPage need
be involved in installation, setup and use. This is
a good approach to experimenting with PolicyPage to
determine how it can best be applied. Although it is
possible to make significant use of PolicyPage on a
desktop machine, it is recommended to move PolicyPage
to a server for on-going production use.
There are three main advantages to running
PolicyPage on a server:
1. PolicyPage was designed to run on
a Server so that information specified by one user could
be used by all users of PolicyPage. For example, when
you run PolicyPage on a server, Profiles and Rules defined
by one user could be used by all other PolicyPage users
when they are defining Groups, Members, and Web sites.
2. When you evaluate large number of
Web sites with PolicyPage, it is possible that the evaluation
job will be long running. It is sometimes inconvenient
to accommodate a long running job on a personal desktop
computer.
3. Server machines are usually managed
by a Data Center so backup and protection of valuable
PolicyPage data could become part of normal operations
procedures.
Install-3: Can I install PolicyPage
on a Linux or Apple desktop?
Yes. You can use the same distribution
(policyPage-N.N.tar.gz) that you would use to install
PolicyPage on a Linux server. See the answer to the
previous question to evaluate whether
you want to use a desktop or a server.
Install-4: What other programs are
installed when I install PolicyPage?
If you use the PolicyPage Installer for
Windows, the SQLite database management system and
EasyPHP will be installed in addition to PolicyPage.
EasyPHP contains the Apache Web Server, the PHP web
application system and the MySQL database. All of these
systems are configured to run together. When you use
the PolicyPage Installer for Windows, you may be able
to start using PolicyPage immediately without software
configuration effort.
Even though the SQLite database management
system is installed, it is not used in the current
release of PolicyPage except in the conversion program
that reads SQLite tables from prior releases and converts
them to MySQL tables.
If you don't use the PolicyPage Installer
for Windows, no other programs are installed. In this
case, it is assumed that you have already installed
a Web Server, the PHP web application system, and
the MySQL database management system. It is also assumed
that you have configured these three major software
systems to run together.
Install-5: I am using a Windows Server.
Can I install PolicyPage under Internet Information
Server (IIS) or must I use Apache as my web server?
Yes, you can install PolicyPage under
IIS. This has been done successfully.
Before running PolicyPage under IIS,
you must download PHP and MySQL, install them and
configure them to work together. IIS must be configured
to load PHP. Windows must be configured to start MySQL.
These steps should be performed by an experienced
Windows System Administrator.
For comparison purposes, an experienced
Systems (Windows / Linux) Administrator would also
be required to configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL to
run together.
Install-6: How can I tell if the
Apache web server is already installed on my desktop?
Windows environment:
If you see one of the icons for the Apache Monitor (
   )
in the taskbar, the Apache web server is installed on
your desktop.
It is possible that Apache is installed
and running without the Apache Monitor. To check for
this rare situation, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to start
the Windows Task Monitor. Click "Processes"
in the Task Monitor. If you find a process called "httpd.exe",
Apache is running on your machine.
Linux environment:
List all processes (ps -A). If httpd is in the list
of processes, Apache is running on your machine.
Install-7: Apache is already installed
on my desktop. Can I use the automatic Windows Installer
to install PolicyPage even though the documentation
tells me not to?
This is not recommended. The Windows
Installer will install another copy of Apache. This
copy of Apache will not be able to start because the
original Apache already has control of a resource (Port
80) needed by the second copy of Apache.
The result is that PolicyPage will
not be able to run even though it is installed. There
are work-arounds to this problem but they require
the same level of technical skill that would be required
to follow the recommended approach which is to configure
PHP and MySQL to run with the existing copy of Apache
and then use a standard PolicyPage distribution.
If this level of technical skill is
not easily available, consider obtaining an inexpensive
and/or used desktop machine that does not already have
Apache installed and then use that machine for PolicyPage.
Install-8: How can I tell if EasyPHP
is running on my Windows desktop? Why would I need to
know this?
When EasyPHP is installed on your computer,
you will see the EasyPHP icon ( )
on your taskbar.
To determine if EasyPHP is running,
right click on the icon. If "Stop" is shown
in bold text, EasyPHP is running. If "Start"
is shown in bold text, EasyPHP is not running. If the
icon is now shown, EasyPHP is not running.
If you see any item labeled "pending",
EasyPHP is not running. You need to know this because
PolicyPage will not run if EasyPHP is not running. See
this FAQ for symptoms of this problem.
In order to run PolicyPage successfully,
you need to start EasyPHP if it is not running. Right
click on the EasyPHP icon in the taskbar and select
"Start". EasyPHP will not start after this
action, try re-booting the computer. Wait until EasyPHP
has started successfully before running PolicyPage. Email-1: Do I have to configure
email to use PolicyPage?
No. You can define Groups, Members,
Web sites, Profiles, and Rules and evaluate Web Sites
without configuring email.
However, if you want to use PolicyPage
to send email notifications to web site owners, you
will need to configure email. You also need to configure
email if you want to allow potential new users of your
PolicyPage installation to self-register.
See documentation
on creating new users.
See
documentation on configuring email.
Email-2: How do I configure email?
You use the Administration/Notification
function in PolicyPage to tell PolicyPage how to send
outgoing email. See
the documentation on configuring email.
Email-3: I don't like the wording
that PolicyPage uses in the email that it sends to web
site owners. How do I change the wording?
You use a text editor such as vi or
notepad if you want to change the wording or format
on the templates that are used by PolicyPage to send
"passed" and "failed" messages.
You will find these template text files in ..../productiondata/templates.
Users of the Windows Installer will find the template
files in C:\Program Files\PolicyPage\www\ppage\productiondata\templates.
Email-4: How can I setup new users
without using email?
Email is only required if you want users
to self-register. To create new users within the PolicyPage
system and avoid using email, select the Administration/Users
function. Details on both methods of user creation are
available in the documentation.
Email-5 & Trouble-2: What should
I do when I receive the "Email is not configured"
message?
This message appears immediately after
logon when PolicyPage detects that "Notifier Address"
field has not been changed since PolicyPage was installed.
This address defaults to "info@crt.realtors.org".
This field as well as some related fields must be changed
before PolicyPage can send outgoing email.
You can ignore this message until you
want to use the outgoing email functions of PolicyPage.
To help decide when you want to configure email, see
this FAQ
Email-6: How do we change the outgoing
mail service to the exchange server that we are currently
running?
You can configure the SMTP settings
by logging onto PolicyPage as an administrative user
(noadmin | noadmin) click administration and
then click notification.
Choose Email(SMTP) from the list.
Once there enter your smtp information
i.e. smtp.yourmailserver.com then a user name and pass
if your server requires it.
Next return to notification list by
clicking administration and then click notification.
This time choose Notification and
Templates and then enter your email address in the
notifier_address box. The notifier_address must be a
value other than the default info@crt.realtors.org and
should reflect the email address that you want to use
as the "from" in all your PolicyPage emails.
Screen shots follow below:
Users-1: How can I add a
new User to the table of valid users?
On the logon screen, click on "Register
to use this System".
Fill in the desired information
for the new user.
The user will receive an email in
order to verify that the email address entered was valid.
Once the user responds to this email,
the new user is added to the table of valid users.
Note that users added in this manner
do not have Administrative Rights.
Users-2: How can I grant Administrative
rights to an existing user?
An existing Administrative User can grant
Administrative User Rights to any existing User by using
the "Users" function in "Administration".
Users-3:I logged onto PolicyPage
but cannot see the "Administration" button.
How can I perform administrative functions?
When the "Administration"
button is not displayed on the PolicyPage home menu,
it is likely that the userid that you used to logon
to PolicyPage does not have administrative rights.
To perform administrative functions,
logoff PolicyPage. Then, logon with a userid that does
have administrative rights. To grant administrative
rights to a userid that does not already have these
rights, use the "Administration/Users" function
of PolicyPage.
Data-1: What kind of data does PolicyPage
store?
Policy Page stores information required
to evaluate Web, the results of Web site evaluations,
and configuration information
Information required to evaluate Web
sites includes Profiles, Rules, Groups, Members, and
Web Sites.
The results of Web site evaluations
includes a summary record for each evaluation run detail
information on the evaluation result for each site evaluated.
Configuration information includes email
parameters, pass/fail templates for sending email, and
userid and encrypted password for each PolicyPage user.
Profiles, Rules, and templates are stored
in separate sequential files. All other information
is stored in a database that is contained in file productiondata/database/ppage.db.
Data-2: How can I backup PolicyPage
data that I have created?
All data maintained by PolicyPage is
stored in the directory "productiondata" and
its subdirectories. You can copy all the files in this
directory structure to a backup directory. In the main
PolicyPage directory (c:\Program Files\PolicyPage\www\ppage
when the Windows Installer is used) there is a script
called "backupnew.bat". This script will copy
all the files in productiondata to a directory structure
named productiondatabackup. Windows users can modify
this script to fit their needs.
Linux users can use standard cp commands
to backup PolicyPage data.
Data-3: Should I backup data that
PolicyPage creates?
Yes. You should backup all PolicyPage
data periodically as discussed in the previous question.
The data that you create (Groups, Profiles, Rules, Web
Sites, and Members) and that data that PolicyPage creates
(Results) are stored in the same directory structure.
If PolicyPage is being run on a Server,
you should arrange to have periodic backups performed
by the organization responsible for the operation of
the Server.
If PolicyPage is being run on your
desktop, you should run a script similar to backupnew.bat
periodically and especially before and after you make
significant maintenance changes to Groups, Members,
Web Sites, Profiles and Rules.
It is a good idea to keep multiple copies
of backups. You can do this by creating a new backup
directory each time you run a backup. Instead of using
"productiondatabackup" as a backup directory
name you can use a name containing a date so you will
not overlay previous backups. A sample directory name
is "productionbackup06222006".
Data-4: How can I restore PolicyPage
data?
You can copy the data from the backup
location back to the production data directory. A sample
script for doing this is restorebackup.bat
Data-5: My company has decided to
move PolicyPage off my desktop and onto a server. How
can the PolicyPage data that I have created be preserved?
You can copy the productiondata directory
and all its subdirectories from your desktop to the
productiondata directory on the server. Trouble-1: What do I do if
I get the message "The page cannot be displayed"
or "Unable to Connect", or "Not Found"
or "404 Not Found" when I try to start PolicyPage?
If Apache and PHP are not running on your computer
or your server, Internet Explorer will display "The
page cannot be displayed" or Firefox will display
"Unable to Connect".
If you did not use the PolicyPage Automatic Installer
when you originally installed PolicyPage, ask your Network
Administrator to start Apache and PHP on the server
where PolicyPage resides.
If you used the PolicyPage Automatic Installer for
Windows, you should see the EasyPHP icon
in your Windows task area.
It may take a few minutes for EasyPHP to start after
you have booted your computer.
If you try to run PolicyPage before EasyPHP is up and
running, you will get the error message described above.
First, close PolicyPage and restart it.
If PolicyPage runs, this means EasyPHP has completed
its startup procedure and no further action is required.
If you again receive the error message, you must take
action to start EasyPHP.
Right click on the icon
and click on "Start".
If you see the menu item "Pending..." this
indicates the EasyPHP has not finished starting. Wait
several minutes and look again. If "Pending..."
still appears, try rebooting. Wait until EasyPHP has
started and then retry PolicyPage.
Trouble 2: What
should I do when I receive the "Email is not configured
message?
See FAQ Email-5
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