Cybervisit - Installation Guide

Please take a couple of minutes to read these notes before installing Cybervisit. This will save you time and allow you to choose the best installation method for your situation.

On this page

Current version

Make sure you have the current version of the CD. This is presented in a DVD style case. The current version of Cybervisit is version 1.101

Licensing, Internet use, installation

Cybervisit is available to install or to use over the Internet. The Internet version looks and operates the same as the installed version.

There are two types of license for Cybervisit. The Internet only licence allows you to use the product off the Internet. The CD and Internet licence allows you to install it to your computer or server, as well as use it off the Internet.

For Internet access to Cybervisit, see www.careersoft.co.uk/cybervisit.

To use Cybervisit from the Internet or installed to your computer or network, you will need the Authorisation Code and other details that came with your purchase letter. This letter also shows you which version you are licensed for.

Installing on just this computer

To install Cybervisit you need to be logged on with an account that has Administrator rights. Once the program is installed, you do not need any special rights to run it.

Run setup from the install folder of the CD to get started.

To install Cybervisit just to this computer, choose the Use it on this computer only option on the Install Options page during the install, and go with the default choices for the rest of the install.

Installing on your network

We intend that you should find Cybervisit easy to install on your network. It pays to read through these notes first to save time and hassle later.

Please note that this is the recommended way of installing for all compatible network types, including all types of Windows networks, Citrix, RM Community Connect etc (see the additional help pages for specific installation notes for various network types, including RM).

The network install for Cybervisit is different to the network install for many other products.

  • Nothing needs installing to the client machines
  • You do not need to visit any of the client machines
  • The program files are not installed to mapped drives or UNC shares

Deployment principle

Cybervisit contains a lightweight engine that makes interactive HTML pages on-the-fly, and shows them to the user as required without saving them on disk. For a stand-alone installation, the html page-maker and the browser are on the same machine. For a straightforward network install, the page-maker and browser can be on separate computers, so the page-maker runs as a service on your 'server' (can be any Windows 2000, 2003 or XP machine), and then your clients point their browser (typically Microsoft Internet Explorer) at the server to view the pages. The connection is effected using standard HTTP over your TCP network, like your clients do for viewing external web sites.

The engine only does pages for Cybervisit (and some other Careersoft products if installed), and does not require or interact with any web server on the same machine. You may have used other 'browser-ware' products based on this principle already, ranging from web interfaces for network printers, to sophisticated information management packages.

You can install the product to each client machine individually instead if you wish, but this will require visiting each machine to install the product. It is not possible to run the program by sharing the exe off a mapped drive or UNC share.

The installer installs the program and the ancillary components that the program uses, including the .Net framework.

Installation

  1. Choose a suitable computer to install to. This should be connected to your network and running at all times that users might want to connect to it. The operating system for the server part has to be Microsoft Windows 2000 or later, including Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server (clients can be any operating system that supports a suitable browser, including Windows 98 and later). The network connectivity components in Cybervisit will only work on networks with standard private IP ranges according to RFC1597, i.e. 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x to 172.31.x.x, and 192.168.x.x. (if your network runs on some other non-standard IP range, contact support@careersoft.co.uk for advice).
  2. Run the installer by double-clicking setup in the install folder of the CD (there is also a Windows installer msi file on the CD, but using this directly could mean that you miss out on some important updates to your system files, so is not recommended). Note also that setup.exe must run on the target computer – you can't run it on one computer to install to another. The installer must run as a Privileged user (Administrative rights). Once installed, users need no special rights to use the product.
  3. Choose the "Allow others to connect to it" option from the Install Options page during the installation.
  4. Choose to install to a local drive. The destination folder for the installation must be a local drive on the machine that you are installing on. Mapped drives on other computers, and any UNC paths (like \\computername ) will not work. The installation folder should not be visible on a share – remember that Cybervisit makes its information visible as HTML pages over HTTP, not as files off a file share.
  5. Note the URL for connecting to Cybervisit. A box containing this information pops up during the network install (this information is also visible from the Careersoft Network Components item in your Control Panel). You should note these details for use by your client computers for connecting to Cybervisit. The box showing these links also allows you to try these out in your browser, and this can also be a good opportunity to register the program by entering the Establishment Name and Authorisation Code supplied in your subscription letter.
  6. Provide a way for your client computers to find Cybervisit. This could be by putting a Favorites link in their browser (perhaps by using Group Policy in Active Directory), or by putting a URL shortcut on their Desktop or Start menu (like you might do with a shortcut to an exe file), or by putting a hyperlink on your intranet. See Publishing your links for details.

Browser requirements

Cybervisit is optimised for use with Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5 and higher. It has also been tested with Firefox, Netscape versions 7 and higher, and Mozilla version 1.4 and higher. The clients can be any operating system that supports a suitable browser, including Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows 98.

What's on the CD?

  • install folder. This folder contains the main installer program, setup.
  • Beneath this folder are the folders for required Windows components, including dotnet for the Microsoft .Net Framework. Normally you do not need to bother with these items separately, because by running setup your system is updated with these components automatically as part of the install process (you get prompted first).

Where to go for further information

Please visit the Cybervisit support pages for information about using Cybervisit with specific network types, including Windows Active Directory, RM CC3, Citrix and Novell, and notes about troubleshooting your Cybervisit application.

doc version 1.1.05

Page date 14/02/08