Installation Guide

Install and configure the Self Service Portal

Updated in 2021.2

IMPORTANT: If you are upgrading from Alloy Navigator Express 8 or later, install the Self Service Portal 2023 on a separate IIS server computer or a virtual machine, different from the production server hosting your existing Alloy Navigator Express web applications. If you are migrating from Alloy Navigator Express 7 or 6, you can install the new Self Service Portal on your production web server, in a different web site.

To install the Self Service Portal on a separate server:

  1. Run the AlloyInstaller.exe file from the network share, where you saved extracted installation files earlier. Alternatively, you can run the Alloy Installer and extract its temporary files again.

  2. Click Advanced Installation. The Advanced Installation page appears.

  3. Click Install Alloy Navigator Express Self Service Portal 2023.2.x.

    The installation wizard will automatically analyze your computer, and test for prerequisites. If any of the tests fail, the wizard displays a warning message along with a hyperlink, which shows additional information about the encountered issue.

    You can make the necessary changes and then recheck the prerequisites by clicking Recheck. To go back to the Advanced Installation page of the installation wizard, click Close.

  4. Click Install to proceed. The Setup Wizard starts.

  5. On the Welcome page, click Next. The End-User License Agreement page opens.

  6. Review and confirm the terms of the license agreement, then click Next. The Installation Folder page opens.

  7. Click Next to install the Self Service Portal to the default Alloy Navigator Express2023 installation folder (\Program Files\Alloy Software\Alloy Navigator Express 2023\). If you want to install the SSP to a different folder, click Change, browse to choose the installation folder, click OK to return to the wizard page, and click Next.

    The Ready to install... page appears.

  8. Click Install to begin the installation. Click Back if you need to review or change any of the choices you made.

  9. On the Completed page, keep the Run the Web Configuration check box selected. Click Finish to complete the installation process.

TIP: You can launch the Web Configuration tool for version 2023 whenever you need using the Alloy Control Panel or from the Start menu.

The Web Configuration tool for Alloy Navigator Express 2023 opens and the Create Self Service Portal wizard starts. Use wizard to configure the Self Service Portal to work with your pilot database.

To configure the Self Service Portal for your pilot database:

  1. On the Database page, import the Database Access Key to allow the SSP to connect to your pilot Alloy Navigator Express 2023 database.

    1. Click Import Key to import the Database Access Key.

      INFO: For details, see Importing the Database Access Key.

    2. Fine-tune the database connection details, if needed: in the SQL Server field, enter the network address of the SQL Server, which may differ from the SQL Server name specified in the Database Access Key.

    Click Next. The Web page opens.

  2. Specify a description of your pilot SSP and click Next. The Installation Type page opens.

  3. On the Installation Type page, specify where to install the Self Service Portal. We recommend that you use a pilot web site.

    INFO: For details, see Test environment for pilot web applications.

    Click Install into a virtual directory, then click Next.

  4. The Web Site page displays all web sites available on your IIS server. Select the pilot site that you created earlier (in our example, it is Alloy Navigator Express 2023 Pilot), and click Next. The Virtual Directory page opens.

  5. Keep the default name of the virtual directory to create or type in a different name. Click Next.

  6. Specify the User Authentication Type. Note that the new version may offer new authentication types.

    INFO: For details, see Administration Guide: User Authentication Types for the Self Service Portal.

    Click Next.

  7. Skip the Workflow Integration step and click Next.

  8. Specify your settings on the Home Page, Modules, Anonymous Access, Languages, Logo Image, Title and Subtitle pages to navigate to the Ready to Apply Settings page.

  9. Click Apply to apply your settings. Click Previous if you need to make any changes. Wait for the Web Configuration tool to configure the portal.

  10. When completed, the Web Configuration tool shows the Self Service Portal page with newly applied settings.

NEXT STEP: Install and configure the API module.