• Installing PerlBill
• Setting up Incoming E-mail
• Installing Perl Modules
• Integrating third party software
• Importing PerlDesk Data

1. Upload or Uncompress all the perlbill files. Chmod all .cgi files to 755 and the .tpl files to 777 (only if you want to edit the templates via the admin panel)

The perlbill files are split into two directories:

cgi-bin / images

You may need to upload the contents of the cgi-bin to the cgi-bin folder on your web server. The images folder will need to be uploaded outside the cgi-bin due to access permissions.

2. Temporarily set the permission of the include/lib folder to 777, you can restore it's permission after completing the installation.

3. Create a MySQL Database for PerlBill, there is no need to populate the database with tables as the install script does this for you.

The information needed for the PerlBill installation is:

MySQL Database Name
MySQL Database Username
MySQL Database Password

For more information on setting up MySQL databases and users, please see the additional resources page.

4. Run the install.cgi from your web browser and set all the server variables and database access settings.

5. Now you can restore the original permission on the include/lib folder.

6. To automate PerlBill's invoice creation/reminder features you need to setup a cron job to run nightly. To do this just add the file below to cron.

include/auto_cron.cgi

7. Please create a .htaccess file in the include/lib folder to block web access, or password protect it for security.

8. PerlBill should be installed! Run the admin and begin familiarising yourself with the new software.

Administration Login
Username: admin
Password: demo

It is highly recommended that you change the admin password after logging in!

PerlBill has the added ability of managing incoming e-mail and logging the email as tickets in the help desk. You can setup an unlimited number of incoming e-mail addresses, each address must be assigned to a help desk department in the administration area.

1. Install the Perl module MIME::Tools (if missing)

2. Open up the include/lib/email.cgi and edit the path to the 'include' and 'lib' folder.

3. You must setup your mail software (e.g. sendmail) so that emails sent to the address(es) of your choice are piped through to email.cgi

4. If you are using SENDMAIL you must edit your /etc/aliases file, and add a line similar to the following:

support: "|/path/to/perlbill/email.cgi"

Repeat that line for each address you want perlbill to control.

If you are using EXIM, pico /etc/valiases/domain you will need to add the following line:

support@domain.com: |/path/to/perlbill/email.cgi

As with sendmail, repeat that line for each address you want perlbill to manage.

5. BEFORE starting to use your email addresses, you need to log in to the admin section of perlbill and go to 'Settings > Incoming Email' you need to assign each address you would like to use.

PerlBill requires several Perl modules in order to function, the modules required can be found in the Readme.txt file that came with the software. Here is a brief overview of installing these modules.

To install Perl modules at system level you will likely need root access to your web server.

METHOD 1

To install a Perl module from the command line, simple type the command below - this example would install the module Crypt::RC4

METHOD 2

Step A) Download the tar.gz file from search.cpan.org after locating the module needed

Step B) Untar the file by typing 'tar zxvf filename'

Step C) Run the installation, first 'cd' to the installation directory and run the following steps:

The above would install the module in the root Perl lib directory, if you would like to install it elsewhere or don't have access to install it at root level simply specify the directory by using the PREFIX option when running the makefile, example below:

perl Makefile.pl PREFIX=/home/perl/my_module

If modules are installed in a directory other than the root perl installation you will need to tell PerlBill where to look for the modules. To do this, open the files listed below and insert the line:

use lib '/home/perl/my_modules';

In the following files:

./client.cgi
./admin.cgi
./kb.cgi
./staff.cgi
./include/auto_cron.cgi

 

Optional usage of the third party server software integration:

If you would like to utilize the integration of software such as cPanel - you must follow the additional setup procedures below:

a) Open up the conf.cgi and enable the setting you wish by changing the value to 1.
b) Then login to the administration area and go to settings, you should be able to view the options for your integrated software.
c) Simply setup the settings and you should be ready.

If you previously used PerlDesk you can use a script included in PerlBill to import the data into your new installation. The import will bring all tickets/responses and user login's into PerlBill but you will need to re-add the staff logins.

1. Install PerlBill on a seperate database following instructions above
2. Open up include/import/pd.cgi and set the database settings.
3. Run the pd.cgi file from the browser.