Administering WASS ================== WASS includes a set of administrative utilities that can be used to query and maintain the system, as well as a parameters file that can be used to exert global control (see below). WASS does not include any administrator scripts for controlling the system. Instead, WASS uses a super-user password to permit administrators to login to the system using the credentials (e.g., userid) of any WASS user. Thus, for example, if a given user reports that there is a problem with their WASS calendar, an administrator can login as that user and inspect their calendar (and make any necessary corrections). A typical use of the super-user password is to login as a professor and create a calendar for them. The super-user password is the MySQL password for the WASS MySQL database. To login as any user on the system, at the login page: If you are using CAS for WASS authentication: 1) In the box labelled "E-mail:", enter the desired userid, followed by a space, followed by secret=mysqlpassword (where you subsitute the WASS MySQL password following the = sign). 2) Click the "Guest" button. If you are using LDAP or AD for WASS authentication: 1) In the box where you would enter your own userid, enter the target userid. In the password box, enter secret=mysqlpassword (where you subsitute the WASS MySQL password following the = sign). 2) Click the "Login" button. For example, if using CAS, to login as a user with userid "smith", on a WASS system that has a MySQL password of "officehr", you would type the following into the "E-mail:" box on the login page: smith secret=officehr and click the "Guest" button. You are now logged in as though you were user smith (but only for WASS; if you are using CAS authentication, you are NOT authenticated to CAS as user smith; you only get to act as "smith" within the WASS system). Parameters ========== The wassParms.class.php (in the "classes" directory) file contains a set of global parameters which are used to localize and control the system. These parameters are initially set during the instllation of WASS, and can be reset at any time, either by re-running the installation script (install.php, in the "admin" directory) or by directly editing the wassParms.class.php file. Some of the important parameters are: RUNNING: A boolean variable used to turn the system on or off. DOWNMSG: The message users see if RUNNING is set to 0 (off). REQSQL: Whether WASS must be accessed using https. HOST: The hostname or socket file WASS uses to connect to the MySQL server. DATABASE: The name of the MySQL database. USER: The userid required to login to the WASS database. PASS: The password required to login to the WASS database. This is also the administrator password for WASS. You MUST NOT reset this value after installation unless you first reset the MySQL database password. WASS Utilities ============== WASS comes with a number of utility scripts, all in the "admin" directory, which you can use for a variety of purposes. All of the scripts require you to provide the MySQL password when you invoke them, and they also require that you invoke them with https. To invoke one of the scripts, you would use a URL of the form: https://wassserver.myuniversity.edu/admin/scriptname.php?secret=mysqlpassword You need to substitute the actual path to your WASS system and the WASS MySQL password in this URL. The scripts are as follows: install.php: Installs the WASS system. You can also run the script against an already-installed WASS system if you want to change any of the parameters (localization) in wassParms.class.php. You also run this script to install a new release of WASS. calendar.php: Use this script to create, edit, or extend the academic calendar built into WASS. This calendar tells WASS how to classify all of the days of any given academic year (so that professors can schedule recurring office hours that only occur on, for example, teaching days). You can run this script at any time (against a live system) to update the academic calendar. mailusers.php: Use this script at any time to send email to all or any subset of WASS users (e.g., everyone who has a calendar in WASS, or anyone who has appointments scheduled in WASS, or other subsets of WASS users). makeical.page.php: Not really part of WASS. This script allows you to enter events into a database and get back a URL which, when invoked, returns the events as an iCal stream. maketables.php: used by install.php. Creates the MySQL tables used by WASS. You typically need to run this script when installing a new version of WASS to make sure your MySQL tables are complete and up-to-date. remind.php: Sends out appointment reminders. This script has to be run at regular intervals (this is explained as part of the installation procedure). In the interests of security, you should probably move this text file out of the WASS admin directory and into a directory that is not accessible to web users. It is not needed by the running WASS system.