SERVER

Cloud server setup

Refer Start an attendance management system with Cloud section for more details.

Install On-premises server on Linux

Refer this document to setup Docker for Linux. Once setup the Docker, follow below sections to complete setup.

  1. Prepare the program data directory

  2. Run the server

Prepare the program data directory

To prepare the program data directory

  1. Create a directory “ProgramData”

  2. Copy following license files to “ProgramData/NCheck/License” directory.

    1. license.lic

    2. config.xml

Run the server

Use following commands.

  1. Run the server

    docker run -d -p <port>:8443 -v <ProgramData>:/ProgramData –name ncheck ncheckadmin/bioattendance:<version>

  2. Stop the server

    docker stop ncheck

  3. Start the server

    docker start ncheck

  4. Configurations

    Refer Configurations section for more details.

Configurations

Additional Arguments can be passed as Environment variables.

docker run -d -p <port>:8443 -v <ProgramData>:/ProgramData -e VARIABLE1=’value1’ -e VARIABLE2=’value2’ –name ncheck ncheckadmin/bioattendance:<version>

Following configurations can be used.

  1. Database type (Optional)

  2. Keystore (Optional)

  3. Restore (Optional)

  4. NMatcher configuration(optional)

Database type (Optional)

Database type can be selected to configure the database to connect to SQLite, MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle. If not specified SQLite will be used. For each database type (DB_TYPE) following configuration should be used

  1. . SQLITE

    1. DB_FILE

      Database file name. Database will be stored in “ProgramData/NCheck/databases/server/sqlite”

  2. MYSQL, MSSQL or ORACLE

    1. DB_URL

      Database URL.

    2. DB_USER_NAME

      Database username

    3. DB_PASSWORD

      Database password

    4. DB_MAX_CONNECTIONS

      Maximum connections for the database. Default value for connection type is 30.

Keystore (Optional)

To setup SSL Certificate copy the keystore file (pfx) to “ProgramData”/NCheck/Keystore/<KeystoreFile>.

  1. KEYSTORE

    Keystore file name

  2. KEYSTORE_ALIAS

    Keystore Alias

  3. KEYSTORE_PASSWORD

    Keystore password

Restore (Optional)

Copy the Backup file to “ProgramData>/NCheck/databases/server”

  1. DB_BACKUP_FILENAME

    Backup filename

  2. DB_BACKUP_PASSWORD

    Backup file password

NMatcher configuration(optional)

  1. NMATCHER_HOST

    NMatcher name

  2. NMACTHER_PORT

    NMacther port

Install On-premises server for Windows

Refer Install for Windows section for more details.

Monitoring and Managing On-premises server

NCheck Bio Attendance server monitoring and managing is done through the server tray.

On-premises server tray

NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server tray provides following options to monitor and control NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server.

  1. Icon status

  2. Notifications

  3. Tray icon tooltip

  4. Tray icon menu

Icon status

NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server tray icon indicates the following status.

Table 10 Tray icon statuses
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Server is running and ready
_images/image89.PNG

Server has stopped
_images/image90.PNG

Server has stopped with errors
_images/image91.PNG

Server is running with warnings

Notifications

NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server notifications are showing when the status change. Sample notifications are as follows,

Table 11 Server tray notifications

Notification

image

Server has started
_images/image92.PNG

Figure 43 Notification when server is started

Server has stopped
_images/image94.PNG

Figure 44 Notification when server is stopped

Server has ready
_images/image96.PNG

Figure 45 Notification when server is ready

Tray icon tooltip

Tray icon tooltip is showing the following information.

  1. Status of the NCheck Bio Attendance service

  2. Status of the NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server

  3. NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server database path

  4. NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server port

    _images/image98.PNG

    Figure 46 NCheck Bio Attendance tray icon tool tip

Tray icon menu

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Figure 47 NCheck Bio Attendance tray icon menu

  1. Configuration

    Open NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server configuration as mentioned in On-premises server configuration section.

  2. Start

    Start NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server.

  3. Stop

    Stop NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server.

  4. Control panel

    Open the NCheck Bio Attendance Control panel.

  5. NCheck Bio Attendance

    Open NCheck Bio Attendance client application for Windows.

  6. Application logs

    Open NCheck Bio Attendance logs files folder.

  7. License manager

    Open NCheck Bio Attendance licensing window.

  8. Generate diagnostic info

    Diagnostic info can be generated to keep track of existing problems and bugs in the NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server or windows client application for NCheck Bio Attendance developers. The diagnostic file is generating in “C:/ProgramData/NCheck/Diagnostic” folder.

  9. Exit

    Exit NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server tray icon.

On-premises server configuration

NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server using the configuration can be applied using the NCheck Bio Attendance configuration window. It has the following configuration sections

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Figure 48 NCheck Bio Attendance Windows service configuration window

  1. Server

  2. Database

  3. Restore database

  4. Load default button

    Load default values to configuration dialogue.

  5. Save button

    Save the configuration and restart the server. The error messages could be appeared when saving configuration has shown in below.

Table 12 Error messages of server configuration save

Error code

Description

1001

Could not connect with MYSQL/MSSQL {server url}: {port} server.

1002

Could not connect with the email server {host name}: {port}.

2006

Invalid SSL certificate file.

2007

Invalid key store password or SSL key alias.

2008

Invalid port number. Please select the valid port.

2009

Port is used by another application.

2010

Invalid SQLite database or password. Please recheck the database file or password.

2012

{database name} could not be found.

2013

Invalid MYSQL/MSSQL username and password.

1002

Could not connect with the email server {host name}: {port}.

2016

Could not connect with the email server {host}: {port}. Invalid user name or password.

Server

Server configuration section allows to add SSL certificate to the NCheck Bio Attendance On-premises server. SSL certificate is significance to,

  1. Encrypt the data send across internet so that only the intended recipient can access it

  2. Authentication to ensure that you are communicate with the right server

Note

You are allowed to use self-signed certificate without purchasing a certificate. NCheck Bio Attendance server uses a self-signed certificate to enable SSL features.

The SSL configuration settings are,

_images/image104.PNG
_images/image104.PNG

Figure 49 NCheck Bio Attendance Windows SSL configuration

  1. Key store file

    SSL certificate file path

  2. Key store password

    Password of the certificate file.

  3. SSL key alias

  4. Port

    HTTPS port for NCheck Bio Attendance server. The default port is 8443.

Database

NCheck Bio Attendance server can be configured with following databases

  1. SQLite

  2. MySql

  3. MSSQL

  4. Oracle

Proceed through the Setup database section to for more details.

Setup database
SQLite
_images/image106.PNG

Figure 50 NCheck Bio Attendance Windows SQLIte configuration

  1. Provide the location of the SqLite database file. If the file is not existing, a new database will be created.

  2. Provide the password of the database.

    Password should be given to use with the NCheck Bio Attendance system. Once the password is given, it will be saved securely by the application.

If the provided SQLite database file is out of date, the database will be migrated to the new version automatically when the NCheck Bio Attendance server is starting. The status of the database migration will be shown in tray icon tooltip as shown in Tray icon tooltip section. The possible errors on database migration have shown in below.

_images/image108.PNG

Figure 51 Confirmation dialogue on password encryption change

Table 13 Error messages of SQLite database migration

Error code

Description

2011

SQLite database migration has failed with following errors.

  1. Error 1

  2. Error 2
MySql

NCheck Bio Attendance on-premises server compatible with MySql product version 5.6 onward.

_images/image110.PNG

Figure 52 NCheck Bio Attendance Windows MySql configuration

  1. Provide MySql Server name or IP address

  2. Provide the MySql server TCP port. This is 3306 by default

  3. Provide existing database name in the server. Otherwise, you must create a database first

  4. provide a username with all privileges on the database

  5. Provide the password of the users

MSSQL

NCheck Bio Attendance on-premises server compatible with MSSql version 2014 onward.

_images/image112.PNG

Figure 53 NCheck Bio Attendance Windows MsSQL configuration

  1. Provide MSSql Server name or IP address.

  2. Provide the MSSql server TCP port. This is 1423 by default

  3. Provide existing database name in the server. Otherwise, you must create a database first

  4. provide a username with all privileges on the database

  5. Provide the password of the users

Note

NCheck Bio Attendance connect to MSSql server using TCP/IP protocol. TCP/IP protocol for the SQL server should have enabled in the SQL server Network configuration

Oracle

It is required to install and configure Oracle database as mentioned in here. After installing Oracle database,

  1. Create a full privileged user for the oracle db

  2. Configure service and network as mentioned in this link.

To configure Oracle database with NCheck Bio Attendance server,

_images/image114.PNG

  1. Provide Oracle Server name or IP address.

  2. Provide the Oracle server port. This is 1521 by default

  3. Provide existing database name in the server. Otherwise, you must create a database first

  4. provide a username with all privileges on the database

  5. Provide the password of the users

Restore database

The database can be restored back to NCheck Bio Attendance server.

_images/image115.PNG

Figure 54 NCheck Bio Attendance Windows database restore configuration

  1. Backup file

    Select the database backup (zip file format) to restore.

  2. Password

    Enter the database backup password

Database restore status are showing in the trey icon tooltip as shown in Tray icon tooltip section. The possible error messages when restore database are shown in below.

Table 14 Error messages of restore database

Error code

Description

2015

Data restore has been failed. Could not decrypt the file with the given password.

2014

Data restore has been failed. Invalid backup file.

4002

Unidentified error occurred during data restore. Please contact administrator or NCheck Bio Attendance support for more details.