|  | Creating and Setting up Forums For panFora System Administrators
|  | Please read the instructions carefully.
|  | Table of Contents
|  | Before You Begin Creating a Forum Log In New Forum ID Set Forum Configuration Define a primary Forum Administrator. Setting-Up a Forum
| 1. | Before you begin | | ToC |
|  | This document is intended for the panFora System Administrator The panFora System Administrator is responsible for creating and setting up forums. He/She will need the appropriate password to create and set up forums. The pasword will be provided by the System Administrator who is responsible for your web server's operation, and has already installed panFora in your server.
Important Notes If you have not yet installed panFora in your server, please go back to the panFora Installation instructions. Click here for how to install panFora on Unix systems Click here for how to install panFora on Windows NT/2000 |
| 2. | Creating a Forum | | top |
|  | Using a graphical web browser such as Netscape Navigator 4.0.7+ or MS Internet Explorer 4.01+, go to following URL to create a new Forum: http://your-hostname.domain:port/withinc/panFora/_AClassCreate.cgi
Important Notes If you installed panFora in a different directory, change the URL accordingly. The port number is optional but may be required to match your Web Server installation. |
Log-in Log-in as panFora System Administrator and click the adjacent Submit button. Use the password you entered in the "initialize" script when prompted for the panFora Administrator password. Click Continue. New Forum ID Enter a new New Forum ID in the New Forum ID field and click the adjacent Submit button. Forum ID is case sensitive. Forum ID should be a unique identifier with respect to that of any previously created Forums. Only Letters and numbers, with no spaces or special characters, are allowed. Usually this is an abbreviated version of the Full Forum Name. Example:("ACME" for Acme Sprockets Inc.) Set Forum configuration The bottom browser window frame updates to show prefilled values for the Forum configuration. Review and modify, as needed, the default Forum configuration information for the fields listed below: Forum's Title Enter the new Forum's Title in the Title field within the bottom browser window frame. A sample Forum Title might be "World Wide Travel" Forum Directory (absolute) and Top Level URL (absolute) Forum Directory (absolute) is the directory path where the Forum's data will be stored on the server Forum Directory (absolute) is the directory path where the Forum's data will be stored on the server The system administrator must make sure that the web server process (with its associated user/group id) has write privileges to create the directory specified in Forum Directory (absolute) [ Click for explanation ] Photo Directory (absolute) and Photo URL (absolute) Photo Directory (absolute) is the directory path where the Forum's user photos will be stored on the server. Photo URL (absolute) is its respective URL that corresponds to the location within the web document root space as accessed through the web server. For most installations, Photo Directory and Photo URL are subdirectories of Forum Directory and Top Level URL, respectively, with the name "Photo". Mailing List Directory (absolute) Mailing List Directory (absolute)s the directory path where the Forum's mailing list files will be stored. Mailing list files are generated from the email address data collected from user data in the Forum, aggregated by Forum groups. These mailing list files are used in posting notifications and announcements, and are compatible with the sendmail program. Authentication Type. panFora can use 1 of 2 user access authentication methods to secure users access to the forum's messages and features: Cookies The default and most flexible authentication method available is called Cookies. With Cookies-based authentication, panFora uses HTTP protocol cookies to save and validate user login information. panFora, itself, manages all aspects of user login/logout and Forum access Apache/NCSA The standard "basic" user authentication as implemented by the Apache or NCSA web servers is called Apache/NCSA. User validation for access control is performed by the web server software, external to panFora. panFora will create and manage the ".htaccess", ".htpasswd" and ".htgroup" files for Apache/NCSA basic authentication, located in the Forum Directory (absolute). Forum Default Type Select from "Private", " Public Read-Only " or " Public ". This defines Guest Access to the Forum. Important Tip If any of the above listed fields, pre-filled with default values need adjustments, please enter the correct addresses. Click on the Test button to check if the Forum configuration information is correct. Define a primary Forum Administrator. It is the responsibility of Forum Administrators to define organizing groups, moderator-group affiliations, user memberships, discussion topic organization. They can also operate all features within the Forum Administrator web interface. The role of Forum Administrator may be assigned to a group leader, a technology support staff member, or a manager. Enter UserId for the primary Forum Administrator. Enter Password for primary Forum Administrator. Enter the primary Forum Administrator's Email Address. Enter the primary Forum Administrator's First Name and Last Name. Click on the Submit or Cancel button to complete the Forum creation procedure. By entering the information above, the first user is entered into the Forum's user database. Default permissions for this user are set to enable read, write and admin. There may be more than one user with administrator privileges in a Forum. The primary Forum Administrator may add these at a later time. This concludes the procedure for Creating New Forums. You may either Repeat the procedure to create a new Forum, or Continue to Setting Up a Forum..
Important Notes You may only create as many Forums as your license allows. Click here for more information on panFora licenses. |
| 3. | Setting Up a Forum | | top |
|  | On completion of the Forum creation procedure, an email message is sent to the primary Forum Administrator's email address with the URL for setting-up the newly created Forum. to Setup a Forum: Click on the Forum Set-up URL link, or Launch a graphical web browser and go to the URL described in the email message. The remainder of the Forum Setup procedure consists of filling out a short sequence of forms allowing the administrator to define access capabilities of users and guests in the Forum, to define the organizational structure of the users, to define user's capabilities, and to customize the Forum's appearance. The Forms are: General Forum Parameters Look and Feel Add Moderators Forum Groups Email Notification List
Important Notes On completion of the forms above, there is a link to the Forum Administration Menu. If updates or changes to the Forum Setup are needed, the Forum Administration Menu allows administrators to modify these Forum Setup parameters at any time. |
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