Version
5.0
COMPANY INFORMATION
8
Customer Support
8
Product Updates
8
Upgrade Protection
8
Installation Service
8
INTRODUCTION TO WHOSON
9
Live Visitor Statistics
9
GEO-IP
9
Historical Traffic Analysis
9
Live Visitor Chat
9
Live Visitor Engaging
9
Live Chat Translation
10
Live Click To Call Back
10
Real Time Error & Exception Alerting
10
Prospect Detection
10
Click Fraud Detection
10
Hacker Detection
10
Remote Access
10
Log File Archiving
11
SETTING UP LIVE STATS & VISITOR CHAT - QUICK START
12
Setting Your Public IP Address or DNS Name
17
Embedding The Tracking Code
18
WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE?
22
Editions
24
INSTALLING WHOSON
25
System Requirements
25
Where To Install
25
Hosting Visitor Chat
25
Installation Procedure
25
Upgrading From Version 4
26
Installing
26
Post Install Checklist
26
Uninstalling
26
EXPLORING WHOSON INSTALLABLE EDITION
27
Security
30
User Access
30
GEO-IP
37
Overview Diagram
40
Starting The WhosOn Administrator
41
Registering WhosOn
42
Starting The WhosOn Administrator
43
Setting Up Live Stats & Visitor Chat - Quick Start
48
Setting Your Public IP Address or DNS Name
54
Embedding The Tracking Code
55
WHOSON PROGRAM OPTIONS
60
Settings
62
62
Sounds
63
Time Zone
63
Common Referrers
64
File Types
64
DNS Grouping
64
Exception Types
65
Editing Exception Types
66
Hacker Detection
69
SMS Text Settings
69
Remote Clients
70
Web Access
71
WAP Access
71
Web Charts
72
Client Setup Email
73
Expired Subscription Message
74
WhosOn Gateway
75
Running The Gateway & IIS On The Same PC
75
Content Groups
86
Setting Up An Alert
89
Alert Criteria
91
Alert Actions
93
Example: Setting Up An Alert To Monitor Google Adwords
95
Customer Detection
98
SMS
100
Chat
102
Opening Message
103
Waiting Messages
104
Forwarding
105
Pre/Post Chat Surveys (Professional Edition)
106
Chat Translation
109
Manual Links
110
Options
111
Rotate Chat Requests
111
Chat Window Options
111
Chat Scripts (Professional Edition)
112
Call Backs
113
SITE GROUPS
118
Template Site
120
THE WHOSON CLIENT
121
Installing The Client
122
Client Introduction
123
Searching For Visitors
133
Searching Chat Transcripts
134
Changing Your Status
135
Chatting To Other Operators
139
Inviting Visitors To Chat
140
Sending Click Fraud Warnings
141
Responding To Call Back Requests
142
Viewing Charts & Reports
145
Editing Site Properties Via The Client
146
Changing The Chat Graphics Via The Client
147
Generating The Tracking Code Via The WhosOn Client
149
Non-Javascript Tracking
149
Login Tab
150
Other Tab
150
Spelling Tab
150
Canned Responses Tab
151
Localizing The WhosOn Client
152
NAMED USERS
154
Creating Named Users
155
Access Rights
156
Monitored Sites
157
User Activity Reporting
158
Components
176
1. The Chat Client
176
3. The Chat Server
176
4. The WhosOn Client
176
Enabling External Chat
179
Creating Chat Links From Your Site
181
Displaying Your Own Logo
182
Changing The Background
183
Using Chat On Multiple Sites
184
Allowing Visitors To Pre-Select The Department
185
Operator Specific Chat
187
Pre-Assigning The Visitor Name
188
Real Time Translation
189
Enabling
189
How It Works
189
About Machine Translation
191
Using Other Languages
192
Live Translation
192
Customizing The Chat Text Strings
194
Chat Event Scripts
195
CLICK TO CALL BACK SPECIFICS
200
Setting Up Click To Call Back
201
How It Works
201
What The Visitor Sees
203
Viewing Click To Call Back History
204
THE WHOSON GATEWAY
205
Generating The Tracking Code Via The WhosOn Client
206
Non-Javascript Tracking
206
The Tracking Code
207
The Tracking Code - Recording Contact Information
212
The Tracking Code - Tracking Form Field Completion
213
The Tracking Code - FAQ's
214
Tracking Visitors Client-Side Without Using Javascript
215
Tracking Without A Querystring
215
Tracking Downloads, Outgoing Clicks and Other Custom Events
217
Server-Side Tracking Using The Gateway
218
How It Works
218
Requesting GEO-IP Data
219
Using The ASPX Class
219
PHP & ASP Server Side Tracking
221
DotNetNuke Integration
221
Re-Importing Gateway Log Files
222
DotNetNuke Integration
223
THE WHOSON SERVICE MONITOR
224
How It Works
224
Service Monitor Settings
225
Creating Sites Via Email
226
Format Of Emails For New Sites
226
Resending Setup Emails
227
Deleting Sites Via Email
228
Getting A List Of Sites
229
Getting A Backup Of Site Settings
230
Company Information
Parker Software is a focused software house based in the UK. Established in 2003, Parker Software develops innovative Windows based software aimed at companies that do business on the web. Parker Software produces two flagship products: "WhosOn", a tool for monitoring web site visitor activity in real time and "Email2DB, a tool for integrating incoming emails with business processes. Parker Software's products are used by thousands of businesses, large and small, in all parts of the world.
You can contact us in any of the following ways:
Address Parker Software Limited New Media House Stanley Street Stoke on Trent ST6 6BW United Kingdom Telephone +44 1782 822577 Fax +44 1782 839682
For product info and support go to: http://www.parker-software.com – corporate http://www.whoson.com – product specific
Customer Support
We are fully committed to providing customers with on-going support. We currently provide support between 9am and 5pm Monday – Friday (GMT). All users are entitled to free email support. We aim to answer email enquiries within 24 hours.
Product Updates
All users are entitled to free product upgrades for a period of 6 months from product registration. This includes both minor and major releases. Users to purchased WhosOn via subscription are entitled to free minor and major upgrades for the life of the subscription.
Upgrade Protection
You can extend free updates period by purchasing an upgrade protection key. This entitles you to the following:
• Free minor & major upgrades during the period of your extended updates period. • Free monthly updates to the WhosOn GEO-IP database.
• Access to beta releases.
Installation Service
We offer a low cost Installation Service for the WhosOn Installable Edition. All we need is access to your PC via a Remote Desktop connection for the duration of the Installation (normally this takes about one hour). We will setup and configure WhosOn so that you can monitor your web site and provide live chat. You will also be in a position to easily add monitoring & chat to additional sites.
We also off a free PC check service. We can connect to the PC that you want to use for WhosOn and check that it meets the minimum requirements prior to you purchasing the product. Please contact us for details.
Introduction To WhosOn
WhosOn is designed to track visitors on your website in real time and to allow operators within your organization to interact with those visitors via live chat. In addition to live visitor tracking WhosOn also provides historical reporting of visitor activity, chat sessions and operator activity via is own SQL database.
This 'Installable' Edition of WhosOn runs completely self contained on one of your own servers. No third party services are required, so there are no on-going costs. If you own or operate a web site, or if you run a web server (either hosting your own web sites, or providing hosting services) we are sure you will find WhosOn an invaluable visitor interaction solution.
WhosOn provides the following core functions:
Live Visitor Statistics
WhosOn gives you a real time view of your web site visitor activity. You can watch visitors arrive at your site and move from page to page in real time. You can see where they came from (the Referrer), and specific data about the visitor, such as Country & City, Organization, Browser, Operating System and Reverse DNS. You can see if the visitor has been to your site before – and if so details of each previous visit. All this information is updated before your eyes in real time – as it happens. WhosOn shows spider activity separately allowing you to concentrate on ‘real’ visitors. If you need to reboot your web server, WhosOn will instantly tell you if it’s ok to do so.
GEO-IP
WhosOn will display the visitors actual location, giving Country, State and City. It will also optionally show the Organization name. This is done in real time as visitors hit your site. This is very useful for marketing allowing you watch for specific businesses on your site and even contact them via phone as they browse! See: GEO-IP
Historical Traffic Analysis
Whilst providing real time views of your visitor activity, WhosOn updates a database of Visits, Visitors, Page Views, and Referrers etc. You can run reports on this database using the included Windows or Web based Charts & Reports tool. A collection of traffic analysis reports are included, plus you can create your own. You can also access the database from many third-party reporting tools. WhosOn can also
automatically send you daily, weekly and monthly traffic analysis reports.
See: Charts & Reports
WhosOn can use the following external SQL databases:
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Express (the freely available desktop versions of SQL Server).
example, when a Prospect is detected or when visitors arrive at your site that match a certain set of conditions.
Live Chat Translation
Visitors can chat to operators within your organization using their own language. WhosOn will translate the chat text in real time in both directions. Live Translation is an optional premium service that requires the purchase of translation 'credits'. See: Real Time Translation
Live Click To Call Back
WhosOn enables your visitors to request a 'call back' from your web site. The visitor enters there contact information on a simple form provided by WhosOn. WhosOn then informs operators within your
organization at the correct time that they need to call the visitor. WhosOn can also integrate with Skype VOIP to actually make the call if you have Skype installed. See: Implementing Visitor Click To Call Back
Real Time Error & Exception Alerting
WhosOn can alert you in real time if any errors occur on your web site (such as a missing page) or your site not responding. You can be alerted via popup messages sent to the WhosOn Client, or via Email, or even via SMS text messages to your mobile phone. See: Server Main Settings - Exception Raising
Prospect Detection
Prospect Detection allows you to focus on visitors to your site that are potential customers. You can define a set of key pages that when viewed a visitor will be flagged as a 'Prospect'. This can be over multiple visits. WhosOn then credits the first referrer with the prospect. This allows you to track advertisement ROI much more accurately than traditional hit counts. See: Site Settings - Prospect Detection
Click Fraud Detection
WhosOn can detect if a visitor has clicked a paid-for-listing multiple times. This may be an innocent action by the visitor, or you may be a victim of 'click fraud' - where a competitor or an owner of a site carrying the ads is clicking on your links with the sole aim of costing you money. WhosOn can automatically send a notice message to the visitor when click-fraud is detected. You can also send manual notices via the WhosOn Client. See: Site Settings - Site Entry Alerts
Hacker Detection
WhosOn can detect visitors that may be trying to hack your site by watching for combinations of Exceptions that the visitor is raising. WhosOn can inform you of hacker attempts in real time and it can automatically exclude the visitor's IP address from IIS. See: Server Main Settings - Exception Raising - Hacker Detection
Remote Access
Using the WhosOn Client you can view live stats, receive real-time error reports and chat to your visitors remotely from the WhosOn PC. Multiple Clients can be connected to a single WhosOn Server. The Client works via a secure TCP/IP connection using your internal network or via the Internet. See: The WhosOn Client
You can also access live stats & visitor reports via a browser interface. See: Charts & Reports - Web Based
and also Web Access
Log File Archiving
WhosOn can automatically archive your old web server log files into a ZIP compatible log file. This can save a huge amount of space on your web server. For each site you define how old log files should be before being archived. See: Site Settings - Log File Archiving
Setting Up Live Stats & Visitor Chat - Quick Start
Once you have created the WhosOn Database, the WhosOn Administrator will start the WhosOn Server services.
Because no monitored sites have been setup yet the New Site Wizard will start automatically. You can start the New Site Wizard manually by clicking the Add Site button from the toolbar.
If you are running IIS to host your website on the same server as WhosOn then you can import the site details from IIS itself. If your website is hosted elsewhere then unselect the Import A Site From IIS
option. Click Next to continue.
Enter your site Name and Domain Name. Click Next to continue.
You can now select the Visitor Tracking Method.
WhosOn can track visitors using JavaScript code that you embed into your web pages (this method is called 'page tagging'), or by using the log files from your web server. Page tagging is the recommended option - since it provides faster performance and accuracy. Log files can only be used if WhosOn is being run on your web server itself. Select Use The WhosOn Gateway option and click Next to continue.
The Allow Remote Access To This Site Via The WhosOn Client option needs to be enabled. This will allow you to view the visitor activity for this site via the WhosOn Client.
You can specify a User Name & Password for this site. If a user name/password is specified then only users of the WhosOn Client that connect with the same username/password will be able to see this site in their visitor views and reports. If you leave the username/password blank then the default system-wide username will be assumed.
Click Next to continue.
Enter the Email Address and Contact Name for this site. WhosOn will can send various alerts and reports via email. Enter the address to receive these for this site. If the email address is left blank then the default email address will be assumed. Click Next to continue.
The Wizard is now complete. Click the Send Setup Email button if you want WhosOn to send a setup email to the address specified. This setup email contains the download link and login information for the WhosOn Client.
Click the Create Tracking Code button to generate the page tagging code that you need to embed into your web pages. This can also be done later via the WhosOn Client.
Click the Finish button to close the Wizard. The site will then be added to WhosOn.
Setting Your Public IP Address or DNS Name
Before visitors can be tracked or chat requests can be taken, you must specify the Public IP Address or DNS Name of your WhosOn Server. A 'public' IP address is the Internet IP address that is visible to other users on the Internet and is 'static'. A static IP address is one that does not change each time you connect to the Internet.
WhosOn automatically obtains your public IP address when the Administrator is first started. This shows in the Server Status window against the External Gateway Address entry. If this is incorrect, or if you want to change it select the Public IP Setup Wizard option from the File menu.
Note: The 'File' menu is opened by clicking the large round button in the top left corner of the Administrator window or by pressing ALT-F.
Embedding The Tracking Code
Start the WhosOn Client from the WhosOn Start menu. The WhosOn Client is used to monitor your web site visitors and to view reports and take chat requests. The Client can be run on remote PC's. It connects to the WhosOn Server via TCP/IP port 8011.
You will see your newly added site in the Monitored Sites tree. Click it so that it is selected.
Click the Options tab on the ribbon bar.
Now click the Create Tracking Code button.
The code that you need to embed into your pages will be shown (for SSL pages select the SSL Pages tab).
Click the Copy To Clipboard button to copy the code to your clipboard. You can then paste it into the HTML of your web pages.
Once the code is embedded you will start seeing visitors appear in your WhosOn Client. Right-click a visitor to view visit details or send chat 'invites'. Visitors will be able to click the:
..link to start a chat session. You will then be able to chat to yourself.
You can view a test page to check that everything is working. Click the Create A Test Page button.
If you do not maintain your web site code yourself, click the Email To Web Designer button to create an email message to send to your web designer.
You can customize that chat graphics on the Visitor Chat tab of the Site Properties.
Server-Side Tracking
If your website is developed using a server-side language, such as ASP, ASPX or PHP, you can also track visitors via 'server-side' code. This is code that is executed on the web server before the page is sent to the visitor. This has advantages over 'client-side' tracking using JavaScript. Click the Server-Side Tracking
If you want to track page views on sites that do not allow JavaScript, like MySpace, Blogs, eBay sites etc or in your Email Signature, click the Non-JavaScript Tracking button and paste the code shown into your pages. See: Tracking Visitors Without Using JavaScript for more information.
See Also:
Server Main Settings Site Settings The WhosOn Client
What's New In This Release?
WhosOn Version 5 contains many new features and improvements over Version 4, including:
Server
• The WhosOn backend database has been redesigned to offer better performance, better reporting and lower disk space usage for the same number of visitors.
• The WhosOn Server now offers better performance.
• The WhosOn Server and related services now run as system services only with no user interface. • A new WhosOn 'Administrator' application has been created for managing the WhosOn Server
Services.
• The WhosOn Administrator can connect to remote WhosOn Services for remote administration. • Named users can now be created. Each user can be assigned access rights.
• User activity logging and reporting. • Support for SQL Server 2008. • Support for Windows Server 2008.
• No longer supports MySQL for the back-end database.
Visitor Tracking
• Improved spider detection plus ability to add custom spider useragents to the database.
• Real time form field tracking - you can now monitor visitors on-line form entries in real time. Form values are stored in the WhosOn database and are shown against the visit detail.
• Improved tracking script can now be served directly from the WhosOn Gateway enabling easier site integration. The default tracking script can be customized.
• Anonymous proxy server detection - visitors are flagged if they are using an anonymous proxy server.
Chat
• Fully customizable pre and post chat surveys can now be created. These can be used to collect data from the visitor before and after chat sessions. The data collected is shown to operators during chats and is stored in the database for future reporting.
• The Chat Window now supports Themes. A collection of themes are shipped as standard. You can change the theme used for each site within the site properties. You can create your own theme and modify the existing ones.
• The Chat Window is now realizable. You can set the default height and width in the site properties. • Custom chat invite JavaScript files can now be created and assigned to individual sites. This
enables you to create custom actions that occur when invite requests are sent.
• Visual basic compatible scripts can now be fired when new invites are sent and when chat sessions start & close. This enables custom actions to be performed on these events.
Client
• Improved client security. Now uses 256-bit AES encryption with RSA public key encryption of the session key.
• Chat lists now show messages left by visitors when no operator was available to take the chat. Messages can be replied to via email from within the Client.
• Full text search of the chat transcript database for looking up previous chat sessions using any text string.
• Pre-chat survey results are now shown in the chat window.
• Completed form-field values are now shown in the chat window along with the complete visit detail.
• All web analytic reports are now viewable from within the Client application.
• User activity reports can now be viewed inside the Client (admin users only). User activity reports show a complete log of each users activity and the chat sessions they took in each period. • Microsoft CRM Integration is now built-in to the Client.
• Added native Clients for Mac OSX and Linux.
Reporting
• Custom analytics reports can be created using the WhosOn Administrator. • Individual reports can be site-specific (IE: Only viewable by a select list of users).
• Reports can contain parameter fields. (IE: Ask the user for values against which to run the report on).
WhosOn Version 5 is now available in 4 editions to suit different business sizes and types: Standard, Professional, Enterprise & ISP Editions. See: Editions
Editions
WhosOn is available in a number of editions to suit different organization sizes and types. The table below shows the differences between the edition. If a feature is not listed then that feature is available across all editions.
Feature Standard Professional Enterprise ISP
Live Visitor Tracking (including):
Real time tracking of web visitors shows current page, reverse DNS, location, organization, referrer, browser type, operating system, previous visits, previous chats, previous call back requests, contact information, form-field values, keywords, PPC campaign.
Live Visitor Chat (including):
Automatic changing operator availability images, Canned Responses, Emailed Transcripts, Push Pages, Audible Alerts, Spell Checker, SSL Secure Chat, 'Is Typing' status, Department Specific Chat, Department Selector, Multi-Language Support, Chat Transfers, Chat Monitoring (training mode), Out of hours 'leave a message', Chat waiting queue messages.
Live Engaging
Rule based Live Engaging with custom invite text for each visitor. Prospect & Customer Detection.
Click-To-Call-Back.
Visitor Cost & Revenue Collection.
Live visitor list grouping by visitor type, location, current page, prospect level, PPC campaign.
Live visitor filtering by location, PPC campaign, prospect level, keywords.
Web Analytics Reporting.
Automatic daily, weekly & monthly scheduled web analytic reports emailed to each user.
SQL Server backend database of visit history & chat sessions. Windows, Linux & MAC Operator Clients.
Operator Clients use 256 bit encryption and do not need a database connection.
Track up to 100 separate sites.
Create new web analytic reports or edit existing ones. Fully customizable pre & post chat surveys.
Chat Event Scripts.
Custom Invite JavaScript files for each site.
Add custom queries to the Scheduled Reports.
Create Named Users with each user having their own access rights.
User activity tracking & reporting.
Remote Administration.
Microsoft CRM Integration.
Track unlimited separate sites.
Track third party web sites and allow users outside your organization to connect to your WhosOn Server.
Notes:
Installing WhosOn
System Requirements
Recommended minimum requirements:
Windows Server 2003 or 2008
Windows Vista Business or XP Professional
At least 512Mb RAM recommended.
400mb of free disk space.
IIS running with .NET Framework 2.0.
If you want to host live visitor chat, then the PC running WhosOn must also have Microsoft IIS running and the .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. The .NET Framework can be downloaded from here.
Where To Install
The WhosOn Full Setup includes both the Server & Client components. You can install it on your actual web server if you choose, or on a separate PC. You can use the WhosOn 'Client' to view your live stats & visitor info from remote PC's.
Hosting Visitor Chat
If you want to host live visitor chat the PC that will be running WhosOn will need a permanent Internet connection, either directly (using an Internet Static IP Address or DNS name) or indirectly via a
firewall/router (the router will need to be configured to route traffic on the designated TCP/IP Port to the WhosOn PC – this is described in more detail later in this manual).
Installation Procedure
Before installing WhosOn you need to decide on what sort of database you want WhosOn to use to store its data. WhosOn can save visitor information to a database for future reporting. WhosOn currently supports Microsoft SQL Server (2005/2008 & Express) . For best performance and ease of use, we recommend SQL Server 2005 or 2008 Express. You need to install this before installing WhosOn. You can download SQL Server Express from here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/
After you have installed a database server you can the install WhosOn itself. Simply run the
WhosOn50.exe setup file to start the installation wizard. Run through the wizard accepting all the default values.
After the WhosOn installation has completed, the WhosOn registration wizard will start.
Upgrading From Version 4
You can install WhosOn version 5 on the same PC as version 4. We have included a utility to transfer your version 4 settings and data.
Prerequisites:
Before installing version 5, ensure you have the latest version 4 build installed. Close WhosOn Version 4 before installing version 5.
WhosOn version 5 uses a new database schema. After installation the Database Create Wizard will run. Allow the wizard to create a new 'whosonv5' database. DO NOT use the old version 4 database. When the wizard has completed creating the new database it will ask:
"WhosOn Version 4 data exists on this PC. Do you want to transfer the site settings?".
Click Yes to start the Upgrade Wizard.
The Upgrade wizard can transfer Site settings only or site settings and visit data.
Select the required option and click Next.
If you choose to transfer both settings and data then the complete version 4 database will be copied to version 5. You must ensure you have enough disk space for this.
Note: If you still have your web server log files, you can also import your logs into the version 5 database.
When the wizard completes you can start the WhosOn Version 5 server to review the transferred settings.
Notes: Version 5 no longer supports MySQL. If your existing version 4 database is in MySQL format then you can only transfer the settings. You will need to re-import the log files if you want to transfer visit history into the new Version 5 database.
Installing
Before installing make sure you are logged on with full Administrator rights.
If you have purchased WhosOn on CD simply insert the CD into the CD drive – the setup program will start automatically. If you have downloaded the setup file, simply double-click it to start the installation.
The setup uses the Windows Installer Service to install the program.
Post Install Checklist
Firewall
If you are using a firewall, ensure that ports 8080 & 8011 are open. This will allow WhosOn page tagging requests and WhosOn Client users to connect from the Internet. If you use port-forwarding on your router, ensure that traffic on these ports are forwarded to the WhosOn PC (most routers will do this automatically).
IIS
Ensure IIS is installed and running and that the Default Web Site is started. Ensure that the 'chat' virtual directory exists under the default web site (the WhosOn setup will have created this). Ensure the .NET Framework 2 is installed and enabled in IIS.
Uninstalling
Exploring WhosOn Installable Edition
WhosOn consists of a number of separate applications:
1. The WhosOn Administrator
This application is used to setup the sites that you want to monitor and to configure the WhosOn Server service.
2. The WhosOn Server
The WhosOn Server runs as a system service and handles visitor tracking, chat sessions and remote client users. A number of ancillary services run alongside the WhosOn Server (The Gateway service, Query service & Scheduled Reports service).
3. The WhosOn Client
The WhosOn Client is the application that enables users to view visitor activity, take chat requests and view various reports. The Client can run on multiple remote computers. It uses a secure TCP/IP
connection to connect to the WhosOn Server. Versions of the Client are available for Windows, Mac, Linux and other operating systems.
The WhosOn Administrator - Introduction
The WhosOn Administrator is used to configure the WhosOn Server Service.The WhosOn server runs as a system service and is designed to be left running at all times. The WhosOn Administrator is a separate application that you can use to start & stop the WhosOn Server service and to create & edit monitored sites.
The WhosOn server tracks visitor activity on your sites in real time. It also sends information to the WhosOn Clients, so that remote operators can watch live stats. The WhosOn Server also includes the visitor chat server, which enables visitors to chat to operators as they browse.
You can start the WhosOn Administrator from the Start menu - WhosOn Installable Version 5 folder.
When the Administrator starts you must first login:
The default user name is Admin with no password. You can change the default user name & password in the program options.
If you are using the Enterprise Edition of WhosOn you can also select a remote WhosOn Server to manage.
Once the Administrator is connected to the WhosOn server, the summary window will show the server status:
The WhosOn Client - Introduction
The WhosOn Client is the program you should use to view visitor information and to receive chat requests.
You can start the WhosOn Client from the Start menu - WhosOn folder.
The Client can be used on the same PC that runs the WhosOn Server, or on separate 'remote' PC's. The Client connects to the WhosOn server using the standard TCP/IP protocol. Multiple Clients can connect to a single WhosOn server at the same time (license permitting). By default, Clients connect to the server via TCP port 8011. You should ensure that this port is open on your firewall if you want to use the Client from outside your network.
Whilst the WhosOn Administrator does shows total active visitors on each site, the WhosOn Client shows much more information:
You can install the Client on multiple PC's. To install the Client only, run the Client Only setup program. This can be downloaded from our downloads page.
In addition to the Windows based Client we also have native Mac and Linux versions.
Security
All data sent to and from remote WhosOn Clients are encrypted using 256 bit AES encryption. The secret key used for encryption changes with each connection and is exchanged using a public/private key pair. This makes it completely safe to use the WhosOn Client over the Internet.
User Access
The Enterprise Edition of WhosOn also allows the creation of 'named users' a named user can be assigned a list of monitored sites that they are allowed to see along with various other access rights. Named users also have their activity recorded in the WhosOn database allowing managers to view activity reports.
See: The WhosOn Client for more information.
WhosOn Chat Introduction
WhosOn includes a visitor chat application that visitors on your web sites can use to chat to operators within your organization. Operators use the WhosOn Client to respond to chat requests. The chat application is completely web based and requires no downloads or plugins to be installed by the visitor.
When you install WhosOn a 'chat' virtual directory is added to your default web site in IIS. This can be used by any of your web sites (regardless of where they are hosted), by simply creating links to it or by using the WhosOn Tracking code.
Chat sessions can be secured by assigning an SSL certificate to your IIS web site.
A number of 'Themes' are included allowing you to change the appearance of the chat window for each of your monitored sites. You can also edit existing themes if you wish. The logo shown to the right of the chat window can be changed for each site.
WhosOn Web Charts & Reports
The Web Based Charts & Reports viewer is installed automatically during the main WhosOn setup. It allows users to view current visitors, visitor lists and charts & reports via a browser interface.
The Web Based Charts & Reports viewer is implemented as a .NET ASPX application, so you will need to install the .NET Framework 2.0 first (Windows XP & 2003 already have the .NET Framework). It is installed by default as a virtual directory called 'whosoncharts' under the Default Web Site in IIS.
If you want to move this to another website, simply create a virtual directory in IIS and point it to
C:\Program Files\WhosOnV5\WhosOnWeb\
This view shows a summary for the current day of your traffic. It also shows top referrers, keywords and site entry alerts. You can change the day and view earlier days by selecting the Change Date option at the top.
Current Visitors
Select this option to view currently active visitors. The WhosOn server must be running for this report to work. The view will refresh itself every few seconds with updated information.
Visit Lists
You can view lists of visits for today or any previous day. You can also select to view visitors for specific Alert types, Prospects, Customers, New Visitors, Returning Visitors etc.
Visitor Search
Use thus option to search for visits. Enter the search criteria and then select the 'search for' option from the drop down. You can search for IP address, DNS Name, Organization Name and Entry page. You can use % characters to do a LIKE search, for example, enter 67.% to search for any IP address beginning with 67. The report will then list all visits (on all dates) that match the criteria.
Chat Sessions
This option allows you to view chat sessions for the current day, week, month and year. You can also do full text searches on all chat transcripts.
Charts & Reports
Most Charts & Reports allow you to enter a Date Range in the From and To date entries. When you start Charts & Reports the date range defaults to Jan 1st for the current year to the present date. If you change a date click the Refresh button to update the chart or report. You can also move back or forward by 1 day, week, month or year.
Charts that chart by date can also show data grouped by Day , Week or Month . When viewing visitor traffic reports by date it’s often useful to just concentrate on weekdays – since Saturdays & Sundays will always have lower figures. Click the Exclude Weekends to exclude results for Saturdays & Sundays from the view.
Exporting To Excel
Live stats, visitor lists and reports can be exported to Microsoft Excel. Click the button at the bottom of the page. The Excel file will then be automatically downloaded to your machine. Excel will then start with the downloaded file.
Using The Server Web Access Option
In addition to the WhosOn Client and the Browser Based Interface option, WhosOn also includes a 'web access' feature. The WhosOn Server itself acts as a mini-web server and can be used to view live stats, visitor total summaries and visitor lists via a browser. This feature requires no setting up and does not need IIS or anything else running to work (apart from the WhosOn server itself). Its very useful for quickly checking your server remotely.
To use the Web Access option, simply point your browser at:
http://{whosonserver}:8004
Where {whosonserver} is the IP address or DNS name of the PC running WhosOn.
The port 8004 is configurable in program options - Remote Access - Web Access tab. We recommend leaving it set to 8004 unless this port is already used. If you want to be able to use the Web Access option from outside your network you will need to open this port on your firewall.
When you start the Web Access option you must first login:
Enter either the global user name/password or a site-specific user name/password. If you enter a site specific user name then you will only see site data for sites with a matching user name/password.
You will then see a list of monitored web sites:
Click the site domain name to view live stats for that site.
Click the Entry Alerts, Prospects and Customer total to view lists of visitors for the current day.
When viewing visitor lists you can click the Visit Number to view full details of the visit.
Click the Log Off button to end your session.
GEO-IP
WhosOn will display a visitor's geographical location based on their IP address. This is referred to as 'Geo-IP'.
The location is shown as Country - City and Region.
WhosOn does this by quickly looking up the Geo-IP information from a database when a visitor arrives at your site. This database maps IP addresses to geographical locations. The database is installed during the main setup. It is highly optimised for WhosOn, allowing for very fast lookups.
Of course this database changes over time as IP addresses are reassigned throughout the world. We update the database once per month.
As a registered user you can download free updates of this database for 6 months following purchase. You can continue to receive free updates of the Geo-IP database by purchasing Upgrade Protection. Users who have purchased WhosOn via a subscription receive updates for the life of their subscription.
Adding Visitor Organization
WhosOn can also show the visitor's Organization and Latitude, Longitude. This is done by looking up the extended information using another database. By default the organization database is not installed with the main setup (because of its size - it is over 50mb compressed). All registered users can download this database free of charge from our web site. This database is also updated once per month. Each purchase of WhosOn includes 6 months of free updates of the GEO-IP database. After this time you can optionally purchase extended support.
The organization name that is shown is the name that is registered to the visitors IP address. For most larger businesses this will be the actual business name. For home users and businesses using dial-up connections, it will be their ISP name.
Example of Geo-IP information:
This sample shows the Geo-IP for a visitor to our web site.
Clicking the View Map button we can actually view the visitors location:
Clicking the Search For Organization button we can lookup the visitor's Organization via Google.
Overview Diagram
The above chart shows the flow diagram of a typical WhosOn setup.
Multiple WhosOn Clients can connect to the WhosOn server via TCP/IP (default port 8011) to view visitor information and to receive chat requests. WhosOn Clients can connect either via an internal network or from outside via the Internet.
The WhosOn server receives chat requests directly. It then sends the chat request to the connected clients (depending on which domain the clients are monitoring). It than creates a 'bridge' between the visitor and the operator.
The WhosOn server updates the WhosOn database in real time. The web based Charts & Reports tool can be used to view reports on this data.
Starting The WhosOn Administrator
To start WhosOn for the first time, double-click the WhosOn icon on your desktop, or select WhosOn Administrator from the Windows Start menu – WhosOn Installable Version 5 folder.
The login form will appear:
Registering WhosOn
When WhosOn is first started the Registration Wizard will appear:
Enter your Company Name & Contact Name and click Next to continue…
Now enter your Email Address. It’s important that you enter a valid email address here. If you are evaluating WhosOn this is the email address that’s used to send you your Evaluation Serial Number. We also use this address to send notifications of product updates.
Note: If you don’t want to receive notifications by email uncheck the Would you like us to keep you informed via email of product updates? check box.
All email addresses are kept strictly private.
Please enter your Country and details of how you found WhosOn. This information is optional.
If you haven’t yet purchased WhosOn and don’t have a serial number you can request an evaluation serial number to be emailed to you. Click the Get A Free 30 Day Evaluation Serial Number button. A serial will be emailed to you (using the address previously specified) within a few minutes (if you do not have Internet access on the machine you are installing WhosOn on please send us an email requesting an evaluation serial number and we will send you one).
Once you have your serial number click Next to continue.
Enter your Serial Number and click Next to Register.
Starting The WhosOn Administrator
To start WhosOn for the first time, double-click the WhosOn icon on your desktop, or select WhosOn Administrator from the Windows Start menu – WhosOn Installable Version 5 folder.
The login form will appear:
The default User Name is Admin with no password.
Click Connect to start the WhosOn Administrator.
Now See:
Creating The WhosOn Database
When you start the WhosOn Administrator for the first time the Create Database Wizard will
automatically start. This Wizard will create a new empty WhosOn Database. The WhosOn database must be created before you can start using WhosOn.
You now need to select the Database to use to store your WhosOn Data. Currently WhosOn supports SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 (full or 'express' editions).
Note: The database server must be installed and running before you proceed any further.
See: Installing A Database Server
Click Next to continue.
The following settings do not normally need to be changed. They only need to be changed if you want to use a database server that is running on a different PC than WhosOn.
For SQL Server you must select the SQL Server Instance – this is the computer name on your network that’s running the SQL Server you want to use. It defaults to your current PC name. Note: If you want to use a SQL Server that is on another PC you may need to enter the instance as
PCNAME\SQLServerInstanceName
Check the Use NT Authentication option if you want WhosOn to use Windows integrated login security (this is the default and should always be used unless you have changed the security settings on the WhosOn Database). Otherwise you must specify the User Name & Password.
Click Next to continue.
Enter the Database Name. This defaults to WhosOnV5 and normally does not need to be changed. At this stage you can also change the default location of the database.
Click Next to create the database.
The Wizard will then display the Current Database Configuration once the database has been successfully created.
You can start the wizard again by selecting Configure WhosOn Database from the File menu. You can then remove the database by clicking the Remove Database button.
Click Finish to close the Wizard.
Now See: Quick Start - Setting Up Live Stats & Visitor Chat
Setting Up Live Stats & Visitor Chat - Quick Start
Once you have created the WhosOn Database, the WhosOn Administrator will start the WhosOn Server services.
Setting Up WhosOn Involves the following steps:
1. Adding a 'Site' to WhosOn
A 'site' is generally one of your web sites, or you can split a large website into multiple 'sites' in WhosOn. You can create as many sites in WhosOn as you need.
2. Setting Your Public IP Address
Before visitors can be tracked or chat requests can be taken, you must specify the Public IP Address or DNS Name of your WhosOn Server.
3. Embedding The WhosOn Tracking Code Into Your Web Pages
Once the public IP/DNS name is specified, you use the WhosOn Client to generate the tracking code for the 'site'. You then add this code to your web pages and upload the amended pages to your web server. It doesn't matter to WhosOn where or how your web site is hosted. It can be on any type of web server in any location.
4. Testing
Once the code is embedded and uploaded to your website you will start to see live visitor activity in the WhosOn Client. A 'click to chat' will appear on your web pages at the location where you placed the tracking code.
5. Add More Sites
Once you have verified that visitor tracking and live chat are working, then you can add more sites to WhosOn.
6. Distribute The WhosOn Client
You can install the WhosOn Client on any number of PC's to enable multiple operators to monitor your web sites and respond to chat requests.
Because no monitored sites have been setup yet the New Site Wizard will start automatically. You can start the New Site Wizard manually by clicking the Add Site button from the toolbar.
If you are running IIS to host your website on the same server as WhosOn then you can import the site details from IIS itself. If your website is hosted elsewhere then unselect the Import A Site From IIS
option. Click Next to continue.
Enter your site Name and Domain Name. Click Next to continue.
You can now select the Visitor Tracking Method.
WhosOn can track visitors using JavaScript code that you embed into your web pages (this method is called 'page tagging'), or by using the log files from your web server. Page tagging is the recommended option - since it provides faster performance and accuracy. Log files can only be used if WhosOn is being run on your web server itself. Select Use The WhosOn Gateway option and click Next to continue.
The Allow Remote Access To This Site Via The WhosOn Client option needs to be enabled. This will allow you to view the visitor activity for this site via the WhosOn Client.
You can specify a User Name & Password for this site. If a user name/password is specified then only users of the WhosOn Client that connect with the same username/password will be able to see this site in their visitor views and reports. If you leave the username/password blank then the default system-wide username will be assumed.
Click Next to continue.
Enter the Email Address and Contact Name for this site. WhosOn will can send various alerts and reports via email. Enter the address to receive these for this site. If the email address is left blank then the default email address will be assumed. Click Next to continue.
The Wizard is now complete. Click the Send Setup Email button if you want WhosOn to send a setup email to the address specified. This setup email contains the download link and login information for the WhosOn Client.
Click the Create Tracking Code button to generate the page tagging code that you need to embed into your web pages. This can also be done later via the WhosOn Client.
Click the Finish button to close the Wizard. The site will then be added to WhosOn.
Setting Your Public IP Address or DNS Name
Before visitors can be tracked or chat requests can be taken, you must specify the Public IP Address or DNS Name of your WhosOn Server. A 'public' IP address is the Internet IP address that is visible to other users on the Internet and is 'static'. A static IP address is one that does not change each time you connect to the Internet.
WhosOn automatically obtains your public IP address when the Administrator is first started. This shows in the Server Status window against the External Gateway Address entry. If this is incorrect, or if you want to change it select the Public IP Setup Wizard option from the File menu.
Note: The 'File' menu is opened by clicking the large round button in the top left corner of the Administrator window or by pressing ALT-F.
Users With Dynamic IP Address
If you do not have a static IP address you can use a service that maps a permanent DNS name to a dynamic IP. For example, http://www.nettica.com - once you have a permanent DNS name use you should specify this in the Setup Wizard.
Checking Your Firewall
If you are using a firewall, ensure that ports 8080 & 8011 are open. This will allow WhosOn page tagging requests and WhosOn Client users to connect from the Internet. If you use port-forwarding on your router, ensure that traffic on these ports are forwarded to the WhosOn PC (most routers will do this automatically).
Embedding The Tracking Code
Start the WhosOn Client from the WhosOn Start menu. The WhosOn Client is used to monitor your web site visitors and to view reports and take chat requests. The Client can be run on remote PC's. It connects to the WhosOn Server via TCP/IP port 8011.
You will see your newly added site in the Monitored Sites tree. Click it so that it is selected.
Click the Options tab on the ribbon bar.
Now click the Create Tracking Code button.
The code that you need to embed into your pages will be shown (for SSL pages select the SSL Pages tab).
Click the Copy To Clipboard button to copy the code to your clipboard. You can then paste it into the HTML of your web pages.
Once the code is embedded you will start seeing visitors appear in your WhosOn Client. Right-click a visitor to view visit details or send chat 'invites'. Visitors will be able to click the:
If you want to track page views on sites that do not allow JavaScript, like MySpace, Blogs, eBay sites etc or in your Email Signature, click the Non-JavaScript Tracking button and paste the code shown into your pages. See: Tracking Visitors Without Using JavaScript for more information.
See Also:
Server Main Settings Site Settings The WhosOn Client
Troubleshooting
Visitor Tracking Not Working
1. Make sure the tracking code is referencing your public IP/DNS name and not 'localhost'. If the tracking code contains a link to 'localhost' then you will have generated the tracking code before setting your public IP. Try restarting the WhosOn Services and WhosOn Client and re-generating the tracking code.
2. Check that port 8080 is open on your firewall. If your public IP address is assigned to your router and not the WhosOn PC itself, then make sure that port forwarding is setup on your router to route traffic for port 8080 to the WhosOn PC.
3. Check no other applications are using port 8080. If so, you can change the port via the
WhosOn Administrator - Program Options - Remote Access - WhosOn Gateway - Listen For Page Tagging Requests On Port. If you change the port you will need to restart the WhosOn Services and re-generate the tracking code.
4. Make sure the WhosOn Server service is started.
Chat Window Not Displaying
1. Make sure that IIS is installed and started on the WhosOn PC. Ensure that .NET Framework 2 is installed and enabled.
2. Check that the 'chat' virtual directory has been created under your Default Web Site (this should have been done automatically as part of the WhosOn setup).
3. Make sure that Default Web Site is started.
4. Check that port 80 is open on your firewall (and port 443 if you are using the chat over SSL).
5. If you have deleted or stopped the Default Web Site in IIS then you can create a 'chat' virtual directory under one of your other web sites. Point the virtual directory to the C:\Program Files\WhosOnV5\Chat\ folder. If you change the 'chat' virtual directory location then you will need to specify the 'chat url' setting in the WhosOn Administrator - Program Options - Chat Server - Chat URL. If you change this setting, restart the WhosOn Server service.
Client Users Cannot Connect
1. Make sure port 8011 is open on the firewall (check both hardware and Windows firewalls). If users are connecting over the Internet and your public ip address is assigned to your router and not the WhosOn PC itself, then make sure that port forwarding is setup on your router to route traffic for port 8011 to the WhosOn PC.
2. Make sure Client Users are specifying the correct 'Authentication String' in their connection options. The Authentication string is set in the WhosOn Administrator - Program Options - Remote Access - Remote Clients - Authentication String.
3. Make sure Client Users are specifying the correct User Name & Password. You can define a global user name/password in the WhosOn Administrator - Program Options - Remote Access - Remote Clients - Default User Name/Password. Users who connect with this user name will see ALL sites that you have setup. You can define 'site specific' user names against each site.
WhosOn Program Options
This chapter describes the main program options. Please take some time to read this section and go though each of the options so you gain a better understanding of what WhosOn can do.
To access the program options, choose File - Program Options in the WhosOn Administrator.
Note: The 'File' menu is accessed via the large round button in the top left corner of the Administrator window.
General Settings
Settings
Perform Reverse DNS Lookups When Visitors Arrive
Select this option if you want WhosOn to perform a reverse DNS lookup on the visitors IP address when they arrive at your site. Once WhosOn has done the lookup the visitors full DNS name will be shown. WhosOn maintains a database table of resolved IP addresses and only does a lookup if the DNS name is not already known.
If this option is enabled you must enter the IP address of the DNS Server to use. WhosOn will retrieve this for you from your network settings, but you can change it if you find that reverse DNS lookups are not working.
Ignore Spiders
Check this option if you want WhosOn to ignore spiders completely. If not checked spiders will appear in the Current Visitors list and be added to the Spiders list. Spider visit records will also be stored in the database.
Hide Passwords On Settings Forms
If this option is selected then all password entries in WhosOn will show as ****
Visit Timeout – Assume Visitor Has Left Site If No Activity For xx Minutes
Enter the number of minutes that WhosOn should wait before removing a non-moving visitor from the Current Visitors list. If you are using the WhosOn Gateway to track visitors then visitor sessions will end when the visitor closes their browser or leaves your site to go elsewhere. The timeout value specified here will be used when the Gateway is not used, or for visitors that do not allow Javascript to be executed on their browser.
WhosOn can send you emails when the following events occur:
• Exceptions are raised – you can define which exceptions are emailed. See: Exceptions • Alerts are raised – when visitors arrive at your site and trigger an alert.
• Prospects are detected
WhosOn can also send you emailed summary reports each day. You can also email most views & lists.
This tab is used to define how WhosOn sends emails.
SMTP Server Name or IP Address
WhosOn uses SMTP to send emails. You must specify the SMTP Server to use.
From Address
Enter a valid from address. Some mail servers will expect this address to exist.
User Name/Password
Depending on your mail server you may need to specify a user name & password.
Subject Line
global and site specific recipients. You can leave the global address blank and just use site specific addresses if you like.
Send Pending Emails Every xx Minutes
As email events are raised WhosOn does not send them right away. Instead it adds them to a queue of pending emails and sends the queue in a batch every few minutes. You can change the interval here. This setting will stop you from getting many individual emails in one go. If WhosOn needs to send you several messages it will combine them into 1 email and send it when the next batch is sent.
Send Test Email
Use this button to verify your email settings are working. When you run a test a list of SMTP commands and return values will be displayed allowing you to trace any problems.
Sounds
This tab allows you to select sound files used by WhosOn and to enable or disable sounds.
Make A Sound When A New Visitor Arrives
Enable this option if you want WhosOn to play a sound when a new visitor arrives at your site. This option is disabled by default since it can get annoying on busy sites!
Make A Sound When Prospects Are Detected
Enable this option if you want WhosOn to play a sound when new Prospects are detected. See: Prospect Detection
Make A Sound When Hackers Are Detected
Enable this option if you want WhosOn to play a sound whenever the hacker detected exception is raised for a visitor.
You can also define specific sounds for Alerts See: Site Settings – Alerts
Note: WhosOn never makes sounds during the first scan after a restart. Only new visitors arriving after the first scan will make sounds.
Time Zone
Use this tab to change the GMT bias value that WhosOn uses to convert times stored in GMT format to your local time.
Most web servers store times in log files in GMT format – the time of day in Greenwich United Kingdom (Greenwich Mean Time). This time must be converted by WhosOn into your local time.
