Implementing Civil Pro Mobile

Civil Pro Mobile is a complementary service to a desktop Civil Pro install. They utilise the same SQL Server datasource. In fact, you cannot set up Civil Pro mobile without the desktop version which creates the database and manages the SQL security.

The Civil Pro Mobile platform is installed on the customer’s hardware and requires the following;

  1. IIS server 8.5 or greater
  2. SQL server (or express) instance with Civil Pro database
  3. Access to the public web through https
  4. SSL certificates for the site + the data service (we can install free Let’s Encrypt certificates if you don’t already have your own)
  5. SMTP account for sending emails
  6. Access to a network share or an Azure storage account

When you buy Civil Pro Mobile, we set it up for you. This usually takes between 3 and 5 hours depending on your system architecture and how much preparatory work has been completed.

Preparing to install

Completing as many of the following as you can means we can complete the install faster and reduce the costs. If your IT team are unfamiliar with any of the steps EXCEPT the bold ones, we can sort it out – just get done the things that you can. The bold ones, we kind of need you to do as a minimum.

Set up the IIS Server

  1. Select the server or machine that will be serving the website and ensure IIS is installed (>v8.5)
  2. Create two sites in IIS e.g.
    1. cp.mydomain.com.au
    2. cpdata.mydomain.com.au
  3. Ensure Microsoft .NET 4.7 or better is installed (free download https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/dotnet-framework-runtime) and restart
  4. Install the .NET Core 2 IIS Hosting package (free download https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/host-and-deploy/iis/?tabs=aspnetcore2x#install-the-net-core-windows-server-hosting-bundle)
  5. Create SSL certificates (either buy or use Let’s Encrypt free certs) for the sites in step 2. Bind the two sites to the new certs

Setup/Modify the SQL Server (or express)

  1. If you don’t already have Civil Pro, install SQL Server or SQL Server express (free download https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/sql-server/sql-server-editions-express)
    NOTE: Make sure you also install SSMS – SQL Server Management Studio (free download https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms). This is a large download
  2. Create an SQL Server based security account on the SQL server that has schema create permissions, write and read and send this information to us or store it in a text file on the server’s desktop.
  3. Ensure the IIS server can connect to the SQL server

Get details of the SMTP server / Create a new SMTP account

  1. Civil Pro uses emails to notify users as part of the approval and contract notices systems. To do this it needs an SMTP server that accepts emails from both the mobile service and desktop clients within the organisation. Ensure the service accepts submissions from both and send this information to us or store it in a text file on the server’s desktop.

Ensure that the server can access the network share that stores Civil Pro’s associated files

  1. Civil Pro stores attachments, files and photos in a network share. Both the desktop clients and the IIS server need to be able to access this share. Ensure read and write permissions. The IIS server usually runs with the account IIS AppPool\cpdata.mydomain.com.au, which is an account on the IIS machine, not the domain.