System Requirements

SmarterTrack was designed to operate efficiently in shared, VPS, or dedicated environments without any loss in functionality or performance based on the following minimum requirements:

• Windows Server 2016 64-bit
• Microsoft .NET 4.8
  
  Note: SmarterTrack does not support .NET translation packs as they can break the database install/upgrade process. If you have translation packs installed, you will need to uninstall them, then install or upgrade SmarterTrack. After this, you can re-install the translation packs.
• 4GB RAM
• 2-core CPU
• 8GB minimum disk space, primarily for Microsoft SQL installation. If using MySQL, disk space requirements may be less.
• By default, SmarterTrack will use SQLite as its database. If you’re installing for a larger organization (e.g., over 5 Agents and expect a lively Community), you can use one of the following 64-bit databases.:
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express
  • MySQL 5.7 or higher with InnoDB and a buffer pool size of at least 512M. MySQL variants, such as MariaDB will work as well.
• Dedicated IP address
• Active internet connection
• IIS 8.0 or higher. SmarterTrack uses web sockets, which are not supported in earlier versions of IIS.
• Dedicated App Pool
• SSL certificate. While not "technically" a requirement for SmarterTrack to run, SSL is now a standard for any website that's available on the internet. Free certificates generated using something like Let's Encrypt or Certify the Web work perfectly well for securing your SmarterTrack portal and management interface. To add Let's Encrypt to SmarterTrack, see the documentation below.
• Minimal IIS Settings
  • Application Development Features
    • .NET Extensibility
    • ASP.NET
    • ISAPI Extensions
    • ISAPI Filters
    • WebSocket Protocol
  • Common HTTP Features
    • Default Documents
    • Directory Browsing
    • HTTP Errors
    • Static Content
  • Health and Diagnostics
    • HTTP Logging
    • Request Monitor
  • Performance Features
    • Static Content Compression
  • Security
    • Request Filtering

SmarterTrack and Azure

At this time, it's not recommended to install SmarterTrack on Azure. From our testing, Azure has a negative impact on the performance of SmarterTrack. For example, database connections are generally slow, which can negatively impact how quickly sections of SmarterTrack load, how quickly actions can be performed, and more.

Using Let’s Encrypt with SmarterTrack

SmarterTrack supports using free, automated SSL certificates (such as those from Let’s Encrypt) to secure both the Portal and Management Interface. These certificates are a valid and trusted way to enable HTTPS. To use Let’s Encrypt with SmarterTrack, you’ll need a domain name that points to your SmarterTrack site, access to the server or hosting environment where the SSL certificate will be installed and renewed, and an automation client such as the Let’s Encrypt client to handle automatic renewals. Let’s Encrypt certificates are free, widely trusted by browsers, and add security by encrypting all traffic to protect credentials and user data. Because these certificates expire every 90 days, automation is strongly recommended to avoid service interruptions. Depending on your setup, you can choose between single domain or wildcard certificates, and you should ensure that any external integrations or subdomains use secure URLs to prevent browser warnings. If your environment uses firewalls or reverse proxies, confirm that they properly allow validation requests (HTTP-01 or DNS-01) so Let’s Encrypt can issue and renew certificates without issue.

Setting up SSL Certificates

1. Request or generate a certificate for your domain (e.g. portal.yourcompany.com) using Let’s Encrypt.
2. Install the certificate in IIS (or your web server) for the SmarterTrack site.
3. Ensure the certificate is bound correctly (HTTPS binding) in IIS for both the portal and management interface.
4. Enable Force all traffic over HTTPS in SmarterTrack’s Security settings (if desired).
5. Configure automatic renewal of the certificate so it doesn’t expire unexpectedly.