How may I obtain the latest version of WebCT?

To upgrade your current installation, please fill out an Upgrade Request Form.

Where can I find WebCT release notes and other documentation?

You can find this information at the WebCT Documentation Index.

May I share WebCT documentation with faculty and staff at my institution?

WebCT administrators are authorized by WebCT to forward WebCT documentation and evaluation copies of WebCT software to all faculty and staff.

What are the system requirements to run a WebCT server?

Currently supported systems are posted in WebCT's Knowledge Base, maintained by WebCT Support.

• For server requirements, see article KB0000000000627.
• For supported internet browsers, see the WebCT Browser Tune-up.

How do I set program MIME types?

To set program MIME types, go into the directory

<install_dir>/webct/server/conf

and edit the file

mime.types

This file controls what Internet media types are sent to the client for given file extension(s). Sending the correct media type to the client is important so they know how to handle the content of the file. Extra types can either be manually added here or by using an AddType directive in your config files.

For more information about Internet media types, please read RFC 2045, 2046, 2047, 2048, and 2077.

Check your browser Preferences for the MIME types listed. If you still encounter problems, do a search on the internet for your program and extension, such as Corel = .pqi

To locate information about configuring MIME types on your Web server, go into the directory:

<install_dir>/webct/server/conf

and edit the file

mime.types

Make a new line for the mime types that you want to add. For example:

# MIME type ------------------ Extension
application/cprplayer ----- pqi

You will have to restart the Apache server after editing the file.

How do I enable support.pl? When do I need to enable support.pl?

Only if you are running NT.

The instructions for enabling support.pl below is applicable to WebCT 3.0 (NT) released in July 2000.

1. Add a Script Alias for support.pl to Apache configuration file.
   Location of file: INSTALL_DIR\webct\server\conf\httpd.conf
   Make these changes:

   • Find the section for "# administrator tools".

   • Add the following line. It is needed to enable support.pl.
     ScriptAlias /webct/admin/support.pl INSTALL_DIR/webct/webct/generic/admin/support.pl

     **Note:
     - INSTALL_DIR is the placeholder that must be replaced with the real folder name of the installation directory.
     - Due to text wrapping, you may actually see 3 or 4 lines.
     They are really 1 line in the format of
     ScriptAlias
     

2. Stop and restart Apache. This is needed to activate the changes made to httpd.conf.
   NT: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Services
   2000: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services

   - In "Services", find "Apache" or the name given to the service when WebCT was started. (See README_Apache.txt for how to name the Apache service)
   - Click on the service.
   - On the tool bar, first click Stop, then click Start.
   (The tool bar is similar to one on an audio player.)

3. Move support.pl to the right place.
   

   • Find support.pl in the installation directory, e.g. C:\WebCT\

   • Move support.pl to INSTALL_DIR\webct\webct\generic\admin\

4. Change the Perl path on support.pl. Perl path is found at the first line of the file (and of all files with .pl extension).

   • Open support.pl in a text editor

   • Open admin.pl in another window.

   • The Perl path of support.pl is incorrect.

   • Replace it with the one from admin.pl
     e.g. #!C:/WebCT3/Perl/bin/perl.exe -T -I..

   • Remove '-T'. Keep '-I..'. Leave a space before -I..
     i.e. #!C:/WebCT3/Perl/bin/perl.exe -I..

5. Add a use statement under the Perl path. This is needed in order for some operations to work.
   #!C:/WebCT3/Perl/bin/perl.exe -I..
use WebCT::Security;

6. You can now access it from a browser!
   http://SERVER:PORT/webct/admin/support.pl

Access to support.pl is password protected. Please provide WebCT Support the admin password.

**Note: It is not recommended for non-WebCT Support personnel to use support.pl as it is quite a powerful tool.

Can I run WebCT on any port or just port 8900?

WebCT Version: Any

You can run WebCT on any port higher than 1024 or on port 80.

Can the WebCT administrator batch upload global IDs in the WebCT Administrator area (http://servername:port/webct/admin/admin.pl)?

Yes. You can batch upload a global ID database by completing the following steps:

1. Log on to your WebCT Server via the Admin Screen. You will need the Admin logon and Password to do this.

2. Click User Management

3. Click Upload

4. Browse and select the file which is your comma delimited database file (text format) that contains your global ID information.

5. Click Continue

What are the Environment Settings? And how do I set them for Publisher Courses?

The Environment Settings need to be correctly set in the WebCT Administrator area in order for the Access Codes to properly Authenticate.

Important Settings for Publisher Courses

Setting up the Publisher Environment Settings

1. Go to the administrator page for the WebCT server.

2. Click Server Management --> Publisher.

3. Click Edit Environment Settings. The Publisher Environment Settings Editor screen appears.

4. Set the WebCT Server Name to the same server name used by the student to access WebCT.
   For example, if the student accesses the WebCT server through the URL http://www.webctserver.com:8900, the WebCT server name should be set to www.webctserver.com. This may not work if your server is virtually hosted. You can substitute the server name for the apparent IP address *visible from the Web*. You may need to ping the server from an external location to find this information, although your IT department should be able to tell you what the apparent machine IP is.

5. Set the WebCT Server Port to the port number that appears in the URL used by the student to access WebCT. If no port number appears in the URL, the WebCT port number should be set to 80.
   For example, if the URL is http://www.webctserver.com:8900, the port number is 8900. 

I'm upgrading my WebCT installation. Should I upgrade my server first and then migrate, or should I migrate and then upgrade?

Due to the underlying architecture of the current versions of WebCT, it is not easy to migrate across OS platforms or even hardware with the same OS without causing the various databases to go out of sync. If you are migrating to new server hardware where the new drive is a mirror of the current server drive, you might be able to migrate by doing a copy of the entire WebCT directory followed by upgrades on the new system. However, you need to do extensive testing prior to taking down your production server. It is a migration method that is currently UNSUPPORTED.

For now, the safest migration method is the following (do only when no active classes are in session such as between terms):

1. Install WebCT on the new system.

2. Create a text file of designers and upload them into the global DB of the new system through User Management.

3. Backup all the courses from the old server, transfer to the new server.

4. Restore all the courses and reset them during the restore process.

5. Assign the designers during the restore process.

Note that WebCT only works with the Apache server and not IIS. You will need to make appropriate adjustments during your installations.

For instructions on upgrading older (2.x and earlier) versions of WebCT, see the Documentation Index.  

How do I display non-English characters with WebCT?

The answer depends on the version of WebCT that you're using. For example, WebCT 2.X and 3.0 do not force any fonts or encoding. Basically you set the browser to a certain encoding (such as GB for Chinese characters), and it will stay there unless the page it is displaying has other encoding in it.

In WebCT 3.1 (the non-language release), the encoding is forced to ISO 8859-1. You can change this default encoding on a per server basis to affect all the pages in the Content Module. Here's how:

1. Using a simple text editor, open the file /webct/webct/generic/lib/http_header.ph

2. Find the following line
   print "Content-type: $type; charset=$charset\n\n";

3. Change it to the following line:
   print "Content-type: $type\n\n";

A completely different approach (that may or may not suit your needs) would be to create your pages and then use Adobe Acrobat to make .pdf files from them. (You'd need Acrobat Writer to do so.) Then everything on the page will remain intact and not be browser or WebCT reliant for display.

Why are students being sent to "Ask Jeeves" when they log on to WebCT?

Users with Bearshare (and possibly other file-sharing programs) are experiencing this phenomenon. Even if they delete the program from their computers, the leftover files and registry entries cause the behavior to continue. The UGA support folks suggest the following:

<snip>

1. Do a system restore (All programs / Accessories / System Tools /System Restore) back to the time before they installed the filesharing program.

2. Download AdAware and run it and delete all the leftover files and registry entries.

</snip>

See UGA's very good page on the the Ask Jeeves redirect at http://www.arches.uga.edu/announce/logprob-0802.html

It's a good idea to warn your students of the dangers of installing file sharing programs, download accellerators, and the like.

See this discussion in Ask Dr C

How do I reset the administrator password?

Rename both .htaccess and .htpasswd files. The next time you access the admin pages, you will get a warning message that there is no password. You can then create a new password.