Contypes Installation Guide

1. Site

1.1. Install on Windows - IIS

This distro is tested on Windows 10 with IIS web server. It's a self-contained application, which does not require '.NET Core' preinstalled. (The initial edition runs on .NET Core v3.1).

• Unfold the downloaded installation distro.
• Have IIS activated (Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off).
• Install the 'Net Core Hosting Bundle'.
• Create a site in IIS (using IIS Manager), unless you will be using the default site.
• Deploy the files under the site root folder.
• Add site bindings for https, next to the default http.
• Ensure that at least read-execute access to the app files and read-write access to the Contypes.db and the Logs folder and contained files is granted to IIS.
• Open the http/https firewall ports for remote access.

1.2. Install on Linux Centos - Apache

This distro is tested on Linux Centos 8 with Apache web server. It's a self-contained application, which does not require '.NET Core' preinstalled. (The initial edition runs on .NET Core v3.1).

• Unfold the downloaded installation distro.
• Check if Apache web server is installed and active.
• Setup a virtual host for http (unless you will be using the default site) in a .conf file.
• Setup a virtual host for https in a .conf file.
• Deploy the distro files in the virtual hosts physical folder.
• Ensure that at least read-execute access to the app files and read-write access to the Contypes.db and the Logs folder and contained files is granted to Apache.
• Allow the http/https firewall ports for remote access.
• Setup the internal proxy forwarding for the .net core app runing at ports 5000 and 5002, example xxx.conf file under etc/httpd/conf.d/ (replace site, domain and com with your pieces):

<VirtualHost *:*>
    RequestHeader set "X-Forwarded-Proto" expr=%{REQUEST_SCHEME}
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName site.domain.com
    Redirect / https://site.domain.com/
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:5002/ 		
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:5002/ 
    ServerName site.domain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/site.domain.com/html
    #error log
    #...
    #requests log
    #...
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/site.domain.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/private/site.domain.com.key
</VirtualHost>

2. Database

The base versions of the CMS use SQLite in the backend.

You do not need to do anything to prepare the database. It's embedded and it's precreated.

3. Super User

The sites comes with preinstalled username/password = admin/admin. Upon first login you would go to menu item Administration > Users and change the username and the password of the admin user. More admin users can be added and deleted, but the initial admin cannot be deleted.

4. Settings

4.1. App Identifier

Open the appsettings.json file in a text editor and replace the value 'my_site' with an application name of your choice in the field App > AppTitle.

The AppTitle value will appear as a general title on all pages, the browser tabs, and the automatic email messages.

4.2. Emailing

4.2.1. Incoming Email Box

Open the appsettings.json file in a text editor and add an email address in the field App > AppEmail. This is the email box which will receive all visitor messages.

4.2.2. Outgoing Email service

Get ready with an email server (local hoster or external). Open the appsettings.json file in a text editor and add entries for the section Mailing > User Account:

• SmtpHost
• SmtpPort
• SmtpUserName
• SmtpPassword

The site will use those settings and credentials to send emails to users, including for password recovery.

4.3 Authentication Keys

Open the appsettings.json file in a text editor and focus on the Authentication section:

• Add a very long and complicated string for Authentication > SecretKey (at least 16 characters).
• Replace the values 'my_site' in Authentication > JwtIssuerOptions > Issuer, Authentication > JwtIssuerOptions > Audience, Authentication > RefreshTokenIssuerOptions > IssuerName with the site name of your convenience.

4.4. Current Limitations

The initial single stand-alone app version implies fillowing hardcoded limitations (will be made customizable in a future release):

• max number of users = 10000;
• max roles = 100;
• max content types = 100;
• max characteristics = 100;
• max contents per type = 1000;
• max static pages = 100;