Chapter 11. FAQ

1. I installed the otrs.rpm from SuSE 8.0. But it doesn't work. Why?
2. What ist OpenTRS?
3. What stands OpenTRS for?
4. What does OpenTRS cost?
5. This document refers to agents. What is an agent in the context of OpenTRS?
6. Can OpenTRS receive email?
7. Can OpenTRS send email?
8. Fulltext Index Searching?
9. Is OpenTRS multi user and multi group able?
10. Is it possible to use different domains?
11. Can I use OpenTRS only with SuSE Linux?
12. What software will be needed?
13. How stable is OpenTRS?
14. What hardware do I need?
15. How does OpenTRS scale?
16. Can I use my nice Oracle or DB2?
17. Which programming language is used?
18. What is the default admin account?
19. Works OpenTRS with mod_perl?
20. Is it possible to customize OpenTRS?
21. Can I install OpenTRS on a Windows box?
22. I did everything the right way, but it does not work. Why?
23. How can I become a part of the OpenTRS developer comunity?
24. I do like the OpenTRS but would feel more comfortable by using a commercial product.
25. I can't delete a user or a queue. Why?
26. What browser do I need?
27. Is it possible to generate my own ticket number format?
28. Do you support the RFC 1297?

1. I installed the otrs.rpm from SuSE 8.0. But it doesn't work. Why?

The rpm is buggy (which is not a SuSE mistake). Please visit our website and download the newest rpm. Your can install the rpm with YaST or manually
rpm -Uvh otrs.rpm

2. What ist OpenTRS?

OpenTRS is a Ticket Request System with many features to manage customer telephone calls and e-mails.

3. What stands OpenTRS for?

Open Trouble-Ticket Request System.

4. What does OpenTRS cost?

Nothing, it`s GPL.

5. This document refers to agents. What is an agent in the context of OpenTRS?

An Agent is a human being who works with the system. User would be an alternative term.

Geeks: Of course a script could act like an agent. Feel free to do so!

6. Can OpenTRS receive email?

Yes, (with MIME support).

The $HOME/bin/PostMaster.pl program receive the emails and sorts the email to the right ticket or queue.

7. Can OpenTRS send email?

Yes. Autoresponders per queue or per X-Header and standard responders via mouse click.

Note: You can add/delete/modify the system email addresses at AdminView::System.

8. Fulltext Index Searching?

Yes.

9. Is OpenTRS multi user and multi group able?

Of course.

10. Is it possible to use different domains?

Yes, you can use different emails 'support@yourdomain.com', 'sales@yourdomain.com' and different domains 'marketing@clientdomain.com' with one system!

11. Can I use OpenTRS only with SuSE Linux?

No, but we developed it on a SuSE Linux and frankly we did not do much testing on a Redhat, Debian, ...

But we will provide additional installation informations on http://www.otrs.org/. And we are more that happy to recieve some feedback from you about how you installed OpenTRS on other platforms.

12. What software will be needed?

Minimum: Perl5 (with a few CPAN modules, more: INSTALL), MySQL and Apache.

13. How stable is OpenTRS?

Please be aware of the fact that you are dealing with a beta-version. New versions are anounced on http://www.otrs.org/. But never the less it is quite a stable system and you shouldn't run in any trouble. But we can not guarentee it!

14. What hardware do I need?

We suggest an IBM s390. *SCNR* ;-)

Some of our test enviroments are Pentium II 300 with 64 MB RAM and they do a pretty good job. Of course the more RAM and the faster the CPU the better.

15. How does OpenTRS scale?

This is depending on the hardware and the enviroment you are using. At the moment OpenTRS is a one box system. With little work you can set up a webserver-cluster and you can split the database to a seperate box. We are planing to support some sort of clustering mechanism. But this is not the highest priority for the development.

16. Can I use my nice Oracle or DB2?

At the moment we only support MySQL as a database. Frankly we do trust in a MySQL as much as in a DB2 (for this application). Anybody how is willing to send some time to port it to other databases is more than welcome to the OpenTRS team!

Note: The code is designed to support different databases!

17. Which programming language is used?

Perl OO, SQL and dtl.

18. What is the default admin account?

User: root@localhost Password: root

19. Works OpenTRS with mod_perl?

Of course.

20. Is it possible to customize OpenTRS?

Of course. You can customize OpenTRS like you want. Take advantage of the dtl (dynamic template language) to customize the OpenTRS frontend release independently (more: README.dtl)!

21. Can I install OpenTRS on a Windows box?

Theoraticly yes, but we are not the big windows gurus and haven't ever tried to set up a Windows box with an Apache, Perl and MySQL.

22. I did everything the right way, but it does not work. Why?

Do not panic!

We tried our very best to make a simple and smooth installation procedure. But of course as with any old style open source project we know how to install our software and sometimes we forget to update our documentation. Please do not hesitate do send us an e-mail!!!

23. How can I become a part of the OpenTRS developer comunity?

Welcome! Anybody who is willing to help us and has the time is more than welcome. Please send us an e-mail.

24. I do like the OpenTRS but would feel more comfortable by using a commercial product.

We can not help you. Sorry.

25. I can't delete a user or a queue. Why?

OpenTRS is working with database id references. If you would delete a user (or queue, ...) from the database, your delete the reference info. Important infos like owner or queue.

Set the data record to invalid and the record is still visible (e. g. for ticket history, ...) but not activ for the application.

26. What browser do I need?

OpenTRS is working with the most browser such lynx, w3m, Netscape, Mozilla, IE and Konqueror (You don't need Java Script or Java Applets!).

27. Is it possible to generate my own ticket number format?

Yes it's possible. You can choose between three different OpenTRS formats. AutoIncrement ("SystemID.Counter" e. g. 1010138 or 1010139), Date ("Year.Month.Day.SystemID.Counter" e. g. 200206231010138 or 200206231010139) and Random ("SystemID.Random" e. g. 100057866352 or 103745394596).

Further it's possible to create a own ticket number format (like you want). See the OpenTRS documentation.

28. Do you support the RFC 1297?

Yes, OpenTRS supports this RFC.