To open WebBoard Properties, perform one of the following:

• In the WebBoard folder on the Start menu, click WebBoard Properties.
• Right-click the WebBoard icon in the tray or Taskbar and choose Properties from the context menu.

Run Mode

WebBoard can be run as a service or a desktop application. You have additional choices as to how to display the WebBoard icon when WebBoard is running, giving you five run modes to choose from. The advantage of running WebBoard as a service is that it runs even when no one is logged on to the computer, a helpful feature if you run your WebBoard server 24 hours a day and don’t want to leave an open account on an unattended computer. In addition, running WebBoard as a service allows it to restart automatically when the operating system reboots.

If you are using a database with WebBoard that requires a login, WebBoard must run under a user account that has permission to log into the database. If you run WebBoard as a service, do not set up to run under the local system account.

Changing between service and application is easy—you simply have to shut down WebBoard, make one change in WebBoard Properties, and start it up again as a service. Running WebBoard as a service under Windows NT requires a few extra steps.

To set the run mode, follow these steps:

1. Close WebBoard if it is running.
2. Click WebBoard Properties in the WebBoard folder on the Start menu.
3. On the General tab, in the Server area, select one of the following from the Run mode drop-down list:

   Application (tray)

   Automatic or manual start with the WebBoard icons in the Tray. This is the default mode for the manual start option available during installation. To have the application start automatically, place the WebBoard server and the WebBoard SMTP server in your Startup folder.

   Application (minimized)

   Automatic or manual start with the WebBoard icons in the Taskbar. To have the application start automatically, place the WebBoard server and the WebBoard SMTP server in your Startup folder.

   System service

   Continuously running. For Windows NT there are no icons visible; with Windows 95/98 there is an icon in the tray.

4. Click OK to save changes and exit WebBoard Properties.

   For more information about running WebBoard as a service, go to Running WebBoard as a Service.

The Internal Server

You can tell the built-in WebBoard web server what port number to use. The normal (TCP/IP) port is 80. If you are running another web server as well as the WebBoard web server, you have to make this a different port number. Port 8080 is usually the second choice. You must include any port number other than 80 in the WebBoard URL (for example, http://your.domain.com:8080/~support). You can change the port number on both WebBoard Properties and through the Site Management menu.

To change the internal server port:

1. On the Start menu, open the WebBoard folder and click WebBoard Properties. On the General tab you see a setting for Internal Server Port.
2. Enter a port number and click Apply and then OK.
3. Restart WebBoard for changes to take effect.

External Servers

An external web server receives requests directed to your boards and sends them on to WebBoard’s internal web server. The interaction is handled by the WebBoard ISAPI Proxy DLL (wbpx.dll). The external server can run on the same computer as WebBoard or on a different computer. There are four reasons why you might want to use an external server as a gateway:

• The external web server may be able to integrate basic authentication with user databases, allowing you to use existing user databases for authentication of users logging in to a WebBoard board.
• You can use SSL if the external web server supports it.
• Using a gateway allows you to maintain a firewall between WebBoard requests and the computer running WebBoard.
• If your web site is set up with multiple web servers as part of a load-balancing system or as a safety feature, all the systems can direct WebBoard requests to the computer running webBoard.

In order to use an external web server, you must install the Proxy DLL on the machine running the external web server and tell the proxy where to find WebBoard. These two tasks are handled by the Proxy Installer. You also have to let WebBoard know that the external server is forwarding requests. You can set WebBoard’s internal web server to accept requests from the external server exclusively or let it also take requests directly from a browser.

To an external web server, on the properties sheet check one or both of the following:

1. Allow requests via External Server. - This allows requests either directly from a browser or from the external server.
2. Allow only requests via External Server. - This setting allows requests to WebBoard only from the external server. The first checkbox must be selected for this to be allowed.

Redundancy Options

You can distribute WebBoard across several servers. On large sites, this can increase performance. For example, a router handles incoming requests, sending each one to the server that can handle it faster. Redundancy also serves as a safety feature—if one of your systems goes down, the others can keep your boards up and running.

If you choose to take advantage of redundancy, during setup you designate one WebBoard installation as primary, the others as secondary. The primary installation is the only installation which will run the chat servers and a number of other daily administrative functions. If you only have one WebBoard installation, this should always be Primary. This interface will allow you to do the following:

• Change the current server to be the primary server. If this is done, it is necessary that the previous primary server be converted to a secondary server or that it be taken offline. Additionally, make certain all paths for HTML, Messages, Images, Uploads and Logs remain correct.
• Configure the IP address of the primary server on all secondary servers. This assures the secondary machines can use the chat server on the new primary.

Startup Options

WebBoard comes with two programs which may either be started on their own, or started when WebBoard starts. These are the WebBoard Chat Server and the WebBoard NNTP Server. If NNTP is installed (Chat is automatically installed with WebBoard), you may choose to have WebBoard start NNTP when WebBoard starts. To have WebBoard start the program, check the box next to the appropriate program.

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Note Both ChatSpace and the WebBoard NNTP Server will continue running when WebBoard is stopped. To stop ChatSpace, open the ChatSpace Status program in the system tray and click "Stop" next each of the services which are running. To stop the NNTP server, in Task Manager, locate the perl.exe process and end the process.

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Changing the DSN

After you have upsized to SQL Server, the Database tab of WebBoard Properties includes two helpful buttons: Change and Verify. You can use these to administer your WebBoard’s SQL Server database connection, as described below:

• Change
  The Change button allows you to select a different DSN, user ID, or password. While it is possible to change this information, we highly recommend against doing so unless you are an experienced DBA and are aware of the consequences. For information on changing from an MSDE database to an SQL Server 7.0 database, see the information in the WebBoard Knowledge Base at WebBoard Central.
• Verify
  The Verify button checks the connection to SQL Server and reports any errors it may encounter. This is a great way to test WebBoard’s ODBC connectivity to the database server.