Table Of ContentOTRS 2.3 - Admin Manual
OTRS 2.3 - Admin Manual
Copyright © 2003-2008 OTRS AG
René Bakker, Hauke Böttcher, Jens Bothe, Udo Bretz, Martin Edenhofer, Manuel Hecht, Christopher Kuhn, André Mindermann,
Henning Oschwald, Thomas Raith, Stefan Rother, Burchard Steinbild
This work is copyrighted by OTRS AG.
You may copy it in whole or in part as long as the copies retain this copyright statement.
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trademark of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. MySQL and the MySQL Logo are registered trademarks of MySQL AB.
All trade names are used without the guarantee for their free use and are possibly registered trade marks.
OTRS AG essentially follows the notations of the manufacturers. Other products mentioned in this manual may be trademarks of the
respective manufacturer.
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................ x
1. Basics about trouble ticket systems .............................................................................. 1
What is a trouble ticket system, when do you need it? ............................................... 1
What is a trouble ticket? .......................................................................................... 2
2. OTRS - Open Ticket Request System .......................................................................... 3
Basics ..................................................................................................................... 3
Features .................................................................................................................. 3
New features of OTRS 2.3 ............................................................................... 5
New features of OTRS 2.2 ............................................................................... 7
New features of OTRS 2.1 ............................................................................... 8
Hard and software requirements ............................................................................... 8
Community .............................................................................................................. 9
Commercial Support for OTRS ............................................................................... 10
3. Installation / Upgrade of the OTRS framework ............................................................. 11
The simple way - Installation of prebuilt packages ................................................... 11
Installing the rpm on a SUSE distro ................................................................ 11
Installing OTRS on a Debian system ............................................................... 16
Installing OTRS on Microsoft Windows systems ............................................... 16
Installation from source (Linux, Unix) ...................................................................... 16
Preparing the installation from source ............................................................. 16
Installation of needed Perl modules ................................................................ 17
Configuring the apache web server ................................................................. 19
Configuring the database ............................................................................... 20
Setting up the cron jobs for OTRS .................................................................. 24
Upgrading the OTRS Frameworks .......................................................................... 28
4. First steps in OTRS ................................................................................................... 29
Agent web interface ............................................................................................... 29
Customer web interface ......................................................................................... 29
Public web interface ............................................................................................... 30
First login .............................................................................................................. 31
An overview to the web interface ............................................................................ 32
What is a queue? .................................................................................................. 34
User preferences ................................................................................................... 35
5. The admin area of OTRS ........................................................................................... 37
Basics ................................................................................................................... 37
User, groups and roles ........................................................................................... 37
User .............................................................................................................. 37
Groups .......................................................................................................... 38
Roles ............................................................................................................. 40
Customer users and customer groups ..................................................................... 43
Customer users ............................................................................................. 43
Customer groups ........................................................................................... 43
Queues ................................................................................................................. 44
Salutations, signatures, attachments and responses ................................................ 46
Salutations ..................................................................................................... 47
Signatures ..................................................................................................... 48
Attachments ................................................................................................... 49
Auto answers ......................................................................................................... 51
Email addresses .................................................................................................... 52
Notifications ........................................................................................................... 53
SMIME .................................................................................................................. 54
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OTRS 2.3 - Admin Manual
PGP ...................................................................................................................... 55
States .................................................................................................................... 56
The graphical configuration frontend (SysConfig) ..................................................... 56
Using mail accounts ............................................................................................... 57
Filtering incoming messages .................................................................................. 58
Executing automated jobs with the GenericAgent ..................................................... 60
Admin email .......................................................................................................... 62
Session management ............................................................................................. 62
System Log ........................................................................................................... 63
SQL queries via the SQL box ................................................................................. 64
Package manager .................................................................................................. 64
6. Configuring the system .............................................................................................. 66
The config files of OTRS ........................................................................................ 66
Configuring the system through the web interface .................................................... 66
7. Sending/Receiving emails ........................................................................................... 68
Sending emails ...................................................................................................... 68
Via Sendmail (default) .................................................................................... 68
Via SMTP relay/smarthost .............................................................................. 68
Receiving emails .................................................................................................... 68
Via mail accounts - the easy way (PostMasterMailbox.pl) ................................. 68
Via command line program and e.g. procmail (PostMaster.pl) ........................... 69
Fetching emails via POP3 or IMAP and fetchmail for PostMaster.pl ................... 70
Filtering/dispatching by OTRS/PostMaster modules (for more complex
dispatching) ................................................................................................... 71
8. Time related functions in OTRS .................................................................................. 73
Specifying the relevant times for OTRS ................................................................... 73
TimeWorkingHours ......................................................................................... 73
TimeVacationDays ......................................................................................... 73
TimeVacationDaysOneTime ............................................................................ 74
Automated Unlocking ............................................................................................. 74
Pending Tickets ..................................................................................................... 76
Escalation Properties ............................................................................................. 77
9. Ticket responsibility and ticket watching ...................................................................... 80
Ticket responsibility ................................................................................................ 80
Ticket watching ...................................................................................................... 81
10. Set-up of the pdf output ........................................................................................... 84
11. Using external backends .......................................................................................... 85
Customer data ....................................................................................................... 85
Customer user backend ......................................................................................... 85
Database (Default) ......................................................................................... 85
LDAP ............................................................................................................ 89
Use more than one customer backend with OTRS ........................................... 91
Backends to authentificate agents and customer users ............................................ 95
Authentification backends for agents ............................................................... 95
Authentification backends for customer users .................................................. 97
Customize the customer self registration ................................................................. 99
Customizing the web interface ........................................................................ 99
Customer mapping ....................................................................................... 100
Customize the customer_user table in the OTRS DB ...................................... 101
12. Modifying ticket states and ticket state types ............................................................ 103
13. Modifying ticket priorities ........................................................................................ 106
14. Creating own themes ............................................................................................. 108
15. Localization of the OTRS frontend ........................................................................... 109
16. PGP ...................................................................................................................... 110
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17. S/MIME ................................................................................................................. 114
18. Access Control Lists (ACLs) ................................................................................... 118
19. Stats module .......................................................................................................... 122
Handling of the module by the agent ..................................................................... 122
Overview ..................................................................................................... 123
Generate and view stats ............................................................................... 125
Edit - New ................................................................................................... 128
Import .......................................................................................................... 134
Administration of the stat module by the OTRS administrator .................................. 135
Permission settings, groups and queues ........................................................ 135
SysConfig .................................................................................................... 136
Administration of the stats module by the system administrator ............................... 136
Data base table ........................................................................................... 136
List of all files .............................................................................................. 136
Caching ....................................................................................................... 137
mkStats.pl .................................................................................................... 137
Automated stat generation - Cron ................................................................. 137
Static stats ................................................................................................... 137
Using old static stats .................................................................................... 138
Default stats ................................................................................................ 138
20. Additional applications ............................................................................................ 139
Calendar .............................................................................................................. 139
Content manager ................................................................................................. 139
File manager ....................................................................................................... 139
Web mailer .......................................................................................................... 140
FAQ .................................................................................................................... 140
System status ...................................................................................................... 141
21. Performance Tuning ............................................................................................... 142
OTRS .................................................................................................................. 142
TicketIndexModule ....................................................................................... 142
TicketStorageModule .................................................................................... 142
Database ............................................................................................................. 143
MySQL ........................................................................................................ 143
PostgreSQL ................................................................................................. 143
Webserver ........................................................................................................... 143
Preestablish datababase connections ............................................................ 143
Preloaded modules - startup.pl ..................................................................... 143
Reload Perl modules when updated on disk .................................................. 144
Choosing the Right Strategy ......................................................................... 144
mod_gzip/mod_deflate .................................................................................. 144
mod_dosevasive .......................................................................................... 144
22. Backing up the system ........................................................................................... 145
Backup ................................................................................................................ 145
Restore ................................................................................................................ 145
A. Additional Resources ............................................................................................... 147
Homepage OTRS.org ........................................................................................... 147
Mailinglists ........................................................................................................... 147
Bugtracking .......................................................................................................... 148
Commercial Support ............................................................................................. 149
B. Config Referenzliste ................................................................................................. 150
Framework ........................................................................................................... 150
Core ............................................................................................................ 150
Core::LinkObject ........................................................................................... 157
Core::Log ..................................................................................................... 159
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OTRS 2.3 - Admin Manual
Core::MIME-Viewer ...................................................................................... 161
Core::MirrorDB ............................................................................................. 162
Core::PDF .................................................................................................... 163
Core::Package ............................................................................................. 167
Core::PerformanceLog .................................................................................. 169
Core::SOAP ................................................................................................. 169
Core::Sendmail ............................................................................................ 170
Core::Session .............................................................................................. 173
Core::SpellChecker ....................................................................................... 177
Core::Stats ................................................................................................... 178
Core::Stats::Graph ........................................................................................ 179
Core::Time ................................................................................................... 184
Core::Time::Calendar1 .................................................................................. 188
Core::Time::Calendar2 .................................................................................. 192
Core::Time::Calendar3 .................................................................................. 195
Core::Time::Calendar4 .................................................................................. 198
Core::Time::Calendar5 .................................................................................. 201
Core::Time::Calendar6 .................................................................................. 205
Core::Time::Calendar7 .................................................................................. 208
Core::Time::Calendar8 .................................................................................. 211
Core::Time::Calendar9 .................................................................................. 214
Core::Web ................................................................................................... 218
Crypt::PGP .................................................................................................. 220
Crypt::SMIME ............................................................................................... 221
Frontend::Admin::ModuleRegistration ............................................................ 222
Frontend::Agent ........................................................................................... 235
Frontend::Agent::Auth::LDAP ........................................................................ 240
Frontend::Agent::ModuleMetaHead ................................................................ 240
Frontend::Agent::ModuleNotify ...................................................................... 241
Frontend::Agent::ModuleRegistration ............................................................. 243
Frontend::Agent::NavBarModule .................................................................... 248
Frontend::Agent::Preferences ........................................................................ 248
Frontend::Agent::Stats .................................................................................. 252
Frontend::Customer ...................................................................................... 255
Frontend::Customer::Auth ............................................................................. 262
Frontend::Customer::ModuleMetaHead .......................................................... 270
Frontend::Customer::ModuleNotify ................................................................. 271
Frontend::Customer::ModuleRegistration ....................................................... 272
Frontend::Customer::Preferences .................................................................. 274
Frontend::Public ........................................................................................... 278
Frontend::Public::ModuleRegistration ............................................................. 278
Ticket .................................................................................................................. 279
Core::ArticleFreeText .................................................................................... 279
Core::FulltextSearch ..................................................................................... 283
Core::PostMaster ......................................................................................... 284
Core::Ticket ................................................................................................. 296
Core::TicketACL ........................................................................................... 310
Core::TicketFreeText .................................................................................... 310
Core::TicketFreeTextDefault .......................................................................... 336
Core::TicketFreeTime ................................................................................... 343
Core::TicketWatcher ..................................................................................... 350
Frontend::Admin::ModuleRegistration ............................................................ 351
Frontend::Agent ........................................................................................... 360
Frontend::Agent::ModuleNotify ...................................................................... 369
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OTRS 2.3 - Admin Manual
Frontend::Agent::ModuleRegistration ............................................................. 371
Frontend::Agent::NavBarModule .................................................................... 384
Frontend::Agent::Preferences ........................................................................ 385
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ArticleAttachmentModule .......................................... 390
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ArticleComposeModule ............................................. 391
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ArticleViewModule .................................................... 392
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ArticleViewModulePre ............................................... 393
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::MenuModule ............................................................ 393
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::MenuModulePre ....................................................... 401
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewBounce ............................................................. 404
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewClose ............................................................... 406
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewCompose .......................................................... 413
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewCustomer ......................................................... 417
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewCustomerFollowUp ............................................ 418
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewEmailNew ......................................................... 419
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewEscalation ......................................................... 423
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewForward ............................................................ 424
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewFreeText ........................................................... 427
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewHistory .............................................................. 434
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewMailbox ............................................................ 435
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewMerge .............................................................. 435
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewMove ................................................................ 436
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewNote ................................................................. 439
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewOwner .............................................................. 446
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewPending ............................................................ 454
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewPhoneNew ........................................................ 461
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewPhoneOutbound ................................................ 466
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewPriority .............................................................. 470
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewQueue .............................................................. 478
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewResponsible ...................................................... 481
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewSearch ............................................................. 489
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewStatus .............................................................. 493
Frontend::Agent::Ticket::ViewZoom ............................................................... 494
Frontend::Customer ...................................................................................... 495
Frontend::Customer::ModuleRegistration ....................................................... 497
Frontend::Customer::Preferences .................................................................. 500
Frontend::Customer::Ticket::ViewNew ........................................................... 502
Frontend::Customer::Ticket::ViewSearch ........................................................ 507
Frontend::Customer::Ticket::ViewZoom .......................................................... 509
Frontend::Queue::Preferences ....................................................................... 512
C. Credits .................................................................................................................... 514
D. GNU Free Documentation License ........................................................................... 516
0. PREAMBLE ..................................................................................................... 516
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS ................................................................. 516
2. VERBATIM COPYING ...................................................................................... 517
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY ................................................................................. 517
4. MODIFICATIONS ............................................................................................. 518
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS .............................................................................. 519
6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS .................................................................... 519
7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS ............................................... 520
8. TRANSLATION ................................................................................................ 520
9. TERMINATION ................................................................................................ 520
10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE ....................................................... 520
How to use this License for your documents .......................................................... 521
vii
List of Tables
3.1. Needed Perl modules for OTRS .............................................................................. 17
3.2. Description of the several cron job scripts ................................................................. 25
5.1. Default groups after OTRS has been installed .......................................................... 39
5.2. Rights in the user groups of OTRS .......................................................................... 40
5.3. Events for auto answers .......................................................................................... 51
5.4. Function of the different X-OTRS-headers ................................................................ 59
8.1. Unlock Properties .................................................................................................... 75
8.2. Escalation Properties ............................................................................................... 78
A.1. Mailinglists ............................................................................................................ 147
viii
List of Examples
5.1. Sort spam mails into a specific queue ...................................................................... 60
7.1. .fetchmailrc .............................................................................................................. 70
7.2. Example jobs for the filter module Kernel::System::PostMaster::Filter::Match ............... 71
7.3. Example job for the filter module Kernel::System::PostMaster::Filter::CMD .................. 72
8.1. Specifying the relevant working hours for the system ................................................. 73
8.2. Specifying regular holidays in the system ................................................................. 73
8.3. Specifying irregular holidays in the system ............................................................... 74
8.4. GenericAgent job to send notification on escalated tickets ......................................... 77
11.1. Configuring a DB customer backend ...................................................................... 85
11.2. Using company tickets with a DB backend .............................................................. 88
11.3. Configuring a LDAP customer backend .................................................................. 89
11.4. Using Company tickets with a LDAP backend ......................................................... 91
11.5. Using more than one customer backend with OTRS ................................................ 91
11.6. Authenticate agents agains a DB backend .............................................................. 95
11.7. Authenticate agents against a LDAP backend ......................................................... 95
11.8. Authenticate agents via HTTPBasic ........................................................................ 97
11.9. Authenticate agents against a radius backend ......................................................... 97
11.10. Customer user authentification against a DB backend ............................................ 97
11.11. Customer user authentification against a LDAP backend ........................................ 98
11.12. Customer user authentification with HTTPBasic ..................................................... 99
11.13. Customer user authentification against a radius backend ....................................... 99
18.1. ACL which only allows to move tickets with ticket priority 5 into a queue .................. 118
18.2. ACL, which disables the closing of tickets in the raw queue and hides the close
button .......................................................................................................................... 118
18.3. ACL, which removes the status for all agents, and only provides it for a group .......... 119
19.1. Definition of a value series - one element ............................................................. 133
19.2. Definition of a value series - two elements ........................................................... 133
ix
Preface
This book wants to make life easier for OTRS administrators and OTRS newbies. The following
chapters describe the installation, configuration and administration of the ticket system, making
this book less interesting for agents or customer users.
Although many hours of work, some litres of coffee and several pizzas were invested into the
following sections, it is still not complete. Inevitably there will be errors, parts with complicated
explanations or missing chapters about important things. Some chapters will be reworked or new
chapters and sections will be added.
Since the book tries to satisfy the needs of OTRS admins or OTRS newbies and since the quality
should be as good as possible, we need your feedback. Please write to us if you find something
missing in this book, if things are not explained well enough or even if you see spelling mistakes,
grammatical errors or typos. Any kind of feedback is highly appreciated and should be made via
our bug tracking system on http://bugs.otrs.org [http://bugs.otrs.org] . We want to thank you for
all kinds of feedback!
x
Description:OTRS AG essentially follows the notations of the manufacturers. Other products mentioned in this manual may be trademarks of the respective manufacturer.
